Costsaver Reviews
The 283 Costsaver reviews listed below are from past clients of Global Journeys that have traveled with Costsaver. Each review has been individually verified by our team.
Yvonne and her team were extremely helpful in organising a wonderful holiday from my friend and I. The tour was great and very suitable for the price that we paid! The communication pre and post tour was excellent and the documents were all easy to read and understand. I highly recommend this tour to anyone of any age that is looking for the highlights of UK and Ireland.
Very informative tour, and well priced. Our tour director was exceptional. Thank you Yvonne for your assistance in booking our trip.
Global Journeys made this trip super easy to book! And at a competitive price too. Tour itself was great, nothing "cost saver" about it. It is cheaper than traditional Trafalgar tours, and the money is saved by staying in hotels that are a little bit further out of the central city areas. But this did not matter at all! In fact, it meant we got to stay read more in some very beautiful locations and very good quality hotels.
By the time you finish your touring all day, you get to your hotel, have dinner, and crash. Then leave the next morning! So it doesn't even matter where the hotel is located because you're only there for such a short time. And when you do stay in an area for a couple of days, the tour bus drops you in the city for the whole day to explore, so no need to worry about transportation to the main central locations. Also great buffet breakfasts every single morning. You will not starve! Some seats on the coach were squishier than others. Seat rotation meant everyone had their fair share of good and bad seats.
By the time you finish your touring all day, you get to your hotel, have dinner, and crash. Then leave the next morning! So it doesn't even matter where the hotel is located because you're only there for such a short time. And when you do stay in an area for a couple of days, the tour bus drops you in the city for the whole day to explore, so no need to worry about transportation to the main central locations. Also great buffet breakfasts every single morning. You will not starve! Some seats on the coach were squishier than others. Seat rotation meant everyone had their fair share of good and bad seats.
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.
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.
Britain and Ireland Explorer - Trafalgar Costsaver 13
Britain and Ireland Explorer
Barbara , NSW, Australia, Sep 2017
Excellent tour and good value for money. Early September meant school holidays were over so little overcrowding. Weather not terrific - drizzled most days although a few fine days towards the end. However, rain rarely affected what we were doing. Colder than I expected - range mostly 10-14 centigrade during the day (but after all it's autumn in the read more UK!). Did not wear any of the lighter clothes I had packed.
Accommodation quite satisfactory and sometimes really good - mostly outside town as one might expect for a Costsaver tour. In the Scottish Highlands we stayed in two different hotels in the same area on consecutive nights and this meant some unnecessary "doubling back". Assume this was due to a hotel booking issue. Inclusions good.
Optional Excursions OK. Did not think optional cruise on Loch Lomond had much going for it but others enjoyed it and I found cruise on Lake Windermere really worthwhile. Highlights York, Edinburgh, Lake District, Bath, Dingle Peninsula, Cliffs of Moher. Pace, as expected, lively. Mostly 7 am breakfast/bags out and on the coach at 8. Tiring at times but one or two easier paced days. Global Journeys staff very helpful and efficient - highly recommended.
Accommodation quite satisfactory and sometimes really good - mostly outside town as one might expect for a Costsaver tour. In the Scottish Highlands we stayed in two different hotels in the same area on consecutive nights and this meant some unnecessary "doubling back". Assume this was due to a hotel booking issue. Inclusions good.
Optional Excursions OK. Did not think optional cruise on Loch Lomond had much going for it but others enjoyed it and I found cruise on Lake Windermere really worthwhile. Highlights York, Edinburgh, Lake District, Bath, Dingle Peninsula, Cliffs of Moher. Pace, as expected, lively. Mostly 7 am breakfast/bags out and on the coach at 8. Tiring at times but one or two easier paced days. Global Journeys staff very helpful and efficient - highly recommended.
Great trip shame about the tour director 6
Britain and Ireland Explorer
Alian64, QLD, Australia, Sep 2017
The trip was great and we were blessed with exceptional weather. I did find some of the stops were too short and some too long e.g. St Andrews golf course. Overall however the trip was great. My biggest complaint would be the lack of information provided regarding places of interest and history and many times we passed or stopped at places of interest read more but were not provided any or very little information. The tour director lacked knowledge, professionalism and seemed very disorganised. A real shame as it would of put the icing on the cake. I have been on alternate tours (not Trafalgar) and the tour directors were excellent.
Lots to See 8
Dale, VIC, Australia, Aug 2017
There was a lot to see on this tour and the pace at times was extremely hectic. The quality of accommodation ranged dramatically. Some was excellent and some was atrocious. The hotel Costsaver used outside of Venice was very bad and in no way was it a 4 star hotel. The inclusions on this tour were nowhere near as good as the UK Cosmos tour we did. read more To actually get real value from this tour you have to do most of the optional excursions. This added significantly to the cost of this tour. It cost us an extra $2,400 Euros to add value to our trip. By the time you add this cost to the initial cost you would be better looking at a high cost tour with more included.
Our tour guide, Aaron, was good and knew his stuff. We met many lovely people on this tour and saw a lot, once we had added in optional excursions. Many of the days had long distances to travel, quite often between 500 and 690km. On some days there were things to see and do or excursions to do after 6-7 hours travelling. In many cases travellers were already tired and to have to then do optional tours or included stuff took the edge off the experience. The two night stopovers were a bonus as they allowed for a bit of a breather. If you want to see a lot of Europe, this is a good trip. If we were to be able to travel to Europe again in the future, this trip will allow us to choose where we would like to go and spend more time.
Our tour guide, Aaron, was good and knew his stuff. We met many lovely people on this tour and saw a lot, once we had added in optional excursions. Many of the days had long distances to travel, quite often between 500 and 690km. On some days there were things to see and do or excursions to do after 6-7 hours travelling. In many cases travellers were already tired and to have to then do optional tours or included stuff took the edge off the experience. The two night stopovers were a bonus as they allowed for a bit of a breather. If you want to see a lot of Europe, this is a good trip. If we were to be able to travel to Europe again in the future, this trip will allow us to choose where we would like to go and spend more time.
A wonderful Rockies & Inside Passage Experience 11
Panoramic Canadian Rockies with Alaska Cruise
Elizabeth, VIC, Australia, Aug 2017
The Canadian Rockies were just magnificent, with beautiful towering mountains and glistening lakes. Walking on a glacier was an amazing experience and the gondola rides and views at Whistler and Banff were breathtaking. Travelling to Vancouver Island and visiting the beautiful Butchart Gardens was another wonderful experience and I have so many photos read more to remind me of it. Even though the Trafalgar Coach tour had 50 people on board (which was more than any other tour I had been on), our tour guide, Lisa, ran it really efficiently, and provided us with lots of interesting information (and fun!)
The accommodation was all good - although unlike Australia, milk is not provided in the rooms, and finding milk for tea and coffee became a daily challenge. (Tip to others - take small long life packs from home!). There were plenty of reasonably priced options to buy meals everywhere we stayed, and I was glad I hadn't paid for a more expensive trip with meals included.
Although having said that we did enjoy the indulgent 7 day Alaska cruise. The scenery through the Inside Passage was beautiful, and the visits to the towns of Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan were great. The White Pass railway trip at Skagway was a highlight, as we travelled through this rugged terrain, hearing about the early settlers and miners who blazed these trails. And to top everything off, we were blessed with beautiful warm, sunny weather every day (except Ketchikan, where it always rains!)
The accommodation was all good - although unlike Australia, milk is not provided in the rooms, and finding milk for tea and coffee became a daily challenge. (Tip to others - take small long life packs from home!). There were plenty of reasonably priced options to buy meals everywhere we stayed, and I was glad I hadn't paid for a more expensive trip with meals included.
Although having said that we did enjoy the indulgent 7 day Alaska cruise. The scenery through the Inside Passage was beautiful, and the visits to the towns of Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan were great. The White Pass railway trip at Skagway was a highlight, as we travelled through this rugged terrain, hearing about the early settlers and miners who blazed these trails. And to top everything off, we were blessed with beautiful warm, sunny weather every day (except Ketchikan, where it always rains!)
We were a bit fearful of any punishing daily program, and so were pleasantly surprised that we had options not to go on all the activities. That was really good for us, as I twisted my foot the night before the start of the tour. The tour director was exceptionally good, and restored our faith in a conducted tour program. He gave a very balanced humorous read more and interesting background to all the sites we visited. Will happily go with Trafalgar again.
The tour has covered a lot of amazing things and places we wanted to see and experience. The duration totally suits to our preference as well - anything would be too long. I would have wanted to have at least 2 nights per major location but in the end the timeframe still works excellently considering the amount of coverage we had.
Most of our fellow read more travellers were great - with a good laugh to share with considering that we are from different corners of the world. Jonathan our Travel Director was awesome and helpful who made things easy with a good sense of humour, an outstanding organisational skills and a wealth of knowledge. Tamas was a very skilled driver and managed to get us through a few potentially traffic issues without causing any trouble. The weather was a bit hot but couldn't complain much as we haven't seen a bad weather except for one where we were comfortably sitting in our coach. Good if the coach wifi can be improved. Hotels are okay but the one in Lucerne is charming and exceptional with great views and ambience. Definitely lots of beautiful experiences. The optional activities are mostly well worth it. Certainly recommend Global Journeys and Trafalgar.
Most of our fellow read more travellers were great - with a good laugh to share with considering that we are from different corners of the world. Jonathan our Travel Director was awesome and helpful who made things easy with a good sense of humour, an outstanding organisational skills and a wealth of knowledge. Tamas was a very skilled driver and managed to get us through a few potentially traffic issues without causing any trouble. The weather was a bit hot but couldn't complain much as we haven't seen a bad weather except for one where we were comfortably sitting in our coach. Good if the coach wifi can be improved. Hotels are okay but the one in Lucerne is charming and exceptional with great views and ambience. Definitely lots of beautiful experiences. The optional activities are mostly well worth it. Certainly recommend Global Journeys and Trafalgar.
We have had an amazing time exploring Europe. Starting from day 1 we were impressed, our tour director Javier knew so much about every country and took us to many extra hidden treasures that we would not of known about otherwise. We did the optional extras, which were superb and great value for money. Most of our accommodation was excellent, only read more a couple were average but still served the purpose. Will definately highly recommend Costsaver by Tafalger and will use them again. We would also book future holidays with Global Journeys, we used Yvonne and she did the "leg" work and kept us informed. Looking forward to our next trip already.
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.
This was my second tour with Costsaver by Trafalgar and yet again it delivered on a fuss-free holiday that provided me with an experience I will never forget. These tours are great for solo travellers like myself as it gives you a sense of security while touring unknown areas and provides opportunities to meet new people and perhaps even make lifelong read more friends on the way!
Being Costsaver, the accommodation was high quality (generally 4 stars?) but often a fair way out of the city centres. This is not a huge problem as the coach normally does a drop off and pick up that you can make use of if you are not keen to try out the public transport system or pay for a cab. Some Costsaver experiences are not included as standard and need to be paid for on the way, but being aware of this prior to the trip and factoring it in is advisable. I have done all the optional extras on both of my trips and found them worthwhile and recommend doing them if you can.
These tours are not for the selfish or the single-minded - the best interest of the group is always foremost in the mind of the tour director and the company. That being said, in free time, the tour director (ours was the wonderful Alberto Gobicchi) is always willing to help you get to whatever it is you want to do! These short tours provide an awesome taste test for the areas visited and, for me, provide me with inspiration for the time I get to come back and explore at my leisure!
Being Costsaver, the accommodation was high quality (generally 4 stars?) but often a fair way out of the city centres. This is not a huge problem as the coach normally does a drop off and pick up that you can make use of if you are not keen to try out the public transport system or pay for a cab. Some Costsaver experiences are not included as standard and need to be paid for on the way, but being aware of this prior to the trip and factoring it in is advisable. I have done all the optional extras on both of my trips and found them worthwhile and recommend doing them if you can.
These tours are not for the selfish or the single-minded - the best interest of the group is always foremost in the mind of the tour director and the company. That being said, in free time, the tour director (ours was the wonderful Alberto Gobicchi) is always willing to help you get to whatever it is you want to do! These short tours provide an awesome taste test for the areas visited and, for me, provide me with inspiration for the time I get to come back and explore at my leisure!
Great holiday. Care free & easy travels. Seen so much of every where travelled. 2
Essence of Eastern Canada
Kellie, NSW, Australia, Jun 2017
I really enjoyed traveling through Eastern Canada. The tour was excellent with very knowledgeable director & tour guides. The hotel quality was excellent of all. No complaints at all. All information described was spot on. Food was available throughout & stops were regular. Great trip. Thank you.
Overall the tour was excellent value for money, accommodation was very good, a complaint would be the location of hotel in East Berlin, should be closer to Berlin. We travelled almost 4,000 kilometres, so some days were long days spent on the coach.
We had a wonderful tour guide - Emmerson Laing who had been working for the company for 12 years, read more extremely knowledge, put 100% effort in every day to ensure we were entertained and informed. He made a video of the hightlights of our tour which was a small donation which is fantastic for us to keep and enjoy. The coach driver Christian was did a fantastic job, spoke several languages and worked extremely hard with his daily duties.
We had a wonderful tour guide - Emmerson Laing who had been working for the company for 12 years, read more extremely knowledge, put 100% effort in every day to ensure we were entertained and informed. He made a video of the hightlights of our tour which was a small donation which is fantastic for us to keep and enjoy. The coach driver Christian was did a fantastic job, spoke several languages and worked extremely hard with his daily duties.
A relaxing and worry-free tour 3
Britain and Ireland Delight
Coreen & Peddy, QLD, Australia, Jun 2017
The short tour achieved our main objectives. For those who have time constraints, we recommend this particular tour as most of the major highlights are taken care of.
A comprehensive journey, despite being called a 'glimpse', with a coach group of approx 45 persons. The organisational abilities of our guide, Kyle, created the framework for a smooth, trouble free journey. As we travelled through different countries, areas, provences etc, Kyle's historical knowledge completed the overall picture as he narrated in a read more clearly understandable manner. All rest stops and overnight stops were timed perfectly, and our driver gave precision service and the travel group contained no 'personalities' to hinder our progress.
European Discoverer & Greek Cruise 11
European Discoverer With 3-Day Aegean Cruise
Russell & Joanne, NSW, Australia, May 2017
Overall very enjoyable trip with wide range of optional extras offered.The tour guide and driver were very professional and made the trip more memorable.
Good tour but add dollars 9
Britain and Ireland Delight
Benaifer Sabavala , VIC, Australia, Apr 2017
Good tour overall , however most sightseeing involved additional entry fee payments and optional excursions were expensive. Added additional $1000 to the tour costs. Didn't plan tour time properly to enable entry time to go into Windsor castle on the last day which was frustrating. Being in front of it but no time to go inside it!
I travelled in May this year. I would highly recommend this tour of Spain & Portugal. Our travel guide Pedro was a wealth of information and never boring. He looked after our every need. An incredible trip. Yvonne at Global Journeys was, as always really great to deal with.
