We were interested in seeing the history & what we saw was awesome. We would probably not take another bus tour with this company, though. There was too much time spent on the bus & it got tiresome. Also, it seemed like we drove past a lot of interesting sites as the tour guide told us about them. Not even a stop to take pictures. This was especially true of the "City tours." Just driving around looking.
Our tour guide was terrible about giving complete & necessary information, or we were given conflicting information from different sources about where to meet, what time, etc. The guests were constantly asking each other what we were supposed to be doing, when & where. On one optional tour, a guest was left & they had to go back & get them -- losing 2 hours of the tour. Another time 3 couples were at the wrong spot for pick up & had to wander around the city until they found the bus. The information given was conflicting or not clear. When we were left to tour the Edinburgh Castle, we were told to meet as a group outside the castle, but the tour guide for the castle told us to meet at the bus where we had been left originally. Confusing. We went to the bus stop, but they had already left, so we emailed our tour director. He didn't answer for some time & turned out he wasn't even on the bus. (The tour guide usually didn’t answer my emails, adding to the lack of good communication). So, we called Trafalgar --as the tour guide had to told us to do if we couldn't reach him--after 3 calls to them, we were told they had spoken to the driver & told to stay put, our bus would pick up us there at 2:30pm. (This information was wrong—our bus went from Rossley Chapel straight back to our hotel.) We were not comfortable with so much different information, so we spent $47 on a taxi to get our next stop, Rosslyn Chapel. We did find our group there, but had only about 10 minutes left at the stop, so we didn't really get to see it.
The rooms for the first couple of nights in Ireland & Scotland, were not great. Very old buildings with tiny, tiny, old rooms & bathrooms. One room in Scotland had bathroom like you’d find in a RV. Only one of us could be walking the in room—the other had to get in the bed or chair as the little aisles around the room could not accommodate two people up at the same time. I understand European rooms are different from what we’re used to. But at $10,000+ for this trip, I expected better. The rooms we were assigned towards the end of the Ireland and Scotland trips were much better & the accommodations were very nice.
Overall, the food was good, although breakfast was the same every day except the last stop in Edinburgh, where they offered waffles. The lunch/dinner meals we had were tasty & plentiful, & the service excellent.
I very much enjoyed the history we saw (although the steps on Balmoral Castle were a killer), but made it to the top to see the wonderful views. I didn’t think I would be interested in the racing horse farm, or the Waterford Crystal, but they were interesting & informative. The horse farm I probably could have done without, but the crystal factory was amazing!
We were supposed to stop at the Cliffs of Moher, but I don’t think we did. If we did, I wasn’t aware of it. That could have been part of the poor communication of the tour guide’s part. I had an itinerary from the Ireland/Scotland book which we understood could change. That’s okay. We got 2nd itinerary from our travel agent from Brendan Vacations, & a 3rd from the tour guide. Our trip followed none of them, so we wondered from day to day where we were going, or where we were. I guess it didn’t matter in the long run, but many of us found that lack of clarity stressful.
There was concerning incident the occurred that you should be aware of. At one point, a guest in the hotel lobby was struggling to breath. She couldn’t complete more than one word at a time before needing a breath. I was very concerned, I asked if she had a history of blood clots, heart problems or asthma/other breathing problems—she said no. I notified our tour guide who was organizing the luggage in the lobby. His response was that he’d “chat with her” when he was done with the luggage. (What part of struggling for air did he not understand!) A few minutes later I saw him in the dining room & asked about her. He stated she was fine & he was getting her a drink of water. She continued on the bus until the next stop when I saw her speaking to a hotel representative. She was clearly worse. Later we were told she’d gone to the hospital, & she had fluid in her chest which was removed. That seemed like the end of it & we were told she’d probably join us when we got to Edinburgh. Later we were told the hospital would not release her due to her elevated heart rate as a result of her pneumonia. She was still in the hospital when the tour ended. I didn’t think the tour guide reacted appropriately to her situation--this woman could have died & probably would have had someone else not intervened.
All in all, the poor communication made the trip confusing & stressful. It would have helped if the tour guide had stayed with us, or at least answer our emails. As a result, I would be reluctant to book a tour again with your company.
