Great Rail Journeys, www.greatrail.com

Firstly the Sherpr service did not happen as GRJ stated that they did not have our information which was proven incorrect as the travel consultant we use eventually got am email from them stating it was an admin error on their part.

The tour manager they provided had never done this trip before and could not provide any answers to questions asked. He was rude to many in our group of 25 and was a useful as a ashtray on a motorbike. Marched ahead of the tour group leaving many people behind when getting on the trains some in their 80's and one couple in their 90's they could quite easily be left at a station.

Most worrying was that all our luggage had to be carried by the tour group until the arrival at Basel causing distress and nearly not getting off a train in time at on stop.

One person on the tour fell ill and attended hospital and was told not to travel but they did and no intervention by the tour manager caused , several more people on the trip to become ill and had to miss some included trips.

The hotels picked by GRJ were not up to standard

The Ambassador in London, the Hotel Du Parc in Mulhouse, the Hotel Stern in Chur and the hotel Ambassador in Brig were historical but not what was expected. Rooms were small with no A/C just a fan which was inadequate causing lack of sleep to the stifling air. The bathroom in one was only 4' 6" square with no extractor fan. You can pay extra for larger rooms but for the price charged you shouldn't have to.

The food in the hotels in our opinion is only average with only one meal that was outstanding on the first night in the hotel in Brig after that downhill. Breakfasts were always continental style.

My advice would be either book the trip yourself or use a travel consultant so you get better quality hotels.

Would I use this company again, like the rest of our group the answer would be NO.

Switzerland is beautiful, clean and picturesque but the tour was ruined by GRJ.

All our group should be compensated for this poor service.

Date of experience: 13 September 2023

We went on the Grand Tour of Scandinavia from May 5-21 and I would no recommend the tour.

As a tour company they should be aware that the rails and roads don’t open until June 1st. They added the May dates as a money grab without any research.

We paid heavy for meals, hotels and what looked like a wonderful itinerary. Some places were amazing, but most of them were a joke.

The itinerary we paid for didn’t happen. We missed meals and activities due to the lack of organization and pure idiocy.

We were even parked outside of a museum and the guide didn’t know we were supposed to go in. We drove PAST the Arctic Circle when they were trying to wave us down because the guide wasn’t paying attention and the driver didn’t know it was a stop.

We missed meals we paid for and had no choices for others. The last meal in the Ergon in Oslo was so bad only about a third of the group ate it. And the Ergon didn’t give a care in the world about us, even though we paid for this meal. They were horribly rude. This is also not the only provided meal that was so bad people just didn’t eat. There were several.

Everything was closed everywhere we went. So our free days we could walk around in the rain as the entertainment despite promises of cable cars, activities and adventure.

The guide kept telling us about all these amazing things we can do making us all so excited without research and it was also closed. They would ensure us we would be able to find open restaurants and even those were difficult to come across.

The guide also relayed the wrong information several nearly daily and times for meeting were always changing, again because of lack of leadership and organization. Nearly every morning we had to wake up crazy early to get our stuff on the coach just to wait around for hours with everything closed before we left. Many people were calling this the “hurry up and wait” tour.

Norway and Sweden are beautiful, and I would recommend visiting. The people who actually live here are lovely. And the very few guided activities that were included were only good because of the local guides. We found amazing restaurants in three places out of the 17 nights, but all on our own. But never visit with Great Rail. Ever.

In my opinion, we should all get quite a bit of money back and a formal apology. They seriously messed up, and should be very embarrassed.

Unfortunately, this service is only for UK travelers. Americans seeking a rail tour of the UK need to use another service, which is also priced significantly higher. Why Great Rails hasn't made this clear on their web site doesn't bode well for any other surprises they may be hiding on the tour itself.

Itinerary seemed perfect but the daily schedule was exhausting as many participants commented. 8 am starts and 6 pm finishes meant rising at 6.30 and at the end of the day one was left to find and book a restaurant for dinner when one felt like flopping.

Bringing forward pm flight on Virgin to a morning flight on AA started the rot. Especially chosen pm flight disappeared and had to leave home at 4.30, not exactly the start we wanted.

Choice of hotels was fine apart from lack of a restaurant for dinner which meant the onus of finding supper was an unwelcome chore. Similarly penny pinching not to include only three breakfasts.

The Tour Manager was poor. Kept adjusting the schedule for no obvious reason. Didn’t respond to numerous queries from English element on App we were told to use to communicate with her. Changed timings at the drop of a hat with no explanation. Many highly critical that she didn’t understand English people needs eg making telephone calls for taxis, recommending restaurants and advising on associated booking and costs.

Scenery beautiful but avoid doing it with GRJ

Absolutely awful company, great at taking your bookings and money but it then ends there. We paid a premium rate for what they listed as “Delights of The Danube” river cruise. They changed our ship, so we did not get what we paid for, and no pool as we originally specified. The drinks in the drinks package had very little choice. One draft beer is all that is available, and that is pretty poor as it is, you can’t even buy bottled beers or any other draught beer as that one is your only choice. Wines at meal times are either red, white or Rose, no choice, just those three.The ship they put us on “boasted” a new wine bar, it didn’t serve any wines or beers at all the entire week, it wasn’t even stocked or manned, but it did have a kettle and tea or coffee !!!. The trips ashore are advertised to deceive you, this is appalling. Some of the trips are over two and a half hours each way on a coach, and the shorter ones are rushed, don’t be fooled by their misleading advertising. The train journeys are an absolute nightmare, even though we booked first class there and back. You have to rush between connecting trains while dragging your luggage with you, and the connecting times are tight, we felt so sorry for those less able who were severely stressed. On part of the journey we were told that 1st class was not available, we were put in filthy overcrowded carriages, with our luggage carriages away, and professional thieves operate on these trains. Some of our fellow passengers, on our cruise, were robbed on the way to the cruise and the way home. Great Rail offered us the paltry sum of £30 compensation for this.

Once we got on the cruise we were excited, but that quickly changed, we spent the first two days moored up overlooking an industrial estate, yes an industrial estate, that’s what Great Rail advertise as a “Delight of the Danube”. When we complained and asked why are we on an industrial estate,we were told “because it’s cheaper than mooring up in a city or town”.

We complained to the reps on the cruise, as did numerous others, only to be told that they don’t actually work for Great Rail, they are sub contracted free lancers, and that we would have to take it up with Great Rail upon our return. After numerous phone calls and e-mails we have been offered a derisory amount on one of their vouchers, which only benefits Great Rail, why would we want to go back with such an incompetent company? The communication with Great Rail is appalling once they have your money, be warned. Overall I have to say that Great Rail are appalling, amateurs playing in a market they simply don’t understand, their advertising is very misleading, that’s putting it politely!!

The tone of their responses are arrogant, they simply ignore many of the points raised, and they honestly don’t seem to care, they are all image and no substance.

This was our first holiday with Great Rail Journeys having travelled with a number of other escorted tour companies previously. The tour was extremely well organised and the Tour Manager was brilliant, keeping us up to date on all aspects of the trip. All details were very well considered, the hotels were all of an excellent standard, which were very welcome at the end of long, hot and dusty days travelling. The excursions were varied and very well planned. There were also a number of nice off-itinerary surprises included in the trip. I would have no hesitation in recommending GRJ to anyone, and will definitely book with them again.

Great Rail Journeys are a very prominent advertiser in the Times and Daily Telegraph

with huge advertisements in both, offering premium priced holidays featuring rail travel. They are winners of both the Times and Daily Telegraph best rail operator awards.

My experiences with them were somewhat at variance to hype of the advertisements, the holiday was an outstanding example of incompetence, facilities chosen for economy and low cost.I would hazzard a guess that more and more big advertisements, rather than providing premium holidays for customers is Great Rail Journeys trading spend priority.

The dreadful holiday was only surpassed by the "Customer Service" received when I had the audacity to complain, taking apathy to new heights, with specific issues ignored, advice to write to ABTA, and to top it all three letters to the Chief Executive Officer being neither acknowledged or replied to, despite his emphasis on Customer Service in the sales literature.

Having previously used several tour operators without any problem, it amazes me that any company can survive by behaving in such a bogus manner.

We joined the Highlands & Islands tour which had a very well thought out programme but disaster struck when the ship became damaged and we were unable to visit most of the tour highlights. This was not GRJ fault but on coming home we asked for a partial refund and found the customer service lamentable. It was clear they did not care the holiday had been ruined and my advice is not to book with them.They merely reply with platitudes and ignore completely the points made by people who paid a lot of money to see little

I have just returned from the Great Rail Arctic Circle Express holiday. The holiday does not reflect the glowing description in the brochure and we were accompanied by the most ineffectual tour-manager.

10 days before departure we were sent ‘final details’ of flights and times; two days later we were informed that we would be departing Gatwick and returning to Heathrow. We were advised to catch a coach from Heathrow to Gatwick on our return. After some discussion this was amended to ‘claim for a taxi from the rank. After much pressing Great Railey agreed to pre-book and pay in advance for for a private hire car.

A highlight of the holiday was the excellent tour of Stockholm and the insights provided by the local guide. Dinner in the Radisson was timed for 7:30 and it took until after 10pm to serve the meal. Despite our unrest, no intervention was forthcoming from the tour manager.

While the Gamla Teatern may be an interesting hotel the meal took from 7:30 until 10:15 served by the receptionist. Despite requests the tour manager sat unmoved throughout.

The Inlandsbanan proved torturous and monotonous for most travellers. While lunch is ordered in advance to be paid for at the stop, some passengers spent the whole 45 minutes in the queue to collect their meal. The day was saved by the excellent Sami reception and meal.

The Ofoten railway is a highlight but the Quality hotel in Narvik was the first of three hotels undergoing renovation during our stay. On returning to our room late on the second evening we were contacted by reception to say that we had to change rooms as the safety equipment in our section had been knocked out during the day. As there was only one person on reception and no porters we had to collect the key and move everything to a new room.

The day travelling to Trondheim is torturous from 06:45 until 22:30. To describe dinner as included is insulting. A plastic case of salad topped with three slices of roast beef, that has been carried on the train all day, hardly constitutes a meal.

The Rauma railway and coach to Geiranger are stunning. In the Union hotel, a scrum rather than a meal is a more apt description of the buffet service.

The Freitham hotel at Flam is good and served an excellent meal. The Radisson in Bergen is undergoing improvements with the restaurant closed. Breakfast buffet was not the usual Radisson affair, being temporarily housed in a conference room. In Oslo, yet another hotel with extensive building work. The breakfast facility was unsatisfactory and potentially dangerous. Everything including hot drinks had to be carried from the foyer, down a ramp , and into the room, meaning 2 or 3 trips for everyone.

There is a feeling that the holiday has been planned from a set of timetables rather than a well constructed tour with regard to time and distance.

And as for the tour manager:

- to everyone’s amazement he led the group into the conference centre rather than the hotel at Stockholm;

- ignored the main entrance to the Union hotel at Geiranger and led everyone towards the rear staff entrance before retracing his steps;

- made no attempt to ensure hotels delivered on service of meals and provided porterage;

- directed everyone in the wrong direction during rail stop on the Inlandsbanan thus wasting their time;

- and to cap it, at airport was not prepared for check in, then gave everyone the booking reference for the wrong flight.

I travelled with Great Rail Journeys earlier this year on the USA Coast to Coast tour. Our holiday began in London where we chose to stay for the night before joining our Tour Manager and the rest of our group at London Heathrow the next day. Following a comfortable flight to New York we checked into our hotel to start the adventure of a lifetime.

Our tour included spectacular rail journeys and visits to destinations such as Washington, Chicago, Denver, Durango, Flagstaff, Grand Canyon, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The organisation throughout was faultless and we cannot praise Peter, our Tour Manager, enough for his help and advice during our tour. We also really enjoyed the group experience and met many new friends, and future travelling companions, during the holiday.

Although the tour cost around £3,000 per person we felt it was great value, particularly as the tour is three weeks long. Pretty much everything was included in the price such as the flights, accommodation, excursions, all rail travel and even porterage for certain sections of the tour.