My intention to write this is to make you'll aware about few things which we really did NOT enjoy visiting Europe through Cox& Kings as our Tour operator. Out itinerary consisted of Paris, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria. The name of this package was ‘Marvels of Europe 2016’ Beginning from day 1, we had finally reached Paris with so much excitement and after having a long journey of 17 hours. The hotel allotted to us was in the outskirts of Paris(around 2 hours of road journey from the airport). We were shocked and extremely disappointed to see the kind of Hotel(Campanile Torcy Marne La) allotted to us. The hotel was in the outskirts of Paris and with only 1 staff member(who could barely understand English). Midnight 1.00 a.m. all of us were expected to pick our own luggage and take it till our rooms. There was no one to guide us to our rooms. As we entered the room, it looked as if we were in some servant quarters or maybe they had a spacious room than what we got after paying lakhs of rupees. There was no intercom, no room service, no staff available and no toiletries given to us The night was over and it was our first day to explore Paris. To start with breakfast, it was mentioned in the itinerary that non-vegetarians will be provided with eggs/ egg dishes. At 8.00 in the morning, the restaurant staff informs that the eggs are over. The next day we got the same reply when we asked for eggs. So can you please explain that if at breakfast time eggs are not available, then at what time does the restaurant serve eggs? ‘It’s the first day of our tour and Tour coach arrives late by 25 minutes due to which we had to compromise with time on our visit to Euro Disneyland’ After reaching Euro Disneyland, we were allotted only 2.5 hours to explore the entire theme park “including” our meal time. We assumed we were given less time because we had more places to cover in the city which we should not miss out on, but after returning to the bus we were informed that we are visiting ‘Fragonard’ – a perfume store which was NOT in the itinerary. We were missing out on Louvre museum which is one of the most important tourist destinations in Paris and could have been easily covered if Fragonard could be skipped. Not seeing Mona Lisa after visiting Paris was equivalent to not seeing Eiffel tower in Paris. Fragonard was not a part of the itinerary but then too we all were pushed for it. 70% of the people in the bus wanted to visit Louvre, but our ‘Great tour coach had literally pushed us to go to Fragonard which wasted almost 1.5 hours of our precious time. While booking for this trip through Cox& Kings, we were promised to cover Louvre museum with the Glass Pyramid. ‘It was a clear case of manipulation of words and nothing else’. It would have been better if Cox& Kings would have refrained from adding these places in their itinerary. Why can’t they just mention visit to Euro Disney and Eiffel Tower with City tour? None of our tour-mates had any interest to visit Fragonard but we all were forcibly pushed to waste our precious time by choosing Fragonard over Louvre. We could have easily visited Louvre instead of Fragonard by adding just 15-20 mins of our time. After all of us were highly irritated by visiting Fragonard, we requested our Tour coach to announce if people were willing to visit Louvre museum the next morning before leaving for Switzerland. The approach was as below: “Ladies& Gentlemen, as few people in the bus are willing to visit Louvre museum, we would like to know your opinion. Depending on the votes we can decide how many of us are ready to do the same?
People who don’t wish to join can stay back in the Bus for 2 hours. The entry for the same would be €35. We are already running short of time. We will have to leave 2 hours early in the morning which will make it difficult for us to travel to Switzerland. This can also lead us to missing out and NOT seeing Lake Geneva with Jet d’Eau. Louvre is not included in the itinerary and can also be missed if we are not willing to go” Such an amazing approach by our Tour Coach demotivated majority of the people to deny for Louvre. I mean, who wants to stay in the Bus for 2 hours? A better option would be to allow sometime for shopping rather than sitting in the Bus while others visit Louvre.(The question here is: Will others be ready to sit in the Bus for 2 hours, while half of them are visiting Louvre and Glass Pyramid?) When we inquired, the actual entry was €15(https://louvre.fr/en/hours-admission/admission). If we would have visited Louvre on the same day, this would have cost us €15 but due to visiting it the next day, the bus coach would have to buy a city permit costing around €300.(informed by our Tour guide. Don’t know if it’s true or not).
The final conclusion was, unfortunately and disheartened we had to leave for Switzerland the next morning. On our road journey of 6 hours we halted for lunch at a food-court. We were provided with prepackaged lunch. Serving us prepackaged lunch was not a problem as we were pre-informed about it. But, to our surprise, the quality of this lunch was extremely low. The food was cold and stale. The potatoes were half cooked and the curd had turned sour. Is this the way we are treated when we travel abroad after paying a hefty amount? Luckily, there was a restaurant around which helped few of us to buy fresh meals rather than surviving on this dry lunch. Finally, we reached Jet d’Eau in the evening to see the world’s largest fountain but to our surprise, the Fountain was not operational(photos attached for reference) since the past one week and off course our Tour Guide was not aware of this.(The main reason we missed Louvre so we could reach Switzerland on time to see Jet d’Eau)
Glacier 3000 was an amazing treat for us due to its scenic view and extremely pleasant climate. While booking for Marvels of Europe in Mumbai, we were informed about Jungfrau which could also be booked during the trip once we were in Switzerland with a ticket price of €150 per person. This was another surprise for us when our Tour Guide asked a price of €157 per person. When inquired, he informed €7 is the tax for the tickets.(Not sure of this whether it’s true or not). If yes, then why weren’t we informed about the extra €7 in India while booking? Too many hidden charges it seems. Pre-informing your client’s is a better option to maintain transparency and clarity. There was another twist added to this trip when our tour guide offered the tourists to visit Montreux and Charlie Chaplin’s museum at a fee of €20 per person. Luckily, along with us we had 3 more couples who denied for this. We were not surprised when the rest of our tour-mates(who had opted to visit Montreux and Charlie Chaplin’s museum) were disheartened because they could not visit the museum even after paying a fee. After reaching Montreux, they were given 30 minutes to explore the streets and return to the bus. Thankfully, we were not a part of this trap. We have been regularly traveling through Ezeego1/Cox& Kings since the past 4 years now. This is the first time we opted for a group tour and definitely the last time due to such instances. In a customized package, you have the right to choose your hotel and make small amendments to your itinerary. In a group tour, you can be literally pushed for something you don’t want to do. You can be manipulated n number of times. I have written this in detail NOT for a compensation or apology but to update you’ll of what happens in a group tour. We hereby request you to offer your future travelers, a tour guide who’s NOT dominating and IS updated with information and basic knowledge such as foreign exchange currency traders in the vicinity.
