Jules Verne Reviews 86

"I´ll get back to you tomorrow" obviously has a different meaning in the Jules Verne lexicon. That´s what we´ve been told three times now, but are still waiting. 20 years ago Jules Verne were the Gold Standard, by which other tour agents were judged, now they are some way below the middle of the pack. That´s a real shame.
One commuinication you will receive though is the persistent feedback requests - "Tell us how did we do". Well, I can´t answer that, because you still didn´t do anything!

I was interested in a holiday advertised as having regional flights. Asked for call back which I received. However the sales advisor seemed intent on persuading me to book a holiday with a flight from London and evaded my questions as to why regional flights were advertised. She was so patronising, obtuse and bossy I ended the phone call by saying I wouldn’t want to travel with JV anyway after this experience

We did the 600 mile Nile tour and whilst the Egyptian history side was excellent, the catering and travel arrangements were not at all. Before ever booking I checked they could cater for our dietary requirements and was emphatically assured it would be no problem. It started badly on the flight as there was no food for us, and as there was a delay we missed the connecting flight. Since Jules Verne don’t have personnel with you we were left for hours in the airport with no food or even water while we waited for one of their agent’s staff to sort things out for us. This meant most of our group missed booking onto the early flights the next day and were finally taken to a hotel with mouldy bathrooms and questionable catering early in the morning. That meant we missed the first day of the holiday and when we did finally arrive it was a mad dash to take us round what we had missed. Whilst the delay is not their fault, since there was such a tight window for the connection, and it is well known that Heathrow has real problems with baggage loading, this delay was inevitable. However no one did anything for the 9 1/2 hours we were on the plane to sort things out ready for our arrival and we were left to wait for many more hours. On arriving at the boat our fears were realised when it became evident that the catering crew had no idea about our dietary requirements or how to meet them. It took a lot of explanation but things were very hit and miss and nothing was labelled - needless to say we both lost a lot of weight as you are 12 nights on the boat and there is no opportunity to leave to purchase your own food. Jules Verne charge a premium service but then turn you over to their local agents without thoroughly checking that all has been put in place for clients - not good enough for the high cost of these holidays. The actual itinerary (other than the badly planned first day) is really good, and the Nile is glorious, but the catering is just not acceptable. We were lucky we weren’t eating the meat dishes as several people missed a day or two of the holiday as they had severe tummy upsets. For the money they charge there are better tour operators out there - we saw how useful it was to have a rep on the plane with you as all the other groups were sorted onto flights and into hotels hours before us.

So angry! It was understandable that my planned trip to India in 2021 should be postponed to this year because of Covid. I was all set to depart on this holiday of a lifetime on November 19th when VJV informed me that the trip had been cancelled because a medical conference in Amritsar had fully booked all the local hotels, over-riding previous bookings already made by VJV. Sounds a bit weird, but hey ho. Next trip planned for November 1st. Had been trying to get a visa from August, without any success, so asked VJV if they could advise. They suggested Travelcour who, in turn, told me they would put paperwork in the post. They didn't. After a couple of messages to them they replied that they had had Covid and were snowed under as a result. I asked again for paperwork to be put in the post, but never heard from them again, in spite of leaving several messages. By now it was mid-October and I was getting a little anxious. After a stressful day trying to apply online for a visa and then arrange a date to pick it up, the system would not allow me to make a date. My daughter-in-law, who has frequently travelled to India, also tried, without success. The next day I received a message from VJV informing me that the Indian High Comission was not releasing any dates in October for visas to be picked up due to something to do with re-issuing the rights to other agencies, so my holiday was postponed AGAIN. I have now been offered next February - at an additional cost of over £1000. I booked my initial holiday with some money my mum left me when she died - I am on a low income and cannot easily find another £1000 plus. I am so fed up, this holiday is turning into a nightmare, draining my bank account - I have already had to take out 2 lots of insurance - the dates have now been changed 3 times - and with no guarantee that I will ever actually get to India. I am very disappointed with VJV and would certainly never use them again, or recommend them to anyone. I would also add that one of VJV's big advertising claims is that they do not charge Single Person Supplements: as an independent traveller of many years I have always had to pay extra for accommodation for 2, as single person accommodation is very rarely available, so I was pleased at the prospect at not having to pay extra through VJV - but when I booked the holiday they charged a single person supplement anyway - and when I challenged it the reason given was that only some trips offer this and mine didn't. Personally I don't think they should be advertising it if it doesn't apply to some of their holidays, it's dishonest.

We booked a Safari to Tanzania through VJV - and everything worked just perfectly! Their partner in Africa is Tent with a View - a company who reflect perfectly the service from VJV. Everything worked just as planned - the accommodation was quirky and fun -the food extraordinary (I wasn't expecting that in the middle of the Serengeti) - but most of all the people were warm, friendly and loved to share their culture and way of life. Simply the best experience - awesome! No complaints at all - the brochure tells you what to expect but they delivered so much more. Thank you!

We used Jules Verne to book a tour to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. It was very well organised and a reasonable price for what we got. Phone information was good and the brochures are excellent. We have just booked a tour to Burma and, again, everything so far has been very efficient.