Part 1- General Info, Bus Info, Excursions (The info contiki doesn't want you to hear)
Written: Feb 27 '03
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Pros: Great if you are traveling Alone or with a Group
Cons: Sometimes Contiki can misleading.
The Bottom Line: Its a great party tour. It's also a great Beginner look at europe. I would recommend that you give it a try, once you read my warnings.
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| cusnwalter's Full Review: Contiki Holidays |
I took a Contiki tour in late May, June. I spent 2 full weeks on the European Discovery tour. It had its problems which you should be warned about before you shell out your money. This section includes some general Info, Bus Info, and Excursion info.
Overall the Trip was a great time. I met a lot of very nice people, some I still keep in contact with. But I Must warn you ahead of time, this is not your run of the muk tour. This is as I like to refer it as the “how to see all of Europe in two weeks or less while under the influence.” But contiki does a great job of managing all of this for you so all you have to do sit back ,drink (smoke) and enjoy the views.
I will give you brief over view of my tour, highlighting some of the important details.
The 1st day, we had our meet your tour guide meeting at the little coffee shop. All the tours that would be leaving that day were there, lots of people! (get there early!) Our tour guy quickly went over some information and that was about it. The next morning we had to get up very early to catch the bus. I must warn you that if you are a late sleeper contiki is not for you. Usually we had to be the bus by 730am everyday. One thing I have to warn you about is that they weigh your luggage before you get on the bus. If you are over 45lbs you must dumb some of your stuff ( they will store articles for you for a fee). You are only allowed One medium suitcase plus a carry on backpack. This is because for about 75% of the hotels don’t have elevators and you have to carry your bag up three flights of stairs.
Info about the Bus- You will be traveling around in a bus. It will become your home, you will sleep on it, make friends on it, and yes probably even get sick in it. They do not have tv’s. They are clean! And pretty smooth ride. There is a PA/Stero system in the Bus. Our Tour Guide brought his own stero / mp3 player along and played music the entire time. We could play our own music but it couldn’t have any curses in it. The bus has a bathroom on it. It is used for emergency #1’s only. No Number 2! Yes if more and more people start to use your bathroom on the bus because they do not want to pay the 35 cents on rest stops then it will start to smell. The Bus drivers are required to stop every 2 hours for atleast 45mins. Our Bus driver was very nice and a really good driver! I was very impressed!
Info about Excursions- Ok here’s where contiki tries to trick you!!!! BE WARNED!!! When you sign up for a tour they send you a nice little itinerary and you gaze over it in amazement as how much stuff is included and how much you are going to see and do. Well it seems that contiki likes to play around with words in this itinerary. Yes you see everything on the list! But it might only be a for sec as you drive by it on the bus.
If you want to experience things you have to pay for them! All the exciting things besides seeing the outsides of the buildings cost money! Some of the dinners are not included but they have set up places for you to go to dinner, so you can pay for them or go off on your own. Nearly all of the activities are not included. The only things that are included are the demonstrations by local vendors ( which wastes an hour of your time anf they try to force you to buy things) My boyfriend and I had no idea that this was going to be the case and did not bring enough money. We probably winded up spending about an extra $600 for the both of us on excursions. Yes we did have fun but we weren’t aware of all the extras that were not put on the itinerary. Now they do list some of them but not all.
Overall I do recommend going on a tour and giving it a try. The people are very nice. And it is very afforadable and it is a great beginniners trip!
Please look for part 2 of this review. More info on Hotels, Excursions, Places, and Partying!
Thanks for reading
Melissa =)
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Students
Tour type: Individual
Tour format: Bus
Tour length: Over a Week
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Epinions.com ID:
cusnwalter
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Member: Melissa
Location: Kew Gardens, NY
Reviews written: 89
Trusted by: 18 members
About Me:
Fun loving opinionated
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