Tour company recommendation?
Mar 21st, 2005, 04:20 PM
#1
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Tour company recommendation?
Can anyone recommend a tour company for a bus tour in Europe? I've done 3 trips on my own, but this time we'd like to go with a tour. A friend recommended Image or Globus/Cosmos, so I imagine they're reputable. Any others I could check out?
Thanks.
Sue
Thanks.
Sue
Mar 21st, 2005, 04:32 PM
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Depends on your age and interests...years ago I used to travel
Contiki (and met my husband on a tour!), but these days I can't imagine having the energy to repeat those adventures!
I've seen several people here recommend Imaginative Traveller...haven't done one of their tours yet, but they look worthy of some exploration.
http://www.imaginative-traveller.com...ations/europe/
Contiki (and met my husband on a tour!), but these days I can't imagine having the energy to repeat those adventures!
I've seen several people here recommend Imaginative Traveller...haven't done one of their tours yet, but they look worthy of some exploration.
http://www.imaginative-traveller.com...ations/europe/
Mar 21st, 2005, 04:43 PM
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We used Trafalgar Tours in 2002 for a trip to Spain and Portugal and were very satisfied. You could also try Insight Tours...the upgraded version of Trafalgar.
Why not go on their bulletin board for more info:
For Trafalgar: http://69.20.21.250/ttbb/ultimatebb.cgi
Insight:
http://forums.insightvacations.com/eve/ubb.x
Good surfing
Why not go on their bulletin board for more info:
For Trafalgar: http://69.20.21.250/ttbb/ultimatebb.cgi
Insight:
http://forums.insightvacations.com/eve/ubb.x
Good surfing
Mar 21st, 2005, 05:09 PM
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We've taken great tours with Globus, Perillo, Grand European, and Tauck. We're planning a trip with SmarTours this June and I've heard really good things about them. I have also heard good things about Insight.
Mar 21st, 2005, 05:27 PM
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WE have used Trafalgar, Insight and Imaginative Traveller..They are all very good, depends what style of travel you like..Imaginative Traveller is more adventure style where as Insight is more plush (for lack of a better word)..
Mar 21st, 2005, 05:57 PM
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I've taken tours with both Cosmos and Grand Circle. Cosmos had a nice mix of ages (20s thru 70s) and half the bus was Aussies and Kiwis.
Grand Circle was an older crowd (50+) but we stayed 3+ nights at all stops.
I enjoyed both tours and would go with either company again.
One lesson learned--no more tours with one night stops.
Faith
Grand Circle was an older crowd (50+) but we stayed 3+ nights at all stops.
I enjoyed both tours and would go with either company again.
One lesson learned--no more tours with one night stops.
Faith
Mar 21st, 2005, 06:35 PM
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I went with Globus in 1999. Have posted several times in the last week or so regarding this trip in answer to "tour" questions. Globus is mid priced. The hotels were three and four star except for London. The hotel in Florence was just gorgous..can't remember the name though..but anyway, the only thing I will repeat here is the one night stops are the pits. We only had one on this tour and that happened to be Florence but I remember thinking, "how do they do it?!!!" in reference to the tours that are like 10 cities in 13 days..I just never would want to do that. Check out the message boards for Group Travel/Tours and you'll probably get a listing and experience on many different companies. I do know that Globus is a huge company, has been in business for many years, and takes tours all over the world including the US. That does not mean that they never cancel a tour or change things..it can happen with any company. Good luck in your search.
Mar 21st, 2005, 06:41 PM
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As a rule I do not like big tours.
Last year we went to Wales with Backroads Touring Co, which is an English company.
We are repeating with them this year.
The company does long trips and short ones.
The size of the group is often small.
That has its good and bad sides.
The good is that you can alter the trip as you tour. We went many places; all was included. Not any of this extra here and extra there for an extra price.
By the time I figured it up, the cost per per person per day was not much more even though the group was small. And I felt that withs BackRoads I darn well got what I paid for: a great back roads and byways trip to the southern part of Wales.
Last year we went to Wales with Backroads Touring Co, which is an English company.
We are repeating with them this year.
The company does long trips and short ones.
The size of the group is often small.
That has its good and bad sides.
The good is that you can alter the trip as you tour. We went many places; all was included. Not any of this extra here and extra there for an extra price.
By the time I figured it up, the cost per per person per day was not much more even though the group was small. And I felt that withs BackRoads I darn well got what I paid for: a great back roads and byways trip to the southern part of Wales.
Mar 21st, 2005, 07:27 PM
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Globus, Trafalgar, General Tours are all about the same. You have to be careful with Cosmos, which is the budget tour company owned by Globus. Because the tours are cheaper than the first-class Globus, your hotels can be WAY outside of town. Trafalgar also has budget tours, but I can't think of the name. (I have a friend who works for Trafalgar in Rome.)
I have used Trafalgar for my trip to China in 2000, although the tour was actually conducted by the tourist bureau of China (it is the law in China). I also used General Tours for my trip to India and Nepal in 2001. Both tour companies were very similar, with similar pricing, types of hotels used, etc. All first class.
I do not recommend Abercrombie and Kent. When I was in India, I spoke to a woman who was on the Abercrombie & Kent tour of India. She was visiting the same cities as I, staying in the same hotels. Yet, she was paying $2,000 more!!!
I think it is much cheaper to do a trip on your own. You also don't have the leeway to go where you want, for how long you want with a tour. The itin. is pretty strict. However, If you are elderly, or someone who is not used to traveling, a tour can be the right way to go for you.
I can't stand being on a bus for more than one hour.
Cheers.
I have used Trafalgar for my trip to China in 2000, although the tour was actually conducted by the tourist bureau of China (it is the law in China). I also used General Tours for my trip to India and Nepal in 2001. Both tour companies were very similar, with similar pricing, types of hotels used, etc. All first class.
I do not recommend Abercrombie and Kent. When I was in India, I spoke to a woman who was on the Abercrombie & Kent tour of India. She was visiting the same cities as I, staying in the same hotels. Yet, she was paying $2,000 more!!!
I think it is much cheaper to do a trip on your own. You also don't have the leeway to go where you want, for how long you want with a tour. The itin. is pretty strict. However, If you are elderly, or someone who is not used to traveling, a tour can be the right way to go for you.
I can't stand being on a bus for more than one hour.
Cheers.
Mar 22nd, 2005, 03:37 AM
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It all depends on what you want for an itinerary. Determine what you want to see and how much time you want to spend in each place and then check out the suppliers. Try VacationsToGo.com to get listings of many suppliers itineraries and prices. We have not bought through them, but they seem to be very reputable. You can get a look at many possible itineraries, with relatively little effort. If you want to see a lot and don't mind many one night stays, there are many choices. We did a trip in Spain that was like that with Cosmos and found it a bit tiring, but, for that trip, it was what we wanted. Grand Circle will give you several night stays in one city and tour the surrounding region. They will also give you a more in depth cultural background to the area you are visiting. As I say determine what you want to do, and you'll find someone offering it.
Mar 22nd, 2005, 04:11 AM
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BUDGET:
Cosmos (subdivision of Globus)
Cost Savers (subdivision of Trafalger)
FIRST CLASS
Globus
Trafalger
DELUXE
Insight (a subdivision of Trafalger)
Lots of others too such as Perillo, General. Look at affordabletours.com for a complete listing and they give discounts on most companies.
Budget tours and First class tours often cover exactly same itinerary but hotels are different.
Give you an example...Trafalger has a tour called Bohemian Highlights, 2 weeks covering Frankfurt, Berlin, Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest, Vienna, Prague and back to Frankfurt. A good many 2 night stands.
They run the exact same tour on Cost Savers called Capitals of New Europe, itinerary is exactly the same almost to the letter.
Difference in price is something like $400 US...what accounts for this...hotels on Cost Savers are generally in suburbs, in big cities even first class hotels are somewhat out of city centres. In almost all cases, there are optional tours to fill the evenings for those afraid to use public transportation (actually sometimes I think it is fun to use public transportation to see and compare subway systems and buses to the ones you know but that's me) and being in somewhat better hotels might mean (not necessarily) somewhat better food at included meals.
So you have to make a basic decision, what is most important to you...and of course another variable is the tour director and every company, of course, has its duds and its stars and you might get a wonderful tour director with say Cosmos and the same tour with Globus could have a pompeous you know what....also the budget tours tend to get somewhat more Australians than Americans which I know is a generalization that may not be true for a particular tour but many of the Aussies I have met on tours tend to make a trip to Europe and take 2 or more tours as it is a long long distance from home and they have to save a few pennies here and there and one way of doing it is doing the budget tours. Many Americans I have met on the tours tend to be somewhat older and a bit more fussy..again this is a generalization and might not be true in a specific tour.
The tours can be great in seeing a lot and not having to worry each day about hotels, meals, etc but of course the down side is long days on buses (although lots of breaks, rarely more than 2 hours without a rest stop), and lots of well there's such and such a castle (the brochure says see such and such a castle) with no opportunity to ask the driver to stop but you do see the cities the tours pass through, you don't have language problems as the tour director, in theory of course, speaks the languages and the hotels are tour oriented in that they see tour after tour and know how to deal with it.
Read the brochures carefully and be aware of what it means when the brochure says see such and such rather than visit such and such and when the tour brochure says Amsterdam area for an overnight stop but they can be great ways of seeing a lot and meeting people who can become life long friends!
Cosmos (subdivision of Globus)
Cost Savers (subdivision of Trafalger)
FIRST CLASS
Globus
Trafalger
DELUXE
Insight (a subdivision of Trafalger)
Lots of others too such as Perillo, General. Look at affordabletours.com for a complete listing and they give discounts on most companies.
Budget tours and First class tours often cover exactly same itinerary but hotels are different.
Give you an example...Trafalger has a tour called Bohemian Highlights, 2 weeks covering Frankfurt, Berlin, Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest, Vienna, Prague and back to Frankfurt. A good many 2 night stands.
They run the exact same tour on Cost Savers called Capitals of New Europe, itinerary is exactly the same almost to the letter.
Difference in price is something like $400 US...what accounts for this...hotels on Cost Savers are generally in suburbs, in big cities even first class hotels are somewhat out of city centres. In almost all cases, there are optional tours to fill the evenings for those afraid to use public transportation (actually sometimes I think it is fun to use public transportation to see and compare subway systems and buses to the ones you know but that's me) and being in somewhat better hotels might mean (not necessarily) somewhat better food at included meals.
So you have to make a basic decision, what is most important to you...and of course another variable is the tour director and every company, of course, has its duds and its stars and you might get a wonderful tour director with say Cosmos and the same tour with Globus could have a pompeous you know what....also the budget tours tend to get somewhat more Australians than Americans which I know is a generalization that may not be true for a particular tour but many of the Aussies I have met on tours tend to make a trip to Europe and take 2 or more tours as it is a long long distance from home and they have to save a few pennies here and there and one way of doing it is doing the budget tours. Many Americans I have met on the tours tend to be somewhat older and a bit more fussy..again this is a generalization and might not be true in a specific tour.
The tours can be great in seeing a lot and not having to worry each day about hotels, meals, etc but of course the down side is long days on buses (although lots of breaks, rarely more than 2 hours without a rest stop), and lots of well there's such and such a castle (the brochure says see such and such a castle) with no opportunity to ask the driver to stop but you do see the cities the tours pass through, you don't have language problems as the tour director, in theory of course, speaks the languages and the hotels are tour oriented in that they see tour after tour and know how to deal with it.
Read the brochures carefully and be aware of what it means when the brochure says see such and such rather than visit such and such and when the tour brochure says Amsterdam area for an overnight stop but they can be great ways of seeing a lot and meeting people who can become life long friends!
Oct 17th, 2005, 11:07 AM
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We just returned from a Perillo Italy tour. Everything was fine EXCEPT for the bus, which was horrible. No one had any leg room because Perillo used a bus that had so many seats crammed into it. Every single person was disgusted with the situation, especially since our tour spent so much time on the road. It was beyond uncomfortable.
SF
SF
Nov 8th, 2005, 11:52 AM
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On 10/27/05 the company's membership in the Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern Massachusetts, Maine & Vermont was revoked by the BBB due to violation of BBB Standard of Membership "Make diligent efforts to eliminate the underlying cause(s) of any pattern(s) or trend(s) of customer complaints which the Bureau may call to the company's attention."
Nov 8th, 2005, 08:28 PM
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We took a Cosmos tour only because it was the only one we could find at short notice to go where we wanted. We knew it was a budget tour so we were more than pleased when it turned out to be a great experience. Like other posters have advised, it depends on the tour guide and your expectations. Do study all the tour companies' brochures so you'll know exactly what to expect in the way of accommodations, meals, etc.
Nov 15th, 2005, 09:17 AM
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lynn .... since you've posted on several threads asking about tour companies, it'd be easier to provide your link regarding your unfortunate experience with Perillo > > >
Perillo Tours - Bad Experience -- http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34707574
Perillo Tours - Bad Experience -- http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34707574
