Travelmarvel Tour & Cruise Reviews

Really enjoyed our trip with Travelmarvel. Accommodation and food were excellent. Our coach driver Andrew was a wealth of information and Louise our tour director was always helpful. We saw lots of interesting things. Our last day in Freemantle could have been organised a little better. An optional extra could have been added to our itinerary to visit ...read more Rottnest Island if it was organised earlier. Was also disappointed that there wasn't a departure last night dinner to say goodbye to other fellow passengers. Would travel with Travelmarvel again as the trip was well organised otherwise.

This was an exceptional cruise in the very literal sense. I have fortunately had the luck to experience quite a diverse & varied presentation of holidays by various cruise/holiday organisations - this would have to have been THE BEST!

Now, granted, not everything went according to plan, but I hasten to add that in my experience, Travelmarvel made ...read more exceptional effort to minimise inconveniences & maximise experience. I pay ultimate respect to Cruise Director - Sue Obermoser, she did an outstanding job to ensure everyone’s situation was the best, under some pretty adverse situations, namely prevailing river conditions. Very well done to her and the entire crew.

We set off for a 15 Day European River Cruise aboard the Travelmarvel Diamond with great expectations. What we actually got was a 15 Day European Tour on the Travelmarvel Jewel, Sapphire & the Diamond, plus 2 luxury hotels in Budapest & Regensberg & many entertaining kilometers aboard comfortable coaches. Due to the unprecedented lack of water, a once ...read more in one hundred year event, we were able to do what no Travelmarvel group has yet to do, i.e. travel on each one of its fabulous fleet.

We saw much of the countryside as well as the rivers, so it was all an added bonus! Extra tours were added for us & the care & consideration shown to all by our tireless Cruise Director Hedleigh Emberson was excellent. Many thanks go to the crews of all the vessels in a very trying situation for all, & our local tour guides aboard our coaches were so knowledgeable & entertaining. Our first Travelmarvel adventure, but certainly not our last.

This is the best value European holiday ever. Great food, great company. Travelmarvel were great, we had a few hiccups, such as the low river levels and using 3 ships instead of one. Minimal interruptions, but the logistics Travelmarvel had to take care of to get us through the trip was nothing short of amazing. Cannot speak highly enough of Global ...read more Journeys, we dealt with Jemma who kept us informed of the low river situation all the time. Best ever.

All did not however go as smoothly as expected with this October India and Nepal tour which was run by Great Railway Journeys in conjunction with APT/Travelmarvel in Australia. We finished up only doing two train journeys. When one 7.00am train which we were booked on did not turn up after an hour they got the bus which had all our luggage to take us ...read more to Varanasi. It had waited just in case, since our efficient English tour leader had experienced such delays in the past! The excellent Indian tour leader later found out that the train ran well over 4 hours late. Apparently that is common; a fact which Great Rail Journeys in York should have known.

I’ve done 34 organised tours and the company really didn’t give sufficiently detailed information which I consider was deliberate. The final tour booklet given to the Australians when the tour leader arrived was not the same as what we received in Australia. They misled us on the timing of much travel giving the impression that we would reach places in time to do certain things or have free time. It would have been good to know in advance that a journey of just over 200km from Kathmandu to Pokhara [a very pleasant location] would take 9.5 hours and another 9 hours to return three days later! Fortunately the hotels were all excellent and the English tour director was a gem. A previous tour I did in India a few years ago - mainly in Rajasthan - was much better.

Due to a flight change about 3 weeks before the tour I did not have sufficient time [85 mins] at Delhi airport to go through Immigration, collect my case and get to domestic check-in which closed 45 minutes prior to the flight to Amritsar. A flight later in the day was full however I was prepared to wait at the airport for the first flight the next day [Monday]. I rang APT/Travelmarvel and was told by a lady that I had to be there on Sunday since the tour started early on Monday. The airline had met their requirements by offering to send me on the next day so I had had no option but to completely forget about that booking and look for new flights. I finished up booking with Thai Airways however finished up $1400 out of pocket. As it happened, getting to Amritsar, it was discovered that the English Tour Director and the UK tour members were not due to arrive in Amritsa until Monday afternoon so I would have been OK. Travelmarvel's information was totally incorrect. [It actually took two and a half hours to get through the formalities at Delhi airport; something that is well worth knowing!]

My best friend and I did this cruise to celebrate 50 years of being best friends and what a way to celebrate! Fabulous weather and scenery and unforgettable special experiences like a Mozart and Strauss concert in Vienna and watching an incredible demonstration of glass blowing by a master artisan. Our ship and its crew were magnificent and the food ...read more was fabulous. Definitely not the last river cruise we will do.

A thoroughly enjoyable river journey. After 4 weeks prior travelling independently "back packing" around Croatia this was absolute luxury. The cabin was fantastic. The bed so comfortable plus a 'balcony' view. The food was amazing. I was conscious to eat healthily. I avoided the pastries and bread but still had 3 'big' meals a day. I had sparkling wine ...read more with breakfast and wine with lunch and dinner. Why not indulge a little. I would also walk for 1 to 1.5 h each morning before breakfast whenever the ship was docked. Amazingly when I got home and weighed myself I hadn't put on weight. Which goes to show with healthy eating (and some drinking) plus exercise you don't have to put on those kilos on a 'cruise'.

Marion our Tour Director was fantastic. The excursions were great except for Vienna. We only had a very short 'guided tour', then were left at St Stephens for 1/2 h which was not long enough to do anything. We then went (and wasted 1h) to the Nasch Market to sample a piece of cheese, a mini" pancake" and glass of wine. This was a complete waste of time! With so much food/wine on the the 'ship' no one needed more food. This component should be dropped. There is so much else to see in Vienna. Fortunately I have lived there so know! Entertainment: because I got up at 6.30am each morning to go for my walks I was always too tired after dinner to partake in the evening entertainment. I did enjoy the very informative afternoon talk by the professor about the Danube-Rhine Canal.

This was our first cruise trip and we'll definitely have more in the future. I wasn't aware of the dependency of European river cruise on weather before I booked this trip. It turned out the journey could have been ruined by the water level in the Rhine, Main and Danube. When the water level is too low due to drought, the tour company has to use coaches ...read more to transport passengers along the river. This will be accompanied by a daily check-in and check-out of hotels instead of staying in the same cabin throughout the whole trip. The water level indeed was too low in part of our cruise. Luckily Travelmarvel had a good contingency plan. They had two ships start from both ends at the same time. We had a ship swap in the middle where the water level was too low that the ships could not pass. We just packed our luggage on that day and it was moved to the same cabin on the other ship after our day excursion. It all happened seamlessly. I couldn't image if we had to finish the rest of our journey by coaches.

On our first night there was a little confusion in that we were on a Great Rail Journeys tour rather than with Travelmarvel. That was soon sorted and we could not fault the organisation, even with a cancellation due to the weather. The alternative in that case was well received.

The highlight of the tour was the Scottish Dinner on the last night ...read more with piper, dancer and an excellent meal with the whole tour group really enjoying themselves. If you want to see autumn colours then this trip was a week too early as only a few trees had started to change. There was a good mix of nationalities which helped the cohesion of the group.

A few negatives. There was more coach travel than we expected and the coaches never seemed to have enough fresh air coming in even after we asked for the flow to be increased. Some of the coach sections would have been improved by playing of familiar Scottish tunes/songs to entertain the passengers.

Extremely happy with the services provided by Yvonne and the Global Journeys team. The trip to China was great, the small group [12] got along with everyone, the accommodation was premium and very comfortable and clean, the food was very delicious with lots of variety and plenty of food.

The Yangtze River Cruise was great, having our meals at the ...read more Executive Lounge was a great idea with a choice of European or Chinese food. It was nice to have tea, coffee, juices, soft drinks and cookies all day at the Executive Lounge on level 6. The cabin was very nice and clean. All the excursions were very interesting, lots of walking though but it was worth it. Travelmarvel provided bottled water with every excursion. Fred the tour director was very nice and helpful, the local tour guides were very good too. Some of the restaurant staff at the hotels did not speak English very well but using Google translate helped.

Overall we really enjoyed this trip and we highly recommend Travelmarvel to our family and friends. Optional tours we highly recommend include the Summer Palace in Beijing and the river cruise in Shanghai. For souvenir shopping we would recommend to do it in Beijing and Xian as in Shanghai it is very limited.

Thank you Yvonne and Travelmarvel for organising this fantastic trip for me. I thoroughly enjoyed this tour. The included activities were great and were at a good pace. We travelled a great distance and saw a lot. All the hotels were excellent and centrally located. There were only 12 people in my group and everyone got along really well. I was a solo ...read more traveller but never felt alone thanks to the lovely people in my group. Weather wise it was a good time to travel in September as it wasn't hot at all. The only negative for me was the farewell dinner in Shanghai. I think the tour director should take a bit more care for people with special dietary requirements. However I do like to say that the food was really good in other places.

What an amazing journey. The 2 days on the Rocky Mountaineer lived up to every expectation and it snowed in Banff and Lake Louise. That was a touch of "Christmas" magic in September. On the coach leg, the scenery was majestic and beautiful and it was awesome to stand on the Icefields. The cruise to Alaska on the "Volandam" was a special highlight. The ...read more weather was amazing. Our float plane flight over the glaciers out of Juneau was picture postcard perfect; the train up to White Pass from Shagway was awe inspiring - incredible landscape coupled with the history of the Klondike and Yukon gold rush. Wow! But "the highlight" was Glacier Bay. A memorable day of soaking the majesty of God's creation and the calving of Margerie Glacier.

First time traveling with Travelmarvel and would definitely do it again. Guides were excellent as was accommodation, meals and transport. Highlights of the trip for us were Halong Bay and visiting the small villages along the Mekong, where we got to talk to the children learning English at a school. We went in Sept at the end of the wet season and were ...read more very lucky because it only drizzled once through the day during our three weeks. Sunsets and night time storms were spectacular.

This was by far the best organised tour I have ever been on. The Tour Director was amazing. He made everything work like clockwork. He was always relaxed in spite of the occasional hiccup. All on the tour felt he could have done with an assistant to ease the load.

I do feel that porterage should always be included as there is sometimes just a small ...read more window of time for the suitcases of 40 people to be unloaded. Without the help of a chain gang of able-bodied men on the tour, there would have been pandemonium.

The scenery was just spectacular. Accommodation was excellent apart from tiny rooms in Bloomsbury and Colmar. Meals were very good. The evening meal in Colmar was exceptional.

This cruise takes you through some wonderful parts of Europe. The scenery is fantastic. Our Cruise Director Kay (KY) was magnificent and thought of everything - even little snacks and gifts along the way. We had to swap ships half way through the cruise because the water levels are very, very low. Only missed 1 or 2 stops and other activities were substituted. ...read more Travelmarvel thinks of everything and has excursions for all levels of 'seniors'. Although, not suitable for those in wheelchairs.

The 2 ships we cruised on were 'sister' ships but their crews were vastly different. The Captain of the Travelmarvel Diamond is hands on. Always there to greet you back on the ship or help in any way he can. He calls his crew his 'children'. They are all one big happy family. Totally opposite on Travelmarvel Jewel. The Captain drives the boat. Wouldn't recognise him if he sat next to me at dinner. His staff were efficient but not as friendly or happy in their job. Leading from the top makes a great difference. All in all, I will definitely travel with Travelmarvel again and use Global Journeys to do my bookings. Thank you.

It was a great holiday overall. For the land tour visiting Whistler was not necessary, because we arrived late and had to leave early in the morning. Both tour and cruise directors were excellent. However, the airport pick up at Vancouver airport was not well organised. We had to look for the person and had an additional 50 minutes waiting for transport. ...read more The highlight of the trip was Glacier Bay in Alaska and Victoria in Canada.

We've just returned from a delightful Travelmarvel journey through Eastern Canada including a Holland America Cruise of New England, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island finishing in beautiful Boston. The scenery was exceptional, hotels were lovely and our tour guide was knowledgeable and ensured our trip went smoothly. Hannah assisted us beautifully ...read more with our booking.

Yvonne at Global Journeys was fantastic to deal with for our booking of this trip. Promptly responded to all enquiries and gave us the correct information regarding required visas which others in our group hadn't received from their agents. For a trip this long I would definitely recommend arriving a day early and taking a few days either mid trip or ...read more at the end to recover from the pace of travel before returning home. All guides and drivers were excellent, particularly those from Albatros in Kenya. Would use Global Journeys again to book. Some of the optional excursions would have been cheaper booked on the ground.

A fantastic holiday where we saw the modern China along with their earlier heritage of different dynasties. In Beijing we visited The Forbidden City, walked along part of the Great Wall and had a rickshaw ride through the alleyways of the old part of the city. The boat cruise on the Yangtze River in the section controlled by the Three Gorges Dam gave ...read more us a view of some spectacular mountain scenery along with how they relocated more than a million people to higher ground. The panda's at Chongqing zoo are a fascinating animal to observe. The Terracotta Warriors near Xian were an amazing sight to witness and learn of their history and recent by chance discovery by a farmer digging a well. The canals and old buildings of Wuzhen where Marco Polo roamed were quite fascinating. Overall a great experience.

River was at its lowest in 15 years and although we had to change ships half way, the Cruise Director made sure we were looked after. Definitely good value. We were accommodated in a 5 star hotel on the first night with a river dinner to watch fireworks, just to make up for not being able to be on our river cruise ship.