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Post by sylvana on Sept 9, 2014 21:08:12 GMT
I have been looking at Globus Italian Mosaic tour compared to Trafalgars Best of Italy. Even with my repeat customer 5% discount the Trafalgar tour is about $500 more expensive. The Globus tour looks pretty much identical, with more inclusions though eg. The Forum and Michelangelos David, also an optional to the Uffizi. Their hotels are also better placed in Assisi town and on Venice Island. Would appreciate anyones experience with the company. Thanks Sylvana  |
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Post by Tulips on Sept 9, 2014 22:24:36 GMT
Hi Sylvana,
I used Globus for my Scandinavia tour in 2012. They are a good company, the hotels were decent and well located and I would use them again.
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Post by Owen on Sept 9, 2014 22:31:12 GMT
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Post by Oz-T on Sept 10, 2014 9:42:54 GMT
That's an excellent question, Sylvana. I've never used Globus but I just dug out their 2014 brochure from a pile of travel literature I picked up from a travel expo early this year. And yes, both tours are almost identical. Both are 13 days, follow the same itinerary and include 6 dinners. The Globus tour does allow an add on 3-day trip to Sicily, and I just noticed that their coaches have free WiFi! I suppose it'd be prudent to check the hotel star-ratings or read about them on Tripadviser, just to make sure you're comparing similar quality, but if they're similar, the more central accommodation is always a winner. And if Tulips says Globus is ok, then I'd rely on that recommendation. This has now got me interested in researching Globus a bit to learn more about them. |
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wen
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Post by wen on Sept 10, 2014 10:28:03 GMT
Hi i did a UK Ireland tour with Globus and could not fault them Everything was well organised the tour guide was knowledgable and helpful All the hotels were great as was the food I was a single traveller on my first ever trip overseas and it was a great introduction to a new addiction |
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Post by Oz-T on Sept 10, 2014 11:15:43 GMT
That's interesting, Wen. How did everything compare with Trafalgar's standard tours?
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Post by Oz-T on Sept 10, 2014 11:21:29 GMT
Sylvana,
Another idea you may wish to consider...
Browsing through my various brochures, I see that Globus operates with more than one brand. Have you considered Cosmos Tours? The closest equivalent looks like the 13 day "Italy's Best" tour.
It's much cheaper than their sister company, Globus, so I assume it'll be like Trafalgar's Costsaver tours. Anybody have any opinions on this?
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expom
New Member
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Post by expom on Sept 10, 2014 11:43:06 GMT
Sylvana, Another idea you may wish to consider... Browsing through my various brochures, I see that Globus operates with more than one brand. Have you considered Cosmos Tours? The closest equivalent looks like the 13 day "Italy's Best" tour. It's much cheaper than their sister company, Globus, so I assume it'll be like Trafalgar's Costsaver tours. Anybody have any opinions on this? I did a tour of Poland with Cosmos and apart from the first hotel in Warsaw which had been converted from a communist era office block, still nice but the single room was smallish, the hotels were good and central, except in Krakow where they used a hotel a bit out of town. Even then, there was a shuttle into the city centre and the hotel was very good.
Overall, I would consider Cosmos equivalent to standard TT, I don't know if they have an exact equivalent to Costsaver because I wasn't looking for particularly cheap.
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Post by Oz-T on Sept 10, 2014 11:50:12 GMT
"....the first hotel in Warsaw which had been converted from a communist era office block
..." I see what you mean, expom. Stalin would have been proud. 
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Post by sylvana on Sept 10, 2014 20:37:24 GMT
Thank you everyone for your very helpful replies. Oz-T I hadn't considered Cosmos before, they do have some good itineraries and as you say are much cheaper. I have never been on a costsaver tour either, mainly because I travel solo and do not want to be stuck in hotels out in the boomdocks. I have taken 5 tours with Trafalgar but I am definitely looking closer at other options now. Thanks everyone |
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Post by solaria on Sept 10, 2014 20:48:25 GMT
Hi there
we did a tour of Umbria in 2012 with Globus. I chose it because I wanted/needed to spend more time in Assisi! This was the only company that offered more than 1 night there. We had 6 nights in the same hotel we had when we stayed for one night on tt Best of Italy, so for me it was perfect. we then had day trips to the other Umbrian towns, several of which we had the same guide who used to be a lecturer at Perugia university which was excellent in terms of the history of the places. I would recommend that trip to everyone except that I noticed that it hasn't been offered again! A great pity. I love trips that give you an indepth understanding of an arearather than a broad sweep of many areas.
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Post by chech on Sept 10, 2014 20:53:39 GMT
LOL....that would be worth it for the experience!!! I've talked to others on my tour who've gone with Globus and they say there's no real difference in the basic functioning. I think one possible difference is that TT has the Be My Guest experiences which some have said Globus doesn't (or didn't on the tours they took). I think the one reason I haven't gone on a Globus tour yet is that I tend to book my tours less than 3 months prior to departure and it's very hard to get a Globus tour that close to the date. I've looked several times and what I want is not available. For example, I like their tour of Australia over TT's because it includes the Ghan and visits Tasmania...but to get it, I'd have to book it up to six months or more in advance. Some dates for next fall are already full. I also want to do the Alaska/Yukon one.  |
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joyb
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Post by joyb on Sept 10, 2014 21:41:19 GMT
I know a couple who have done a lot of tours with Globus and really like them. This past year they did Best of Portugal with Trafalgar....decided on Trafalgar after I mentioned that I was taking this trip. It was their first trip with Trafalgar and they really enjoyed it. I asked them if there was much of a difference between the two companies and they said they were very similar. The one difference they said was that Globus had most of their included meals at the hotels they were staying at whereas Trafalgar would go out to local restaurants....which they thought was nicer. Quality of the hotels was the same for both.
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Post by Tulips on Sept 10, 2014 22:18:16 GMT
Trafalgar doesn't always do local restaurants. Most of the included dinners on the Peru trip were at hotels.
there isn't much difference between Globus and Trafalgar.
Cosmos is the discount version on a Globus. Likely to have less inclusions and less central hotel locations.
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Post by Oz-T on Sept 10, 2014 22:24:02 GMT
Well, all that is now sounding like Globus is reputable and should be considered when we plan our future tours.
I kept with the Trafalgar brand, mainly due to their community forum - it was convenient to read reviews of other tours, ask questions and to write a travel tale after returning from the trip. In doing so, I never bothered much to check out the opposition travel companies, something I intend to redress. I'll certainly continue recommending the Trafalgar product because that's what I have the most experience with, but the brand loyalty disappeared when they thumbed their nose at their long-term customers/members. In future, I'll be judging tour companies purely on price and quality. That's why this independent forum is such a good vehicle for these types of open discussions.
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expom
New Member
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Post by expom on Sept 11, 2014 4:26:37 GMT
"....the first hotel in Warsaw which had been converted from a communist era office block
..."I see what you mean, expom. Stalin would have been proud. There is a communist era joke which goes as follows:
Q. What is the best thing about being in the Palace of Science & Culture (Warsaw building donated by Stalin so long as the Poles paid for it - the "or else" was implied by Joe!)
A. From the Palace of Science & Culture you are unable to see the Palace of Science & Culture!
At least the building in your picture was a bit unusual!
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Post by Oz-T on Sept 11, 2014 5:35:14 GMT
Yes, that was how it was described when we drove past it when we were in Warsaw.  However, I didn't think it was that bad a building, especially compared to much plainer Stalinist era structures. But it does give me an opportunity to showcase one of the jokes I unleashed on my poor, unsuspecting Trafalgar bus companions: Q: What do you call those Russian red paper napkins? A: Soviettes.  |
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Post by ceejaycee on Sept 11, 2014 6:37:26 GMT
We used Globus last year for Canada/Alaska tour. Always used Trafalgar before and again this year. The reason we chose Globus was because they stayed the night at the Fairmont Lake Louise and a stay there was on my bucket list. Trafalgar did not stay there. Glad we did because I opened the curtains of our room on arrival and we looked straight out onto the lake. Magnificent. We found no difference in Globus and Trafalgar. Very similar. Their Cosmos is very much like Trafalgar Cost Saver which we have also used.
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denise
Junior Member
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Post by denise on Sept 11, 2014 8:57:21 GMT
I have been looking at Globus Italian Mosaic tour compared to Trafalgars Best of Italy. Even with my repeat customer 5% discount the Trafalgar tour is about $500 more expensive. The Globus tour looks pretty much identical, with more inclusions though eg. The Forum and Michelangelos David, also an optional to the Uffizi. Their hotels are also better placed in Assisi town and on Venice Island. Would appreciate anyones experience with the company. Thanks Sylvana Great topic - I've looked at Globus tours - quite often their tours are very similar to Trafalgar/insight without yet travelling with them. Their pricing is very competitive so good to read the positive feedback from those who have travelled with Globus. Sounds like they will be well worth a look for future travel. Not sure yet where I will be going in 2015 - I like the idea of Scandinavia but would like to do this in conjunction with St Petersburg and Moscow (not real keen on travelling to Russia at the moment). |
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dell
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Post by dell on Sept 11, 2014 10:29:24 GMT
Has anyone who has traveled with Globus also done an Insight tour? How does the leg room on the coach compare? I've looked at the Globus brochures and they have some good itineraries.
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Post by chech on Sept 11, 2014 17:01:33 GMT
Don't know about the Globus buses (I believe they are along the same line as TT when it comes to the seating) but on the Insight tours I've done, the leg room was great. On one tour, some of the seats had so much leg room, you could get to the window seat without disturbing the person sitting in the aisle seat. I should note that on some TT tours, we've had entire rows to ourselves, especially the tours outside Europe. In Japan, we had 23 people in a full sized bus. Pretty well everyone could have had a window seat if they wanted. In South Africa, when they switched us from a van to a coach, we did have enough seats to have a window seat each. One thing to note about the Insight leg room thing - it doesn't apply to all tours. The Israel and Jordan tour for example. In Israel, we were a tour of seven people and got a seven seater van.  Never mind leg room. Breathing room was the issue. LOL It's tours like this that is the reason one shouldn't take a wheeled carryon expecting there'll be room for a second bag under the bus. In this case, there was barely enough room for our bags in the bag (see them piled up in the third row?). The tour prior to that one had 30 or so people on a bus. |
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Post by sylvana on Sept 11, 2014 22:08:03 GMT
I've just checked on the Globus website and it states that their coaches have "plush seats with extra legroom" and "an average of 36 travellers" on the coach, plus free wifi. Sounds good to me |
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Post by trish48 on Sept 11, 2014 23:27:57 GMT
The leg room on Globus sounds good. Our TT (Grand European) had full coach of 54. No space under (or in the coach) and we piled the spare back seat with some extra shopping. We traveled Scenic to Canada (both east and west coast) and Alaska, the coach was still big, but only 40 of us so we spread out . The extra room was great. We always choose on itinerary though, and chose Scenic for that trip for the 2 night stops. We did the Trafalgar for the stop in Pompeii, we had looked at Globus for that trip. Our next trip is also Scenic, again based on the tour, couldn't find a similar one offered. |
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Post by auselle on Sept 11, 2014 23:33:46 GMT
I have travelled with Globus and found them to be a similar standard to Trafalgar and Insight. I don't remember their buses having the same legroom as Insight but my Globus tour was a few years ago. I have done one Cosmos tour, selected for the itinerary which was across the Italian and Swiss Alps. Fantastic scenery but the standard of tour was noticably lower than Trafalgar, Insight and Globus. The Cosmos guide was not knowledgeable about the places we visited and she told me that the only prerequisite for working as a Cosmos guide was the ability to speak a second language. The hotels were all clean and perfectly adequate but obviously of a lesser quality and sometimes in the middle of nowhere. The included meals at the hotels were always the same, rehydrated soup followed by chicken, mostly schnitzel but sometimes cooked a different way and dessert was canned fruit and icecream. A lot of the travellers on the Cosmos tour chose it for budgetary reasons and did not want to spend more money on optionals so a couple of times the optionals didn't run because of lack of numbers. My Cosmos tour was in 2006 so it might have changed since then.
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dell
New Member
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Post by dell on Sept 14, 2014 2:34:48 GMT
Thanks for your thoughts everyone. It sounds like Globus is worth considering if the itinerary suits |
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Post by tiffany on Oct 1, 2014 17:57:25 GMT
I have never done a Globus or Cosmo tour, however, I know a few people who have done both, and while most people say that Globus is very similar to Trafalgar, I have never heard anything good about Cosmo. Even my travel agent doesn’t recommend them. Apparently there is hardly anything included, the hotels are far out, and the included meals are horrible. A couple I met on my Germany tour, which was a cost saver tour, said that Trafalgar’s cost saver tours are 10 times better than a Cosmo tour, and a women I met in France while on a Viator tour, who had just finished a tour of France with Cosmo, said it was a horrible tour and that she’d never go with Cosmo again. Based on everything I have heard about Cosmo, I am very hesitant to book with them, even though they are much cheaper than Trafalgar. I always say “you get what you pay for” and I wonder what Cosmo is eliminating from its tours to be able to offer them at such a cheap price.
I’ve considered going on a Globus tour a few times, but I always gravitate back to Trafalgar or Insight because I’m familiar with them and know what to expect. I also like to take advantage of the various discounts Trafalgar offers, which I don’t think Globus offers (although I could be wrong about that).
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