CIE Tour Reviews

We have just completed a wonderful 9 day tour, it was above and beyond our expectations. Dominic was a great Tour Leader and a superb Driver.Dominic was so knowledgeable in the history of Ireland, it was a pleasure to hear his stories, he was well organised and made life for the group very easy. CIE organised a fantastic tour - superb sightseeing, accommodation ...read more was first class, enjoyable meals and a great small group of 23 on board - Congratulations CIE on this tour. We would have no hesitation in recommending CIE, thank you.

We would like to thank John, our bus driver for taking us on this amazing 8 day bus tour which completely exceeded our wildest expectations. Choosing this tour because we hoped it would be fun, was exactly what we got. Everything was well organised, on time, and we saw some amazing parts of Ireland that had we travelled on our own, we would never have ...read more seen. How John maneuvered the bus around some of those corners, we are just in awe. Anyone thinking of taking this tour, please do not hesitate, so long as you like a drop! All the hotels were 4* and well chosen. Thank you CIE. Wherever possible we will choose CIE again.

We had a great time. Murt, our driver, guide and now friend, was wonderful. The sights of Ireland and its wonderful people were everything we hoped they would be. Murt helped us understand the culture and history in a way that was personal and relatable. We have already begun talking about our next CIE tour. Thanks to CIE, Murt and our fellow bus travellers ...read more for making our adventure truly a great experience.

Had a fantastic trip with a great bunch of people. There was a mix of us 4 English with Americans and Australians. Sabina was an excellent guide who provided the right amount of information and played pleasant music on the coach. Dennis, our driver, was really friendly. We saw plenty of Ireland and learnt a great deal of Irish history. The hotels chosen ...read more were comfortable with a mix of old and new. Loved the trip to Molly Darcys. This trip was great for people like us who had never been to Ireland before. Will certainly return to Ireland one day.

We just came back from a wonderful trip through Scotland and Ireland! The scenery, music, food, hotels, everything was superb! Thank you so much for an unforgettable vacation that wouldn't be complete without the drivers skills, care and humour of our driver/guide Collm.

Tour guide, Christiane is wicked funny, knowledgeable, and a joy. Seamus is a competent driver- careful, courteous, and safe. Seamus and Christiane play off one another in a very enjoyable manner. They make a wonderful team.

We loved 'Keit' (Keith Williams)!! He was funny, fun, kept us on schedule and artfully rearranged our schedule to cut wasteful time - always gently and with full agreement from everyone on this family tour. He has a beautiful singing voice, tells great jokes and is knowledgeable on virtually every subject we raised. What a delight!! He also saved me ...read more lots of dough by encouraging me to continue to search for my ôlostö prescription sunglasses and I did find them!!! Thanks, Keith, for the perfect note for what was an emotional trip for us all!

We had such an amazing Grand Tour of the UK seeing so many beautiful places and one of the best parts was the great tour guide Ian Short. Ian was very humorous and extremely knowledgeable about all the places we visited. This is something we would have missed out on if we had driven ourselves. My twelve year old son travelled with me on the tour and ...read more both Ian and our lovely coach driver, Patrick O'Brien, included him in everything and made him very welcome. The meals were great, the sights magnificent and the additional places that Ian and Patrick took us to were amazing. The challenging roads were made easy by the great driving skills of Patrick and he and Ian made a great team, making our trip extra special. The entire trip was a wonderful treat with a lovely group of travellers and I have recommended it to all my family and friends in Australia. Thanks CIE, Ian and Patrick.

We had Charley as our tour guide. He was very friendly, a wealth of information about the history and places of Ireland and just an overall very professional tour operator and a pleasure to travel with.

My review is a little late, but I just want to say what a fantastic time I had in Ireland this year. We had the best Tour Guide, Sabina Murphy! Sabina kept us entertained throughout the whole trip, her knowledge of history was amazing and her way of sharing information was engaging. Sabina has a really great sense of humour too. I was lucky enough to ...read more do the tour with 31 Americans (some people might groan at that), who were a fabulous group of people, in fact Sabina kept saying 'you are such a great group!'. And our bus driver Shaun was also a happy person to be around (not so much the Shaun who came for a day or so at some point). I'm traditionally an independent traveller, I've done previous bus tours and I have to say they weren't my favourite experiences, but my trip in Ireland was magical - thanks mainly to Sabina.

After arrival there was an approximate 3 hour delay at the airport waiting for other participants of the tour before being transported to the Winnoch Hotel. It was unfortunate that we were not warned of the probability of having no heat or hot water at some highland lodgings. According to the tour director we should accept this as Scottish charm. If ...read more this was made known prior to our booking a different location would have been chosen. The first night at the hotel proved to be noisy with drunken guests. The second night proved this way as well. We were unable to sleep for the first two nights of the trip. There were good moments within the time period but better organisation and attention from the tour director may have assisted.

This tour by CIE was fantastic. Great tour driver, excellent hotels and meals and we saw so much of Ireland. We could not have covered anywhere near as much by ourselves and the local knowledge was excellent. Highly recommended!!!

Just completed a great tour of Southern Ireland. Great hotels, great food, beautiful scenery all providing great service. Our driver Ken was fantastic. His knowledge of the history and the places we went to was amazing. His ability to drive that bus through the tightest of spaces was impressive. Entertained the group right up till we parked at the last ...read more stop!

Thank you for an enjoyable and stress free holiday. Tour Director Frank and Tour Driver Colin were very professional and knowledgeable. Nothing was too much trouble for them. Coach was very comfortable, great to have wifi so you could let your friends know your way of travel. We had been to some of the places before but saw a different view of them. ...read more Hotels were central and meals excellent. Would travel with them again. Thanks again for a wonderful time.

The organisation throughout was excellent and we cannot speak too highly of our driver/tour guide Murt. His knowledge was second to none and he kept all of us informed and also entertained with his humour (not to mention the singing!). His attention to detail was meticulous and nothing was too much trouble. All the visits were interesting and well presented, ...read more the hotels and food were very good (with one slight exception) and we liked the fact that everything was included. We would recommend CIE to anyone.

I had never been to Ireland before and I must say a big thank you to Mike Keane our tour guide and George Connelly our wonderful driver for making it such a memorable trip for me. MikeÆs knowledge of Ireland plus his great humour kept us highly entertained throughout the trip. Thank you George for your skilled driving, you were always there to help ...read more when needed, I will never forget the great time I had.

This was an amazing trip with many great places to see and things to do. We highly recommend CIE to anyone who wishes to see the UK. Our Tour Operator, Pat is a rare individual who personifies the word customer service. He was extremely knowledgeable, catered to our every need, and was very personable amongst our group. This is our first visit to Ireland, ...read more Wales and England, and we found the route chosen was excellent to expose us to various cultures of each country. With that said, we felt that the æFree TimeÆ at each of our stops was very highly limited with little exception, and the schedule was at times very gruelling! I think there could be less time spent at some stops, or totally bypassed, in the interest of giving the client more time to spend exploring on their own.
For this particular trip, my personal thoughts are to provide a couple more stops/drop off points in the Dublin city tour (we had 2) remove the shopping stop at Moriarties. It was out of the way and not necessary as their products could have been purchased at any number of other shops. Cardiff Castle in Wales was not well received and of little interest after seeing the many such facilities in other cities. The Cardiff entertainment, although cultural, was extremely repetitive and limited by a small group of folks, and was very dull and not appreciated. Lastly, our visit to Stonehenge was cut very short due to the heavy rain storms in the area. We visited many other sites in the rain, but Stonehenge was woefully under prepared for the event of rain, in a country that is constantly threatened by it! It's amazing that 5000 years ago, they moved 28 ton stones many miles, but in this age they cannot build a functional cover for rain??? Overall our trip was a huge success and we will return. I can't emphasise the professionalism of our guide Pat, and the driver, Kevin Clancy.

There are not enough words to thank Frank (our guide and driver) for the fabulous trip that we just finished. It would not have been as entertaining and well organised without his expertise. Thank you Frank for a wonderful trip.

Just wanted to provide some feedback re the tour. Travelling by myself I was a little apprehensive at first but these concerns were soon allayed. From day one of the tour I felt welcome , valued and included. The hotels were lovely, the company was wonderful and we saw a lot quickly and efficiently without it seeming too rushed or commercial. I loved ...read more everything we saw - and also everything our tour guide recommended outside the tour.

Despite being a commercial tour I felt was able to experience some genuine Irish local hospitality. All the local tour guides were amazing also. In fact I have nothing negative to report. One of the things I enjoyed the most was the history described by our tour guide. Also everything our tour guide Lesley recommended we see was excellent. I would do this tour again in a heartbeat - the only flaw was it made me wish I was Irish!! So many thank yous for your recommendation - I don’t have much time off in my profession but this was the best holiday I have had. And that is priceless.

Recently returned from CIE's Grand Tour and was thrilled with the tour. This was my first coach tour and I would definitely go on another. The hotels, while some weren't as grand as others all were clean, comfortable and in great locations and had everything I needed. The meals were great, the sights were amazing but what made this time so special was ...read more the Tour Director (David Turner) and the Coach Driver (Patrick O'Brien). They were a fantastic team, always on hand to help and tell their amazing stories. They worked together to make this a special trip.