Here is my report on my recently completed Italy Belissimo Tour

Dates: 05 June 2008 arrival in Rome. I was originally supposed to be on this tour arriving in Rome 07 June 2008 but Trafalgar claims that tour, although guaranteed, had been cancelled. Since they never removed that tour from the list of tours, changed it to please call, I am now very skeptical whether that tour was cancelled or whether Trafalgar got a last minute large booking and decided they would need that booking and moved me. I have no proof but as it turned out, it didn't really cause me such a hardship so I will not make a big deal about it but my doubts will remain.

GROUP: The group consisted of 29...including another group who were presumably on a tour that was cancelled...odd isn't it. Anyway, the group consisted of 26 Americans, 2 Canadians and an Australian young lady travelling alone. I was the only other single (see below). Funny, I have always preferred Trafalgar because it takes in an international clientelle but my last two tours, have been almost all American.

ITINERARY: Rome (1 night) - Capri (2 nights) - As;sisi (1 night) - Venice area (Lido) (2 nights) - Tuscan Hills (2 nights) - Rome (2 nights).

TOUR DIRECTOR Alberto Fratino...excellent, knowledgeable and extremely helpful to me (see below). He also saw to it that when the main course was pork, I was given something else at dinner. (I don't eat pork as a main course because of a reaction I had many years ago, not for religeous reasons). However, he also committed a serious faux pas. However, he richly deserved the appropriate tip (which of course, no matter what nonsense Trafalgar is trying to push off) of $4/day which was paid appropriately with two nice crip US 20 dollar bills.

COACH DRIVER: Salvatore....like all drivers excellent, especially considering the Italian roads. He was with us for 8 of the 10 days of the trip and earned the appropriate tip of $2.50/day without question.

OPTIONALS OFFERED: (Day 1 05 June day of arrival in Rome, not day of departure (which is an effort, probably, to make people think it is not just a 10 day tour).

Day 1 - Trevi Fountain followed by dinner in a Roman restaurant. Always the question of whether a welcome dinner or farewell dinner should be included. I prefer farewell dinner as an optional but many people skip it...after welcome drink Alberto said if people didn't like the restaurant he would refund the money. Well worth it j €57

Day 3 - Isle of Capri cruise followed by lunch...excellent (lunch a little skimpy but this is Capri) €50

Day 5 - Venice at night - after arrival in Lido and included dinner motor launch through grand canal followed by walk to St. Marks and drink included. Very good.€43

Day 6 - Venice Gondola Ride - What's Venice without a gondola ride through the canals while being serenaded. Well, for some reason this did not take us through into the Grand Canal within sight of Rialto Bridge as is indicated in the list of optionals. Trafalgar economizing? Alberto choosing wrong gondal company? A bit of a downer. €32

Day 6 Lagoon Cruse with lunch in Burano - Another bit of a disappointment...the lunch was mediocre...I had taken this optional in January when I did a winter tour on a rainy day and the meal was far far better...interestingly Alberto also offered the optional for those who didn't want the lunch...and several of the members who didn't want the lunch wanted to follow us and eat in the same restaurant but Alberto didn't allow this (rightly so)...a bit of a disappointment considering and comparing it to the previous time I did this optional (did Alberto choose the restaurant to save a few euro? We took the boat over with another Trafalgar tour and they went to a different restaurant???) €65

Day 7 -Pisa and Lucca - After leaving Lido, it took only half a day to get to the vicinity of Montecatini. Since everybody had signed up for this optional, instead of dropping people off at the hotel in Montecatini, we went right to Pisa...you know what is there. Then we went off to see the walled city of Lucca..frankly I didn't find it all that captivating to go to Lucca. Alberto had combined the two optionals into one. Could it have anything to do with the fact Alberto lived in Luca and wanted to spend time with his family. Can't believe anybody would do such a thing. €45

Day 7 - Dinner with wine in Tuscan Hills - Outstanding, excellent...went to olive oil farm where we were shown how olive oil is made and then to a wine celler where we had 7 different wines and plentiful food. A good time was had by all.... €57

Day 8 - Guided tour of Academia Museum - What's Florence without the real David? Also gave me a chance to try out my camera phone hidden under my hat (I can understand not allowing flash pictures but it is absurd not to allow photography anywhere..all the better, of course, to sell you postcards). Well worth it.
€34

Day 9 - Introduction to Rome at Night - A walking tour including the Spanish Steps and then dumped at Plaza Navona to have dinner on our own and then past some other illuminated Roman sites. Good but they could include dinner. €32

Day 10 - Ancient and Christian Rome - This tour includes the visit to the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's and even an inside visit to the Colisseum. The optional on this Saturday was a trip to the Catacombs and then a trip to the Pantheon. Well worth it €33

The optionals came to €448 if you did them all but Trafalgar gave me a €50 for the nonsense they pulled in supposedly cancelling my guaranteed departure so it cost men €398.

One optional listed in the brochure that I wish they would have run was to the mozerella farm but I don't see logistically how this could have been included. Also, at the end of the included visit to Pompei, the local guide had to direct us to a certain spot for lunch to get his commission. (they asked which tour we were on)...also one of the tour members went into a restaurant, ordered a margherita and was served one...unfortunately she wanted the drink and got a pizza.

BREAKFASTS - Well Italian breakfasts stink. We are, of course, supposed to have hot food on all our breakfasts but in almost all case4s, didn't get it...the excuse was well the kitchen didn't have time to prepare it because we have an early departure. Also I can't stand the red orange juice but what can you do.

INCLUDED DINNERS - Italian cuisine is excellent and for the most part the included dinners were fine, for included dinners that is. No real complaints there. Also the highlight dinner listed for Montecatini turned out to be a dinner in the hotel with an extra course and included wine.

LUNCHES - Two autogrills with the usual total disorganization, optional lunch in Capri, optional lunch in Burano, lunch was taken in Pisa during that optional, Florence on your own, Siena day 9 on the way to Rome on your own, Vatican day 11 on your own. I managed (and no I didn't eat at McDonald's once).

GOOD, BAD, UGL

GOOD

1. The itinerary was excellent. Pompeii was great, Capri was great. Didn't feel cheated one bit.

2. The optional dinner in the Tuscan Hills

3. Italian ice cream (during the last optional, the group insisted the local guide takes us to Paza Navona so we could have a last sample of Italian ice cream). Yummy yummy.

4. Italian wines.

5. Italian toilets have a noticeable lack of dragon ladies, are pretty clean but many lack toilet seats. Things like this are very important, especially when you are a bit elderly and need the toilet. (Venice, of course was an exception...public toilets are €1...I used the free one at McDonald's).

6. The weather was about as pleasant as you could have asked for. Most days the temperature got no higher than 25 degrees, there was only a bit of rain the day we were in Florence (not all that much) but you really couldn't have asked for better.

7. Also unforgettable were the visits to two Allied cemeteries...one for the commonwealth on day 2 between Rome and Pompei and on day 10 between the Tuscan Hills and Rome when we visited the American war cemetery (the surprise listed (oops spoiler) in the itinerary description. It was, well I can't describe the word, awesome to see the rows of well maintained graves with, I noticed this at the American cemetery, both crosses and stars of david for the Jewish soldiers who gave their lives to free Italy from the German fascists. It was simply unforgetable.

BAD

1. Hotels on a whole were substandard but see the ugly blelow.

2. Capri was awfully awfully expensive and the itinerary says the TD will have suggestions for places to eat the one non included dinner on the second night in Capri...he was nowhere to be found although he had mentioned several. They were all very very expensive and almost all include a €4 cover charge and 15% service charge...ouch ouch ouch.

3. The failure on the gondola to go into the Grand Canal and line up in front of the Rialto Bridge (despite the fact the brochure says it is supposed to happen)

4. The mediocre meal on the Burano optional.

5. Alberto committed a terrible faux pas to me. A couple travelling on the tour had the same last name as is my first name..let's say for argument sake their last name was Charles (it wasn't) and my first name was Charles (it isn't either)...I got a call from Alberto on the morning we were leaving Lido that his office had ionformed him my credit card for the optionals had been rejected...so I had to call my credit card company and when I got through, lo and behold they told me they had approved the charge for the equivalent of €398.

Well I told Alberto that, he looked through his papers and found out that his office had told him that Thomas' credit card had been rejected but it was Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, not me. I'm sorry, he had the information and should have checked before tellming me my credit card had been rejected. An unacceptable faux pas on his part. He did offer to buy me a drink but I never collected.

UGLY

1. The ugliest part of this trip, for me, was the continued Dump on Singles that has become a part of life on Trafalgar Tours.

The single supplement on this tour was over $600, more than $60 a night. If Trafalgar wants to charge such an asininely high single supplent, then my room must be the same as everybody else's. Besides this was a small group and there shouldn't have been a problem.

So what happened...I made the 0930 transfer from the Rome airport (incidentally the transfer was very very easy!)..Alberto said the rooms would probably not be ready. So after about 5 to 10 minutes, the other's on the transfer had their rooms ready...why was I having to wait...about 10 minutes later, they give me my room key. While the others were in the main building at the Sheraton, my room was out in the boon docks well past the swimming pool...I go there with the bell hop, and the room was about on the level of a Motel 6 for those of you from the USA familiar with the chain...it was about on the level of a Cost Saver room. I was going to make it clear I would not put up with this so I went back to the front desk, Alberto was still there, and asked him why the others had rooms in the main building and I was given this inferior room out in the boondocks and that I would not accept it. He managed to get my room changed to a closer room which was head and shoulders better than the original room.

Then we arrived in Capri and the Regina Cristina Hotel...everybody's room was on the first or second floor except mine. I was given a room on the fourth floor...the lift even had a door on the other side for these rooms which looked like they were in the attic...I went into the room; there was no tub only a shower. I couldn't turn on the air conditioner and when I sat on the chair, one of the wooden legs gave out (no I didn't get hurt)...this would not do...I went down to the desk and was told there were no other rooms available in the hotel..perhaps tomorrow. I said this was unacceptable...I told them I was prepared to sleep in the lobby...they told me to go back to the room and they would contact the tour director. He came up, took one look at the broken chair, and agreed with me the room was unfit for human occupancy. About 15 minutes later, he said they had found another room for me and well the difference was like night and day...(it had 2 beds)..a tub, air conditioning that function (the desk had tome me the airconditioning had not been turned on)..it was unbelievable what they tried to pull.

Assisi, and Lido were okay....Montecatini the room was a little small but I didn't say anything.

Then we arrived in Rome at the Boscolo Hotel...again I got a room about as small as a prison cell...there was no fridge, no tub only a shower and the toilet was wedged right against the door. Down I went to see Alberto and after an exchange with the desk clerk, got my room changed to a room which was acceptable.

Folks, I am tired of being treated differently and being given inferior accomodations just because I am travelling single. To charge a $600 or more singles supplement and then pull this garbage is deplorable. This dump on the singles formed a part of my trip questionnaire and I will be following up with Trafalgar. It's quite simple, we pay a single supplement to get the same services as everybody else on the tour, to compensate the hotels for givng us a twin room with single occupancy (after all I only eat 1 breakfast and 1 included dinner). Singles, from now on, if they pull this garbage on you, in no uncertain terms tell the tour director you will not accept it.

And no amount of justification will make this acceptable. You had to see some of these rooms I was given on what is supposedly a first class tour; they weren't even good for a Cost Savers tour.

Overall...the tour was good...marred by what I considered the flaws mentioned above. Interestingly enough in looking at the Trafalgar Winter book, I see the Italy Bellissimo tour will now spend two nights in Sorrento with a side trip to Capri...that might be a better way to do it.

It is obvious Trafalgar is pulling back a bit on some things (no bag, for example, and no I don't buy TT Web's assertion is was because many people threw them away) and while you may think I am a cry baby, I do expect to be treated properly and get what I pay for. Unfortunately, a few things went wrong on this particular tour with the nonsense of supposedly cancelling my guaranteed departure but especially with the single room situation that I would rate this tour at only about 7.5 on a scale of 1 to 10.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: MATHA531,

Welcome home, Matha, and thanks for the report. I'm very glad you would not take the inferior rooms they tried to fob off on you--good on ya, mate, as our Aussie friends might say.

It still sounds as if you enjoyed the tour on the whole but you know, I'm getting very tired of hearing about those high prices for the optionals. If two people go, double the price you paid and that's a lot on top of what else you've paid for the tour. Italy is getting ridiculously expensive.

But, Matha, I'm so proud of you, you didn't have one meal in Mickey D's? That's got to be a first.

Brenda

Hi Matha and welcome home, I am pleased you enjoyed most of your trip, and good for you for standing up to the inferior hotel rooms, Colleen Anne from Oz will be very proud of you.

€1 is very expensive just to use a toilet. I agree with you it is unusual to have so many Americans on one tour, having a mix of people from numerous countries makes for a much more interesting tour.

Were your ears burning while you were away?????

Matha531, I dont think you are a cry baby. I agree with you that singles deserve equal treatment in terms of room service. I for one paid the additional ~$600.00 for my single supplement and now I am getting worried that I will be jipped. Your complaints with regard to the rooms were valid no matter single or coupled/grouped.

However, your trip sounded fun and I am glad you had a good time overall.
So, where are you off to next?

Martha-
Thanks so much for you Tale & insight of your tour. I totally agree about wanting to get what you paid for...my husband & I are self-employeed...our tour is probally going to be ONCE in a lifetime & we are spending A LOT for the first class tour.

Reading you tale has given me some encouragment to get some cojones if we really do get stiffed in a situation....I HATE confromtations & have a REALLY hard time speaking up! Obviously the situation would need warant; and yours sounded like it did.

Matha Enjoyed your tour tale. Your room nonsense reminds me of our honeymoon. I didn't have time to change my passport into my married name, and my husband and I got the worst rooms all the way through Norway, Sweden and Denmark. In Norway, they even gave us separate rooms at one hotel. My husband became very good at complaining and getting our rooms changed. Good for you for standing up for your rights.

Matha ~ I have been to Burano on several occasions on optionals & went to two different restaurants. One was just great, lovely plentiful food & friendly helpful waiters. The other was, lets just say, average! The waiters I think were trained at Fawlty Towers & actually were pulling faces & rolling eyes behind patrons backs, the food was O.K. (just). So it obviously depends on your TD which restaurant you end up at.

This whole single thing is really getting beyond a joke. We did a TT (1st Class) in Italy in 2007 & I thought the rooms very ordinary & have actually had far better rooms on CostSaver tours. We became friendly with a couple of solo females & some of the rooms they were in were a disgrace. They did complain but neither the TD or hotel would budge. You pay the supplement, in my understanding, to bring you up to the level of a double room. If that is not what you get then it is a scam/con/fraud.

Colleen Anne would be tearing her hair out to hear this rubbish.

Hi Matha

I really want to do this tour but am now worried about the single supp/bad room prob. Not sure I would have your "gumption"!

I have to say though that on 3 TT's I have now done as a single I have never once received an inferior room - in fact sometimes I have gotten a queen/king whilst couples have gotten twins. I wonder if this is an "Italy" problem ...

quote:

Originally posted by michelle123:
in fact sometimes I have gotten a queen/king whilst couples have gotten twins. I wonder if this is an "Italy" problem ...

Michelle ~ I am starting to wonder the same thing. It was on a 1st Class TT in Italy that we had far inferior rooms to the CostSaver TT in Eastern Europe.

I think what we should keep in mind is that there's an enormous difference in economies between Italy and Eastern Europe and the type of accommodation Trafalgar can negotiate for each tour is therefore going to vary in quality.

Hmmmmm I think when we stay in hotels that have broken chairs, broken legs on beds, rooms that flood when a shower is taken, soap dishes broken off walls, large pieces of metal protruding from walls in showers then we are not keeping the economy of the country in mind we simply wonder why our tour is called 1st class.

quote:

Originally posted by Dimpz:
Hmmmmm I think when we stay in hotels that have broken chairs, broken legs on beds, rooms that flood when a shower is taken, soap dishes broken off walls, large pieces of metal protruding from walls in showers then we are not keeping the economy of the country in mind we simply wonder why our tour is called 1st class.

LOL, I think that is called rustic. Ah the old "First Class" again.

quote:

Originally posted by michelle123:

I have to say though that on 3 TT's I have now done as a single I have never once received an inferior room - in fact sometimes I have gotten a queen/king whilst couples have gotten twins. I wonder if this is an "Italy" problem ...

Michelle ~ Please don't let my (or others) questioning of certain aspects of their TT put you off this tour. Despite my (minor) gripes about our trip to Italy it would not stop me from going again.

Wow, I never had all those dreadful things in hotel rooms in Italy!! Must have been lucky, I guess.

Look, what I'm trying to say is that Italy does not exactly lack for attention from tourists and and their economy is booming. This means that they can and do get away with much more than other countries who are just coming into, or trying to come into, a western-type economy. As you say, to visit Italy, you'll put up with a lot. As to whether this is First Class or not, is a different issue. Who, for example, sets the standard? Also remember the Berlin Wall did not fall until 1989--not that long ago. You may have been surprised at the inferior accommodation you had in any of those countries on the Eastern European tour prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

quote:

Originally posted by BrendaC:
Wow, I never had all those dreadful things in hotel rooms in Italy!! Must have been lucky, I guess.

Look, what I'm trying to say is that Italy does not exactly lack for attention from tourists and and their economy is booming. This means that they can and do get away with much more than other countries who are just coming into, or trying to come into, a western-type economy. As you say, to visit Italy, you'll put up with a lot. As to whether this is First Class or not, is a different issue. Who, for example, sets the standard? Also remember the Berlin Wall did not fall until 1989--not that long ago. You may have been surprised at the inferior accommodation you had in any of those countries on the Eastern European tour prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Gosh I simply stated what I had experienced, & this was not necessarily at different hotels, rather like you did after your Italian tour. No biggie

My point is this & the collapse of the Soviet Union has nothing to do with it. The Eastern European tour was called CostSaver the Italian tour was called 1st Class & there was a difference in level between the two, except it was the opposite to my expectations. Surely if a 1st Class tour is chosen I should not then have to work out that if it is in country 'A' (for example) it will not be the same level as a CostSaver in country 'B'.