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CIE Tours vs Globus
Compare the travel styles, pricing, destinations and popularity of CIE Tours and Globus.The Low Down
CIE Tours are specialists in guided coach tours through Britain and Ireland. With over 80 years of history the team at CIE certainly have the local ties and experience to deliver you a top notch touring experience through Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England. They have recently dipped their toes into new regions within Europe, including Iceland, Italy and Spain.CIE are relatively unknown in the Australasian market but are very popular in the rest of the world, so you're fellow travellers are likely to be from all around the world, but perhaps with more American's onboard than Antipodeans. With itineraries designed to be fully inclusive, putting your hand in your pocket for optional day trips and activities is not something you need to worry about.
Accommodation on each trips sits at the 3 to 3 1/2 star level, with breakfasts (along with many lunches and dinners) also included. There's a maximum group size of 44, but look out for selected departures on selected trips that are designed for small groups. Also keep a lookout for CIE's Last Minute Deals which run year round and offers savings of up to 15% off the normal retail price.
The Globus Family of Brands, which includes Globus, Cosmos, Monograms & Avalon Waterways are always popular with our clients. Globus offer a premium guided touring experience all over the world, catering mainly for the 55+ market - but like most Operators are open to all ages. Along with their standard itineraries, Globus also have a range of popular European Winter Escapes and numerous faith-based religious tours.The majority if their trips are centred on Europe, Canada and the USA where they provide 4+ star accommodation, luxury coaches, plenty of meals & inclusions. Our team have enjoyed numerous journeys with Globus including trips to South America, Dalmatia, Mexico and Spain, so we have plenty of first hand knowledge to help you plan your next trip!
Stats
No. of Trips
78
No. of Departures
3,729
Avg. Trip Length
9 Days
Avg. Price Per Day
$330
Accommodation
3.5 - 4 Star
Budget
Premium
Trip Styles
Coach Tours
No. of Trips
337
No. of Departures
12,721
Avg. Trip Length
11 Days
Avg. Price Per Day
$393
Accommodation
4 - 4.5 Star
Budget
Premium
In Their Own Words We asked the travel companies themselves why you should travel with them
When you travel with CIE Tours, you will get the warmest of welcomes and all the benefits of our 87 years of experience. The itineraries are locally crafted - we set our own high standards for delivering excellent holidays with state-of-the-art luxury coaches; the best hotels; carefully chosen authentic experiences and entertainment.
Our outstanding local tour directors are ready to share their knowledge, stories, passion for their home places - they are our greatest assets. Many of our tours spend 2 nights in each location, and our flexible itineraries include a great balance of escorted and free time. We include full breakfasts, most dinners and some evening entertainment. No one has to worry about paying for optional extras on the trip. It’s all included, no hidden extras.
We know how much these trips mean to you and we want to ensure that this is a trip you will treasure forever.
At Globus, we’re not just hooked on travel as a destination, but on the way it makes you feel. Our promise is to craft adventures that you’ll want to re-live forever.
We’ve been creating wonder-filled first class touring for more than 90 years; we have the experience and local knowledge globally to craft immersive adventures that make Globus travellers feel alive. Not only can you expect to see the big sites, we’ll also take you deeper in each location, right to the beating heart of each new discovery.
At Globus, we understand that your holiday is your treat – a gift from you to you. Let us connect you with a new world of people, places and experiences that will ignite your imagination.
Recent Reviews
4.6
If you’re looking for a great experience look no further than Global Journeys. Could not fault our experience. From the time of booking till we landed on Australian shores again,fabulous! Rachael McSorley our Travel Advisor looked after us so well. We were kept up to date evert step of the way. And CIE Classic Irish tour was all we hoped and more! ...read more
CIE are a great tourist organisation. All costs were in the price quoted , no added extras like some tourist organisations. The tour covered big and small venues, cities and towns whilst the places used for accommodation were of great value. I would recommend CIE.
Loved every minute of the trip. Sam our driver was amazing. Jaquie our guide was fabulous. Couldn't recommend them any more. Would do it again in a heartbeat. A must do trip to add to your bucket list.
Stunning scenery in the wilds of Scotland, with some logistical challenges.
3
Norm, VIC, Australia, Aug 2023
This was an excellent itinerary to see the stunning landscapes that Scotland offers. Isle of Skye, Glencoe and Orkney were standout locations, The trip also had a liberal dose of castles and stately homes, both functioning and derelict. The tour guide provided an immense amount of history and perspective, to bring locations alive with their significance. ...read more Overall a very worthwhile experience.
On the downside, the tour company, CIE, chose to deliver our 'welcome pack' to the first hotel, rather than to our home. This appears to be their practice for Australians. This was in the least inconvenient as it meant we would not have the benefit of the provided backpacks for our outward journey. All other participants, who were from the USA, had their packs delivered to their homes. The impact was exacerbated by the packs not being there when we arrived, so we were without backpacks, name-tags, maps etc for the whole trip. It was only after pestering our guide that we finally received our packs on the very last day of the trip.
Our other concern was that the the quality of some of the hotels was below our expectations, with cramped rooms and bathrooms lacking power outlets etc, This is understandable in small remote towns, but the worst examples were actually in Glasgow and Inverness. We shared those hotels with other tour companies, such as Trafalgar, so we were not alone in the experience. The multiple tour groups also made meals, especially breakfast, a bit of a bunfight and far exceeded lift capabilities. We chose to walk up 5 flights at one stage, Would we do it again? Probably not with CIE. Their offices are in Ireland and USA and they appear to be not well geared for Australian participation.
On the downside, the tour company, CIE, chose to deliver our 'welcome pack' to the first hotel, rather than to our home. This appears to be their practice for Australians. This was in the least inconvenient as it meant we would not have the benefit of the provided backpacks for our outward journey. All other participants, who were from the USA, had their packs delivered to their homes. The impact was exacerbated by the packs not being there when we arrived, so we were without backpacks, name-tags, maps etc for the whole trip. It was only after pestering our guide that we finally received our packs on the very last day of the trip.
Our other concern was that the the quality of some of the hotels was below our expectations, with cramped rooms and bathrooms lacking power outlets etc, This is understandable in small remote towns, but the worst examples were actually in Glasgow and Inverness. We shared those hotels with other tour companies, such as Trafalgar, so we were not alone in the experience. The multiple tour groups also made meals, especially breakfast, a bit of a bunfight and far exceeded lift capabilities. We chose to walk up 5 flights at one stage, Would we do it again? Probably not with CIE. Their offices are in Ireland and USA and they appear to be not well geared for Australian participation.
Very organised. tour. Excellent hotels. Would book with Global Journeys again. My travel advisor Jemma Rosen was excellent answering concerns I had.
Amazing journey through Scottish Highlands and Isles, getting to see parts of Scotland that I would normally not have considered going to. Went in May and weather was fantastic. The accommodations (with the exception for the Balmacara Hotel) were very ordinary and well below expectations. Whilst I would recommend this trip, I would hope that the tour ...read more operators review the accommodation options and provide better options in the future.
4.6
The coach trip was excellent, our guide Andrei was excellent with an incredible knowledge. The Hotels were of a high standard. The included meals were all excellent. A reasonable amount of walking involved (ie. coach drop point- walking an old town-return to coach pick up over cobble stones).
Wonderful experience with the very professional Globus staff. We travelled to so many places, entered into buildings that I would perhaps not have given a second look at to discover beautiful gardens and architecture. We even back in time to working townships from the 10th century .I would not been able to have covered the breadth of Portugal nor learnt ...read more so much history as I did with the Global staff. I met many fellow travellers who said they only do Globus tours, I am now a convert to bus trips!
Just returned from a wonderful Globus trip to the Scottish Highlands and Islands. Without doubt, the best tour guide I have ever experienced. Roseanne was a walking fact book, her knowledge of history was outstanding and every day was filled with great humour and professional presentations. Simply superb. Tour pace was very steady, hotels in the main ...read more were a good standard as was food. Our driver, Wayne was excellent. The only disappointment was the size of the group which had 28 people which seemed large for a small group tour.
Great trip. Brilliant guide and driver - nothing was too much for them. Great scenery and evntd. Hotels wonderful. Was sooooo much fun. Thank you.
Our thanks to Rachael from Global Journeys who did a fabulous job and paved the way, to help us effortlessly join Globus the Best of Austria and Switzerland Tour. We had been to Austria and Switzerland before and were so impressed, we wanted to see more. The highlight this time was spending more time in the spectacular mountains - going up the Matterhorn, ...read more Mount Pilatus and Hitler’s Eagle Nest. We really enjoyed this tour but found the Local Experts, although they were fabulously knowledgeable, they ended up being an information overload and quite draining. Also, some places had more time allotted than was required, by our group. Both were subjective of course. All in all, an amazing experience.
The weather gods were with us for our amazing 10 day tour of Northern Scotland, from our starting city of Edinburgh to our end point in Glasgow. New to us was a visit to Orkney, Mull and Skye, which we enjoyed immensely, particularly our visits to ancient Nordic and Viking sites. Our tour group of 38 people consisted of a mix of American, Canadian ...read more and Australian folk, so the conversation between cultures was both lively and interesting. Yes, there were minor comments about our many accommodation stays at times...but hey!... these buildings are over 200 years old, and it is a bit ridiculous to expect modern plumbing, modern lifts (where would you put them??) and level floors in rooms. This is the experience of 'travel'. Our rooms were always extremely clean and beds generally comfortable. The included breakfasts were well catered for with a wide variety of choices (toast is a bit of a 'miss'), and the included lunch and dinner options were generally very good.
The pace of our tour was good...some early starts to accommodate time schedules of the providers we were working with, and most of our arrival times at our next destination were about 4pm, which gave travellers time for a rest before dinner. We could not find fault with our wonderful tour guide, Dawn, who right from the moment she introduced herself to our group, was extremely well organised and totally on top of our schedule including posted notices with details of the next day itinerary where we could find it. Dawn was excellent providing us during our bus time, with an amazing overview of the next place we were visiting. Including the historical facts and folklore stories, weaving a wonderful tapestry of what we were seeing and its' importance in the lives of the people and and their culture through time. Dawns commentary was extremely well researched, consistent and at times, quite humerus! She was our 'mother hen' and we all felt safe and cared for during our tour. Thankyou Dawn! Our coach driver, Mark did a remarkable job driving us around for 10 days, quite often on difficult roads and in difficult weather and traffic conditions...including helping us down those high bus steps, and unloading our luggage. Thanks Mark! Overall, we both had a comprehensive tour of Scotland, and we felt that the company provided a very good value for money experience.
The pace of our tour was good...some early starts to accommodate time schedules of the providers we were working with, and most of our arrival times at our next destination were about 4pm, which gave travellers time for a rest before dinner. We could not find fault with our wonderful tour guide, Dawn, who right from the moment she introduced herself to our group, was extremely well organised and totally on top of our schedule including posted notices with details of the next day itinerary where we could find it. Dawn was excellent providing us during our bus time, with an amazing overview of the next place we were visiting. Including the historical facts and folklore stories, weaving a wonderful tapestry of what we were seeing and its' importance in the lives of the people and and their culture through time. Dawns commentary was extremely well researched, consistent and at times, quite humerus! She was our 'mother hen' and we all felt safe and cared for during our tour. Thankyou Dawn! Our coach driver, Mark did a remarkable job driving us around for 10 days, quite often on difficult roads and in difficult weather and traffic conditions...including helping us down those high bus steps, and unloading our luggage. Thanks Mark! Overall, we both had a comprehensive tour of Scotland, and we felt that the company provided a very good value for money experience.
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