6,901 Global Journeys Reviews

Laos was unexpectedly surprising and we were very impressed with this tour. The people are very laid back and Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang are both incredible places. Great tour overall and Georgie was fantastic as always. Highly recommend.

Firstly, Global Journeys was excellent in their pricing and handling of the booking, and I am booking another tour through them again. I appreciated Hannah's involvement in the process. The scenery, of course, in the South Island is magnificent. I would travel with Grand Pacific tours again and may do a repeat next year as we missed out on Milford Sound and Te Anau due to floods. Both the driver, Rod, and tour leader, Brenda, were of a high standard and extremely helpful.

Accommodation was variable, but as it was the "affordable" tour option I did not expect too much. What did surprise me was the high quality of included meals, especially the dinners. The tour comprised mainly retirees aged in their 70s and 80s, and the bus had 45 passengers, all of which may appeal to some potential travellers but not others. Note that the single supplement is quite substantial. One piece of advice for anyone going to do an activity in Queenstown, is to check special offers through the site BookMe. I use this site in Australia but did not realise it was active in NZ too, until told by a local tour operator.

For me the main highlights were: adventure activities in Queenstown, the constant majestic mountainous scenery, and strangely, the evening meals. A few things to be aware of, is the the first night 'Welcome Drinks' are not complimentary, which is different from tours I have done in other countries. Also, there is no Wi-Fi on the bus, where overseas this is now included. The carry bags given out were only used by a small number of passengers, and a backpack of the same size would have been preferable.

The six day trip was a good introduction to three cities Tokyo, Takayama and Kyoto. For our trip we had Shoichi Marumaya as our tour guide. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable, as he was native Japanese. He frequently talked about local cuisines, daily lives of locals and in depth backgrounds to traditions. The highlight of the trip was Takayama, in which the group stayed in a traditional inn and experienced the Japanese onsen. Compared to the frantic pace of the busy cities, it was a very different experience. The accommodation was the best in the traditional inn in Takayama. The Grids in Tokyo was comfortable and clean. However, the Grids hostel in Kyoto with 6 persons in one room was a little crowded.

This cruise is really well organised and goes where a lot of the bigger cruise boats do not go. G Adventures supports small local operators for their day trips and this was evident in a number of places as other tourists were not to be seen e.g. brick making, mule ride, hand made pottery, lunch at training restaurant, etc. Tour Leader (or Chief Experience Officer, CEO, as they are officially called) was very helpful and efficient especially when I had an unexpected trip to hospital. The cabins are a reasonable size for a small boat and there is a great sun deck upstairs which could be used anytime. Staff were helpful and most spoke enough English to be understood. Food was simple, varied and plentiful. Dinner was 4 course and special diets catered for, breakfast was a hot and cold buffet with your choice of cooked eggs, so plenty of options. Omelettes were best I’ve had. Would certainly travel with them again.