Cosmos Tours

pisduck

New Member
Hi gals,
My hubby and I are interested to go on a Cosmos tour to Europe. Wish to gather some feedback from those who have tried the Cosmos package before. How is the hotel and food like?
Also, do you feel like the odd ones out in the group?
Are there a lot of hidden costs?
How would you rate the programs? Do you have lots of things to do?

Compared to other tours eg. Contiki, Insight, Trafalgar and Globus, which would you recc for HM?
 


touraco

New Member
Hi
I just joined 2 cosmos tours for my honeymoon in apr.
when are you going? if it's after apri,i cld share with you some information
 

pisduck

New Member
hi touraco,

i am thinking of joining the 18 days europe at leisure tour in june. how about u?
do you know of anyone who has gone for a cosmos tour before?
 

pisduck

New Member
hi starfruit,
that's what i heard from some other overseas forum. but hubby and i are ok with that. we like hanging out with older people, actually.
happy.gif

we have already booked our tours for june. will be going on the cosmopolitan europe tour and the highlights of scotland tour. would appreciate feedback from anyone who have been on the tours before. thanks!!
 

touraco

New Member
hi pisduck
i have 2 friends who joined the cosmos tour before and both of them like it.
will feedback when i am back.
 

pisduck

New Member
hi touraco,
which tour have you signed up? heard from some other forums that tours can be cancelled like 2 weeks before departure. Do u know if that is true? Cos I am thinking of booking my air tiks now.
 

touraco

New Member
pisduck
i signed up for the grand tour of switzerland and splendors of italy. i have already booked my air tickets as well. they called and tell me that the cosmos tours are fixed. if they really do that, i am done for as i am going to london and paris before joining the cosmos tour and i have booked all flights from paris to rome and rome to zurich
 

pisduck

New Member
hi touraco,
so when do they confirm with u that the tour is fixed, heh? my scotland tour is not fixed yet according to the tour agency.

your tour looks interesting. hubby was initially interested in signing up for the swiss and italy tour too.
happy.gif
but after reading a guide book on prague, we are interested in prague now as well! so, in the end, signed up cosmopolitan europe.
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U are doing a lot of flying, hor? your flight is prob SIN-LON then PARIS-ROME then ROME-ZURICH followed by ZUR-SIN. WOW WOW!! can understand what u mean about the flights. i am also worried that if there are last minute cancellation of tour, then we will have prob with our air tiks, too. also, booking of the hotels would also be affected.

did u book your before and after lodgings with Cosmos? Or do u have recc for cheaper alternatives? How about transfers? Worth it to "order" from them or not?
 

touraco

New Member
hi pisduck
they called me and tell me that that everything is confirmed.my friend told me that prague is very beautiful.

yah...a lot of flying.i booked additonal night in zurich after my zurich tour. we wanted to end in zurich cos' we feel it shld be a relaxing place. pple says we are going backwards as usually pple go to switzerland then italy but we do it the other way.heehee
i think transfers is better with them as i have checked other websites for airport transfer and it seems that have to meet at a certain time at a certain place so u still need to travel to that place at that time to meet the transport and not at ur hotel...weird,right?

btw, i am confused whether to use traveller's cheque or cash. if cash,does it mean i have to change pounds,euro,francs?
 

pisduck

New Member
hi touraco,
travel agent called me to inform me that my scotland tour has been cancelled.
sad.gif
so depressing... hope that my cosmopolitan europe tour will not be cancelled as well. otherwise, we would need to select the tours again.
sad.gif


i will probably not be staying at the cosmos hotel. (found cheaper lodgings near the cosmos hotel) wander if airport transfers are possible if this is the case. Otherwise, we will just take the tube...

i am not sure about traveller's cheques.
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think we will just bring our credit card and minimum cash. i thot france has adopted euro dollars already. u mean they are still using francs, meh? oh no.... if that is the case, i also have to change euros and pounds and francs... so confusing...
 

touraco

New Member
pisduck
really...that's bad
some places dun accept card so better have some cash. not sure if switzerland accepts euro so safer to bring different currencies??
 

sweetpea

New Member
Hi Ladies need some help here

I have heard that Cosmos Tours are good..but I have no idea what they are..are they travel agents? Or guides? My FH and I are intending to travel to Greece..anyone know if they have Cosmos Tours for Greece and Turkey..or where do I get information? The NATAS Fiar is coming up this weekend and I hope to book my HM this week!
 

pisduck

New Member
The agent is scenic travel.

A full list of the comos tours can be found here

http://www.cosmostours.com.au/

Anyway confirmed our tours already. Only booked the 15 day cosmopolitan europe. Flying by BA. Booked and extra 5 nights in london euston area. Total bill around $8k for 2 including airfare + 5nights in london.
 

panggou

New Member
Hi Pisduck, sorry can you advise me, how you calculate the cost? how come extra 5 nights still can keep to 8k? sorry like to find out more.
 

pisduck

New Member
hi winnie,
we booked the london lodgings ourselves via the internet...works out to be around 70 pounds per nite in london for both of us.
 

pisduck

New Member
hi winnie,
i checked out London's weather in July. In the range 22 to 11 deg... quite ok i guess, a bit like air-con.... so, no worries.

was in london before. it is quite an easy place to get around actually. the tube (like our mrt) is an extremely convenient transport option. in addition, everything is in english so it is unlikely to get lost. you can actually get the tube routes from their website.
happy.gif
 

panggou

New Member
Hi Pisduck, thanks for the reply. Need to convince my hubby to go on Cosmos tour, he cannot undersatnd what is the different with going from local package and I find it hard to explain cos i am still blur myself hehehe
 

touraco

New Member
pisduck
scenic travel just called and told me i can go and collect my air-tickets already

did anyone went to natas fair?
 

little_a

Active Member
hi touraco,
can u pls explain to me wat's cosmo tours?? i am kinda confused.

GRAND TOUR OF SWITZERLAND + THE SPLENDORS OF ITALY ... 21 days... how much would it cost per pax? does it include accomodation? air tickets?
 

touraco

New Member
ger
think i replied some parts to you in another thread already.
u can go to the website www.scenic-travel.com
search under the cosmos and see the prices for the date that u wanted to.
it include accomodation and some of the meals.
air tickets, you have to buy yourself
 

pisduck

New Member
hi winnie,
i am not sure also... but i think the main difference is that for cosmos tours, you have to buy your own air tiks and plan out how u will meet the cosmos people. another point is that u could get more choices. for eg. they have tours concentrating on russia etc etc..., which could be hard to find for local operators...

hi touraco,
so nice.
happy.gif
we still have not collected our tiks. but, we bought the non-refundable kind of tiks so even if the tour is cancelled (is still not a confirmed departure yet), we still will be leaving for london... just that, we have to F&E all the way. yikes!!
 

pisduck

New Member
hi touraco,
so HOW was it??? did u enjoy the trip?
how was the transport, hotels and fellow travel mates? any advice?
i am getting quite excited over my trip already...
 

touraco

New Member
hi pisduck
when is ur trip starting?
the trip is great. we enjoyed it but be prepared to walk a lot.
transport is by the coach around the country. hotels are passable, some good and some not so good.
most of my fellow travel mates are quite nice. we are the only singaporeans on the italy tour and including us 8 singaporeans on the switzerland tour.
in italy, total pax only 19 so relatively small
in switzerland, total pax is 30.
which tour u choose?
food is extremely expensive there
 

pisduck

New Member
we are on the 15 days cosmopolitan tour. dun know how big is the tour size but mostly, i am concerned about the hotels. r they clean? is it in a safe district?
 

askabride

Member
hi touraco,
Howz it like to be travelling with foreigners? Very happy-go-lucky experience that'll make each and every 1 of us sing songs? heheheheh...
Which tour did you choose and which part of it is highly recommended and must-go?
 

touraco

New Member
hi pisduck
the hotels are all safe..dun worry
at least in italy and switzerland with cosmos and when we do F&E in london and paris, all very safe as well.
i would say they are quite clean...i can't stand dirty toilets in hotels so if i can take it, shld be quite alright.
most hotels are quite convenient except venice as we dun stay in venice itself so have to take bus and then boat to venice

askabride
it's fun...most of the pple are quite sporting
but quite a number of elderly couples too but there are also single pple
nah...they wont make us sing songs

i chose splendors of italy and grand tour of switzerland. strange thing is that we spend almost 2 days in italy in the swizerland tour.
 

makino

New Member
Welcome back touraco! How long was your Europe trip? How was the land tour by Cosmos? Do they provide the coach across countries?

I've only joined packaged tours before so don't really know how such operators work.
(Cos packaged tours covers everything from Singapore to Europe and back, I didn't have to worry or think about anything.) I was thinking of Greece, Switz, France and England, but I don't think packaged tours contain Greece with other places.

Pisduck, for hotel wise, I think 3 stars in Europe is quite good enough, though I tried staying in an Italian hotel in Rome which was spooky (old palace converted). You could check out the location of the hotels. If it's near the red lights district the area may be a bit more 'complex'.
 

touraco

New Member
hi tsukushi
europe trip was great. land tour is great too. i joined 2 different tours in 2 countries so i arrange the flight myself. not sure abt those cross countries tours but i shld think it is included.
 

makino

New Member
hi touraco,

Just another qn - if there is an itinerary for say XX land tour which is supposed to last for 6 days, will it be cheaper to opt out of some items? And can we just join it for the first 3 days? Thanks!
 

touraco

New Member
hi tsukushi
i dun think u can do that but u can check. in italy, there is a couple who left one day before the tour ends but i have no chance to ask if they pay lesser or the same price if they do that.
 

pisduck

New Member
hi touraco,
my hubby has 1 ques... for the tour bus, is there a toilet? can we use it?

would u recc us to join the optional tours?
 

touraco

New Member
pisduck
there is a toilet on the bus but it's not announced to pple,we discovered the toilet ourselves. the bus makes toilet stop every 1.5hrs to 2 hrs so it's ok.

in italy, i only join the vatican city and gondola as optional. the vatican city one is good. there is someone singing on the gondola i had,quite nice as well

in switzerland, my main objective is to go to the mountains so i only join the mountain optionals. i love the stanserhorn optional. as for the gornegrat, the only thing there is u see the matterhorn.
 

makino

New Member
Hi pisduck,

I don't think you can use the toilet on the coach. Normally the driver would lock it. Imagine if everyone started using it, the coach would stink.. LOL

I remembered that during my tour (Chan bros), my tour manager forbade us to eat on the coach in case we dirty the place, cos we would be using the same coach for that 2 weeks. But he was also nice enough to find free toilets for us to use, although sometimes we still had to pay.

Oh yeah, do take the gondola ride. It's romantic.
 

pisduck

New Member
hi touraco and tsukushi,

thanks for your advice.

any suggestions on the types of clothings to bring? should i bring an overcoat?
 

touraco

New Member
pisduck
yah..agreed with tsukushi that u r not allowed to eat on coach else the whole coach will be crawling with cockroaches and ants and smell.

better to bring overcoat in case wheather changes or when u go up to mountains
 

askabride

Member
hi touraco,
BTW, just curious, what made you choose Cosmos over Trafalgar, Contiki, Globus, Insight? Have been hearing all these non local pkgs but wonder which is more suitable for me. Also, hv you made a comparison with local pkgs like Chan Bros, SA Tours?

Would like to hear more
happy.gif
 

touraco

New Member
askabride
i rule out local tours because had bad experiences once.
i choose cosmos cos' the dates fit perfectly with what i want and their itinery is what i wanted too
 

little_a

Active Member
askabride,
i am oso considering trafalgar and cosmos.. i heard trafalgar offers better accomodation...

agreed with touraco, local tours not very good and often very rush... the best part is you can chose the itinery you like..
 

makino

New Member
hi pisduck,

When and where will you be going?

I think it's getting warmer now, but it depends on where you will be. If you're going in June for eg. maybe you will only need a cardigan in Paris at night. If you are going up a mountain, do prepare full winter wear including protection for your ears and hands.

Actually, I went for Chan bros package tour and I find it very rushed. The good thing I like is that the tour manager took care of us from Singapore all the way and he was very familiar with Europe and the culture and good places to buy things and where not to buy things.

Would like to find out more about land packages like Trafalgar and Cosmos as well to make some comparisons. My friend commented that Contiki is not suitable for honeymoons.
 

smileysmiley

New Member
Hi, anyone in this thread looking to visit Italy in Sep?? BTW, I have a question. When the COSMOS website has the dates in red, do u gals think that its safe to put down the deposit? I am hesistant cos my hubby and I only wanna join the "Jewels of Italy" tour with Cosmos and I had bad experience before. I called Scenic Travel and they told me that even if its red, they cannot guarantee. I am a bit like "HUH??" then why are the dates red??
I really am quite worried about placing the deposit. Can anyone help??
 

pisduck

New Member
hi touraco,
FINALLY, my tour has been confirmed. *phew*
now, i am thinking about what to pack to go there.... ask u something hor, is it possible to do laundry at the hotel there? cos if cannot, then will be a problem cos i prob will overload my luggage...
sad.gif
 

touraco

New Member
hi pisduck,
we did a bit of laundry,we brought along some washing powder and then we hang them dry near the heater.
but dun wash heavy duty clothes else i dun think u can dry them within one night. some places we have 2 nites so it's still ok for us.
what's the temp by the time u go? ours is like 15deg so u won't perspire.
i brought 3 pairs of jeans, think about 8 thick tops,2 t-shirts and 2 winter coats for my 25 days.
 

pisduck

New Member
hi touraco,
we are wondering if the hotel has laundry services. (last time when we went to nz, there was a washing machine + dryer in each room) if there is machine cum dryer, then we can bring less clothing...
happy.gif

dun know what is the temp like... but when i checked the guidebook last time, for the places i go, it can range from 10 deg to 22 deg...quite a wide range, leh.
thanks for the info. i am also thinking of bringing similar amount of things but maybe more T-shirts.
oh....u have any pictures to share?
 


handydog

New Member
Hi I also went for my honeymoon tour in UK with cosmo, 6 yrs ago. It was a great trip with no pressure. Be prepare to be the youngest in the gp & do let them know u r in honeymoon so they give u queen bed 4 the whole trip or else they give u separate beds if hotel is too pack.

I went in sep so the weather in London was unpredictable with rain. So just in case bring raincoat or small umbrella if u r going in that time.

My suggestion for clothes is to bring unwanted Tshirt that u can throw away along the way. Then no laundry to be done. Not all hotel got washing machine for laundry.
happy.gif
 

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