Travelsphere - www.travelsphere.co.uk

Could'nt accomplish a simple request and yet noticed they had fulfilled same request for others in my party! Customer Service appears to be operated by part - timers and sent on a 'wild goose case' and 'merry-go-round' by them....not very helpful and non fulfilment of a simple request ruined my holiday!

Tour Name: Chile, Argentina & Brazil Rio Carnival Winners' Parade with Rio Add-on

Departure Date: 05 February 2018

It took us two days, four airports to get to the start of our tour and then additional four days to get our luggage. We spent most of days shopping for essentials rather than enjoying our holiday. I had paid £8,000 for this holiday.

1) Travelshere tried to take money out my account twice. I had to contact my bank to get the transaction number to prove to them that I had paid.

2) Three weeks before departure they completely changed our flights ( presumably they got a cheaper deal)

3) Sent to us to wrong terminal for our flight, had to rush over to the right terminal

4) Madrid was snowed under, so the flights were delayed and there was no way we were going to make the connection, so they split the group. The main group was sent direct to destination from London and two couple with Indian names were sent to Madrid, knowing well that they were not going to make the connection.

5) The guide went with the main group and we were left to organise our way to the destination.

6) After four airports, endless queuing and two days we got to our destination ( so we lost two days holidays and the excursion), minus the luggage. No glutton free meals, so my wife traveled long distance without any food.

7) It took five days to get our luggage, so we spent most our spare time shopping for essentials in foreign land with limited local language skills. No help from any one.

8) When I complained, I got this terse letter while I am on holidays. Unfortunately, I can’t copy and paste this letter, which would have conveyed their attitude to whole mess.

There were so many issues that I can’t list all of them.

Needless to say I shared my experience of this company with my family, friends, work colleagues and fellow travelers

The lakes were lovely and the guide very knowledgeable

However included in the trip was a visit to a rose garden and old house

The house was rundown not worth looking at and the rose garden was Barron and looked a shambles and unkept

We complained about the above and were not taken seriously

We booked out Andalucian Discovery tour of Spain and made our payments as they fell due. Shortly before our holiday we received luggage labels and a wallet but no further travel information/confirmation. On The Monday before we were due to travel on the Friday we contacted them and received our information by e-mail but were told that we should have received it over a month ago. We duly travelled to Spain and on the fourth day of the holiday we and several other couples received our flight/hotel confirmation e-mail, ( much to everyone's surprise!)

When we arrived in Spain, we were told that our Tour Guide was arriving at 3pm and were taken to the hotel to meet her there. We met her briefly at the appointed time only for her to tell us that the welcome meeting was at 7.30pm and we should have has a letter to tell us this.

This was typical of her organizational skills. We were often told to meet at a particular time, only to find that this had changed by the following day. this caused some of our party to miss the boat ride they had paid for in Seville. We were also told that there would be transport to the optional Flamenco show for which we had paid £46 each extra only to find on the evening that we had to walk more than half a mile in the searing Seville heat to get there and then walk back sometime later. The show, by the way was boring and the food abysmal, prawn cocktail with three prawns it and tinned carrots being the lowest points.

Overall we had an enjoyable holiday but one of the hotels the Itaca in Jerez was poor with strange food, ( bacon and egg consommé?), bad air conditioning and no outside space or bar in which to relax at the end of a tiring day. Some of the guides were also poor, difficult to understand and repetitive. Almost everyone told us the origin of the word tapa and how to tell a bitter orange tree from a sweet one.

We enjoyed the holiday but would not book with Travelsphere again.

WE had only been on the coach minutes of arrival after a long flight ,guide told all 32 of us we had to pay her 65 dollars tip at the end of tour and 40 dollars to driver,most people found her rude, arrogant, no people's skills, uninterested in group ,only pushing optional tours which ensures she gets commission, we were not allowed to select our seat on the bus daily, she said we will not be choosing our own seats, bearing in mind my tour with single supplement was 2,400 pounds I paid for that seat, she gave us her print out stating we wash our hands with plenty of soap, like we were young children she was so demoralising and spent most time on the bus playing with her phone, people were constantly told off for being minutes late as some said she was a control freak, the guide on the way to an optional tour I asked the distance ,she called from the front of the bus she don't do miles,another time an optional tour was to follow a tour included, some were not going I said do we make our own way back to the hotel, she said if your not on the trip your on your own I'm not responsible for you, quite a few people said they would never go with this company with a guide like her, so this needs to be addressed.

From start to finish this was the best trip we have had with Travelsphere (previously West coast and New England). Tour guide was excellent and did over and above what we expected. All hotels were adequate and most of the meals we had were fine although there was a lack of fresh vegetables but hey ho we were on holiday and enjoyed the hot dogs on Navy Pier in Chicago and the beignets with cafe creme in New Orleans. The excursions were well selected and variable and the Abe Lincoln day was phenomenol. We are not museum fans but could not get enough of the Abraham Lincoln museum in Memphis. Well presented and easy read history.

We went with Travelsphere on a cruise of some of the Croatian Islands. The area is stunningly beautiful with the cleanest seas we have ever encountered. We sailed on the DIONIS, a small ship with just 18 cabins. I would urge anyone booking this cruise to ensure they have a middle or upper deck cabin as the lower deck cabins are rather grim. We were told on our confirmation invoice that we had a queen size bed. We didn't, instead there were two single beds . We were also told on the confirmation invoice that the cruise was full board which we expected. It wasn't, it was half board with either lunch or dinner on different days. The cabin did have a porthole as we were told but it was just under the ceiling. was very small and was of no use as it let in almost no light and could not be viewed through. We did enjoy the holiday as the area is so beautiful but have reservations regarding Travelsphere. In the past we have travelled with Page and Moy and were always delighted with their tours.We like small ships for cruises but would like correct information from a travel company.

Having just returned from the Deep South Tour on the whole we would like to say we were impressed by the tour. Other than the first hotel we stayed in in Atlanta all were spacious and when you are living out of a suitcase for most of the time you do need space. The standard of the breakfasts could have been better in some of the hotels but served a purpose as we left fairly early most days. We had a good travelsphere guide on board, most of the city guides were knowlegable except for a couple. It was a good trip and we would recommend giving Travelsphere a try.

What a fantasic holiday. We went for the music but because we were on a tour saw other sites we would not have considered but thoroughly enjoyed. Hotels were all in good situations and only needed one taxi the whole holiday. Memphis and Nashville stood out musically especially listening to Johnny Cash's son singing. New Orleans was OK and we did enjoy it but the famous Bourbon Street was a bit of a let down. Bus driver and Tour Rep were outstanding and could not do enough for us. Dont know about another tour soon as it was a bit organised for us but maybe in a few years time when we would be glad of this. Would really recommend the tour but not when the weather is too hot.

I spent a week in Belgium on a Travelsphere tour with my family and it was fantastic! We saw plenty of interesting war memorials and the Tour Manager was so enthusiastic and helpful. The hotel we stayed in was next door a construction yard, which fortunately did not make any noise! But it didn't make the area look very appealing. That said, we spent most of our time on excursions so the hotel was just fine as far as I was concerned.

I would recommend Travelsphere if you're looking for relaxed holiday away.