Cosmos' Central Europe tour
Written: Dec 31 '05
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Pros: Good general tour with lots of included highlights.
Cons: Optional excursions are over-priced and add up quickly.
The Bottom Line: I found this tour very rewarding and would recommend it to any budget-conscious traveller looking for a slice of the less-explored half of Europe.
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| j_m_coutts's Full Review: Cosmos |
With a shoestring budget trip in mind, I set out on the "Central Europe" tour (Germany, Poland, transit Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, and back to Germany) with Cosmos in July 2004. I chose Cosmos based on the itinerary, available tour dates, and cost.
As a single woman, I signed up for the guaranteed-share program, though I was not paired up with anyone. The benefit of guaranteed-share (for those who might not know), is that the tour operator will pair you up with another single traveler of the same sex who is willing to share a room, and you don't get stuck paying a hefty single supplement. So, luckily, I had a single room the whole time but paid the per-person rate based on double-occupancy.
I was impressed with the quality of hotels chosen by Cosmos. No shabby dumps on this tour, although for the price, you can't expect anything overly fancy. The only draw-back with the hotels is that they tend to be placed outside of walking distance from the heart of the cities you're visiting. A cab ride to city centre might be 10 or 20 minutes. However, there is usually a service station or small supermarket not too distant for the necessities you might need. And, despite what our tour director told us about there not being any restaurants near the hotels (in an effort to make us sign up for the over-priced dinners offered as optional extras), I was always able to find a simple meal within walking distance.
The coach we rode for the duration of our travels was quite comfortable, although leg room was spare. I'm 5'10" (175cm), and found the long rides from city to city to be a little cramped. Thankfully, though, there is a rest stop approximately every two hours for a walkabout and stretch.
The daily included buffet-style breakfasts were sufficient and often quite filling. Rarely did we get the "continental" treatment on this tour, but often had warm eggs and cold cuts as well as all the coffee, tea, juice, milk and breads you would normally expect. No lunches were included on this tour. We did have a few included dinners (adequate, though nothing special). Most nights, though, an optional dinner was available, for an average cost of 50 USD. I found those to be vastly over-priced (you're paying mostly for alcohol!), and so chose not to sign up for any of them.
The sights and activities included on the tour are listed on the Cosmos website, so I'll just describe my feelings about the tour in general and the "optional excursions" available for a fee. The "important travel documents", which you receive in the mail after booking your trip, lists the optional excursions available for additional fees, such as themed dinners, various afternoon trips or activities, and even a couple of evening cruises. I'm convinced that these "optionals" are where Cosmos makes most of their money. The ones I chose (after careful consideration of my budget) were:
1.The afternoon trip to Potsdam from Berlin (47 USD). Our Cosmos tour bus picked us up from a central meeting location in Berlin and took us on the roughly 40-minute drive to Potsdam. After the bus was parked, we walked a short distance to Cecilienhof Palace, where the "Big Three" signed the Potsdam agreement in 1945. The included tour of the palace does not allow you to use cameras, though you can purchase some pretty picture postcards in the gift shop afterwards. The "optionals" guide also reads, "See the magnificent Sanssouci Palace, built by Frederich the Great", and that's all you get to do is "see" it. Though the palace does allow visitors and offers a tour, we weren't allowed to go in, as our local guide told us we didn't have enough time. Overall, the Potsdam trip was worth the money to me, though if you're travelling in a group of three or more people, you might consider a one-day car rental and make the drive yourself to save a few dollars. The entrance fee with included English-language tour of Cecilienhof Palace was only 5 Euro (about 6 or 7 USD).
2.Afternoon tour of Wilanow Palace, Warsaw (32 USD). A beautiful palace that should be seen, even if the tour with Cosmos is overpriced. I believe the entrance fee is 20 zlotys (5 USD or so - included in the 32 USD for us). Our local guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining, making the trip worthwhile with his stories about the artwork. If you're only going to see one optional palace, I highly suggest this one.
3.Morning sightseeing tour of Krakow (23 USD). Why this is not included in the price of the tour, I'm not sure. A free morning tour with a local guide was included at most of the cities we visited. If you do not take this optional, you're free to explore the city at your own pace. The local guides that give the tours, however, are generally very knowledgeable and friendly, and I found this to be worth the price.
4.Wieliczka Salt Mines, just outside of Krakow (41 USD). I highly recommend this optional. If you think, "What's so special about a salt mine?", you'll be blown away by the incredible, gorgeous salt sculptures in the mine. Everything (and I mean even the chandeliers in the Chapel of the Blessed Kinga - a part of the mine) are carved from dark rock salt in intricate detail. This trip includes a lot of walking through the mine, though the ground is generally level and the pace slow enough even for the out-of-shape. It is possible to reach the mine by local bus and take a tour as an individual, but skip the hassle of trying to organize it yourself - you won't regret paying the 41 USD for this Cosmos optional.
5.Danube Cruise, Budapest (28 USD). A one-hour evening cruise along the "Blue Danube", a highlight of any trip to Budapest. This included a glass of very odd-tasting "champagne". The ride lasts approximately one hour, and can be very romantic for a couple while still interesting for a single. The twinkling lights of the city on either bank are sure to captivate.
6.Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna (36 USD). This is a beautiful palace, but if you're only going to see one while on your tour, make it Wilanow Palace in Warsaw. If palaces are your "thing", however, and you aren't worried about all the gilt trimmings running together in your mind by the end of the tour, this palace is worth a stop. Keep in mind, though, that the palace is centrally located, and little walkie-talkie "audioguides" are provided with your admission fee so you can have a narrated tour (available in a few different languages) as you navigate the rooms. The Imperial tour (8.90 Euro) covers 22 rooms while the Grand Tour (11.50 Euro) covers 40 rooms. Either way, you can easily save a few dollars by taking a taxi or public transit to the palace and walking around by yourself.
While I do feel Cosmos' Central Europe tour is a good value overall, I have to take issue with these optional excursions. If you're a budget-conscious traveller, consider carefully if the optionals are worth your money. I found they were generally worthwhile, if overpriced. The day after our tour started, on the bus to Berlin, we had to make our decisions about which optionals we wanted to take during the first half of the trip. A few days later, we had to make the decisions for the second half of the trip. The tour guide will likely tell you that once you've made your choices, you cannot add or delete any. But it seems to me that since they make a commission on your choices, if you ask nicely a few days before the optional is supposed to take place, you might be able to get yourself added. Getting out of one once you've signed up, though, is likely to be a more difficult task. I do not have first-hand knowledge of the commission rate the tour guide/director receives, though I spoke to a woman on our tour who claimed to have worked for Cosmos several years ago, and she confirmed that the director does, in fact, receive a kickback for each optional you choose. This is why he or she is so darn keen on every optional. Everything is "magnificent" and "fantastic", and just about every other agreeable adjective in the book. All the meals will be "feasts". You get the idea. Just keep in mind that the tour operator has a good reason for describing everything so favourably.
One thing that really offended me was a lunch not listed in our "important travel documents", ie, was not an official Cosmos optional. I did not partake in this lunch, myself, as I had done some research and felt that our tour director was laying on the BS a little too thickly. This was how she was able to snooker about 90% of our tour into padding her own pockets: The day before we left Poland, she informed us that since we were only transiting Slovakia (not officially stopping to visit any towns, just driving through to Hungary), there was no reason for us to purchase any Slovakian currency when we crossed the border. She said that we would not be stopping in or exploring any cities in Slovakia, but since it was a full day's drive, we would have to stop for lunch somewhere. She described a restaurant she knew that was "willing to provide" a three-course lunch for a "mere" 12 Euro or 15 USD, payable to our tour director, who would then pay the restaurant tab. (As an aside, Slovakia does not officially use Euros, but any business proprietor would gladly accept it as surely as USD, as they are "harder" currencies than Slovakian crowns.) She said the restaurant was just off the highway, and that there were no other dining options available for the day. This was true enough; there were no other restaurants within walking distance, although we had driven through or past a few cities on the highway and it would have been easy enough for us to stop anywhere. I chose not to participate in this lunch, since my guide books (Lonely Planet) listed the most expensive restaurants in Bratislava as being only about 10 USD for a full meal and an average meal in Slovakia costing approximately 2-3 USD or so. Therefore, I knew that this lunch was vastly overpriced. I used my left-over Polish zlotys to buy some snacks at a supermarket near our hotel in Krakow the day before we departed Poland, and took them on the bus with me the following day. When we arrived at the restaurant, I noticed a posted sign near the entrance that, even in my limited Slavic language skills, I was able to decipher as the daily menu. The charge for the daily special (which looked to be a three-course meal) was 125 Slovakian crowns, or approximately 2.50 USD I knew, for certain at that point, that our tour director was conning us. Even though I had chosen not to participate, I felt badly for the folks who hadn't known any better. Later, I heard from one lady that the meal tasted like it had been "cooked in dishwater" and the general opinion of the group was that the meal had been a rip-off. I was glad that I'd done my research, but angry that our tour director had so obviously fleeced the group. I imagine that in the Slovakian economy, the restaurant owners would have happily accepted 5 USD per person to host our group, while the tour director and bus driver would have been able to split the other 10 USD per person (with approximately 40 people who participated, this is quite a chunk of change!) between themselves. This lunch, as I mentioned, was not listed as an optional extra in our documents, though, so I do not believe it is any reflection on Cosmos, but rather a bit of poor taste and greed on the part of our tour director and bus driver.
Speaking of the tour director's and bus driver's padded pockets, Cosmos literature tells tour participants that tips are an important part of their employees' salaries, and each tour participant is "expected" to tip 2-5 USD per day, for each the director and driver. Over 15 days, this could be a total of 150 USD, payable by each tour participant. Not likely! The woman on our tour who said she had worked for Cosmos before told me that such a big tip isn't actually expected. 5 USD per day is unreasonable unless they've really provided exceptional service and you've got the budget to give that money away. She agreed with me that 20 Euro or 30 USD was an average and non-offensive tip. So, I tipped the director and driver 25 USD each. I believe most people probably do the same.
With regards to meals in general while on the tour (as an option to taking the overpriced dinners available through Cosmos), consider this: in Eastern European countries where the Euro is not being used yet, you can easily get a decent meal for under 10 USD. One of the best lunches I had was at a small bistro in Krakow, which was listed in my LP guidebook. For myself and another girl on our tour, our total bill was about the equivalent of 6 USD. Later that night, I had a great steak dinner with peppercorn sauce, some potatoes, vegetables, and a big glass of tasty local beer for about 10 USD, including a tip for the waitress. This was at a restaurant near the hotel, one which our tour director did not tell us about, since there was a "Polka Party and Dinner" optional available that night for 50 USD. In fact, she had gone as far as telling us that we would be unlikely to find any dinner spots near our hotel, in an effort to get us to sign up for the optional dinner. If you're on a budget and are looking to try some local culture, don't worry about being able to find something to eat. Live a little, and enjoy some local flavour at a clean-looking restaurant (follow your common sense travel rules, of course).
Would I travel again with Cosmos? Sure. I think I did as much research as anyone possibly could have done, and therefore was able to avoid the budget-busting pitfalls of optional dinners and the big lunch scam. I would recommend this Cosmos tour to anyone looking for a good overall value while seeing the highlights of Central Europe.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Friends
Tour type: Group
Tour format: Bus
Tour length: Over a Week
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Epinions.com ID:
j_m_coutts
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Member: Jennifer
Location: Alberta, Canada
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 0 members
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