Name: Irish & Scottish Sampler
Brand: CIE Tours
SKU: N/A
Price: 1718 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.5 (1 reviews)

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The tour company really takes the time to find find great locations and provide time to relax.

The Relaxed Explorer

The Scottish Experience

Collette

Topdeck

CIE Tours

Cosmos

Grand Circle Travel

National Geographic Expeditions

Rick Steves

Newmarket Holidays

EF College Break (EF Ultimate Break)

Rabbies

Globus

Image Tours

I took my 80 year old Dad and he bragged about it every day till he passed 5/2020. It was the best thing I have ever done. Wish I could do it again with him.

Our Guide was awesome. John did an amazing job

10 Day Taste Of Scotland & Ireland

We had a phenomenal time on our Taste of Scotland and Ireland tour. Pat, our driver, and Malackey, our tour guide for Scotland, were so informative and funny. Pat was so skillful at handling the bus, meandering the tight spaces on the country roads. There were a couple of time I felt like I should "suck my breath in" to help out but Pat pulled it through every time. 

Both countries were exquisite and this tour showed us the best of both Scotland and Ireland. 

We definitely would book another trip with CIE.

Best vacation EVER!!! The locations and landscapes were breathtaking. There is beauty everywhere in both countries. The hotels, meals and attractions were top notch. The very best part of the tour was our driver/ tour director, John Greene. His charming personality and incredible knowledge made the trip an even more wonderful experience. We can not say enough positive things about him! John took very good care of all 38 of us and kept the tour running smoothly. We loved exploring the lands and embracing the cultures and all the experiences were great! We can't wait to go on our next tour! We also like to thank Annika Norstorm- our Scottish Tour guide- she was fabulous!

My wife and I travel often and while we enjoyed our tour itself, we would not use CIE again and would caution anyone else before doing so as well.
By the time our tour guide casually mentioned that their numbers on our particular tour were “way down” (our group had 28 the first week and only 18 the second week on a 50 person bus), I had already figured out why.  CIE, as a company, is just not very good.  Our group of three in Colorado, booked with some other family, a party of two, in Florida, to make sure we were on the same tour.  The problem is, in spite of detailed explanation that we would be traveling separately and paying separately, CIE consistently attempted to treat us as a single party of five, both in payment and logistics.  They charged our family in Florida an extra $50 to send their ‘travel bags’ to them directly.  They messed up the travel vouchers for our group and even had them scheduled to be picked up at the wrong airport in England.  This was clearly communicated on multiple occasions, but was still messed up by CIE.

Then there is their transport company.  Before getting to the Denver airport, we received notice our flight into London would be delayed 2.5 hours.  I called immediately, giving CIE a ten hour notice, and was told it would cost extra money for them to pick us up later. Apparently, they don’t do pickups afternoon.  This would have been good information to have beforehand.  Upon arrival, when I called the travel company at 2:00 pm local time, there was no answer so we ended up just taking a taxi and paying an extra $70 just to get to our hotel.  Despite multiple requests, CIE has repeatedly refused to refund our $45 that we prepaid for our transfer, claiming a non-refundable policy.  Think about this… 5 people on our trip, bringing in nearly $20,000 of revenue to this company, and rather than make it right, when the delay was no fault of our own, they choose to hold firm to their “non-refundable” policy and refuse to refund a measly $45.

I gave 3 stars rather than less because the tour itself was great.  Our tour guide and itinerary were top notch. We did the 14 day Irish/British Grandeur and it was a whirlwind fourteen days.   We saw a tremendous amount of sites and points of interest, but in doing so, we were exhausted by the end, despite being much younger than most of our tour companions. While there were a couple free afternoons and evenings, there wasn’t a single free morning.  The mornings that we were leaving the hotel, we were to have bags out of our hotel room by 6:00 am or 7:00 am and we would be leaving between 45 mins and an hour later.  Even when we stayed an additional night, our latest morning departure was 8:15 am.  This is most definitely not a leisurely tour so be prepared to get good at sleeping on a bus.  
The most disappointing part of it all though was the ‘bait and switch’ of the hotels.  This tour was promoted as 4 and 5 star hotels, which was a complete fabrication.  We stayed one night at a 5 star, two nights at a 4 star, and every single other hotel was maybe a 3 star. Maybe.  Terribly uncomfortable beds, pillows, and poor service from hotel staff.  For the price we paid for this trip, the hotels were a total rip-off and we expected better.  The moral of the story is this; your numbers are down, CIE, because you’re not a very good company and word is spreading about your poor customer service.  Go see Ireland!  Just do it with a different company.

British & Irish Grandeur

We've taken over 10 group tours using Cosmos and Gate1. This trip last month, 9000 was not very good.
-During booking, incorrect information was given about airport-hotel transfers
-The whispers (listening devices) didn't work from the get-go, so no whispers were used during the 13 day trip.
- Porters are no longer hired to bring your luggage to and from your room. (Very elderly had to handle their own luggage. Our friends had to help many of them.)
-A few days into the trip one couple left. At the end of the trip we found out they had covid. Cosmos did not let us know; a few people weren't feeling well and two of our friends then tested positive.
-One hotel was awful and not even up to "budget" standards
-Many of the stops had castles, churches... but were not included, so be sure to count that in when pricing.
&nbsp;don't plan to use Cosmos ever again. Gate1 is the best in my opinion. When my husband's passport was stolen, they assigned someone to go with him to the embassy, translate, etc...It was above and beyond what we expected&nbsp;
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England, Scotland & Wales

I am writing to express my extreme dissatisfaction with the hotel accommodations during my recent trip with Globus. The quality of the hotels was far below what I expected, particularly given the substantial amount I paid for the trip. It is not the responsibility of the guests to bring up these issues with the tour guide; these concerns should have been proactively addressed by Globus. I question whether Globus inspects the facilities, tests the food, or even stays in the rooms. If they did, I find it hard to believe they would choose these hotels for themselves, let alone their guests.

Below are the specific issues I encountered at each hotel:

- **7/7-7/8: Crown Hotel Plymouth** - The room had no hot water, a broken couch, peeling paint, and when I requested a room change, I was refused. To make matters worse, the view was of the roof. These issues made for a very uncomfortable stay.

- **7/11: Clayton Hotel Glasgow** - The room's view was also of the roof, the accommodations were subpar, only one elevator was functioning, and the dinner served was simply unacceptable.

- **7/12: Mercure Hotel Inverness** - Again, the accommodations were substandard. The window latch was broken, there was no air conditioning, the gym was non-existent, and the elevators could barely accommodate 2-4 people at a time.

- **7/13-7/15: Mercure Hotel Edinburgh** - The window would not latch securely, the view was of a brick wall, there was no phone in the room, and the fan provided had no front cover, making it unsafe to use.

- **7/15-7/16: Mercure York** - This was, by far, the worst hotel of the trip. My first-floor room was noisy, the hallway reeked of sewage, and there was tissue stuffed in the ceiling crown molding to hide a hole. The room had no air conditioning or fan, and I could not open the windows as the room was on the first floor. Additionally, the dinner served was unappetizing.

Globus solution to this was to offer me a $650 refund! Unacceptable. Do not use them you will regret it.

Great Britain Culture Tours & Packages Tour & Trip Reviews

The tour was a wonderful experience