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Post by bet on Dec 30, 2015 20:16:16 GMT
I still have a week to go before my holiday comes to an end and needing some r&r i thought I'll do a quick post regarding Trafalgar's German Christmas Market Tour that I did 3 weeks ago.
After a fantastic experience on my first Trafalgar (Costsaver) tour last year this Christmas Market Tour fell way short. Both the tour and the TD were average at best, nevertheless the Christmas markets and the festive atmosphere were fantastic. After the tour I had a not so white Christmas in Austria and finally in Switzerland for New Years. I'll write a more detailed tale once I'm back.
I wish everyone a happy new year and happy travels in 2016.
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Post by plane2catch on Dec 30, 2015 23:51:46 GMT
Thanks Bet!! I got some wonderful Toberlone candy from Santa Claus!! Happy New Year
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Post by Tulips on Dec 31, 2015 20:02:33 GMT
Bet, I'll be interested to read what you have to say in more detail.
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Post by Boop on Dec 31, 2015 22:08:27 GMT
I still have a week to go before my holiday comes to an end and needing some r&r i thought I'll do a quick post regarding Trafalgar's German Christmas Market Tour that I did 3 weeks ago. After a fantastic experience on my first Trafalgar (Costsaver) tour last year this Christmas Market Tour fell way short. Both the tour and the TD were average at best, nevertheless the Christmas markets and the festive atmosphere were fantastic. After the tour I had a not so white Christmas in Austria and finally in Switzerland for New Years. I'll write a more detailed tale once I'm back. I wish everyone a happy new year and happy travels in 2016. Oh Bet, you sound disappointed. My Christmas tour of Prague, Vienna and Budapest was just spectacular! I started off on the perfect note with three extra days in Prague. The Hotel Grand Praha directly across from the astronomical clock set the tone for a wonderful tour. I had the best tour director, Sasha, coupled with an incredible coach driver, Joe. Many extras were provided by Sasha just because! The markets, the sightseeing, the few optionals I did were just perfect and exactly what I wanted AND the SHOPPING! The shopping did not disappoint. I spent way over my allowable limit and had to stuff about 40#'s of fridge magnets into a suitcase bulging with goods. It's a good thing I was allowed 70# per case as I think I just squeaked by a touch over the 70#'s  The only downside - uh-huh, here it comes. The hotels! I don't know when Trafalgar will ever take it seriously that the hotels they provide are just not up to par. Disappointing because the hotels always seem to be located on the fringe of the city limits. This was a huge issue with many of the guests travelling on my tour. Clearly no one wanted to stay at a hotel that is five miles away from the city centre in a country where there is a language barrier, myself included! |
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Post by bet on Jan 1, 2016 9:48:25 GMT
Glad you had a great time touring and shopping Boop. Prague is beautiful and probably more so at Christmas time. Having a great TD makes a world of difference.
There was the same issue on my tour regarding hotel locations. It was the first time I've taken a First Class Tour with Trafalgar and I'm not a fancy traveller that expects 5 stars and the red carpet treatment but I was quite surprised at the choice of hotels. I had researched them online before leaving and knew some weren't central but wrongly assumed the TD would offer a pick up service from the Christmas Markets. I also didn't realise just how in the middle of nowhere some were with no transport links. Even the Costsaver tour I did had better located hotels than this tour.
The other issue was mainly the lack of inclusions. Being a specialised Christmas Market tour, Trafalgar wrongly omits much of the usual inclusions in regular tours like city sightseeing, local guides, be my guest dinners etc. The tour was pretty much nothing more than a shuttle service between hotels and being dropped off at the markets for free time, just like the free time you have on regular tours. It would have been nice if Trafalgar included something traditional/festive in its place.
The TD had years of experience and he did all that he had to do and nothing more than that. He was unfamiliar with many things was constantly asking the driver about things, looking at maps, didn't know where some of the Markets were and lastly didn't offer envelopes with the feedback forms and then was seen reading the forms even before we were off the coach.
In my case, Trafalgar could have done a better job pairing TD with suitable tours or at least train them better. Having a local TD or one who does tours to Germany regularly so they have more specialised knowledge, could tell interesting facts and stories and make things come alive and set the scene would have made it a far more rewarding tour. And perhaps just maybe having a female TD, it was after all, all about the Christmas markets and shopping, something guys have little enthusiasm for.
I hope you get around to doing a tale Boop, I'm always keen to read about people's travels.
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Post by purvis on Jan 1, 2016 18:31:31 GMT
Bet: I agree with you that the TD makes all the difference on a tour. On two of my 14Trafalgar tours I had incompetent TDs and it really made the tours less enjoyable. I have never had a TD who had the nerve to read the forms filled out by the clients (at least I didn't see them). When I returned from one tour I wrote Trafalgar directly and got a reply back saying that the problem had been fixed (whatever that meant). On this particular tour my son and I were constantly telling our travelling companions that this was not the way Trafalgar operated normally and if it was I would never have continued to travel with them. Perhaps you would feel better if you wrote Trafalgar as I did as I wanted to make sure that this TD didn't have the opportunity to spoil other folks tours in the future. Many people save up for years to take their dream tour and a lousy TD shouldn't be allowed to ruin it for them. Purvis |
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Post by Boop on Jan 3, 2016 17:03:47 GMT
That's really too bad Bet!
Our TD really spoiled all of us and couldn't have done more to make our trip exciting and adventurous.
He took us to little villages that were not on the agenda just so we could experience the "markets" of the smaller out of the way places. He took special effort to point out the Swarovski shops in Vienna to me as he knew I was a collector.
Receiving the repeat traveller gift of a Swarovski piece at the farewell dinner was the icing on the cake.
Also, he took the entire bus to a Christmas market in Vienna, bought us all a mulled wine or sweet tea along with the Christmas mug, as a souvenir!
Sasha was a special tour director in every way and I doubt very much I would be so lucky to have another such as him, and now is a special facebook friend to any of us that chose to befriend him!
And he did many other "little" things that just made this trip so special. I'm sorry to go on and on about Sasha, but compared to the last not so nice TD I had in Switzerland Sasha redeemed my faith in Trafalgar............but NOT the hotels!
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Post by tiffany on Jan 4, 2016 12:46:40 GMT
Welcome home Bet and Boop! I’m looking forward to reading about both of your trips in the weeks to come. Bet, I’m sorry to hear you didn’t have a great tour. I’ve only been on one Trafalgar tour, out of 12, with a bad tour director, and I hope you will give them another chance some day. I agree with Boop that you should write to Trafalgar and let them know your concerns. They should be made aware of these issues.
Today is my first day back at work after almost two weeks off, so I don’t have time to read much today, or this week for that matter, but I hope to catch up on everyone’s writings next week.
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Post by marielouise on Jan 5, 2016 17:17:44 GMT
Sorry to read that both of you were disappointed in the location of your hotels. Also that you were not happy with your TD, bet.
I hope you will write tour tales or at lest tell us more about your tour and what optionals you took Boop. The location of the Insight summer tour in Vienna and Budapest were very good, in Prague it was an easy and quick 3-4 stops tram ride close to the city centre.
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Post by grandma7 on Mar 4, 2016 18:42:32 GMT
I have travelled both with Trafalgar and Insight, and have found that Insight generally includes more ( some of which are optionals with Trafalgar) and that Insight hotels are generally more central and within a reasonable walking distance of the city centre. ( important to me because I take very few optionals)
Our last tour in Sept. 2015 with Insight had a very poor TD. When I returned home, I emailed Insight directly, stating again what I had said on the evaluation form, and giving a lot more details of what hadn't happened. I think my main argument was"I didn't get what I paid for" after quoting their brochure description of their T Directors. Insight waited until they had reviewed all the returned evaluation forms and then notified me that my critical comments were in line with what the majority had said and that the TD would be retrained. I also received a discount on my next tour. I was happy with their response - but the point is - if you and others don't let Trafalgar know that the TD was lacking - nothing gets done about it - and other groups get the same lacklustre guide.
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Post by tiffany on Mar 6, 2016 14:11:09 GMT
Hi Bet and Boop, just wondering if you're going to write a tour tale or more detailed review of your Christmas Markets tour. As you know, I'd like to go on a Christmas Markets tour someday, so I'd love to read about your tours.
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Post by bet on Mar 21, 2016 10:33:03 GMT
Hi Tiffany I've been too busy since I've been back, I haven't been in here much and I'm yet to sort out my photos but I'll try and write something down soon. The Christmas markets themselves were great, fantastic atmosphere etc, but the tour itself was less so. I hope you go at some stage its definately worth going. Europe goes all out and they really celebrate the tradition and the festive spirit in a way I don't see back home.
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Post by tiffany on Mar 21, 2016 13:04:57 GMT
No problem Bet. I look forward to reading about your trip whenever you have a chance to write about it. I know how long it can take to write a good tour tale.
I do plan on doing a Christmas Market's tour some day. I just don't know when. Hopefully it won't be too far into the future.
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