Collette Review

I loved the Music Cities Tour I just completed. We went to so many great places and saw wonderful events and shows.

Our Tour Guide Wesley Glass was the Best! He was very organized, very positive and happy, and could make adjustments easily if needed in the tour or if someone in our group that needed extra help with something, like lost shuttle bus passes, or the hotel not collecting our luggage until the last moment before we leave to the airport in Nashville. from Jana Hunking

He was very well informed of the local history and gave us some interesting facts of each area or city we attended, and that made the trip more personal for each of us. I would be happy to have him again as our tour guide.

Thank You! Jana Hunking - Lompoc, Ca P.S. I tried to add photos here, but it would not take them!

The agent, Jennifer, was warm and friendly. She also had a smile and a bright hello. I think she went out of her way to be sure that she called each of by name and she showed concern for our welfare.

We greatly enjoyed our trip! It was a phenomenal experience and our tour guide was absolutely amazing! You guys were lucky to even have her! With her knowledge she could have easily been a professor at a college. Although everything we saw on the trip was absolutely breathtaking and amazing, it was too much. There was never any time to stop and catch your breath and just relax and enjoy yourself. Another thing was a shop that you guys should know about where we got ripped off. When we were on the Royal Lotus from the move and pick hotel group there was a jewelry shop that we and many other people spent a lot of money in just to find out that I got sold fake jewelry after being reassured by our guide that it was a legitimate jewelry store. I ended up spending $200 on a bracelet which turned out to be worth only $5. So now I have a $200 paper weight. So I would advise your customers, if you want to keep them, that it's a good store for souvenirs but is not quality jewelry.

The tour was great! We loved our tour coordinator, Michelle, she was always there to help if we had a problem. We would definitely buy from you again.

DO NOT give COLLETTE VACATIONS, or COLLETTE VACATIONS CANADA your business.

We paid $8,000 pp for a European "Legendary Waterways" River Cruise, May 29-June 13, 2013,
from Amsterdam to Budapest. While almost every other cruise and tour operator gave passengers a complete refund or replacement tour due to flooding rivers, we are completely dissatisfied with a $500 refund, and a voucher for $500 for another trip with Collette Vacations, not likely!

Due to "high waters" and flooding (which had been forecast), we had less than 48 hours cruising, were stranded in Koblenz, Germany for 5 1/2 days, (3-5 abreast with other riverboats). There was no transparency, communication or CHOICE provided by Collette Vacation. WE WANTED TO RETURN HOME, but were ignored. Collette wanted to minimize their losses and bus us to Budapest to catch return flights home. We see this as a violation of passengers rights.
Our trip of a lifetime turned into a terrible "bus tour" which involved long time traveling, toileting, hotel transfers, meal stops and only 2, 1 hr city tours in fresh air. Emergency vehicles on the flooded, detoured highways did not need our tour buses, and we DID NOT WANT a bus tour (I get car sick).
We were not given OPTIONS, even though we said we wanted to return home.

We are reasonable and understanding individuals, and have patiently waited and negotiated with Collette Vacations for almost 3 months, and are even more dissatisfied with our post vacation followup, than the vacation itself. No one on the "Executive team" is available or will return calls, including the "Executive Vice President".

Google it yourself, you will find numerous youtube videos, blogs and complaints from other very dissatisfied "passengers" who Collette Vacations says they "treat like family".
DO NOT USE COLLETTE VACATIONS.

The tour was perfect except for the local guide in Cambodia. He was not good at all. We saw all the important sights, the hotels were fine, the food delicious and our guide was outstanding.

This was my 7th tour with Collette and I recommend them to everyone

The tour was made fun by Sergio. He had many great stories to tell and also informed us about the areas we were about to visit. Love him

I have been working with Collette for ten years and have found them to provide an amazing product as well as wonderful customer service. They work tirelessly to correct any problem that might occur and give support for those that are out of their control.

Tour guide and bus driver were excellent. Hotels were first rate, but would have loved a bit more variety at breakfast. Maybe a little more time at the covered bridge and light house stop.

Tour was a trip of what maybe the trip of a lifetime. Dave our tour guide was the greatest. The knowledge and experience was invaluable not only to myself and my wife but I believe wholeheartedly to the rest of the tour group. It definitely made the trip less stressful and more enjoyable. Even what I considered the end of the tour, we were still being guided through the last airport and customs we would have to negotiate when back in the States. I can't enough say about experience in Australia and New Zealand.

Once we got to Johannesburg and met with Jason (our tour guide) everything was exceptional. Jason did a wonderful job and we were very pleased with everything he did. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Well organized to get all the sights in but not enough free time to wander. explore and shop.

Chuck Tracy was an awesome guide during our trip. He knew what we would need before we needed it! Great Experience from the beginning with Mitchel Mack, Richard Gagne and all the contacts that helped me arrange this tour for my group.

service, personnel, accommodations, everything 5 stars.

would recommend to everyone.

Was on Sunny Portugal tour April 17-26. This vacation far exceeded my expectations. The hotels, meals, local tours where all good ... but the most memorable part of the vacation was the competence, professionalism, helpfulness and friendly attitudes of Elizabeth (tour manager) and Nuno (our driver). With a group of 44 we had the unusual experience of everyone getting along and always ready at the scheduled time. This spirit of co-operation I attribute to Elizabeth's leadership. Also have to mention that both Nuno and Elizabeth went out of their way, more so than anyone can reasonably expect, to help me retrieve a cellphone that I assumed was lost.

The trip was good. Some unexpected glitches, mostly air travel related.Tour guide excellent, lots of early departures and long bus rides not the best. Being on the bus for long rides should be explored.

Collette did an excellent job at making our tour enjoyable, meaningful, and informative. They were excellent at handling the logistics.

Terrible experience, asked for help multiple times, lost 2 full days of European travel, 28 days later and zero contact from Collette. My advice: plan your own or pick another company!

Our tour guide made everything work like clockwork-we never had to wait for hotel check in-we were at places on time, everything was explained clearly, things were ready-and we had a primo experience. Our guide was Mariangelo. I would love to take another trip with her.

Our tour director Savvas Papasavvas was outstanding. He was very professional, kind, caring and knowledgeable.

A truly wonderful experience. The tour guide and bus driver were the best.

I don't usually like to be forced to have to type feedback, but since you insist....

Pros - The Imperial Cities Tour/Vacation was wonderful as we stayed in very good hotels and had really wonderful food. The tour manager did a really nice job in getting us to all of the places as well as setting up the events (and even kept us from getting lost). We had a great time.

Only negatives on the trip were: 1. The tours were a little more than moderate activity in walking, and it was compounded by the worst cobblestone pavements I have ever been on in my life. My wife took a bad fall the first day, so the rest of the vacation wasn't exactly pain-free for here., and 2. Other than Collette or our Travel Agent doing the Airfare, the Flights were horrible....especially coming home. Going out my wife got randomly screened by security in both DFW and Heathrow Airports which caused a lot of grief for us trying to get to the gates, and coming home was worse as we found the Airplanes were not great models (767-200 was the worst) for traveling from Budapest to Philadelphia (only slightly better models from PHL to DFW), and we had to do excessive walking through PHL airport to get our flight to DFW because they decided that the only entry security checkpoint can be at one end of that Airport only, even though our flight left from the other side of the airport (Had to walk from Terminal A to Terminal D). Next time, we'll consider booking our own air arrangements.

Once we got to the tour start to end, we had a great time, and we definitely look to booking more vacations with Collette.

Overall excellent trip! Columbia was an amazing country. People were friendly, hotels were very good and loved The Food!, as a photographer the images were awesome! Colorful buildings, beautiful landscapes and amazing markets!

A great trip with great accomodations and included meals. Also so much more than you can see on your own.

Absolutely wonderful! We enjoyed an awesome trip of a lifetime! We marked off a trip on our bucket list! Peter Cabera is an excellent, humorous, efficient and lovely tour guide! He started with Collette 33 years ago! Wow! A true testament of the love of one's job! He handled the trip with the upmost of professionalism and knowledge of beautiful Australia and New Zealand! Ann and I were impressed with the local guides and the knowledgeable bus drivesr too! We loved our trip so much that we are looking forward to booking many more tours with your company! :)

I had an excellent time on the Spotlight on Rome tour. Collette made everything easy. I chose which airport I wanted to leave from, and easily booked the necessary flights online through Collette; Collette also booked the hotel I would be staying at in Rome-- which had very nice rooms. While on tour the tour guides were very nice and willing to answer any questions; and most days you had plenty of time to go exploring on your own, if you wished to do so.

This tour also included an afternoon in the Vatican City, which for me was the highpoint of the trip-- our group got to tour the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, awe-inspiring experiences I will never forget!

Before I selected Collette, I checked out other tour companies offering similar tours of Rome and the Vatican, but they were much more expensive; for the value offered and the ease of booking, I cannot recommend Collette highly enough. Thank you so much, Collette, for making my tour such a wonderful experience!

Everything was well planned, the Tour Manager was on top of everything, very organized.

The service was wonderful. The hotels were comfortable. The pilgrimage was tiring. Up early and on the go all day. Came back each night exhausted but thrilled with all the beautiful sights. The food was good. The airline made the trip very comfortable. The flight was long but I was able to sleep.

First, Collette provided air transportation from my regional Airport. (Killeen/Fort Hood). (Saved a lot of parking fees). Next, we were met at the Cairo Airport with an outstanding Collette greeter who arraigned our transfers and Hotel accommodations. Then we met our tour guide, Sahar. Sahar was one of the most hard working and knowledgeable tour guides I have ever met. This was an amazing adventure. The only thing I wish we could have done was to spend a little less time in temples and tombs, and have a little more interaction with the current day culture of the people.

Well organized and thorough, the Icelandic Adventures tour was just what we were seeking, with opportunity to explore at a busy but relaxed pace. Accommodations and services were top notch. Our English speaking guide Sigurd was attentive, More

My husband and I went on the Reflections of Italy tour on 11/5/2015. The trip went without a hitch. When we got to the airport there was a representative waiting for us, he directed us to the bus driver, who took us to our hotel right in the middle of Rome, our tour manager was already there taking care of our reservation and giving us instructions (thanks Lee).

It was wonderful to have a driver at the front door every morning to take us to the different sites in every town we visited, and pick us up after each site tour, (thanks Gianni). The tour guides in each city were very knowledgeable and passionate about their cities, especially Cristiano in Rome (Coliseum and Vatican Tour).

We had a wonderful time, we can't wait to go on another tour soon.

Your leader, Greg Hall, really made the tour pleasurable! He gave us printed, color handouts every morning on the bus, with instructions for our trip, descriptions of what we were going to see, including maps and pictures where necessary. He even had plastic bags to give us so each could take home a sample of black sand from the beach.

Provided a wide variety of activities along with free time.

Good company to travel with. Buildings are old mill buildings..need updating

I have highly recommended Collette as an exceptional touring company that allows the traveler the very best experience, from the cultural focus to the time management in each locale.

Extremely responsive and listened. Any and all questions I had were answered. I was kept up to date on all aspects of the tour

Organized, the trip was stress free and easy. Loved our Tour Director, Edward, he was very helpful, professional, and caring. I liked the hotels, the schedule, the destinations, great bus drivers, tour guides. It was really enjoyable. Memorable.

Tour guide, Chuck was amazing!! Friendly, professional, interesting, knowledgeable and fun!! Heard so many horror stories about tour guides not knowing a thing about the city they were supposed to be guiding you around, but Chuck was wonderful!! Such a pleasure to be with!

This was a very fun trip! The guide (Fabian) was knowledgeable and approachable. There was a lot of time on the bus, which it would have been nice to know ahead of time just how much time we'd be spending there.

Both the tour guide(luciana) and Pasquale (bus driver) made our trip very pleasureable. She really knows her stuff and makes it very easy to listen when she explained different things. Would love to do the trip again with the two of them !!!!!!!.

Italian Vistas trip was well planned and thought out. Points of interest were great and time at venues was right. Tour bus was fantastic as was the driver, Nino. Our tour guide, Daniel, was absolutely wonderful, and a wealth of information.

I loved my Collette experience!
I almost gave them 4 stars, because our first hotel, Hotel Bern, was undergoing major renovations and the inconvenience was massive, halls were blocked off with barricades and I was very worried about an emergency exit if we would have needed it. The hotel front desk woman yelled at me for getting on the wrong elevator, which is funny now, but in my defense, I had been using the stairs to the third floor the whole time, and I wasn t familiar with their set up. I felt Collette should have been informed. Collette was ripped off. The bus had to drop us off away from the hotel, and in the rain, it was not glamorous, lol
Otherwise, everything was nice! Our guide was knowledgeable and our bus driver was safety conscious! Both were very friendly and helpful. The trip was spectacular. So much so, that I have not lost confidence and will go to Italy with Collette in August.

Everything from the pick up at the beginning to the drop off at the end went smoothly and was totally enjoyable. The guide was knowledgeable and friendly, very helpful. The hotels were good. and i would definitely recommend Collette to anyone. In fact we are going on another trip with Collette in March

No problems with the service prior to the trip - all very normal.

The trip was probably our best to date. What made it outstanding was the every day information provided by the coach driver and the tour manager. The level of information provided by Wayne was outstanding. Eddy provided the everyday agenda and made the trip flow effortlessly. The number on the tour was perfect and allowed us to see so much.

Great personalized service! We had a great tour manager (Kathleen Fil) and she took care of all the details for our group. I would strongly recommend Collette!

This was a wonderful trip and everything was very well planned out. I'M sure we will travel with them again. The tour guide and bus driver were amazing.

Wonderful guide, hotel and choice of places to visit

Our guide was excellent. We could not have seen or done more. The guide looked out for everyone and helped with anything that any one needed - like a side excursion.

This tour of Poland was extremely well organized and paced. We experienced a vast number of key sites throughout Poland and had expert guides at various locations and arguably the best tour manager from the dozens of trips that I have taken. The meals were wonderful, the history alive and the community spirit among the travelers uplifting. It became one of the most rewarding and memorable travel experiences of which I have been a part.

Our trip was everything we hoped for and more. The schedule was made so everyone could make full advantage of every day. The meals were great and the hotels were also fine. A lack of air conditioning required an adjustment for us Americans but were otherwise fine. All the transfers were made on time. The bus was clean and the bus driver was great also, keeping everyone safe. All of the tour guides were fantastic, especially Christian at the Vatican in Rome. He was extremely knowledgeable. Having scheduled times to visit most of the larger venues maximized our time and eliminated waiting in lines. We loved every city, museum, special site, and experience we had. It was simply marvelous.

The best for last. Paolo Santioli was our Tour Manager from Rome to Stresa and was absolutely perfect. He kept everyone informed and on time and "Mama Mia", he displayed a great knowledge of Italy and had a wonderful sense of humor. Paolo should receive special recognition for all he did for us.

We will highly recommend Collette to our friends and family and will consider them again when planning our next big trip.

Steve Martin
Tucson, AZ

Everyday was amazing! The country, landscape, tours, traveling by train and our Tour Manager, Cinthya!!!

Carol our tour guide was the best. She helped us to get the most out of each experience. Thanks Carol!
Our driver Arner was great, made us feel comfortable and safe while traveling. Thanks Arner!

We have been using Collette at Fairfield University for approximately 10 yearly trips and always found them to be an excellent provider for the perfect travel experience.

OUTSTANDING tour guide, bus driver and wonderful places to stay!!! I would highly recommend this tour to everyone!! I will usr them again.

went on the california tour oct. 12, 2015. excellent trip. our guide ann greer deserves 6 stars. fantastic young woman. she made all the difference. looking forward to another trip with collette and hopefully ann again

Our guide for the entire time (Mo) was very knowledgeable and looked after all of us, especially those who could not walk very fast. The other guides walked too fast and you had to keep telling them to slow down. The bus driver to the train going to Switzerland was great as well as our bus guide with the Italy part. Mo made sure we knew how to communicate in each language.

It was a dream come true. Our Tour Manager, Maria Pilar was outstanding. The accommodations were superb. The food, the wine, the tours were more than I could have wished for. Our one incident was caused by a local and was handled by Pilar very professionally. She went above and beyond what was expected of her. Looking forward to our next tour with Collette.

Website indicated they are open on weekends. They are not! Just left there and called. Agent said they are just a call center. No one here to talk in person. Very misleading. I just drove 35 mins to get here. Going somewhere else.

We had the best group of people and our tour guide Barry was so great. He was knowledgeable, helpful, funny, personable....loved him...We saw amazing sights, had great weather (except for the cold cold wind), loved the Blue Lagoon and much, much more. Would love to have spent an extra day or 2.
The only thing which was not great was the buffet in Vik. Everynight the food was pretty much the same. The soup changed nightly but most everything else was the same every night .

They were prompt and informative when asked about dietary restrictions and other concerns. They also provided an excellent info packet as well as reminders for key tasks prior to the trip.

We felt like it was the best tour trip that we have ever been on. We had such smooth transition every place we went. We loved our tour guide, he was the best. The tour was well planned, down to the amount of time to shop and stop for the rest rooms. We will use Collette again.

My guide was Stacey Moule and she was wonderful! She had an Australian accent so she was very pleasant to listen to. She was exceedingly knowledgeable about the area we were seeing and always gave us options of where we could go on our off time. When one side trip fell through due to an avalanche of snow, she scrambled to get us to go see glow worms in a cave. This entailed a scenic boat trip and a tour inside a cave with a waterfall! I think I had a better time on that sideline tour than if we had gotten to the place where the avalanche occurred! Our driver was Peter (Weller?) and he told us stories of every place we went, and his personal stories of when he visited there that were very interesting also. I would recommend Collette and will be taking more tours with you, This being my first tour with Collette was a very positive first experience that will lead to more. I dreamed of going to Australia since I was a young teenager and it may have taken me 50 plus years to get there but the wait was worth it!

Excellent services, organization, and scheduling to visit as many interesting sights ar possible.

From the time our tour guide met us, until our departure, what a well spent experience. I have been ecouraging everyone to take a Collette Tour! Everyone who can, should have this experience. It's hard to put into words. Simply awesome.

Collette is a great company to tour with. They always put us first and cater to our needs. The tour guides are very knowledgeable and friendly. Just a pleasure to tour with.

Yes would recommend! Yes Travel again with Collette. Well organized, Great Tour
Directors. Lots to do and see , central locations Hotels.

It was a good experience but the connection flight to Rome was a serious problem.

The best bus tour I've ever been. The bus driver was a very safe driver and our tour guide was the greatest, he was very informative and went. Out of his way to make sure each person was taken care of. He talked to each one of us individually , he made are group feel like we all knew each other before we did. It was like a big party of friends.

Assisted when I got sick and arranged for change in travel schedule

This was our first experience with Collette. It was not without problems but Collette was quick to remedy them and alleviate my concerns.

Trip was great. We had very nice hotels. Guide was very pleasant and knowledgeable. Food was good and all very friendly. Tours were good and easyly accessable

We have traveled with Collette for over 20 years and I have nothing but positive remarks for Collette! They have consistently provided quality trips at a reasonable price. Any "added excitement" that does happen from time to time when traveling has always been taken care of. They take the stress and worry out of travel so that we can truly enjoy our destination. Amazing guides too! Collette is a travel company that I trust, they've earned it and I will continue to support this great travel company!

Service was totally professional. Each person's interest, personality and energy level was addressed. Good humor was the rule. I will sign up for another tour and recommend it to others.

You Tour Manager was very knowledgeable and helpful throughout the tour. The quality of tour guides was very high. The locations on the tour were great and I enjoyed every moment of the tour. I know you here this a lot but I wish we had more time to spent seeing the sites. I will use collette again.

I've not only been an employee but also a traveler with Collette and can't say anything but good things for either side. Passionate team, excellent products and a fun, innovative culture.

The tour was well planned. The tour manager was very knowledgeable.
The hotels and train were top-notch.

No problems whatsoever. Great knowledgeable tour guide, a real people person. A very nice driver who never got us lost. Jam packed days of seeing as much as we could. Nice accommodations . Even had a birthday celebration for Collettes birthday.

I loved our guide Maryse Blouin - she was excellent. So helpful and considerate of all of us. She made sure everyone was safe and informed of all situations and was very personable and fun too!

Would be nice if their employees could park in the employee parking lots provided instead of parking on the street, speeding and hitting the cars of the people who live on the second half of middle st.