This Travel Agency - Colette Vacations - is located on the East Coast. Because I live in Hawaii, I called at 4:20am (Hawaii Standard Time) which is 9:20am in Rhode Island. My roommate and I booked a tour (for June 2025) online. Their system wasn't user friendly and my credit card was charged five times for the deposit. It was like paying for the entire trip. We ended up being on the waitlist anyway. That was in December. Now that it's February, I called to get an update and see if I could get a refund for at least four of my deposits. I spoke with Kariya who was very polite, professional, and patient. She sorted through the information and found out that my roommate and I are 4th on the waitlist. If I cancel now, I can get a full refund. If I stay on the waitlist, I would lose my deposit if I don't get go on the trip. I decided to cancel, but they can't refund me until my roommate contacts them with her decision: 1. stay on the waitlist, change her reservation to a single room, and lose her deposit if she doesn't get to go on the trip... 2. get a refund. We shall see the results... read more

In order to get your money back on the travel protection plan they offer you need to cancel six months in advance. That has not been my experience with other travel protection plans. It seems to defeat the whole purpose. read more

Keep looking for another Agency. They are horrible w/ their money management and should REQUIRE insurance, as they cannot support travel changes - even for a single working mother. Lost $2,000 and it was an "oh well, that's on you" attitude. If you book with them, make SURE you are covered by Travel Insurance. Horrible experience. read more

This is what Collette Travel has done to myself and 17 other travel guests that booked a recent tour to Iceland. Our flight was delayed from our layover from Philadelphia to Boston through American Airlines. This made us miss our scheduled international travel to Iceland via Icelandic Airways. At no time did Collette's Tour Agency reach out, show concern or arrange anything for us when we became stranded in Boston airport. We were entirely on our own to make accommodations, try and rebook our reservation to Iceland, or schedule our trip to make up for the over 24hrs we missed on our trip. Collette Travel then lied to our entire traveling group about their ability to "help" and repeatedly have then lied to the other 17 members of your tour group. We were assured that we would be rebooked through their travel service for the following 24hr later flight. We actually were even emailed our alternative travel plan from Collette Tours. When arriving at the airport for our next day (24hr delayed travel that made us miss a full day of our excursion to Iceland) none of us had valid airline tickets to our international destination of Iceland and no one at Icelandic Airlines was able to accommodate our travel or plane tickets because it was not correctly booked through our travel agency Then, when you arrive at the airport to board your plane for the excursion you paid top dollar for, the international ticket was booked incorrectly and you THEN must call their emergency international toll free number and speak to multiple agents that aren't helpful, put you on perpetual hold AND continue to lie to you while you are READING them the emails their company sent to you 10 hours before.. After being on the phone with this travel agency for over two hours and asking Icelandic representatives if the problem had been remedied; I was put on hold for 25 MORE minutes until I received word from the emergency travel agency staff that our plane tickets "should" now work. I will be posting receipts and email notifications of the "assuring" correspondence from Collette as proof that they lie, placate and mislead their customers when any issue arise. This travel agency is not trustworthy to be accurate OR informative and I strongly recommend you look elsewhere when booking a travel excursion with this company... read more

I'm trying to fathom why a deposit for a trip more than a year away is non-refundable? This tour company could not possibly have incurred any expense, except to have sent an e-mail after taking our money. I'm sure they rack up quite a bit of $$ by this practice. After reading numerous negative reviews and complaints, I would never use this company for our travel. read more

Italy Trip that cost over 5000.00 and taken this past 2 week. I'm writing this review to warn people do not use this travel company. They are not responsible for cancellations of tours on the itinerary you paid for and offer no other alternative, in addition they booked you in budget hotels and the only 3 dinners were at same budget hotel which was terrible. They offer one type of meal and no other, they give you one glass of wine and that's it. The plane seats they booked you on going and coming from US were very basic seats in the back of plane. Oh on the bus ride which often were 3 to 4 hours long, you were not allowed to use bus bathroom as per tour guide. Instead the tour guide would ask who has to use the toilet (embarrassing) and then proceed to pullover at a gas station to use gas stations facilities. But above all they forced you to pay a so called "tip" of 90 euros per person to the tour guide and 50 euros per person to the bus driver hmm. This tip was not part of the 5,000. If you want to tip it should be optional not forced and not a set amount. Use another travel company you've been warned. read more

Used them 3 times. Highly satisfied Tour directors informative and thorough. Enjoy the bus travel Accommodations generally great read more

This will be a long review. My husband and I booked a 13 day, 12 night tour of Italy with Collette through our Travel Agent. We paid a good amount of money for this tour. We asked that we have half days to have scheduled touring and half days on our own. We did not get that at all. Our days were fully scheduled from early morning until about 4-5 P.M. Hardly any down time or time on our own. The Tour Guide was knowledgeable and nice. Our driver was exceptional. The bus we were on was extremely nice. Most of the places we went to were good. The hotels, however was where they were sorely lacking. The Relais San Clemente in Perugia was absolutely horrid. See Pics below. Our Travel agent called the Emergency Services with Collette. They did absolutely NOTHING to help us. We were stuck in the middle of nowhere in a disgusting room and the hotel refused to put us in a better room. We were treated poorly. Our last hotel Villa San Lucchese was a a little better, but again, in the middle of nowhere. We could not go to a restaurant of our choosing, go for a coffee, gelato, etc. So, half of our tour was spent in sub-par hotels. We did not pay for a budget tour! So disappointed and discouraged. Will not ever go on another Collette tour again. read more

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Just finished the "Shrines of Italy " tour! Everything and more was good about this trip! Definitely 5 star service!, from the tour Manager to the Bus Driver and all the staff in between. To see the beauty of most every shrine was amazing! Well worth booking extensions too! read more

Collette - Basilica of St. Mary of the flower and Bell tower - Travel Services Near Me - Pawtucket, Rhode Island

All transportation to and from airports was excellent. I was so pleased with the organization on the tour. Our tour guide, Norman Greene, was excellent with his instructions about times and places to meet and when we needed to have our luggage outside our rooms for transport to the bus. Our driver, Stephen, was wonderful too. Mr. Greene made sure all travelers were on the bus before we left a place. We had one person who was not there and he personally went to find them. I loved the side trip to Windsor Castle and the Gaelic Roots show of Irish music and dance. I totally enjoyed our tour. I loved the countries we visited: England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Our guide, Norman Greene, was a wealth of historical information and quick to meet our questions with solutions. I would totally book with Collette for another tour. I felt safe traveling in foreign countries and this allowed me to enjoy all the things this tour had to offer. read more

Collette - Wagon ride through beautiful national park Ireland. Generational wagon and horse family as informative drivers and guides. - Travel Services Near Me - Pawtucket, Rhode Island

I just had a South Africa trip with Collette March April 2024- the food was bad, guide was constantly rushing us but the main issue was safety on safaris- my travel agent told me when I was booking this trip that they have weapons on safari vehicles to protect tourists from wild animals in case of emergency. Its a lie- they have nothing- u sign a waver and hope for the best! 3 days before our safari at exact same park- the vehicle with tourists was attacked by an elephant and they could do nothing to protect people. This was recorded with a cellphone and its all over U Tube and Google!!! I wrote a letter to Collette explaining everything that went wrong on this trip and asked for partial refund- they wouldn't give money back read more

Hawaii Grand Adventure is the tour I took this year. The tour manager, was absolutely terrible. Not only did she violate Collette's policies on checking for vaccines, her response to me what "oh that's okay I don't need to see it," she also did not require people to wear a mask while we were together on the tour bus or in the group which was written on Collette letter head that I received prior to my tour. This tour manager also was also rude and condescending. I heard from another tour member, after my sudden departure, that she told everyone on the bus about my medical condition with my name in the same sentence. A clear violation of HIPAA laws, none of these people were medical staff that I was under the care of, they were paying customers of Collette. None of them had any authority to know any of my PHIs and I did not authorize the tour manager to disclose my PHIs. Additionally, she did not follow the Collette process to have another person take over my two extension purchases, she just gave them away and expected this person to pay me back directly. She told me "she was trying to make it easier on me," when clearly it was to avoid the extra Collette paperwork. When I voiced my concerns about this on the phone with her she abruptly said "well if you would just let me speak," I'm a rude and condescending tone. Horrid customer service skills. When I spoke with a Collette senior guest relations advisor, after I had returned home he seemed to actually care and listen to my many many concerns about this trip. He also agreed with a lot of my issues and was appreciative of my feedback. This also included the process and care of my departure. Then when I inquired about the violation of my HIPAA rights and the tour manager's clear violation of Collette covid policies, and if Collette was going to make it right; I received no response. I made several attempts to reach him for answers and nothing. I will never recommend or go on a Collette tour again. read more

My husband & I had already traveled to England, France, and Germany on our own. Next on our bucket list was Italy. So we thought we would try out a tour company for the 1st time. Our tour included Rome, Florence, Venice, and Lake Como. I had heard a lot about Collette, so we thought we'd give them a try. Their itinerary was very well coordinated. The motor coach that transported the 40 of us from one city/town to the next was so comfortable, and the driver was very good. The tour director Daniel was great and knew a lot about each city/town that we went to. The hotels that we stayed at each included breakfast with the room. We were really hoping for a king-sized bed but never got one. Instead, they pushed two twin beds together in the rooms. The hotels where we stayed had seen better days. I would give them at most 3 out of 5 stars. The rooms were also small. We couldn't even open up both of our suitcases at the same time. They came up with great things for us to do in each city/town. They also had additional excursions that you could participate in for an additional fee. I will say that we met a lot of very nice people from all over the US. Next time we go on a tour, I think we'll go with a tour company that offers 4 star hotels. read more

European Christmas Market tour was poorly scheduled before many of the markets were opened for the season. Collette gave no assistance when return flights (which had been booked through Collette) were cancelled and simply stated that customers had to fend for themselves. read more

Collette two week African safari, "The Plains of Kenya", all meals included, every night at 4 star hotels/resorts, Collette guides us through the preliminaries. Wife renews passport, as expiring within 90 days after the trip concluded. Obtain visa from Kenya online, $50 please. Color scan of passport and a recent color portrait photo against white background downloaded in the application. Vaccinations can cost $400. We had a phone consultation and paid $46 to Kaiser for 6 different shots. Yellow fever shot side effects: 10 days of low grade fever, fatigue, and sweating profusely when exercising -there goes my tennis endurance! Kaiser says not recommended for adults 60+ -I just turned 65, and now I know why! We did our own airline flight reservations. It's at least a one stop flight from SFO to Nairobi, Kenya. No choice but take redeye flights to make connections, without much stopover time. All return flights from Nairobi to Europe redeye flights. 3 weeks before the trip, Emirates changes flight times. We change reservations, notify Collette. Duffle bag recommended, fixed structural wheeled luggage discouraged, as the van cargo space limited. One small carryon daypack for under the seats in front of you. We land in Nairobi after 36 hours of flying and stopover through 10 time zones. 3pm, crowd of locals at arrivals area outside the terminal, with names on placards, but none with our name. 1 hour passes. We flag a taxi. $30 cash please. Collette or tour manager forgot about the flight arrival time change. At least we didn't get stranded in the darkness, as lions would have eaten us! Arrive at the Sarova Stanley Hotel after a harrowing 90 minute drive through 3rd world country traffic melees. Vehicles with no air bags, no emission controls, minimal bumpers, and lots of near misses! Get a call that night from the tour manager informing us the breakfast time and luggage pickup time, outside the hotel room door. First of 3 buffet meals daily for 13 days. High quality meals with dozens of selections for every individual taste. I exchange dollars at the hotel cashier for a wad of small bills of Kenyan currency, the currency in the rural areas for housekeeping tips and purchases of sodas. All hotel bathrooms and vans equipped with bottled water, as tap water not safe. 24 people in the group, separated into 4 vans, 6 passengers per van. You stay with the same driver the entire tour, rotating seats daily. Nissan diesel Urvans, with 4 rows of seating, and a pop up ceiling, so you can stand and take pictures out of the roof. Nobody in the front passenger seat, as no roof opening there. Luggage gets stuffed into a narrow shallow area behind the 4th row. Wheeled luggage just does fit on the bottom, where the 16" width is a tight fit. Crushed by 100+ lbs of duffle bags, piled to the ceiling. Living out your suitcase in safaris, traveling almost daily from one resort to another. Diesel engine makes uphill passing a harrowing experience! Every 3 hours of travel, a pit stop, usually a curio shop. Use their multiple toilets in exchange for purchases by bargaining! Not all curio restrooms up to USA standard. Some just holes in the ground. At least the doors aren't off their hinges, like some rough areas of USA. Wife brings a spare toilet roll. One place has toilets but no toilet seats. The owner says people steal them, to place over their hole in the ground toilets at home! If you want toilet seats on your toilets take the more expensive tour! First rate resorts with swimming pools, clean comfortable beds. Weak wifi nationwide. Rural resorts have no AC and power off at low usage times. Weather was moderately hot near the equator to chilly and cold in the elevations. Rainstorm on last day. Toyota Landcruisers common. Driver favors the heavy duty suspension Nissan Urvan, for riding at speed on gravel and dirt roads. Rough jittery ride, with everything shaking inside your body. African massage free of charge! No constipation problems on this trip! The pop up ceiling is open in the game reserves, with dust from other vehicles on the dirt roads covering everyone. $100 fine for getting out of the van in the wild, even to go to bathroom in the bushes, as you are lion prey! Herds of wildebeest, antelopes, elephants, water buffalo, giraffe. Driver talked by radio and face to face with tour drivers in the bush to find rare animals. On occasion driver went off the road to get a close up shots, risking $100 fine. Saw dozens of lions, including a kill, a pair of leopards, and a cheetah, close up. Trip of a lifetime, even if it did require a second mortgage on the house! read more

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Traveled with Collette for tthe first and last time recently on a much antticipated tour of swittzerland and the alps. Have taken some 30 trips with other companies over the years and while some ups and downs, nothing compares with Collette. No organization, way too much down time, medicore travel representative, etc. They advised they would send a survey after the tour for input, but it was never sent. I was looking forward to completing that survey. On average, most days consisted of a walking tour of 1 and 1/2 hours or less and then free time on your own for the rest of the day. Leisurely is an understatement in their advertising. read more

The tour was great, Andrea, our tour guide, was amazing. However, book your own flights. If you do let Collette book your flights be ready for the worst seats and also be ready to miss every connection you have to make there and back. They give you NO time in between flights. We were so very lucky to make our connecting flight back home. Unfortunately that was not the case on the way there. We missed our connection which is to the fault of American Airlines for making us sit and wait for 50 minutes before departing and Collette for only giving us an hour and a half MAX in between all of our flights. Book your own flights, get your own cabs, or just go with a better agency read more

I am currently traveling on Collette's London and Paris tour. They informed us, AFTER we booked and paid and arrived for our meet and greet dinner, that we are traveling to Paris on the Eurostar train day after tomorrow, but our bags will be picked up and transported (by God knows what means) to Paris tomorrow morning. So, we have to either keep our luggage and manhandle it ourselves (I'm 70) or keep back whatever we need for 2 days and bring it with us in a carry on or backpack. This means without the bulk of what we brought along for 25% of the trip!!! I have confirmed there is no porterage available on the Eurostar, but losing our luggage for this length of time seems ridiculous. Oh - and first hotel: great location, couldn't check in on arrival because system was down, terrible food at their breakfast buffet, where both coffee machines were not operational so not even a cup of coffee was available. read more

Perfectly organized tours with great customer service. The tour managers are experts in their regions. I've always had outstanding experiences with Collette. Highly recommend them. read more

With only 31 days to our tour to Italy, we just found out from the airline that we have to pay for our seats. When booking this trip, I was upfront about the way I like to travel and wanted a "One World" airline. We were booked with ITA because it was significantly less expensive. This apparently was our first mistake. When I questioned the agent about the fee for seats, I was told "some airlines charge for seats". When I pressed about why wasn't I told this in advance and how the booking agent not know this fact, this agent continued to side step the question. Now we are in a budget airline, paying just about when a "One World" airline would have charged and creditors my miles program with 8000 miles. Collette is not transparent in their practices and the agents are not knowledgeable in their jobs. Never again! read more

On our way to the airport for our Iceland trip we were notified that our first non-stop flight was cancelled. We, without the help of Collette (because it was Sunday and no one from Collette would respond), but with the help of our local travel agent, got another flight (one stop) which was delayed and made it impossible to make our Iceland connection late Sunday night. The next flight was Wednesday which would have cut the Iceland trip in half so we called the tour guide in Iceland to tell her we were cancelling our trip and didn't get an answer so we left her a text message so she could cancel any hotel and activities scheduled for us. When we got home we started filling out what the proper forms to explain our decision to cancel the trip expecting that the trip insurance we were required to buy would reimburse us for the $7876 we paid for the trip (minus trip insurance of course). After almost three months of back and forth emails with various Collette representatives we were reimbursed $5759. 56 .The explanation given by Collette was: Pre-Departure Cancellation Fee Waiver Payment of a Per Person Waiver Fee guarantees a full refund of all payments (including deposit), except the Waiver Fee itself, made to Collette for travel arrangements in case of cancellation of your travel plans for any reason prior to the day of departure. "Your cancellation occurred on Day of departure after you had used the first leg of your flight." So, essentially, the "first leg of our flight" from Columbus, OH to Washington, DC cost us $2116. To be fair, they offered us a choice of either a $5000 voucher for a future trip with them or $2500 rebate. After this experience we would not consider travelling with them again and regretfully settled for the cash (again, net out of pocket for a bad two days and three months of haggling - $2116!) read more

It is unlikely I will ever use Collette again. If I would have done my research like I normally do, I would have found that I could have purchased the trip for half of what Collette charges. We were scheduled to take a tour in June on the Rocky Mountaineer. The day before the tour, we tested positive for Covid. If we had been like many others, we would have gone on the tour anyway. (we got Covid on our trip, from others, who were coughing up a storm on the bus) Instead, we were honest and ended up spending a 10 day quarantine in Canada. At first there was the hope of vouchers, but in the end no dice. Their insurance was expensive on top of an already expensive trip. Lesson learned. Expensive for us, quarantine and a missed trip, great for Collette.....extra profit for a trip not taken. Bet we aren't the only ones. read more

HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE....called them to book the CANYON LANDS TOUR....waited and waited for more than one hour on the phone to book the trip, kept hearing the answering machine. Finally after 90 minutes, I hung up. The I looked at the ratings on Yelp.com...poor customer service, rude tour guides, unacceptable hotels and a uncaring attitude from Collette made me decide never to use this company again. Sorry Collette you lost two good customers. read more

When I needed their customer service or support or care team, a fancy name, for an awful service, they failed me. In addition when I was stranded at the airport the tour guide couldnt find the phone number for the above Collette service. It was an absolute nightmare. I will never travel with them again, and I am a seasoned traveller. In addition, although they advertised there air conditioned coaches contain toilet facilities, they did not. This was on all 5 or 6 different coach buses, not One had a toilet facility we could use. Anyway, there are Much better tour companies out there with a better value. In closing, I dont want to hear the words "beef or fish" ever again. Poor food selection on included meals. Youve been warned. read more

Our first tour was Ireland & N Ireland in April (best time of year in our opinion). IT WAS GREAT. We decided to become "world connect" helping others to go. Since then we have been on 5 tours, with 3 more coming up. read more

We had a Christmas Market tour in Austria booked for December 2021, but the pandemic caused the closures of the Christmas Markets. We were told we could rebook our tour to something else, so we just picked another tour, being told that we could "change it at a later date". In writing. So 3 months before our 2nd choice tour, Covid and a war in Ukraine had us rethinking flying overseas at that time, so we asked to reschedule the trip. We explained we weren't comfortable flying at the present time and would happily rebook a later tour. We were then told that since we had no travel insurance through Collette we would lose our deposit. They would not even work with us to change to a different tour. We had never been informed that they had gone back to the pre covid policies and that cancellations/changes were not allowed. read more

Collette Tours should be avoided at all costs. My wife and I travelled on Collette's Treasures of Italy Tour October 2022. We had previously travelled with the because they partner with Marriott's Vacation Club. Six days into the tour while staying a a remote Tuscan Villa, my wife and two ther tour participants tested positive for Covid. The tour director offered no support or assistance except for providing contact information for Collette's emergency services who were supposed to reach out to us within 24 hours (they never did). We were abandoned by the tour director, Alexa, who said we were no longer her responsibility. When we finally managed to reach Collette's Emergency services the could offer no support or assistance with our personal and/or medical needs. After two weeks they finally arranged flights home (at our own expense) but we're unable to arrange transportation to the airport that, was over three hours away. Fortunately, the Villa Leechi we're excellent and provided the support and assistance to the degree possible. Bottom line: Collette Tours acted irresponsibly. Their customer service and support was essentially nonexistent and their management couldn't cre less about our welfare. Travel with them at your own risk. read more

BUYERS BEWARE Don't believe Collette when they tout you can get "a complete refund if you need to cancel for any reason." Not true! My sister and I were planning a trip to Portugal in March 2020. In February 2020, she was diagnosed with cancer. Also COVID-19 was rapidly becoming a pandemic. Despite multiple discussions with Collette over several months, we were not able to get a refund (only a voucher) for almost $7K in trip costs. CEO didn't even bother to reply to my email about this situation. The "good news," if either my sister and/or I die before our voucher expires, per Collette "this trip can go to our estate." Very comforting ... read more

Not a good experience. Hotels were below average. Shops that we were directed to we overpriced. Logistics were terrible....bus was a hour and a half late departing to airport. Cancelled dinners and excursions during trip. read more

Have been nearly a week on this tour of Ireland. The guide with Colleyte Tours is horrible. Lying & withholding info. we need to decide on which day trip to make. Not listening or answering questions when we need info. from her. She only wants to hear herself talk. We are a very small tour, co n.considering tours are usually 50 to 70 people. Not worth the money. Hotels are Horrible. OLD , built in 1700s, does not mean quaint. It means the air system is non existent. Electricity & plumbing don't work. Elevators are tiny and barely work. We paid a small fortune for really bad tour. Weather had been stellar. Couldnt6have asked for better. read more

Recently returned from Exploring Scotland & Ireland. Most of the hotels were shabby and without any amenities; that is, maybe no soap, maybe ragged or dirty towels, broken bathrooms. Only 2 of the hotels had A/C, one hotel ran out of much of the food at the included breakfast, and a few of the hotels were dirty. The excursions were, in some cases, trivial: a ride on a commuter train, a visit to an apple orchard. Only 1 day in Dublin, but a full day on the bus getting there from Northern Ireland. A great Dublin city (bus) tour from a local tour guide, but the only included tour off the bus in Dublin was St. Patrick's Cathedral. Worst of all, Collette booked 43 travelers onto this tour, resulting in an overcrowded tour bus on which less than 1/3 of the people wore masks. What happened? Covid. What was this tour company thinking? read more

We signed up for the Discover Tuscany tour of Italy to celebrate our honeymoon. We used Marriott Vacation Club points to purchase this trip from Collette. Many of the other tour participants did the same. We blame both Marriott Vacation Club and Collette for the shortcomings of the tour. Marriott's endorsement and partnership with Collette lead us to believe that the accommodations would be up to Marriott "typical" standards and that this would be a somewhat luxurious tour. The meals provided were marginal at best, and definitely did not do justice to the amazing cuisine for which Italy is known. Our farewell "feast" included a meat skewer which featured undercooked sausage, over cooked chicken chunks and hot dogs!!! Really??? HOT DOGS?!? Our hotel rooms were small, which by itself would not be a problem, it is Europe after all, however the disgusting state of disrepair was not worth the cost of the trip. There was mildew in the shower, broken tiles, fixtures falling off the walls, stains on the carpet to name a few problems. As we mentioned we were on our honeymoon and they gave us two twin beds........ The cost of the trip, which was Marriott's responsibility, was outrageously high for us, the Marriott Vacation Club members, compared with the people who bought the trip directly from Collette. Collette provided a budget trip to Marriott members who paid for a lavish tour. Both companies have grossly misrepresented their product bordering on fraud. Collette's response to the complaints from tour group members has been to blame Marriott. Marriott's response has been to basically say....sorry, take a week of condo time share time and go away. This whole experience has left me very disappointed with the customer service of both Collette and Marriott. On the positive side. Our tour manager was excellent, the tour bus was very nice and local tour guides were quite good. Additionally, the other tour members were great and really made the whole tour experience very memorable. The bottom line........beware of what Collette advertises........it may not be as it seems. read more

We got our money's worth, but not what we paid for. This group thinks nothing of changing its advertised itineraries with no acknowledgment let alone prior warning to its customers. Our tour guide, otherwise manly, helpful and knowledgeable simply did not know if the hotel to which our group was newly assigned had cellular phone access or not. My time spent researching several destinations listed in the literature by which we decided to go with Collette, was totally wasted. It's difficult to spoil Ireland, but it should not be so hard to deliver on your promises as a vendor read more

We just returned from Collette's Italy's Treasures tour. It was very disappointing on every level. We paid first class prices for second and third rate accommodations, meals and tours. The sedan service was 30 minutes late picking us up for the airport and when we arrived in Milan the driver left us stranded. We had to make our own arrangements to get to our destination at a cost of $180. To be fair, we were reimbursed BUT it should never have happened. The hotel rooms were always the worst in each hotel. Some people were given rooms with no windows and some without showers. Out of all the meals provided on this tour, two were excellent and the others barely edible.....really? in Italy??? The tours were overly long and poorly timed. Little time was left to do any exploring on your own. The biggest disappointment was the "villa in Tuscany". This was the highlight of the trip.....four days in a Tuscan villa. Instead, we stayed in a dumpy hotel in a grimy town called Figlene. The hotel and town offered NOTHING in the way of services. Our tour guide (who didn't work for Collette) and bus driver were excellent. The people we traveled with were very nice and felt the same as we did. Bottom line, we will never travel with Collette again. DCM read more

Awesome vacation to Australia and New Zealand. Let me emphasize, this was a big tour group, not a luxury tour, so I expected to make some compromises. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how much CV was able to include into our trip. It was an almost perfect mix of guided tours and free time. If I remember correctly, the flight lasted 16 hours from LA but Quantas made it bearable. You also can't avoid the early wake up times and the long bus rides. Both countries are so big and everything is so spread out that it makes for super long travel days. Most of the hotels were clean and modern, though by no means luxurious. The only one I felt was below par was the slightly run down Chateau on the Park but I believe they are in the middle of or have just finished renovations since our visit. I was pleased that most meals were included. Don't expect gourmet food but plenty of filling family fare. When on a group tour, I know to expect meals served with food that would appeal to a wide range of palates. Yes, I would have wanted more gourmet or exotic food; I just had to find it on my own during the free days. I am not a shopper so I think the time spent shopping should have been an option for the free days and not included on the scheduled and escorted tour days. But that's just me. Most of the group loved the shopping. Note: We experienced sticker shock whenever we had to buy meals, or anything else, on our own. Be prepared. Australia and New Zealand are expensive. However, it was well worth the money we spent for this once in a lifetime trip. Final grade: 3.5 stars generously upgraded to 4 stars read more

My husband and I just returned from a Collette Tour of eastern Canada. Less than a week before our departure we were given our airline reservation; we would have to have our bags ready in the hotel hall at 2 AM ! Depart at 3 AM! I should have canceled then but would loose a considerable amount of funds. Canada is beautiful but everything was a hurry up and go, not much of a vacation. Most of the hotels were fine. Several of the excursions were tourist traps, like the Sugar Shack. One really needs to have more information before putting down a deposit. We will use a different company next time, Collette is not an up front travel group! read more

My wife and I recently went on a Collette tour to New Orleans, Memphis and Nashville. We have gone on many tours like this so we are not new to them. The tour manager provided by Collette on this tour was the worst we had ever had. She was unorganized, did not talk at all during the bus rides, did not point out any facts about the places we visited. She threatened to leave people behind if they were not on time. When we had lunch or dinner on our own, she did not make any suggestions or recommendations on where we should go. We did not learn anything about the venues we visited. In short, she was more of a chaperone than a tour manager. we really felt cheated and short changed on this trip. I expressed my disappointment on the review survey and a representative from Collette called me to express her concern and apologized for this tour manager. She also said we would receive a voucher which would be good for future bookings with Collette. When we did receive the voucher, it was for a mere $150. For each of us. What a joke! We paid $2800 each for this trip and she sends us a measly $150. Collette should be ashamed to provide such a bad tour guide, but clearly they don't know how to make things right. We will be thinking long and hard before we book another tour with Collette. They just don't care. read more

First time I've taking one of those all inclusive package tours. It was exactly what I dreaded about these tours: too much bus time, stops were photo ops with no time to explore. American tour leader giving secondhand info. The itinerary and flight schedule was sent out short before departure; had I seen this at the beginning I wouldn't have booked. Flight there we arrived at 8 am and a full day of running around. Trip home was an excruciating convoluted route home, leaving hotel at 3:30 am. May have been more complicated as this was a special trip arranged through the local public TV station (also cost more). I'll stick to Road Scholar in the future. Oh, the country is great, people very healthy and well to do, but costly. read more

My wife and I took a trip to Israel with Collette in Feb this year. Unfortunately the first morning, in Jaffa, my wife fell and broke her foot and tore all ligaments the other foot. After a full day in the ER in Tel Aviv, had to get taxi to Tiberius to meet up with tour group (they had all of our luggage), the trip really went down hill from there! We were told that my wife should not continue trip because she was in a wheel chair, we could not get a flight home, so we stayed in old hotel room for 2 days, I pushed her around the town as much as I could. Rode the tour bus to Jerusalem, where our tour guide told us again that we should not go on the days tour because of the wheelchair. Spent another day at a clinic to get DR.s OK to fly. I made arrangements for a private tour company (van) to carry us around the city and the walled city, which we were told by our Collette guide was impossible. our flight was changed because of the wheelchair status and seating on the plane, we finalized our travel plans home at the airport not knowing when we our flight would be. All of this without the slightest help from the Collette tour guide that was in charge of the trip. We had to make all arrangements on our own. The SOB even tried to take her wheelchair away 2 days before leaving because he said it was only rented for a few days.....He almost lost some teeth. We had luckily bought travel insurance from Collette which did pay for the flight upgrade, but the fine print fails to tell you that it does not cover medical care (ER $550), or travel expenses ($250 taxi to Tiberius) incurred because of accidents, or medication($200), or just about anything while in a foreign country!!!!!! ( not to mention surgery when we got home and a month off work! all total, about $26K) Needless to say it was a very expensive, painful, aggravating experience. Pretty much on your own in a foreign country. And I have only touched on a fraction of what we went through while on the trip. I will never travel with Collette again. Read the fine print.... Even called Collette numerous time after we got home, Letters, emails...Not even an apology for our treatment by the tour guide.... read more

I don't even know where to start here... paying for my full trip and confirming I was paid in full to be notified I owed $800 three days prior to leaving? Do I start with paying for excursions that I was time gated to spending an hour at the excursion I paid extra to be at? Having my initial flight plan have a 24hr layover that nothing would have been done about if I didn't complain? Oh wait how about upon attempting to return to the US we rode the bus they provided to the airport to make our flight and ended up an hour late for the flight... but don't worry when I called them they said this happened last week and did nothing to try to fix it for the current week. It was a complete and utter disaster of a vacation from an organization and execution perspective... why do I pay for you to do this for me if it is completely half baked??? The best day of the trip was when my wife and I left and got our own train to another city and met the group there later... we got 7 hours in the city that the group got 2.5 in with only 20 mins free time... there is so much more that was terrible but I think I have painted the picture... also still awaiting my refund on one of the excursions they promised a refund on... read more