hourglasss
Member
ger_mummy. If I am not wrong, the travel agency will have to refund you 100% if group is not confirm due to not enough ppl or they will change you to another date...
Just back for a 15D trip with EU. Overall, satisfied with the trip. As mine is a big group consisting of 42 pax, most of us are cooperative to be punctual and as such all sightsee locations were done except for the Eiffel Tower. Yes agree that the optional were slightly too many but its actually quite worth it.... markups for the optionals were not too high considering the fact the transportation were catered for.
Hi,
how come the Eiffel tower tour was not done?
Just back for a 15D trip with EU. Overall, satisfied with the trip. As mine is a big group consisting of 42 pax, most of us are cooperative to be punctual and as such all sightsee locations were done except for the Eiffel Tower. Yes agree that the optional were slightly too many but its actually quite worth it.... markups for the optionals were not too high considering the fact the transportation were catered for.
hi, how much did u spend for the optional tours? considering their itinerary is quite packed, there is still time for optional tours?
how is their food and hotels?
Hi Hourglass, we did not go for all the optional tour only a few which were recommended by Cecilia based on our group interests. Eg if only a few wanna to go Optional tour A then she will not go ahead as its really inefficient to only let the few who wants to go as the driver will need to drive up and down again which really will make the whole trip stress due to timing. We traveled everyday without any stress or worry not being able to catch the rivercruise etc.hi nameless83, thanks for sharing! So how about the optional tour? Is it worth it and you took up all the tour?
Any one going with EU in October / end November?
They quoted SQ or Emirate? How is the price?
Initially, we want to have Christmas in Europe, but ppl advise that Christmas shops close, day short and some attraction may close.
Hi everyone,
This response may be a little dated, but we wanted to reflect our feedback about the tour too.
My family went on the 13D Italy-Swiss-Paris tour with tour manager James Leow in June 2013 and got back rather disappointed with the trip.
Accommodation: On the tour brochure, hotels stated included Sheraton, Crowne Plaza and Novotel hotels but there was almost a complete failure to honor in this regard. Out of the nine stated hotels, eight were changed. Some of them were dismal, motel standard lodging. Look up <Russott Hotel>, <Hotel Pineta Palace> and <Mercure paris la villette> for an idea of the uncomfortable lodging we had to suffer.
Optional Tours: While customers were given the choice towards whether to join an optional tour, the TM didn’t seem to have a plan in events when the group opts out. We were stuck in a small leather shop for over an hour and then ferried to a supermarket when our group decided not to join the Milan factory outlet optional tour. Some tours were also ridiculously priced. €45 for factory outlet shopping in Paris (solely transportation, no meals, no entrance fee), €95 for additional full day tour in Paris (which brings you to montmarte (free attraction), 3-4 hrs of shopping and a perfume museum), €30 for Sistine chapel (entrance is €16), €30 for seine river cruise (cruise is €16). Mind you, these prices were per head. Our family ended spending over 2k additional per head on such fees (including service taxes €80, and city taxes €4 which was not included). TM likes to play the pressure selling trick, saying its hard to change the itinerary or all go else none go, but its best to stand firm since it's your money.
Food: Almost all dinners unless stated otherwise were Chinese restaurants. This wasn't a problem because some customers like Chinese food except that it was really substandard, almost single ingredient dishes; a plate of white cabbage, a plate of omelet, random pieces of meat. Even the French dinner in Nancy was rubbish, cafeteria style food. As was the Lafayette dinner; at a sad chinese restaurant in the Lafayette shopping center. You have to settle most lunch on your own too, do take note.
Tour Manager: While this could really be hit or miss, we did not enjoy Leow’s service, or the lack of, the duration of the tour. He’s what you call an empty vessel, quick to speak but lacking in substance. His tour management was apathetic at best, uninformative, inefficient and frankly rather dim. Some of the group were left (including us) were left in a different hotel (in a dangerous neighborhood), with zero show of concern, neither that night nor the morning after. It’s fortunate the tour included local guides at various destinations to ease our ears from the mindless banter.
In addition, after-sales service was also quite horrendous. We did not get our free luggage as promised (they said they run out). No response to questions, complaints and feedback from the management (i think the sales staff do try their best to help) especially when it comes to the accommodation arrangements.
Though the destinations are wonderful, packed with sights worth seeing, the combination of unfair accommodation replacements, extravagant optional fees, incompetent tour management and lousy food had sunk our anticipation for this best selling EU holiday tour package. I doubt we’ll be returning customers. For those who are interested to read more, a detailed review will be up on my blog once I find the time to write it (with lunch recommendations for the many places you have to settle meals yourselves) so tag this post to follow it.