Costsaver

Jewels of Italy Reviews

12 Jewels of Italy reviews from past travellers that booked with Global Journeys.
4.42
AVG. RATING 4.42 / 5
12 Reviews
5 Star
58%
4 Star
25%
3 Star
17%
2 Star
1 Star

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Jewels of Italy 1 , WA, Australia, Aug 2019
Italy was a great tour to go on and terrific place to visit. I personally believe the optional trips along with its price should be included into the tour and price to start with. Sadly the hotels are way out from the cities you visit which allow very limited chance to visit those very cities when you return to the hotels. The breakfasts were poor, ...read more but our tour leader was wonderful.

GJ. Hi William. Costsaver trips are designed with quite a few 'Optionals' so you can choose to join in or not. This keeps the price down and allows for a more 'independent journey if you want to do your own thing. Trafalgar - Costsavers' parent brand - provides more inclusions and a better level of accommodation in the (higher) price.
Jewels of Italy 14 , New Zealand, Oct 2017
This was a great tour, with lots packed in and a variety of optional extras. You need a reasonable fitness level because there's lots of walking. The tour guide Tony was very good: funny, friendly and knowledgeable. He was a master at keeping 48 people together and on time! The group was a range of ages and nationalities and we all got on very well. ...read more We would recommend this tour and would love to go again one day.
Italy at Speed   8 , New Zealand, Sep 2017
I found this tour to be very rushed. There was a very tight schedule and 6 days was not long enough to see things. Unfortunately some unexpected events made things even worse on what was an already a very tight schedule and there was no room for flexibility. As a result we were unable to have any real free time in the first part of the trip which ...read more made it very tiring.

The tour director was amazing and tried to make the best of a couple of bad situations i.e. the weather. He was also very knowledgeable. The accommodation was very good. Although everything we did get to see was fantastic I am not likely to be signing up for any short tours again.
Jewels of Italy 5 , QLD, Australia, Jun 2017
This was a good tour professionally handled by Costsaver. Really another name for Trafalgar who are very efficient in what they do. Tour was are fairly full on and had to be to cover all the ground we travelled over. Our fellow travellers blended quite well and our tour leader Jeff was highly qualified in his approach and his knowledge of our journey. ...read more Coach was comfortable and our driver Pio an excellent person to have behind the wheel. A lot of ground is covered and a lot of history revealed. It was good having the 2 night stays in the hotels which we found to be satisfactory. Good tour at a good price.
Travels to a Distance Land 8 , QLD, Australia, Nov 2016
5 stars! There was no way we could have seen the best if we were on our own. No queuing to see the major attractions, the off the track scenic routes, the attractions I didn't even know were there. Hassle free transportation, and a tour guide who took care of the little things, like packed breakfasts for those who left early on the departure day! Truely ...read more loved it! We will be doing it again!
Absolute Jewels of Italy   12 , QLD, Australia, Aug 2016
This trip was amazing and was very much due to our Tour Director - Giacomo, who was so friendly and informative. I ended up doing all the optional experiences, I never thought that I would! Each of them was so enticing and it made for a very rounded trip full of everything. We still had free time to explore and shop. The group was full of Aussies, ...read more Canadians, Americans and South Africans with an age group from 15 - 60, with most being 30-40's. We were spoilt with the accommodation in Rome at the Egriffe, it is definitely more that the 3.5 stars that the tour promises. So when we went to Florence and stayed at the Novotel, we were all disappointed with the standard of the hotel! The final accommodation at the Antony in Venice was better! If you get to order a pizza from the down the road, we got 3 pizzas for 13 euro and it was the best pizza we had the whole time!
Didn't feel like we had a cheap tour 7 , QLD, Australia, Jun 2015
We chose Global Journey's 'Jewels of Italy' 7 day tour as it hit many of the right notes for us. I had always had a desire to see and experience Italy, but had the language barrier of only speaking English; my husband on the other hand had never been overseas and also did not speak a second language. This is why we initially decided a guided tour would ...read more best suit our situation. Our tour guide Tony was fabulous! We were surprised initially that our guide was Australian as well, but had the added insider knowledge of Italy, having moved, lived, breathed the Italian life for over 20 years. This tour, covers a lot of things with the guide and provides plenty of free time to experience things on your own terms. We did opt to do all the optional activities to make sure we saw and made the most of everything. Even with all the inclusions, it was still an amazingly great price for what we experienced and will treasure for the rest of our lives.

The only negative, which was out of the control of Global Journey's and Trafalgar, was one of the accommodation locations/hotel itself. Due to a fashion event in Florence, we were unable to stay in the brochured hotel due to hotels overbooking for the event. As a result, the hotel we did end up in was well away from anything and had recently been taken over with a rushed opening to accommodate for the fashion event and a grande prix. So it was disorganized, the European adapters purchased in Australian stores were no longer compatible with their power points (they have been made slightly slimer), no wifi, tasteless food, and inexperienced staff. I did try giving them benefit of the doubt, giving their circumstances but would strongly advise against Trafalgar to use that location as a backup point in future (even Tony the tour guide was very embarrassed about the accommodation and kept apologizing on behalf of himself and Trafalgar). Don't expect 5 star experiences...however saying that, I didn't feel like we had a cheap tour, it felt very luxurious for what we could have gotten. Will happily use Global Journey's again.
We loved the whole experience 1 , Australia, Sep 2013
Had a great time Roberto our tour guide and bus driver Marchello were excellent made everyone feel at ease we had quite a few laughs along the way which made the tour all the more enjoyable as well. Being our first time to Italy we loved the whole experience of it, history, food, wine and the people were very friendly we would recommend it to anyon ...read moree.
Would recommend Cosmos to others 2 , Australia, Jul 2013
At first we thought the tour coach was not very comfortable and a bit squashy. The first tour guide Juan Carlos was difficult to understand mainly because the PA was not very good from where we were about half way down. Also listening to everything in the 3 languages was tedious but I guess that's the way it is. Once we got to Pompeii and had a new ...read more tour guide everything was good. The accommodation was fantastic and the meals lovely especially in Amalfi they were quite gourmet. The guide for Capri, Marco, was also very entertaining and we had a lovely day at the Blue Grotto and Capri. We liked having free time in Amalfi to do our own thing and the small bus trips to and from Amalfi were excellent with time to stop and take photos too. Overall we enjoyed our holiday with Costsaver tours and would recommend them to others. So thank you Georgie for all your help.
All the cities were beautiful and the tour was pace was great 1 , Australia, Jul 2013
The tour director, Chris, was excellent. His knowledge of Italy was never ending. He was also a lot of fun and organised everything smoothly. The coach was comfortable and we made friends with lots of people on board. All the cities were beautiful and the tour was paced to our liking. Our main disappointment was that the hotels were so far out of each ...read more city it made it difficult to go into town by ourselves. By the time we added on the optional tours it made the holiday a lot more expensive. The standard of the hotels was good.
I went with my teenage kids and they loved it as well 1 , Australia, Jul 2013
Danilo our tour director was awesome. I have never met anyone who cared so much about everyone's needs as he did. He made the trip so much better. The itinerary was really good except the time in Florence at the leather store - that was a waste of time and should be scrapped from the tour. Everyone else thought so too. Besides this, it was well thought ...read more out and executed. I went with my teenage kids and they loved it as well. I would travel with Trafalgar again.
Whole experience was excellent and above expectation 4 , Australia, May 2013
Just arrived home this morning at 5am, trying to stay awake till tonight so thought I would answer your email. Absolutely loved the tour, as it was a CostSaver we were not expecting too much but the hotels we stayed at were above expectations, not sure if it was because we had shared room with twin beds but they were king beds separated and the rooms ...read more were quite large, a real bonus and lovely clean ensuites and the hotel just out of Florence was a travellers dream, just what we think Italy is all about from all the movies we see - My Life in Tuscany etc. Also being a CostSaver tour we were thinking the food would be very basic, toast n jam for breakfast and although not 4 star still above expectation for the price. Our tour guide, Colleen was very honest and even suggested I not do one of the tours as it didn't really include the Italian Forum which I was keen to do. I did it by myself which was fine while the rest did things I was not that interested in. Very refreshing to find someone genuinely interested in you and making sure you have a good time and are not disappointed. The optional tours we did were also excellent. Yes, there was a bit of hard selling re the optional tours and gratuities but that just goes with a tour and I would like to think we are all grown up enough to make our minds up and for it not to bother us, it is just part of a tour and we accept it graciously. The week prior to the trip I found out I had fractured my foot so had a lovely boot thing to wear, once again Colleen our tour guide was very attentive to my needs, even supplying plastic bag and elastic band to cover it the day it rained. She and the driver were always on hand if I needed it, I just hope I wasn't too needy as they had a full tour to attend to but I did appreciate their concern. So many happy memories and I would recommend this tour to anybody as I feel it was very good value for money. Thank you for your help too, even making sure all our information arrived well ahead of the tour as my departure date from Sydney was earlier. Once again, the whole experience was excellent and above expectation for a CostSaver tour.
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