Travel Department
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Montenegro Highlights 7 Day Tour
This is my second trip travelling solo with The Travel Department and although the scenary on the tours themselves, flights and hotels were all excellent the trip was really let down by 2 of the local guides in Montenegro. The first guide we had (Rijka) was extremely disorganised. Confusion started when we checked in to our hotel to be told that only 6 were staying there and the others were staying at a different hotel. This caused a lot of stress and worry until it transpired that what she meant was that 6 of the group were staying in one block of the hotel and the others were staying in a diffferent block. We weren't given any contact details for the guide and important information like where exactly to meet and at what time and this was often changed or not communicated correctly resulting in most of us having to get the information from our fellow travellers. When she was asked about the added excursion (day trip to Albania) and when it was happening she simply said, "I don't know, that won't be me" and had to be asked numerous times by different group members to get the accruate information from the head office. Myself and others felt she wasn't really bothered with the job and that we were a nuisance when we seeked clarity. This was compounded when she explained this was her second job and really she was an Italian teacher. One of the day tours were cut short as she had to get back to her school to teach. She didn't go into much detail on the history of Budva and spent most of the time explaining about the current property market and how expensive it was. On the way back to the airport (after spending 3-4 days with us) she told us a story about a trip to England as a teenager and how hospitable her English hosts were. This was a lovely story until the end when she thought that the bus was full of English people, even though we were on our way back to Dubrovnik to get a flight to Dublin, which she mentioned. I understand that you also fly from the UK and we had a Scottish couple on the tour BUT the vast majority were Irish and it's basic good manners to find out where the majority of your guests are from. The two young tour guides we had on the day trip to Albania were excellent. Peter and Isadora. They had excellent knowledge and went into detail on the history and culture and explained a lot about the current dynamics of the Balkans which was really interesting. Our fourth guide (Bos) who brought us to Kotor was excellent on his history and knowledge but went through everything very fast. We had a large group and no headphones so it was difficult to hear him. Also, as the group was so large, by the time we got to the where he was giving his talk he had already finished and had moved on meaning those of us at the back missed so much. There was also some confusion with him as to where and when to meet. Some people got lost and others left the tour as they felt they weren't able to hear him and get the information they wanted. The flights and hotels were good and the food was excellent in the hotel. And Montenegro is a great place to visit but I feel I missed out on a lot due to two of the tour guides. I'll definitely travel with you again but maybe with a smaller group or with your solo tours and hope the tour guides are better this time.