Northern Explorer Christmas & New Year

Very nice tour leader Matt

The Christmas aspect of this tour was the cherry on top! Because there isn't much going on in a few of the countries the Christmas markets made each country even more interesting. The Christmas markets were amazing; we visited 11 Christmas markets, each country we visited had a Christmas market, extra on the Berlin because they still had their Christmas market open until Dec. 31st at 1 am. Also, being able to celebrate Christmas in the middle of the Baltic Sea on a ship with entertainment and dancing till 2:45 am in the morning was memorable! Overall tour leader and driver experience: Our tour leader Matt and driver Dennis were both impressive. Our driver Dennis was amazing! Everyone always marveled at how he maneuvered the bus and was impressed by his skills. I do get car sick and I usually can't sleep well on bus rides, but with Dennis driving, I never felt car sick and was able to sleep a majority of the time. And when we were in Berlin Matt talked about the Historical context and background of Berlin, he knew all the detailed facts. I thought he was reading out of a textbook. I am an International Relations student and my focus is on foreign affairs and policy analysis, so when I heard him talk about all the details I appreciated it. I learned all this from the perspective of the American University system, but being able to hear the European/German perspective was awesome. I appreciate his depth of knowledge because when we had the local tour guide in Norway she briefly talked about the 'Norwegian Petroleum Fund' I went up to her to ask her more questions because I wrote a policy analysis paper on it, but she actually didn't know much about it until I realized that I probably know more about it than she does. Overall, I didn't expect our tour leader to be well-versed in the realm of international relations and foreign affairs, but I really did appreciate the knowledge and information he shared. Thank you to both for an amazing experience!

This tour is lovely to explore some of the less seen parts of Europe - looping through Scandinavia and the Baltic states before returning through Central Europe. There is a huge amount of history, culture, food, art, and architecture to explore - and Christmas Markets! Great time of year to visit Europe! There is so much booked in, and unfortunately only limited time to see it. It would have been great to have a bit more free time to explore. Due to the size of the group, it is difficult to have consensus on what should be seen in any area, but it would have been great to have a bit more free time to explore the city centres on our own, or the option to do so while the main group stays together. As long travel days between some locations it would have also been good to rise a bit earlier if possible to ensure we could arrive at the next location with some sun left at the end of the day to help orientate before we do a city tour or discovery. Due to limitations during the festive season, or the ability to get some products in areas of Europe, it is difficult to cater for some medical or dietary needs, so ensure you have enough of your own key medicines and food suitable for you where there might be limited options

Tour was awesome! Loved all the countries we went to. It was tiring at times because of freezing temps and we had to wake up very early in the morning most of the time but overall it was worth it.

My hubby and I did this over Christmas time of 2022, bringing in the New Year in Berlin. We thoroughly enjoyed this tour. The only complaint is the long travelling times, that did get us down, but we understand that the more we see,the more we need to travel. So be prepared. The friends we made and places we saw was wonderful.