Travel Department Reviews

Holiday time it is so easy to go away on my own because the process is made so easy because all I have to do is turn up as you have it all sorted

excellent guide,Daniela. Great hotel staff ,very helpful &friendly.

This was a wonderful trip and I would highly recommend it from start to finish. The hotel was great, nice and clean, the staff very pleasant and it was so spacious with a variety of eateries for all your meals. The pool bar was a favorite of ours when time allowed! The tour guide Da Da was great, full of fun and always pleasant, gave great background history on her country and the places we visited. The tour’s were great but it was equally as nice to have days off where you could do your own exploring and relax by the pool. As it was a solo trip, I think a welcome evening on the first night would have been really good and I was surprised there wasn’t one. It’s important as a solo traveller and gives everyone a chance to meet. Also, as the restaurants were so large and busy, having an allocated area at meals on occasion would have been great, again giving everyone a chance to get to know each other. Finally, if there was one thing I would suggest going forward, having a contact number for the guide is something that was overlooked and should be provided.

We were very happy with the hotel in Dubrovnik. Everything was very clean, the staff extremely pleasant and helpful and the food very good. Our guides for the week were excellent and very attentive. Altogether a great holiday.

Some difficulties at arrival, left bag with passport inside, in baggage area. Did not discover until boarding bus. Carol was great, got me to police who allowed me back inside. Managed to find bag. Carol was a calm head when I was most upset.

We had an excellent guide named Dodi he was professional friendly knowledgeable helpful and did his job with a wonderful sense of humour ,so thank you Dodi you made our trip memorable

Lisbon was a gorgeous destination with beautiful buildings and helpful friendly locals. Pick up at the airport was somewhat confusing as there were 2 groups arriving on the same flight and as a result 2 TD guides, additional signage would have helped. A short orientation to the area surrounding the Roma hotel would have been invaluable as we were tired and had to wait 3 hours to access our rooms; for example, point out a pleasant place for a light lunch and the location of the supermarket etc. The hotel was fine and the food was good, the wine bar was very pleasant. The female receptionist was quite rude to me for no apparent reason, she told me adamantly that there were no rooms with standalone showers. I later discovered there was one on every floor and on repeat request (male receptionist) was allocated one. The guide conducting the orientation tour was good and the tour length was about right. The flight diversion was outside the Travel Department control but I think they could have informed us (via text)about hotels close by the airport (Cardiff) with telephone numbers so that we could make arrangements for the night. The situation at the airport was chaotic and Aer Lingus stopped taking contact details. Luckily some of us found accommodation without difficulty but we had to walk to the airport in the morning (about half a mile) because there was no transport. Also, I think that it would help if a travel department representative visited the hotels that are in long-term use to check up on things such as availability of showers so that the staff do not become complacent as they are certain of business with minimal effort.

This was our first ever organized trip and we found everything was really incredibly well done and arranged by the Travel Department. The guide was very knowledgeable and hugely patient and helpful. Coach was very clean and air conditioned. All the hotels and lunch stops were of excellent quality. The itinerary was very comprehensive and covered all the main historical sites. Highly Recommended.

Really good to visit three capital cities on one break. Would have liked an extra day in Vienna, but we can always go back. The hotels were all excellent standard with outstanding buffet breakfasts. All conveniently located either close to public transport or relatively central, allowing us to visit our preferred attractions independently. Knowledgeable local reps gave useful information on guided walking tours or for self guided ones. We walked most of the time as this allowed us to discover the places at our own pace. We were surprised to be the only couple from the UK on this tour. (All the rest came from Ireland, no complaints, they were very friendly.) We flew Easyjet from Gatwick, which is not very convenient for us as we live north of London. If we had known we were the only Brits, we would have asked for flights from maybe Luton. That is why 4star not 5.

My trip to Seville in October with the Travel Deparrment was so enjoyable. Our guide Alex was amazing and was always there for us with his wealth of knowledge and great personality. It really contributed to a great holiday. The Sherry Park Hotel was another highlight with the staff, food and comfort really top class. The trip was a solo one and as my first one abroad I was very impressed. Keep up the good work Travel Department. 👏 👏👏👏👏

The choice of hotel was superb and the programme of excursions had something for everyone. Our guide was wonderful from the start of the trip, right until the end. He was always available to offer tips and advice including on our free days. The amount of people on the trip who had been on multiple TD trips was the best endorsement of how well organised everything was and great value for money.

I found the Travel Department to be very helpful. They answered all our queries and sent the holiday pack in good time before our holiday start date; leaving enough time to contact them if needs be!. The hotel we stayed in was very nice. It had a terrace overlooking the beach. It was about a 20 minute bus ride from the old town. Ideally we would have liked if it was nearer to the town, but this did not prevent us from enjoying ourselves. The room was clean, and towels were changed every day. The dining room was big; and provided a good range of food..the staff were very friendly and respectful. Our TD guide, Enis, was excellent. He was knowledgeable, enthusiastic, friendly, helpful and caring. He clearly loves his job. He had a good sense of humor too :) We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Dubrovnik. The excursion to Mostar was really nice also our visit to 3 islands incuded in our package, all beautiful. Our holiday was a truly enjoyable experience and I would have no difficultly recommending it to family and friends.

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.

The Travel Department takes the "Hassel out of Travelling. We have Travelled on many Holiday trips with yourselves and they were all great. The Schedule runs to the plan as set out and this is very important when on holiday and the guides were great. Keep up the good work.

All the documents and Intinerary details are spot on The guides are 1st class

Ecellent guides.

We had a wonderful time and our tour guide was brilliant. Hotel was very good staff friendly and helpful, food could be better we like our food hot which was not the case. Overall it was a wonderful experience. Kathleen Nulty.

Great trip to South of France 🇫🇷 tours excellent and plenty of free days to explore on your own ,Guide very informative and. charming ,Hotel v good ;but would loved to have stayed in Nice ,would like to go back again ;maybe next year ,.Honor

Good arrangements Hotels good for price Liked the choice of excursions mixed with free days

Croatia is a lovely country, clean and friendly . General tour organisation good. Interesting locations . Late arrival to hotel in Zagreb a disaster Lakes excursion should be shortened