Trafalgar Travel
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Important Considerations
We are currently taking a tour of Ireland with Trafalgar. This is our first organized coach tour abroad and our first booking with Trafalgar…. Very disappointing. My disappointment stems from the items we have listed below as well as not reading reviews prior to booking. I have listed several callouts from our travels with the intent of providing insight for prospective travelers… both seasoned travelers as well as those who are new to this type of travel experience. 1) Ask in advance as to how your seats will be assigned on the motor coach. Determine if there will be a rotation of seat assignment's including front to back and side to side (left to right) on the bus. This is important to assure seat assignments are uniform amongst all of your fellow travelers. If you’re traveling with a group and you want to sit together make sure your request is confirmed…. We were separated after day two. Resolving these points up-front will definitely create a more enjoyable experience related to of your considerable time on the coach. You don’t want to be in a situation like ours where you’re traveling along the coast of Ireland and relegated only to one side of the bus, separated from your group, and missing opportunities to absorb the scenery and document the vista’s/attractions appropriately with pictures. On Wednesday, only three days into the trip we asked our guide if we could be afforded an opportunity to sit up front or at least close to the front for at least a segment… her response was “it was already late in the trip”… the next morning we were moved to the second to last row in the coach. So much for any favorable consideration of our request while we were celebrating our wedding anniversary and my brides birthday. It was difficult for us to understand why other guests received preferential seat assignments who were not disabled nor had specific medical needs. There were situations where guests were guaranteed non-rotation of seats and therefore better seats. At a minimum, I would advocate you attempt to determine how your expectations and trip will be impacted by your seat assignments. 2) Don’t pre-pay gratuities in advance. We went with our travel agents suggestion to pay gratuities at the time of booking. On day one of the tour the tour guide explicitly defined the expectations for a gratuity… 6 and 4 euro per day for host and driver respectively per passenger. When I pre-paid the gratuities I didn’t ask how those gratuities would be distributed… this was a mistake. If you decide to pre-pay, at a minimum determine who gets the gratuity and how much. It’s like anything else, if you go to dinner and receive great service you’re more than appreciative and tip accordingly… the inverse is in-play with the “pay gratuities up-front.” With pre-paying there is no incentive for the tour guide host/hostess to provide exceptional service nor accommodate your request and/or support. I can’t confirm if it impacted our requests but it is reasonable to assume more effort would be afforded accommodating those who haven’t paid gratuities up front. 3) Determine in advance how hotel rooms will be assigned to guests We had rooms that were not desirable including a two night stay where the outside view was completely obstructed. My thought process was the travel company would have negotiated a block of preferred rooms due to the their frequency of interaction with the same hotels … tour after tour. I was wrong… these hotel rooms with Trafalgar appear to be in-fill rooms and as such are the least desirable of the hotels available rooms. Additionally, like the assignment of seats on the bus coach… if there was complete random assignment and/or uniformity/equity as to room assignments one would not question… but there was not. Of the rooms that Trafalgar made available there were rooms that were significantly better than others. I would advocate you ask in advance where you will be staying within the hotel if room choice and preference is a consideration for you. 4) Understand there will be incidental tours and sight seeing opportunities that are not included in your tour package…you will be sold hard to participate. We did participate in all of the Extra tours not included in the overall price of the tour. In summary, Mike, our coach driver was great. Our tour guide was well informed and very pleasant but the execution of the items listed above was severely lacking.