Costsaver Reviews

This being my first trip alone to Europe, I decided that I must have a "taste" of the regions around there, hence my decision to join a group tour. I chose Global Journeys after reviewing customer feedback on several tour companies. Hannah Campbell has been very helpful, obliging and patient in dealing with my questions. I was most impressed with her ...read more professionalism. She kept track of my records and ensured I had not forgotten any item to tick off along the way. Thank you, Hannah.

The trip I selected initially was European Cavalcade but due to lack of numbers, was not a confirmed tour and I requested for a tour that had been confirmed. Hannah suggested the European Accent, which turned out to be wonderful. There were 48 of us on tour plus Bernadette Willis the tour director and Ivan (most of the trip). Bernie was fantastic, energetic and so totally organised in getting everyone in and out of hotels, attractions and stopover places in time. She had such patience and always with a big smile,always helpful for even the silliest of questions. Everyone loved her. Ivan was practical, patient, helpful with the luggage and always ready for us when we returned from our local tours. Both of them managed the group wonderfully together. A big huge thanks to them.

I loved the places we visited and that Trafalgar has such good relationship with the museums and other attractions that we were greeted with smiles and offered drinks on the house - such as at Burrano restaurant in Italy. Apparently this takes years in establishing and clearly shows the quality of TDs that Trafalgar employs. Bernie seemed to know everyone and they greeted her with open arms. Again, proof of ongoing work in establishing good relationships.

I loved the Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum, Venice, Florence - seeing the real David was amazing, Murrano glass blowing demo, Rhone cruise in Germany, Paris, Lyons, Monaco, Pont d'Avignon, Cannes, etc. the extras were pretty amazing too and I was glad to have the choice or not since there were days I just wanted to stay at the hotel and chill. The tour was a bit too fast paced for me, but only because I was not over jet-lag and getting up at 5:30 every morning was a bit too hard for my brain. Please warn people coming from different time zones to give themselves a few days before getting on tour as jet-lag can really hit you.

It was really good... hassle free, had an awesome time cant wait for my next trip... thank you very much for looking after me on my travels. :)

Fantastic tour guide, Emile Weigand-Bruss who made the journey magical. I am usually very critical of things but Trafalgar was fantastic. One hotel (in Florence) was a bit below par but the rest were excellent. The tour is fast paced but we enjoyed everything and there is no way that you can see everything we saw if you do it yourself. We travelled ...read more as a family of four (kids: 14 and 11). Emile looked after them so well involving them in everything. The optional excursions were fantastic. Definitely do them if you can (worth the money; and I doubt if you could do it by yourself cheaper). Don't hesitate to do this or another Trafalgar tour. We wont be doing 'sightseeing' holidays (as opposed to 'resting at the resort' holidays) any other way.

The tour itself was excellent however the accommodation was not of the best quality in both Seville and Barcelona. The hotel in Seville was horrendous and had a broken toilet , this was after we had been moved due to the room air conditioner leaking. The hotel in Barcelona was beautiful however it was over an hour outside of the city with very poor ...read more public transport in the city it was difficult ( especially considering we had so much free time in Barcelona).

A great time! A professional, fun loving and caring Tour Director makes a world of difference! Enjoyed this tour immensely.

If our hotels are going to be out of town, then I would rather them be further out of town but with better amenities than just far enough to make visiting town difficult but with poor amenities. Also, every hotel should be family friendly. In some hotels they were obviously a cramped two-person room made even more cramped with an extra bed for a child. ...read more In Pompeii (which for me was going to be the highlight - it's the whole reason we picked that tour) the coach driver got lost and we turned up 30 minutes late. The local tour guide very clearly cut down our time in Pompeii because he had other tour groups to cater for. So we spent ages just sitting outside the ruins drinking orange juice and doing nothing. Then when I get on the coach again I found out that a few of the other tour passengers got to go back inside and look at the ruins during this time. No one told us. I was very upset as was my family. These things aside I loved the tour, but it does upset me that the key thing I wanted to see on the tour was ruined.

Our European Cavalcade experience really was the trip of a lifetime. Everything on our bucket list was ticked off!! We had a fantastic tour guide, Esther and very safe driver Mario. They contributed to a very memorable trip. We saw a lot more in 18 days than we would have expected. We skipped queues, and were at places early enough to see what was important ...read more before the huge crowds. We did nearly all the optional tours which we recommend because then you experience everything there is to do in that location. The pace was great. We went as a family with teenage children and had plenty of free time. It is surprising how much free time you have to relax or explore on your own. Esther was very knowledgeable, informative and helpful, and we learnt more on this trip than we did in all our years of school! Mario kept the bus impeccably clean and we felt safe with his driving. The accommodation ranged from average to fabulous. We always had a comfortable bed and clean room/ensuite. The included meals were good, and the optional tour meals were exceptional. The group we travelled with all got along and have each become friends and we hope to keep in touch. Overall we highly rate this tour and would do it again and again.

We knew this was a quick paced tour but still pleasantly surprised by the organisation and efficient way the tour was done. We travelled vast distances in a few days, saw so many exciting things and the coach was extremely comfortable. We were taken to interesting places and shown hidden treasures - had fun though in some places a bit rushed due to ...read more time constraints. The only suggestion I have is that if we could have had the list of optional trips when we booked the tour? Some of us missed out on some optional tours due to other tours that we pre booked for the free times, others had to forego pre booked tours to go on some optional tours. The tour director Ashley Burton Brown was very informative, patient but efficient and fun! Georgie Walpole at Global Journeys was a great help with our two bookings - Britain & Ireland Panorama & Glimpse of Europe. Without Georgie's help we would probably have looked elsewhere.

Generally a well organised and enjoyable tour. Hotels were generally of good quality, however the location of some were too distant from main centres which limited touring of these areas.

Excellent overall! Great value for money. The packaged tour is very well planned, organized, resourced and executed. The tour director was very knowledgeable and an experienced tour manager. The other two team members, i.e. driver and butler, were also very good. Also, Emily Cran of Global Journeys was extremely helpful and provided prompt support during ...read more our planning and booking process. Looking forward to our next tour with Trafalgar. Highly recommended to prospective tourists - both Trafalgar and Global Journeys - well done and thank you.

All went extremely well and it was our first time with Costsaver instead of the more expensive Trafalgar tour, but we found there is only a small difference in the tours so will be opting for Costsaver in the future.

We had a great tour although we had VERY Hot weather. We realised it was summer but travelling from Melbourne's 8c to high 30c to 40c was a bit of a shock. Trafalgar were again very good and our Tour leader Gasper was excellent. Arrived back home Fri 7th Aug after spending time in UK with family. We are pleased all went well.

Very good, though would prefer more stops, i.e. less time at stops but more stops to match the time set aside for stops.

Great tour of England and Scotland. I was not presented with my Trafalgar pack when I arrived at Ibis, so was not sure on tour start time. After breakfast next morning I went to reception and there was a Trafalgar rep in lobby, so was a little rushed to get my suitcase down to go on coach. Accommodation was for the most part excellent, except in Glasgow ...read more my window on 6th floor faced a brick wall, so no view at all. Disappointed! Other than those small hiccups, the tour director was extremely knowledgeable, and tour excellent. Thank you.

Thank you very much! Especially I appreciate that I got solo accommodation despite the fact I had bought a share room. And the tour director was a very confident professional and took care of all of us during whole trip.

The tour was the best way to see Europe with an experienced tour director who made sure all arrangements for accommodations and excursions happened seamlessly. Stress free and enjoyable, would highly recommend Trafalgar tours and will certainly be taking another Trafalgar tour in future!

The tour was lengthy, some very long days, and then to go out to dinner and bags not arrived in rooms. Some specialist tours the guide spoke broken English and felt didn't get the full benefit of experience. We needed American dollars for Belarus visa, would have been easier if taken these from NZ. No WiFi in coach although told there would be.

We saw so many incredible places in such a short time. Tour organisation was exceptional - after experiencing many things together with the group we still got to have free time for sightseeing, relaxing, or shopping! From chilly and conservative Germany and Austria to bright and crazy Italy and romantic France, this trip was unforgettable.

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 trip. It was very fast paced. Our tour guide John was excellent and very informative. I would highly recommend this trip to anyone that has not been to Europe before as a preview so they can decide if they'd like to go back and explore more. Great trip!