St Paul's to St Peter's
Written: Nov 17 '05
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Pros: Good value if you want a guided tour and to see the major attractions.
Cons: Cosmos should ensure that their staff speak adequate English with english speaking customers.
The Bottom Line: Give Cosmos ago one bad trip doesn't mean they are all like that.
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| talkteryer's Full Review: Cosmos |
This is my second tour with Cosmos and though I have no complaints of my first tour (England, Wales and Ireland), I sadly cannot say the same about my second tour.
The coachdriver and tour guide, I don't know where they pulled this pair from but they were seriously in need of some training in people relations skills.
The busdriver used the coach as a weapon and roadrage defines a new meaning when you are using a BUS!!! He could not speak a word of english and usually communicated in one syllable grunts and gestures. He upset alot of passengers and reduced one woman to tears when he wrestled her bag from her and refused to allow her to take it on the coach even though she tried to explain she needed to get her medicine out before he locked it in the coach. He just yelled at her and made rude gestures, it was quite shocking behaviour.
The tour guide was never around to help with language barriers or problems the passengers were having with their hotels. Once we had arrived at the hotel for the night she was totally unapproachable and would just ignore you. She only walked one speed and that was fast, some of the slower passengers, one with a terminal illness and another with a walking stick found it very hard going and were left behind most occasions. One lady kept falling over the uneven cobbled roads in an effort to keep up. The guide showed no compassion for these people or made any allowances for problems they were contending with. I feel our tour guide had a duty of care to make sure that we were all OK and she failed miserably.
She constantly tried to push the optional tours and was visibly rude if you didn't want to partake. She seemed more interested in taking us to places that sold very expensive items instead of sightseeing that left us all with the impression that she received a percentage of items sold.
Her knowledge of the local area was sparse at best and she had us all intimidated at the end of the trip no-one would have dared ask her anyway as her temper was never very far away from the surface.
This took away from what should have been for me the trip of a lifetime and I arrived home very unsatisfied.
If I hadn't had a really good tour with Cosmos before and then another fantastic tour with another company after, I would have been left with the conclusion that Cosmos was total rubbish. But..... I think as a whole Cosmos is really good value for money and enjoyable if you have the right staff. My suggestion....
Cosmos should screen more carefully who they hire to look after a coach full of tourists and a bit of PR training wouldn't go astray. Also I think the coach drivers should have to do courses in driving safely with a coach full of people and realise it isn't a race to the finish line.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Tour type: Group
Tour format: Bus
Tour length: Over a Week
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Epinions.com ID:
talkteryer
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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