Choose almost any other company.
Let me begin by saying that this is my 8th guided travel tour. I have enjoyed all of them a great deal. I had used at least three different companies before and had developed some expectations. I am sure to forget some of the details, but let me give it a shot. My mother and I (I'm 46 she's 65) booked the 7 countries in 9 days tour. I'm only going to give you some of the significant issues that I can remember.
1. Our first red flag should have been when we called ahead to book our excursions using the supplied number. The person that answered had no idea or reference regarding the trip. Okay - we'll book when we get there, right?
2. Day 1, we arrive in London at Heathrow. Our paperwork said there would be a representative holding up a sign with our name. After arriving at the meeting point, there was no one there with our name.
After waiting a while, I had to purchase a local cell sim card so that I could call the emergency number on the paperwork. After two calls, a cranky woman came up to us, muttering about how the company always got things wrong. She reluctantly took us to a van that took us to the hotel.
Dec 31st.NYE...8a...after traveling all night, our rooms weren't ready, and we were told to sit in the lobby for almost 5 hours until we could check-in. They did secure our luggage and told us they'd let us know when a room was available. As you might imagine, this was really inconvenient, to say the least. After many hours a room was available. We got our keys and went to the room. We were told our luggage would be brought up. After many more hours, I had to go find our luggage in a security room and move it to the room.
Keep in mind this is NYE in London. We very much wanted to see the sites of the city and the festivities. Our tour guide wouldn't arrive until 2 days later. The Cosmos representative, (That's right - you're not really buying a vacation from GVV but a resold package from the Cosmos group), the representative said "nothing will be open so we're not offering any tours" So no guide or tour for the two days in London. We at least got out of the hotel and walked around a bit, but none the things one might expect from a trip to London.
Frankly, they are trying to accomplish too much in too little time. More than once the drive to the next destination was so long that there was no time to do anything once we arrived. If there had been time to explore the city, our hotels were so far removed from the metro area that we would have had to hire a cab or shuttle service. The Austria visit was simply a hotel stay and a drive through the country.
My mother has limited mobility, which has never been an issue. When she runs out of steam or begins to hurt too much she passes on the walking and is content to stay on the bus. However, this is the first time we were told that it was forbidden to stay on the bus. So I had to assist my mother with finding somewhere to sit out in the elements until the 'scheduled' event was over. The next day I came down with the worst cold I have ever had. I was running a very high fever and could not control my coughing. I desperately needed cold medication. I told my guide this. On previous tours, our guides have been excellent at either taking a quick detour into a town to a pharmacy or arranging other help. When I asked our guide if he could help he replied: "They may possibly have something at the morning comfort stop." I spent the next 120 minutes coughing violently on the bus even occasionally losing consciousness briefly.
When we arrived at the next truck stop I was fortunate enough to find at least some cough drops. Oh by the way - your lunches will all be at self-service trucks stops. Most tours arrange for a local experience - this one is all truck stops self-service.
Some of the other low lights include a guide that would start walking and not check to see if the end of the group was following. Twice my mother had to slow down and eventually stop without arriving at the intended location. Luckily, I am used to navigating, but you may not be so lucky.
Do yourself a favor and use another company. The truth is that the tour price is not particularly less expensive. It is even less of a bargain when you consider that additional fees you will end up spending such as $120 for a checked bag. Lastly, all of our previous tour companies concluded their trips with complimentary, fixed menu dinners. This is the first tour that charged an additional $60 for a farewell dinner. Needless to say, we decided to skip it. You have lots of great options to choose from. Pass on GVV.
11 January 2020
Unprompted review
