Collette Reviews 11

Just felt second tier. The included meals were not great. Hotels were clean, but tired. Spent three days in Tokyo that were a waste of time. We were outside the city. The only available food was in the mall. So disappointing. We won’t do Collette again.

If your idea of a good tour is hours on a bus, being bused around to shopping destinations and eating lunch in truck stops, this is the tour for you. If your idea is seeing the best sites in Ireland such as Trinity Library, The Book of Kells, King Johns Castle etc, etc, go on your own. The castles you are taken to are not authentic while the real castles are skipped. Of course they have great gift shops.

Excellent guide, good accomodations, bus expereince stellar and group meals were very good. Took the Treasure of Turkey trip. Very comprehensive

We had, by far, the worse Tour Director, who spent 10 days with us in Italy/Sicily. She was not keen on the single women in the Group and treated us terribly because she was hot on the bus driver and didn't want us talking to him. It was funny at first but as the time progressed, she got worse. Very jealous and nasty. With the amount of money we spent on this trip, it was shameful she couldn't control her emotions and do her job. Reporting her to Collette Tours after coming home did nothing. They never got back to me twice. I wouldn't use them ever again. It was funny at first but as the time progressed, her attitude got worse. It's a shame because she should retire and let someone who likes Americans take over. We spend too much money in Italy to get mistreated.

Our 9 day London to Paris tour in August (August 14-August 22nd) was disappointing and uneventful with a significant departure disruption. Overall Collette Tours are very pricey. The Collette emergency team and their tour specialists are not very helpful in getting you results if you have a tour delay or disruption to file a claim for. They try to cover over their lack of efforts & results, by offering you a very nominal amount in future tour vouchers. However, $200 doesn't go very far when most Collette European tours for two people cost well over $12,000.

Collette River Cruise on the Charles Dickens.
The good and the bad.
I was nervous to go on this trip because I get sea sick. No need to fear. You will not know you are on a ship. I did not feel sick once. All outside rooms with plenty of natural light. Tours are great of course. There is a good mix of planned activities and free time to explore on your own. Coffee and cookies or fruit are available 24/7. When compared to other tours, rather than sitting on a bus for hours, you can lay in the sun on the rooftop sun deck, sit at a bar or lay down to take a nap.

The bad. Tipping is not included and you tip ALOT. Prepare to spend a few hundred extra. You can not even get a water without an additional drink package. This surprised me and I felt like I was on a cheap carnival cruise, not a $15,000 luxury river cruise. Everyone in the room must buy the package which runs an additional $30-45 a day. Otherwise a bottle of water costs $4.50. Only one person per cabin allowed to be on wifi! Crazy. Don’t plan on sleeping soundly if you’re a light sleeper. The boat is loud traveling overnight. And forget sleeping in. No blackout shades for the windows. You’re up with the sun everyday. Irons are not provided and they charge you to use their laundry service, so bring clothes that don’t wrinkle. Rooms are nice but bathroom could use a good scrubbing. Finally the food. I would say this was a 6/10 at best. Breakfast and lunch are basic buffets. No ability to get hot food between meals. No local cuisine planned. Dinner was plated but nothing special. This was a big disappointment. Free drinks, including wine, are provided at dinner.
Overall, I had a very nice time, but for the money we spent, I would not go on another river cruise.

Tour was specifically promoted as European Christmas Markets, however, the dates of the tour did not coincide in the opening dates of most of the markets. That soured the entire aspect of the tour.
When weather in connecting city caused cancellation of return flights which had been originally been made through Collette, Collette said they could do nothing to assist and dumped the problem in our laps.

Worst tour I have ever taken. We paid for an escorted tour but were essentially provided with a Bed and Breakfast. No guided tours in a the capital city of Lisbon on our 3 day stay. Limited admissions to other sites on the 16 day journey. Very poorly planned tour. Will never travel with them again. Do not use them...find another company

I booked The Treasures Of Egypt tour for May and paid over $5000 as a single traveler minus the airfare. The experience got to a rough start when the person who arranged for my transfer to the hotel in Cairo failed to pick me up as we agreed. In fact, he did see me arrive and gave me the option to wait in the car or in the coffee shop, which I chose latter. After waiting for a couple of hours, the man never showed up and I had to look for him all over the area near the terminal entrance. After several attempts and with some help from a few strangers, I finally found him.

The trip initially went well until midway when I caught a bad cold from some travelers who went on the trip despite being sick. They were coughing and were not masked. I was bedridden and was unable to see Abdul Simbel, the Sphinx, and most importantly, the interior of the Great Pyramid—my main reason for going on this trip. Worse of all, the tour director had us wake up as early as 3:00 in the morning and was very overprotective of me. Some of the travelers were rude to me and made jokes about me. The Galebeya party was not what I expected. Instead of folk entertainment by native dancers, it was only the travelers that provided the entertainment.

When the tour ended, I had a very hard time getting home as the airline (a Middle Eastern carrier) I booked with banned me from traveling for being “a risk to my own health and safety” and it took me a couple of days before I was able go home on a Western carrier.

If you ever decide to go to Egypt and take a tour, please do yourself a favor and book with another tour company, and if you do become sick BEFORE the trip, please do yourself and your fellow travelers a favor and stay home. That’s what travel insurance is for. You will save your fellow travelers and avoid the horrible agonies that I went through.

Toured london and Paris with Colette.I booked and paid for a Louve tour and later told it was not available it was later refuned and I had to book on my own. I paid for airport tranport and no one was there to get me. I called the office and was told to take a taxi and Daniel our tour director would pay for it. We arrved at the hotel and Daniel did pay for the taxi. Not a very good start to a dream vacation.the hotel in London was quite nice. The hotel in Paris the Pullman the elevators would take 15 minutes to get down. There was no water in the room and it was 6 Euro per bottle. The elevator was stuck not on a floor with door partialy open for about 5 minutes. Be assured the rooms that they book do not have a view at all. We went to the Eiffel Tower for dinner and had the worst seat in the house. There was a handicap lift in front of us. We sat alone at a table just the 2 of us. I previously dined at the same restaurant as an individual with my husband and had a far better experience. It was quite evident at dinner the clients that were going on to another city had the best and only window seats. Due to the cost of this tour it was a bit disapppinting. I would say overall the experience rated a 3. My suggestion as an avid traveler do your research and ask questions in advance.

Unreputable and dishonest! Deserves less than 1 star! I have previously been on 2 tours with Collette which were wonderful, but with my most recent experience with Collette, I will never give them another penny of my money.
I booked in 2019 what would have been a lovely tour in Europe for 2020, which also included the Oberambergau Passion Play. Unfortunately due to Covid, the tour was rescheduled for 2022. By the spring of 2022, all the countries included in the tour had rescinded their requirement to receive the Covid "vaccine,"in order to enter their borders, however Collette was still requiring the injection in order to participate on their tour. I had checked with my travel company, (RCI) 9 months prior to the departure date to see when I needed to cancel the trip before inccurring a penalty. I was incorrectly told I had until 30 days before departure to cancel. Just after the 4 months to departure date, I recontacted RCI, and found that if I cancelled at that time, I would incur a 75% penalty. (Due to the inclusion of Oberambergau on the tour, Collette had imposed a high penalty for cancellation.) I spoke with my travel agency, (RCI), Collette, and my travel insurance company, (Generali) about this issue. Each entity pointed to one of the other entities to provide any recompense, but NONE took any responsobility. When I spoke with a high level rep at Collette, I was told they had inccurred a penalty regarding the Oberambergau portion "due to my cancellation," so they would not refund me any $$. IF they did have some sort of penalty, they did not lose a penny by my cancellation, as they RESOLD my spot, and at a HIGHER price. Despite the assertion of that high level rep that I spoke with, the spot I gave up WAS RESOLD; I know because I checked right BEFORE I spoke with her and again right AFTER. The tour was SOLD OUT for my travel date. Losing $7500 is a lot of $$ for me, but apparently Collette could care less how it treats its (now former) customers!