Trafalgar Tours

FEEDBACK FOR GRAND EUROPEAN WITH EUROSTAR EXTENSION TRAFALGAR TOUR No. A040216 Hello, I am writing to you in reference to the tour with Trafalgar wed been on. This is from my side (Asmita Anil Menon) and on behalf of my mother Ajanta Venugopal. The two of us, Asmita Anil Menon and Ajanta Venugopal travelled in the above mentioned tour from 19th July 2023 to 8th August 2023. We have the following feedback for you: 1 The management of the meals was very poor. On the first day itself, for the Welcome dinner, we did not get bread. When asked, we were told that the other tables finished it off, and there was none left. We were then given old bun. This was just for the two of us. 2 Before the trip began, and multiple times during the tour, we had informed the Tour Director Mr Brek Colling that we are Non-Vegetarians, but we dont eat beef and pork and that we should be served Chicken or Fish in our meals. On many occasions, we were served only vegetarian food inspite of informing him earlier, much to our dislike. In fact, for one of the optional dinners (only I Asmita Anil Menon went for it), that costed 99 EUR, only vegetarian food was served. On asking Mr Brek, he in turn asked me what I eat, as if he doesnt know. On enquiring the restaurant staff about this, they informed me that they dont provide fish or chicken there. Its either vegetarian or pork. Why did Mr Brek not inform this to me earlier when he knew well in advance that I have opted for this optional dinner? Inspite of me reiterating to him so many times, I had to eat the same vegetarian food. Why was I not informed earlier that food options are limited for that evening? 99 EUR is not a small amount. It was a complete waste of money as I couldnt eat anything. 3 During the optional Gondola ride in Venice, just when me and my mother were about to get into the prescribed boat, Mr Brek directed us to move back and made the couple standing behind us get in first and take the main recliner seats. Let me reiterate that the tour director did this, and not the gondola boatman. If the boatman said it, we would have accepted it as a way to balance the boat. But Mr Brek displayed his partial ways here too by not letting us take the seat even though we were standing in front. 4 We had an itinerary. But Mr Brek kept changing the itinerary frequently at his whims and fancies, as a result of which we could not visit and see some very important places which were clearly mentioned in the itinerary. Focus was always shifted to the Optional experiences. a) Rome We were not taken to the Colosseum to visit and take photos. We just drove past the Colosseum and Mr Brek showed us the Colosseum from a moving bus. We were not taken there. It was again shown from a far off bridge at night, but that was only for the ones who went for the optional dinner. When we reported this to Trafalgar, the next day Mr Brek asked us to take a taxi to the colosseum, and claim the taxi amount from Trafalgar. What kind of behaviour is this? He also warned us that we might not be back in time, and might miss the visit to the Vatican. We can either do this or that. On asking him why the trip is so poorly planned, he said that its not possible to accommodate everything on the itinerary. There is not enough time. My question is if Trafalgar and the Tour Director are on the same page or not? If it is not possible to accommodate everything on the itinerary, why is it even mentioned in the itinerary. Is it meant just to fool the customers? b) Paris - We were not taken to the Eiffel Tower to view and take photos. We only saw it from the Seine river cruise (which was an optional tour), and were only shown the Eiffel tour at 10:30 pm on our way back from the cruise. This too was the lit up Eiffel Tower from a far distance and we were given 5 minutes to get down and get back into the bus. And what if we did not want to go for the optional river cruise? Then we wouldn't have seen anything at all! We wanted to go to see the Eiffel tower from close during the day (as mentioned in the itinerary) and take photos, but the request was declined. When we asked if we can ourselves go and see it, he said of-course, everything in Paris is at a walking distance of just 45 minutes. He said this inspite of knowing the fact that my mother is old and cannot walk that much. He did not bother to help us out with the logistics or explaining it to us. Colosseum and Eiffel Tower are the places for which it was clearly mentioned in the itinerary as places of visit (and not viewing from the bus or optional cruise). We were not taken there in spite of it being clearly mentioned in the itinerary. We have spent a lot of money and travelled all the way from India to see these important places but were not taken there, as a result of which our tour stands as an unfinished agenda. If we knew that you are going to change the itinerary and deprive us of a visit to these two important places, Colosseum in Rome and Eiffel Tower in Paris, we would have selected another tour company. 5. At the end of the tour, while we were departing from the hotel in Paris, our baggage was not carried down by the staff in spite of the fact that we had confirmed with Mr Brek the previous night that it will be done. We have paid porterage charges for the entire tour duration including the last day. When we came down to the reception that day, the tour director spoke to us very rudely and said that its not a part of his job anymore, and that we can get it done ourselves. 6. On checking out from the hotel in Paris, all guests were given packed breakfast boxes, except for the two of us (even though we had come down to the reception well before time). If all the guests were given lunch boxes, why were we denied the same? When we asked the tour director, he said that some other guests have taken our breakfast and it is not his responsibility to take care of all this. Seriously? Is this the kind of behaviour for which we have entrusted Trafalgar with our hard earned money? We finally did not get our breakfasts that day and nobody was held accountable for it. No excuses are acceptable for this kind of behaviour. It appears that your tour director has racist tendencies because we were Indians citizens. This is alarming. Your tour director Mr Brek Colling gave us poor service, and was unbelievably very rude with us. It can be seen that all the above shortcomings are not minor in nature but major defects in the functioning of your company Trafalgar. We have travelled with other tour companies like Globus and Cosmos and have not faced any such deficiency in service. This amounts to harassment of guests and will be given wide publicity in all travel forums so that no one ever makes the mistake of going on any tour with Trafalgar. Whenever anyone asks us about the tour, we are making it a point to tell them about the discrimination and problems we faced with Trafalgar. We demand adequate compensation for the deficiencies in service as mentioned above. That is the least you can do to restore your credibility. Asmita Anil Menon Ajanta Venugopal