I was disappointed with the time allocation for various destinations along this tour. For example, the the D-Day beaches: You were transported from them to a horse ranch in Bayeux. While in Bayeux, Trafalgar failed to allow you time to see the Bayeux tapestry. An exclusion that confused me as William the Orange's invasion of England was a monumental cultural, political and language event (the event captured in the tapestry). Furthermore, we did not see the famous Omaha statue, and then were allowed 1-hour to visit the America cemetery. At this point during the tour, I was cemeteried-out (you will see A LOT of cemeteries on this tour), and felt the American Cemetery had an outsized time allocation. What further poisoned my experience was we drove by several private museums that had recovered tanks from the D-Day beaches, and then spent an hour at another cemetery. One of the frustrating experiences.
While you are in London, the bus tour doesn't add very much. You aren't permitted to see the inside of Westminster Abby, St. John's Cathedral, and you don't even get to visit Trafalgar Square, essentially getting only photo ops of Big Ben, and the ability to say, "I've seen that!" The exclusion of moment tickets was an recurrent issue (we weren't permitted to see the Juno beach museum for example), and it seems likely due to the tour cost than anything else.
During the Normandy Cider optional tour the tour guide seemed very preoccupied with preventing our driver from punching overtime: They hurried us out of the farm before I could even attempt to buy it's cider. This was an experience far different from a previous Trafalgar tour which didn't feel rushed in this fashion. Furthermore, at one point we were seconds late for the bus, which was forced to move due to transit, and laws related to blocking it, inducing our Guide to be rude about our tardiness. Trafalgar needs to do better at picking hotels that accommodate large tour buses and parking requirements.
On that note, all hotels were close to public transit (excepting London, which was a 15 minute walk). All hotels were outside the core of these cities, and I was very disappointed that because of a hotel change, we did not get an ability to see Caen whatsoever. Trafalgar did comp us a meal for the inconvenience but considering this may be a place I never again visit, it saddens me to know I did not experience Caen on my own as was intended/planned.
My last bit of feedback has nothing to do with the tour composition but tour demographics. If you wish to take this tour and you are sub-50, don't. We felt like outcasts the entire time, and there was a comment by our Guide about 'people not having children nowadays....someone should do something about that.' A comment I've heard many times before, expressed by someone much older than I. I found it aggravating. Someone older than 60 would definitely love this tour given the typical demographics. If anything, reach out to Trafalgar and determine that before booking!
The highlight for me was seeing the Vimy Ridge memorial and museum: We got very fortunate with weather! This tour does permit you to see many battlefields, but be warned that in many instances cemeteries are your destination. The best museum by far was the John Monash Centre--I'd recommend a visit even if it's not as apart of this tour. I was most impressed by the number of places were did see, and the three countries it took us to. I don't believe we would have visited Belgium on our own, so thank you Trafalgar for exposing us to Belgium.
