Collette Tours Reviews

This tour to the UK and Ireland was our first with Collette and certainly will not be our last. It was a wonderful experienced. There is a lot packed into two weeks, but we were fortunate to be lead by Norman Greene. What a treat! Poor guy had a coach full of seniors with varying degrees of temperament, but he never showed any signs of frustration or ill temper. He had a wealth of information and in general, a very nice man. We would tour with him anytime!

We saw everything from sheep herding in Ireland to the Edinburgh Scottish Tattoo in Scotland. I can't wait for our next trip! Highly recommend this tour! Collette also did a great job with pre-trip readiness.

I convinced my husband to go to Ireland, I looked at many tours but decided on Collette. Fiona was wonderful, well organized, and very nice. Nick was our excellent driver and Jaimie filled in one day with a very scary ride down from the Ring of Kerry, but he did a great job, nothing was better than this trip.

Limerick was probably my least favorite and Killarney was my favorite, it was such a beautiful buggy ride over the island by a boat. It was a beautiful area, wish we could have stayed one more day and two days at Cabra Castle. It was so beautiful and would be a relaxing day before we got home. We enjoyed how beautiful it was. We had a bus with 43 wonderful people all so congenial and friendly.

Thank you Collette tour, Fiona, Nick, and Jaimie for making us have such a wonderful tour. Hopefully, I can convince my husband to "cross the pond again!"

My son Steven and I went on a Collette tour and cruise on the 4th of October 2017. We were the only two from England, the rest of the party came from America and Canada. One person from Canada was a doctor and another a lady called Evelyn, also a lady who was a midwife from the USA. Many of the passengers whilst on Victoria cruise were taken very poorly, me in particular, and I had to be taken to the hospital, transferred from the boat to hospital in China by ambulance suffering from salmonella, septicemia, etc.

We had a photo taken and many people had the booklet signed, with email addresses by other passengers but unfortunately, we did not get ours signed. I would be very happy to hear from some of the other passengers regarding the holiday experiences, particularly the outbreak.

I am very dissatisfied with Collette and its tour director. This company only offers panoramic tours. In our case, people in our tour had to pay to get into the Alhambra and the arts and science museum in Valencia, even though Collette said we were going to get inside those places. The tour director is not qualified. Lacks empathy, promised we were going to Montjuic to see the water fountain color and sound show and just took us back to the hotel.

I had the opportunity to go on a tour of South Africa with friends planned by Collette Tours. I found that during the planning process that there were a few mishaps with Collette, including not being able to identify the group when I called Collette to answer a question, canceling not once but twice, an informative session with the group and failure of Collette to follow-up with concerns that came up with the trip on our return.

Things Collette did well: picking wonderful hotels for us to stay in, sending a beautiful package prior to our leaving and before leaving a willingness to correct problems (I haven't seen this on our return). I would like to see Collette improve on activities and places we visited while in South Africa. Our tour was 14 days and we visited a winery for 3 days, a riverfront hotel for 3 days and though they were beautiful places, we really did not have an opportunity to visit surrounding areas as the hotels were off the beaten path and we didn't have evening transportation, missing museums, art galleries, nightlife, etc., for us to get a taste of the different cities of South Africa.

In 14 days, we had a one-day safari, visited a diamond "factory" that was actually a diamond store in downtown Cape Town where we were greeted with champagne and cappuccino, with the goal for us to spend money. I actually was encouraged and previewed diamond earrings on sale for $13500, a diamond bracelet for $100000! We visited an aloe "factory" to buy aloe products and with the exception of going to the Apartheid museum, the ostrich farm and paying to have dinner with a local family, we never visited something that was for the purpose of seeing what made South Africa special.

We spent many hours on the bus and given the opportunity to see many Dutch buildings and churches in most of the cities we visited, the beautiful coastline of South Africa and the winery. All nice, but not what I think about when I think of South Africa. If we had visited these places for a few hours and not spent days, I believe my trip would have been more enjoyable. On return, I have compared my trip with other South African tours online and I feel cheated.

I suggest before booking this tour that you compare. I can't blame anyone but myself for not checking out Collette and their idea of what should be seen on a visit to South Africa!

Happy travels.

We had booked a trip to Costa Rica in March but had to cancel due to a no flying order after emergency eye surgery. I had declined trip insurance due to the high cost (over $800). We lost $1100 due to the 30% penalty on the land portion. The airfare was nonrefundable.

I called American Airlines looking for a future travel credit. AA said that Collette had not paid them and there was no value on the tickets. This means Collette gets to keep all $1660 for airfare portion! This is theft by any other name.

Collette uses Trip Mate travel insurance, which may or may not be a subsidiary of Collette. Collecting $700.00 up front months in advance (6 months plus) and refusing to refund when the trip is canceled 6 plus months ahead of time is dishonest, theft and criminal. When you steal from senior citizens 75+ years of age, the world needs to stop doing business with this dishonest business. All Christian organizations need to boycott these people.

I expect this review, which is totally true and honest, will be deleted from public view. If this happens, their public relation problems will be just beginning and not ruling out Class Action filings at the Federal Level.

Shame on these dishonest crooks.

I booked a trip to Iceland to see the Northern Lights dance before I died. It was Collette's tour called ICELAND'S MAGICAL NORTHERN LIGHTS TOUR (October 14, 2017). I had gone through a few bad years and needed to find some peace in my heart, so I maxed out my Visa and sold a lot of personal possessions to do this.

On the second day I was sick with a lung infection. I told the tour manager and he blew it off. The next day he asked people not to wear scents. I was extremely ill, and on the 4th day went to get on the bus and the strong smell of disinfectant and perfume made me so ill I left the bus bawling my eyes out and telling the tour manager that I needed help, I was sick and just could not do this anymore. His solution was to put me on another bus when I could barely hold my head up. I had a fever and chills and was non stop coughing. He told me before I got on the other bus that I could grab a taxi if I wanted, from the Blue Lagoon (when we got there) to the hospital in Reykjavik. I did not have the $200 cash the cab would have cost, and I was scared going by myself, so I did not go. Because of this tour managers neglect, I lost my whole trip.

This tour manager also neglected to make alternate arrangements to see the Northern Lights, and because of his neglect we missed seeing the lights dance, the only night they were visible.

I had purchased almost $400.00 worth of insurance. I called the insurance company when I came home and asked if there could have been a reason Collette did not get me help. I thought that maybe it was because we were a fair distance for medical help. The insurance company told me I was insured for $100,000.00 medical and that even if I had to take an ambulance that cost five thousand dollars, it would have been covered. His negligence also cost most of the other 40 people on that bus to get sick.

Besides that, they boast 4-star hotels and food. Well at the Katla Hotel, I had to clean both pubic hair and hair off the bathroom floor, and my bed sheets were dirty and I found a hair and dirt inside the bed. The food we were served for two days were leftovers and disgusting. I tried to work this out with the General Manager at Collette and the way he skirted around what happened was disheartening. He did not care at all; it was all about the money.

Well, now I am taking them to Small Claims where I hope to recoup some of my losses, but I have been left traumatized by the whole experience. Do not use this company; your life is at stake.

We recently concluded a tour with Collette seeing their highlights of Morocco. The itinerary that appeared on paper seemed to be great. The food described sounded incredible and places used for accommodations as well seemed terrific.

DISAPPOINTMENT.

First and foremost, I'm a practicing physician. I know how to avoid situations where hygiene and safety pose potential problems. I deal daily with children experiencing diarrhea and vomiting, as well as other infectious childhood illnesses.

This trip made it impossible unless you brought your own food in sealed packages to prevent acute gastroenteritis disease. The restaurants chosen (one exception) and the hotels/riad (one exception) were breeding grounds for disease.

We were a group of 24 guests, and 20-21 were acutely ill with acute GI symptoms. This was in no small part due to lack of hygiene at the establishments we ate in, including where we had our breakfasts daily. The 3 worse offenders were at the 2 Xaluca Hotels we were using and their buffets for dinner.

However, in my opinion, by far the biggest offender was at the Opera Plaza Resort in Marrakech. I was wittiness to the person preparing our omelets doing so without any gloves while also handling raw eggs. This same person, having the same raw egg on the hand, while then picking up just cooked crepes to then give to a guest. The raw egg then dripped onto the prepared crepes as well. It was then given to this unsuspecting hotel guest. As I then walked past this station, another person was at the buffet area touching almost every roll on the table with his bare fingers checking to see if they were soft (no gloves).

No wonder we all had illnesses, if this were in any other country, I believe the health department would have shut them down.

What we paid for was purported to be a "trip of a lifetime," it was as far from that as possible. No one expects to get sick when away on vacation, precautions are definitely made by oneself to prevent such occurrences, but in the case of this tour, whoever or whomever is responsible for quality control of the establishments chosen for their guests to use, is at fault. They missed the mark.

My wife and I are definitely world travelers, we have been to 6 of the 7 continents, used everything from very basic tour companies to truly 5-star super luxury. Never have we been so disappointed, nor experienced so many persons ill while on tours. I can absolutely pinpoint by the onset of symptoms when and where these illnesses began.

It is the responsibility of Collette to ensure that this doesn't happen ever again. Until I can be guaranteed this, Collette is not an option for us for travel, and I would advise others to do their homework before they plan this vacation.

Morocco should have been as described, "a trip of a lifetime,"until fixed, AVOID Collette as the vehicle to get you there.

P.S. Kudos to Rick's Cafe in Casablanca for a fine welcoming dinner and the Riad Yacout in Fez; exceptional food, cleanliness and accommodations fit for royalty. You were the only true shining stars on this trip.

Also disappointed that Collette does not offer a forum on their website to post a current review by a guest who has used their company. Shame on them.

From beginning to the end, it was not organized. I was forced to stand in line every place we went, waiting to be fed, but the guide didn't make reservations. The guide lost people, forcing us to stand in the hot sun for hours. We went to a Broadway show where my wife and I were forced to sit on opposite sides of the room. When I complained to the main offices, I was told 70% of the people were ok with the trip and that was fine with them. Sorry, a refund of two meals will not do it.

My husband and I are seasoned travelers. We decided to do a bus tour for the first time. Unfortunately, Tauck (friends gave me glowing recommendations) was totally booked for the America's Music Tour, so we ended up with Collette.

The guides/bus driver were wonderful. The hotel in Nashville was awful! The rooms were not properly cleaned, especially the bathroom. We came in late and were exhausted. Housekeeping came and cleaned a bit and they offered to come in the following morning to steam clean and sterilize the bathroom while we were out.

Probably as a result of the aggressive attempt to clean the facilities, the toilet was broken. They made 4 different attempts to repair it over a 4-day period. Finally, they called in a master plumber the night before we checked out. The hotel was unable to change our room.

Collette was aware of the issue while we were in Nashville. I contacted them upon our return and spoke to a supervisor named Ryan. He offered to send me a letter of apology. I said, "not acceptable."

Next I was told they would give us $150 towards our next trip with them, but it had to be within the one year period. Really? That is what they offer all their customers who have traveled on one of their tours if they sign up again.

Finally, they send us their customer satisfaction policy. Apparently, they don't care if you are dissatisfied. Isn't that nice! So why travel and spend your hard earned dollars with Collette?