The Travel department

teckno

Anybody ever use the travel department.ie for escorted tours. Their prices seem very good. Anybody any experience

Glowing

Not personally, but my parents have taken about 7 tours with them, everywhere from Rome to Siscily to Croatia to Lake Guarda (twice). They've always been very satisfied with the accommodation and the quality of the tours etc.

Their latest trip was only a few weeks ago, they took the trip to Dubrovnik and were very happy with the hotel and the food. Some of the trips are very intense with tours almost every day but you're not obliged to take all of them ...
My sister was thinking of doing the tour to Poland which takes in a trip to the camps, very good value for about 5 days all inclusive.
Where are you thinking of going?

teckno

Was looking at Beijing or would love the Poland trip for the history? but have only heard good things so reckon they are worth a shout!!

Glowing

Funnily enough, my Aunt and Uncle did the Beijing trip only a few months ago and they thoroughly enjoyed it. However having been to Beijing myself, you'd get so much more out of it travelling independentely - I think you might be sheltered from the 'real' Beijing when going with a tour, and thats not only TravelDepartment but any tour. You stay in a hotel, rather than a local-run guesthouse and eat in the tourist restaurants etc.

The Poland one looks like great value however.

Zaph

My parents went to Lake Garda with them last year and only had good things to say about them when they came back. Good hotel, enjoyable day trips and very knowledgeable guides.

I've heard nothing but great reports about them too.
Incredibly good value when you tot up how much flights/accom/food/tours would cost independently.

Scrumptious

I have gone on to F1 trips with the Travel Deparment and I have to say that both were excellent.

The value was great, the people were very nice and helpful and the ticket selections were excellent.

johnnyrotten

Both my parents and my in-laws took guided holidays with them. Nothing but praise for them

Sizzler

Went to Prague with them 3 years ago for the October bank holiday weekend. NEVER again. The hotel was a complete shíthole in a tower blocked residential area (imagine Ballymun) and was 10km from the city centre.

The trip wasnt cheap either for what we paid for it.

Dropped them a note when I got back highlighting their shortcomings and I got a 3 liner back saying "We are sorry you were disappointed with our trip but you have to appreciate hotels in eastern europe are of a lesser standard".
Thats the best they could come up with :rolleyes:

In summary check EXACTLY what you are getting for your money and review the hotels yourself on tripadvisor first!

Raekwon

Has anybody gone on the Japanese tour with this crowd? I saw it on the brochure that comes with the Independent but it is not on the website.

Hawk Wing

My Parents have also gone on numerous trips with them and have only good things to say about them

gandalf

They are fine unless you have problems. Had booked a holiday with them for the parents a couple of years ago. My father fell ill and god help us trying to get a refund out of them, coupled with their like it or lump it attitude. Would be very reluctant to recommend them or book with them again.

HarryD

Parents have been with them several times - nothing but praise..
The Guides are usually very knowledgeable..

clarebannerman

I've used travel dept. for a 10 day tour of Prague,Vienna and Budapest. The holiday was very enjoyable and informative. Loads of tours and entertainment laid on at night. The only downside was the quality of hotels they use. The rooms were clean but basic. The hotels seemed to be beside a busy road and the standard of food in the hotels was not great. My advise is pick a holiday that says bed & breakfast only.

However I intend visiting L.A. and San Francisco in September '07 and will keep you posted.

biddels

teckno wrote:

Anybody ever use the travel department.ie for escorted tours. Their prices seem very good. Anybody any experience

Visited Rome, Capri and Pompei with travel departmet in september 2007. Hotel was basic but very clean...food basic but good for price. But I will never forget the female tour guide who was just awful. Very aggogant, controlling, inconsiderate and generally ignorant. Good knowledge of sights and buildings but hadnt a clue how to deal with people. Run Run run wouldnt wait for people to get off bus....as soon as SHE arrived at the particular spot start speaking on building not waiting for all to arrive.Never give any consideration for the age and general health of the tourist. was asked about 6 times to slow down...... but all we received was a smart answer or a cutting look. Marks out of ten for Guide...... -50

gipi

I went to Italy (Lake Garda) with travel dept in 2006 and like the above posters found the hotel okay and the food basic (was on half-board package). The hotel shown on the website was the main building, we were in the plain extension out the back, in a room closest to the bar and the fire doors which opened and closed constantly!.

The tours were early starts, and some long days - it took over 5 hours to get to and from Venice, we got less than 4 hours to see the city. Bergamo airport was a nightmare, worse than Dublin (eek!).

Was to go to USA (New England) with them last year too, but had to cancel due to bereavement. Read a review of the accommodation on trip advisor later in the year, posted by someone who'd done the trip I was to be on - nightmare by all accounts. Hotels in the middle of nowhere, dirty rooms, bad service and mediocre food - at one venue, the tourists paid the coach driver to take them to a decent restaurant 10 miles away because the hotel food was so bad!

Perhaps they're cheaper for a reason.....

As an aside, I went to China in 2004 with Travelsphere (UK company), and found it a great experience. Yes, we were led around like sheep, had early starts and little free time, and the local guides did spout the "party line" now and again, but the organisation, accommodation and food were 100% - and we had a UK guide with us at all times too so there was an immediate contact with the tour company if anything went wrong.

odyssey06

I went to Boston and New England with them. They're ok - check where your hotels are going to be. You tend to stay outside the cities rather than in Boston itself for example, so there may not be many facilities around the hotel (shops, restaurants etc) so things can be a bit quiet in the evening.

JaneAnnie

We recently booked a trip to Lake Como with The Travel Department.

I totally agree with Gandalf, they are fine unless you have problems. Their customer relations leave a lot to be desired.
I would NEVER book a holiday with The Travel Department again nor would I ever recommend this tour operator.

Frankly I also believe that the holidays are hugely over priced. Check out the prices of similar hotels in the area (and not just the hotel that The Travel Department use - they are likely to have a higher individual room price on their website as they mainly cater to groups and this makes the group rate look cheap in comparison!).

Also remember that a 4 star hotel in Italy is probably equivalent to a 2/3 star in Ireland! Flights to most European cities cost very little when booked in advanced or during a sale.
Please, Please think twice before you consider booking them because if anything goes wrong you will regret it.

Scobius90

Raekwon wrote: »

Has anybody gone on the Japanese tour with this crowd? I saw it on the brochure that comes with the Independent but it is not on the website.

never been with TD but was in Japan last year for 2 weeks. traveled independently and found it quite easy to get around, in the main cities at least. hotel staff were hugely helpful in getting us bookings as we traveled and public transport is excellent. FYI we were in Kobe, Kyoto, Osaka, Mt Fugi and Tokyo

stabu

Just checked boards.ie to see if there are any comments on traveldepartment.ie, and happy to see this thread, with a number of opinions.

Myself I'm looking at the 9 day Egypt trip for 899 (exclusive of a whopping 366 tax) per person.

As for conclusions, well a common theme running through all these service companies is EXCEPTION HANDLING. i.e. without mishaps and situations where anger surfaces, the recommendation seem quite OK, barring a Ballymun here or there. So i'd look quite favourably on them as a result of these comments (though I'm not happy with that tax).

Unfortunately where mishaps occur, it's always the same ...the company has no processes to deal with them, or very few at least. Worst of all, in accounting terms, exception handling is a total loss for the company. Every minute they are dealing with a complaint, or trying to sort it out (and invariably they are alot harder to correct than normal processes) they are losing new business ( or so the reigning culture will have it) Consequently tempers on both sides get short quickly.

I don't propose to have an answer to this, but I do know, that equally it is possible for certain aspects of organising these trips to be very profitable, and some of these profits should be used to come up with a policy and process for exception handling.

Certain sectors such as airlines and telephone companies have realised that the cost of new business is higher than the cost of returning business. It takes that realisation by both managers and operators, to get a decent exception handling procedure going.

</end of rant>

inquisitive111

I've recently come across an ad for the travel department and it's good to hear everyone's opinion on their tours.
I've been trying to convince my husband to come along on the Italian tour but he is concerned that in the current economic climate it is likely that an operator such as this one would go bankrupt before we travel or even worse while we are there. I'm just wondering if others think the same of if my husband is just being over dramatic?

Thanks

Hennybug

I was on a trip with them in July and the talk among the group was that the Company had been sold to an English Company

inquisitive111

Hennybug wrote: »

I was on a trip with them in July and the talk among the group was that the Company had been sold to an English Company

Thank you for your reply Hennybug. Since my last post I did hear that The Travel Department had cancelled a tour due to lack of demand and had to reimburse the people that had paid already booked. Has anyone else heard this or been involved? It's very worrying especially as they offer some long haul trips to China and the likes. Anyway, we've decided not to book with the travel department and to book our own holiday. It wasn't as much trouble as I first thought at all.

Diairist

Went one one trip so far with them. There are grannies that simply book on their own and share a room with another lady they've never met. One lady we met in the Onabrava hotel in Barcelaona was on her 9th trip - last few on her own. (P.S. in that hotel you can buy 2 brandies and get change out of yr fiver!!!)

paulaa

Did you go to Egypt after ? I've been looking at that trip as well for November and was interested in some info about it.