Discoveraustralia Reviews 37

As my husband and I were due to leave on the Indian Pacific in March which with all the rain the tracks were damaged with trains unable to run.

They offered us to meet at Central station to be taken to airport for flight from Sydney to Adelaide and then board the Indian Pacific.
Which I declined with the cost of planes tickets to the price we paid this was ludicrous paying $9000 for this trip to miss half of it and all your given us is a flight no other compensation.

They will not give you a full refund back no matter how much you talk with them, then to say we will only give you $7200- $7300 max so we are out of pocket.
You need to book before May as the credit will run out are you serious we are unable to get a booking to re book also will cost us another $1200 or more.

The girl I’ve been speaking with from Did overt Australia is nice, polite and trying to do her best but as more train trips cancelled due to track damage it’s impossible and unfair to the customer.

Customers don’t have $9000 to just lose because your given us a time frame when it needs to be used this trip should be a complete transfer for another booking when possible.

I’m angry and annoyed where do I go now take legal action as you shouldn’t be allowed to treat customers this way and not give us a full refund.

Planed to book trip to Adelaide.
Advertisement didn’t match reality.
so will not be going on the train trip.

This company takes advantage of elderly people. They pressured my mother-in-law into putting down a deposit by saying there was only one cabin left for the dates she wanted. Once they had her $2k deposit, they told her the last cabin had already been sold. They agreed to refund her money, but have failed to do so seven weeks later. They're now ignoring our emails and we're having to seek advocacy from Consumer Affairs. Don't support this unethical company!

Bee , our consultant , was very helpful in putting together our Ghan rail package. Due to unforeseen circumstances on our part we needed to push the trip forward 6 months - she rebooked everything for us and the trip went without a hitch. We had great flights , transfers were better than we're used to , hotels were quiet , comfortable and central and the Ghan was really top notch and enjoyable off train experiences also.

Discover Australia has exceptional service. Everything they said would happen did happen we have been on our 3rd trip with them and will do even more. 110% satisfied

We did a 6 day Cairns tour with Discover Australia. Well organised and all went smoothly. Adrian from Wings Coaches was an absolute joy. Well versed in the Daintree. However the fish and chips on Green Island WERE THE WORST I HAVE EVER HAD. AT $28 THEY WERE BEYOND AWFUL .

We have just returned from 15 days in Tasmania and I could not fault this company. From the booking through to the accommodation, flights, tours. All were as described and all excellent. We will definitely travel with them again!

We had a 5-day trip with Discover Australia, out of which 2 days were just the travel and nothing because of their flight timings. Our flight from Sydney to Hobart was 7:00AM in the morning we were in the hotel at 9:30AM and we got to know the check-in is at 2:00PM, I couldn't understand why the team gave us the flight if they already knew the check-in time, or rather they should have kept an activity. While going back again our flight time was at 8:25PM again the waste of the whole day. The only 2 days we enjoyed was MONA and Port Arthur. Additionally, they should have kept weather conditions in mind before selecting the tours. Furthermore, 3rd day we had Hobart city tour, where we sat in a bus and just looked at the buildings, the funniest part was we got 45mins. to explore Botanical Garden, the rest half-day was free.
I would highly recommend to hire a car and you can visit lot more places. Just imagine of wasting $2400 for 2 days where you could visit in maximum $500. DiscoverAustralia, they are the agents but operators are in Hobart so better get directly to them. Grayline, Redline buses are few operators that gives you day tours.

Poor communication regarding my booking on the Indian Pacific from Perth to Sydney 21-24 July 24. A prepaid transfer from Sydney Central Station to the airport didn't arrive. I took a taxi at my expense. Discovery didn't apologize and refused to refund the taxi fare when receipt presented. Never again! Be warned.

No stars. The lack of communication, detail about vouchers for tours and pick ups was minimal. The Ghan experience was very good and 4 stars to team onboard and tours. Our adelaide and darwin accommodation was woeful. Not to mention flight details arriving the day before with 6am flights and connections without direct flightsarriving 1030 at night. I would never use Discovery Australia again.

This trip is packaged like a tour. It is none of this! All you get: being picked up at the airport and delivered to the hotel (which was very basic). All the tours are available online and the local company picks tour guests up at their hotels anyway, so no extra bonus. Furthermore, for the hotel, I had to pay a single supplement! I could have booked the hotel in Darwin myself and selected a better-suited hotel (closer to the center and more superior) for a better price. This was a total rip-off and I cannot recommend this company at all.

I was recently on the 6 day tour to Perth and Rottnest Island. I was sent 3 different itineraries and it was very confusing, sometimes the days changed and I didn’t know until the bus driver told me where I was booked to go. The hotel (Novotel Langley Perth) was a disgrace, I’m 5’8 and the shower came up to my chin and had little water pressure and sprayed askew all over the floor, the taps on the sink fell apart, I had no idea how the set the air conditioner as it was cold whether you turned it to 10 degrees or 25. The door key was a lucky dip if it worked or not. There was dust and spider webs hanging from different parts of the ceiling and housekeeping consisted of making beds no restocking of milk, coffee or tea. The bathroom pipes bang and clang like construction is going on in the walls from other guests rooms. There is an app to order your $31 hamburger but be careful as I was charged for the people who stayed in the room before us meals from room service although I paid for my food on the app and now have to contact the kitchen management by email to get the $65 return for food I didn’t order. I could go on forever about the hotel and its faults, I will say on the positive breakfast was delicious and staff friendly but had no idea or advice on discovery tours lucky we Pan Pacific Hotel over the road as they new where we had to go.
My mother is elderly and struggles to walk up hills twice we had buses cancelled with no other options but to walk in the dark back from tours.
Some days were super long with only one meal provided, some tours were rushed and we only seen 1/2 of what we would have liked to see although some tours were fantastic.
All bus drivers including offsiders were absolutely lovely and highly knowledgeable, if I was to give them a rating 10 being the highest they would get a 10+, what great staff to have employed. Also the shuttle lady to and from the airport was a very wonderful and helpful host.
Flights were so inappropriate as we had to check out at 11am from hell hotel and our flight was 3:50pm and we were getting picked up 1:30, the day is a wasted day we had to pay for, I would have even been happy to travel to Melbourne and then on to Sydney on an early flight.
Discovery themselves need to look at management of organisation and communications skills as this side of the tour was not helpful in any way, shape or form, it lacked direction and understanding of what, where and when to go and this is why people were lost and not arriving in the right place and time.
I will think twice before booking another discovery holiday.

Never travel with discover Australia. After I sent them a letter saying how disappointed I was . From our last tour as hotel was a mediocre 3 star instead of 4 star. 2 days of the 3 day tour was to the same places and not what was planned.
I wrote a very polite letter addressing every point and this was their answer:
Discover Australia Holidays (and it’s supplier service providers) reserve the right to delete, cancel or alter holidays, tours, cruises, activities, transfers, flights, accommodation or other travel arrangements without notice or explanation.
Should you encounter any dissatisfaction in the delivery of services from a supplier Service Provider whilst travelling you must immediately inform the Service Provider. You must request the Service Provider put any issues or failures right at the time and give them the opportunity to do so. Any disputes between you and a Service Provider is to be resolved between you and the Service Provider. If for any reason any supplier Service Provider is unable to provide the services for which you have contracted, or you are not satisfied with the standard of any service provided, your remedy lies against that Service Provider, and not against us.
There is no entitlement to a refund.
Not even the courtesy to address the point mentioned or their concerns for our disappointment.
Do not travel with them they can change your tour destination and accommodation whenever they want without any notification.
Their words!!!!!

Shocking services-lack of meal preferences comms, swapping for low cost tour, while being booked for more expensive one, cancelling part of the train tour package without offering refund.
BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE. Wish would have seen these reviews before booking -never again!

If I could Zero Stars, I would.
My wife and I were left stranded at Alice Springs airport in October '23 when a pre paid transfer service to our hotel failed to connect and communicate with us.
We had to pay for a taxi to continue our journey.
After many months of trying to get reimbursed, I have no option than to get my money's worth by writing this scathing review.
The lack of empathy displayed to us by this company is something that everyone should be aware of.
They are happy to take your money up front and then make it extremely difficult to get a refund.
A shameless company that everyone who intends booking a holiday, need to be aware of.
By writing this negative review ( which I hope they have the "balls" to publish) has made me feel better and I have got my money back by doing it!!!!

I booked all inclusive Darwin. As it turned out all of my tours were cancelled. I had paid for other alternate tours but they also got cancelled. I am still waiting on a refund, they are taking so long. I am out of pocket and my holiday was ruined as all I had left was the hotel and flights. I have never had a holiday this bad in my life. They should refund the hotel and flights also as they provided me with nothing that was part of the tour. Awful experience for this tour.

It is a pity the good work of the booking office is let down by the customer service office. They will not answer the phone or acknowledge emails, until they lift their game I wll not recommend Discover Australia to anyone.

We had a great time but one of our tours was cancelled we were told we'd get our refund but nothing and won't answer our emails it's about $240 be wary ppl I won't give in

Terrific organisation and good communication. Everything happened as expected. Food great accommodation very good

Our Booking: Discover Australia Indian Pacific Train Journey with Broome Included. April 2023.
The trip was amazing, however the finalisation of the arrangements and follow up support from Discover Australia was very disappointing.
Incomplete Bookings and Last-Minute Rush
We booked and paid in full more than a year ahead of travel, however our bookings were still being finalised 3 days prior to departure. In addition, during this period, there was poor communication from Discover Australia causing our anxiety levels to rise and our excitement turn to stress and worry.
We had to seek alternate accommodation in Broome from what Discover Australia arranged for us.
We were travelling with friends and had each paid for an upgrade however it seemed that our booking must have been the last two rooms available. The rooms were not what we expected, and we spent 3 hours arranging alternate accommodation elsewhere as there were no other rooms available.
The staff at the front desk were supportive and understanding and after hearing that we had paid for an upgrade, said they would waive any fees back to Discover Australia.
Discover Australia was not supportive, did not offer any assistance, and said that we would have to pay cancellation fees.
We did not view that the process of us checking in and then, on the basis of seeing the rooms, deciding to reject them should be considered as a cancellation. The rooms were not what was advertised and certainly were not to the standard of the upgrade we had paid for. The staff at the accommodation were understanding and supportive but the back office staff at Discover Australia were not.
Discover Australia had poor administrative procedures in our case.
It took nearly four months and endless phone calls for us to get our accommodation refund (minus Discover Australia cancellation fees).
Discover Australia said that the financial arrangements with the accommodation meant that the refund would take time, as they must recover the funds. We were informed by the accommodation that this is not the case, as they only get paid on our checkout. Discover Australia had our funds for 14 months and still had our funds. It took them a further 4 months to provide the accommodation refunds.
What was also disappointing was that when the refunds arrived there was no detail, and our friends refund was different to ours. We had each paid for the same trip, same accommodation, and at the same time.
The time, the amounts, the poor communication, and the lack of clarity across the whole four months was to us an extremely poor example of how a business should operate.
It seemed to us that Discover Australia failed to act as our agent and be fully supportive, helpful, and completely honest.
Their staff who answer the telephones are very polite and try to help, however in events like ours, when things go wrong the actual staff at Discover Australia that have the knowledge and the authority to address any issues are unable to be directly contacted. The repeat message from the telephone staff to us was constantly: “That is another department, and I can only send them an email” followed by “you should get a response within … days”. The responses each time took many, many weeks with a lot of silence in between.
Next time we will aim to seek an agent who is more professional and offers more of a complete service. We want someone who is also good when things go wrong.
For completeness, we invite a response from Discover Australia.