Europe Trip

[Deuce]

Good thing you're seeing pompeii now, not sure if you've seen some of the reports but much of the site has been sinking
Def take the tour to Capri, well worth the visit, it's so beautiful Though the prices are outrageous, but that's everywhere in Europe that has a high amount of tourists.

[linz06]

Originally Posted by Reese1

Is your tour the best of Europe? I was going to look at the itinerary to see what it had in common with ours.

Yes, that's the one!

[Reese1]

Originally Posted by linz06

Yes, that's the one!

Ok. In comparing, it doesn't look like your tour stays at any of the hotels we stayed at, so I'm not sure about those.
London- we did the Tower of London & the Taste of London excursions listed on your options. I enjoyed the cruise on the Taste of London, and the pub had character, but the food was just ok. I enjoyed the Tower of London excursion.
The morning sightseeing tour was included on our tour, so we didn't have to pay extra for that, and I really enjoyed that as well. I would have loved to have had another day to do the Windsor castle tour.
Amsterdam- the canal cruise was included on our tour as well, that was nice. The diamond factory was included to, I would have skipped going in for more free time, but I'm not interested in buying diamonds, and that's really what it's for.
The Rhine cruise again was included on our tour and I loved it!
Lucerne- I thought we would have the option of a lake cruise, but we didn't have time for that.
There was a similar mountain excursion, but it was to Mt. Pilatus.
We skipped the Swiss folklore dinner, which people on our tour said was fun, but the food wasn't good.
Venice- again we did the gondola excursion which was great!
Rome- it looks like the dinner and tour was similar to one that we did. It was a fun night, entertainment at the restaurant was a little corny, but it was fun to see all the sights.
The Vatican tour was included on our tour. That was an experience for sure, it's unreal how crowded it is there!
Our excursion to Monte Carlo was cancelled due to the whole train strike in France, which was so upsetting. It was the reason we chose this tour. I had always dreamed of going there!
Paris- our tour included going up in the Eiffel tower.
We did the excursion to Versailles and I enjoyed that.
We also did the cabaret show Nouvelle Eve. I just felt like I had to do one in Paris, but it's expensive.

Are you booking your air with Cosmos? We did book with Globus. The air was actually a tad under what I had found anyway, and that way our transfers were included.
You will have a great time, it's such an awesome experience!

[linz06]

Originally Posted by Reese1

Ok. In comparing, it doesn't look like your tour stays at any of the hotels we stayed at, so I'm not sure about those.
London- we did the Tower of London & the Taste of London excursions listed on your options. I enjoyed the cruise on the Taste of London, and the pub had character, but the food was just ok. I enjoyed the Tower of London excursion.
The morning sightseeing tour was included on our tour, so we didn't have to pay extra for that, and I really enjoyed that as well. I would have loved to have had another day to do the Windsor castle tour.
Amsterdam- the canal cruise was included on our tour as well, that was nice. The diamond factory was included to, I would have skipped going in for more free time, but I'm not interested in buying diamonds, and that's really what it's for.
The Rhine cruise again was included on our tour and I loved it!
Lucerne- I thought we would have the option of a lake cruise, but we didn't have time for that.
There was a similar mountain excursion, but it was to Mt. Pilatus.
We skipped the Swiss folklore dinner, which people on our tour said was fun, but the food wasn't good.
Venice- again we did the gondola excursion which was great!
Rome- it looks like the dinner and tour was similar to one that we did. It was a fun night, entertainment at the restaurant was a little corny, but it was fun to see all the sights.
The Vatican tour was included on our tour. That was an experience for sure, it's unreal how crowded it is there!
Our excursion to Monte Carlo was cancelled due to the whole train strike in France, which was so upsetting. It was the reason we chose this tour. I had always dreamed of going there!
Paris- our tour included going up in the Eiffel tower.
We did the excursion to Versailles and I enjoyed that.
We also did the cabaret show Nouvelle Eve. I just felt like I had to do one in Paris, but it's expensive.

Are you booking your air with Cosmos? We did book with Globus. The air was actually a tad under what I had found anyway, and that way our transfers were included.
You will have a great time, it's such an awesome experience!

Thanks so much for the information!!!

We will be doing the Tower of London (although on our own.. the price listed on the Cosmos website is MORE THAN DOUBLE what it costs to just show up and buy your own ticket there, or to buy online before going to skip lines). I also really want to see Hampton Court which will be an extra excursion on our own. I'd also like to take a little trip to stonehenge! I have a good friend who moved to London a year ago and she is packing our itinerary full of things to do while we're there and I'm sure she'll be available to show us around so we'll probably go that route. We're going to be in London an extra day before the trip starts and will be staying with her that night anyway

I think I would skip the diamond factory thing in Amsterdam as well if it's all about buying diamonds. I've already been hinting at Scott about buying me a diamond for over a year and nothing seems to work LOL! I've heard Amsterdam is beautiful, and my London friend has already told us we need to go eat at this pancake house with over 200 kinds of pancakes while we're there So we might do some exploring on our own.

I told Scott that you liked the Rhine cruise so that will probably be something we'll do

After your last post I looked up Mt. Pilatus and we discussed it and we might do that one instead

I absolutely want to go on a gondola in Venice! Did you have to have a bunch of people there with you? Was it crowded?

Scott has already seen everything in Rome but I really want to go to the Vatican! And because I want to go, he'll probably go with me

I really want to go to Monte Carlo too! I already have a dress picked out for that!

We are definitely going to the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe and I'd like to go to Notre Dame... and I definitely want to see Versailles as well! I've also told Scott we're going to the cabaret show.. like you said, it's expensive, but it's Paris

We booked our flights separately. We found some really cheap flights online and had our travel agent book them. She told us that if we booked the flights through Cosmos they wouldn't have been as cheap, so we trusted her lol. Plus, our return flight is about 9 days after the Cosmos tour ends because we will be doing some backpacking

[Reese1]

Originally Posted by linz06

Thanks so much for the information!!!

We will be doing the Tower of London (although on our own.. the price listed on the Cosmos website is MORE THAN DOUBLE what it costs to just show up and buy your own ticket there, or to buy online before going to skip lines). I also really want to see Hampton Court which will be an extra excursion on our own. I'd also like to take a little trip to stonehenge! I have a good friend who moved to London a year ago and she is packing our itinerary full of things to do while we're there and I'm sure she'll be available to show us around so we'll probably go that route. We're going to be in London an extra day before the trip starts and will be staying with her that night anyway

I think I would skip the diamond factory thing in Amsterdam as well if it's all about buying diamonds. I've already been hinting at Scott about buying me a diamond for over a year and nothing seems to work LOL! I've heard Amsterdam is beautiful, and my London friend has already told us we need to go eat at this pancake house with over 200 kinds of pancakes while we're there So we might do some exploring on our own.

I told Scott that you liked the Rhine cruise so that will probably be something we'll do

After your last post I looked up Mt. Pilatus and we discussed it and we might do that one instead

I absolutely want to go on a gondola in Venice! Did you have to have a bunch of people there with you? Was it crowded?

Scott has already seen everything in Rome but I really want to go to the Vatican! And because I want to go, he'll probably go with me

I really want to go to Monte Carlo too! I already have a dress picked out for that!

We are definitely going to the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe and I'd like to go to Notre Dame... and I definitely want to see Versailles as well! I've also told Scott we're going to the cabaret show.. like you said, it's expensive, but it's Paris

We booked our flights separately. We found some really cheap flights online and had our travel agent book them. She told us that if we booked the flights through Cosmos they wouldn't have been as cheap, so we trusted her lol. Plus, our return flight is about 9 days after the Cosmos tour ends because we will be doing some backpacking

That's great to have a friend in London to help plan stuff and get you around! I know the excursions cost a lot more through the company, they are trying to make a profit after all. We had never been to Europe, and didn't have any connections. I would have been lost trying to get around.
Wow, I wish I had known about that pancake restaurant in Amsterdam, that sounds yummy!
I'm not sure if your tour guide will operate the way ours did. We could sign up for things as went. So if you have bad weather, then you may not want to do the Rhine cruise. I talked to someone who went in June. It rained the entire day of her cruise, and they had to sit inside. We just had a perfect day. If you enjoy scenery and passing by castles, it's slow and leisurely.
The gondola ride was 5 or 6 people each. I think to do one with just two people is really expensive. It was about an hour. It was one of those things I always wanted to do!
You will have to tell me all about Monte Carlo, I'm so jealous!
Our tour went around on a city tour at night, and we also had a local guide that did a half day in the morning. That's when we went to the Arc, Eiffel tower. We stopped both times at Notre Dame. Then we went to Versailles in the afternoon.
I told everyone on the way to the cabaret show, they would be topless. No one believed me, and our tour guide just silently smiled on the way there. Of course they were, it was funny.
If you enjoy coffee/espresso. When you are in Rome, go to Caffe Greco. It's the oldest coffee shop in all of Europe. It's soooo good! It's a charming little place, and it's on the street near the bottom of the Spanish steps. We wanted to buy a bag of coffee from there, but ran out of time. We had hoped to buy online when we got home, but they don't sell online. I've regretted that we didn't get that.
I forgot that you are staying 9 extra days. That's great you found cheap tickets!
Eat macaroons and gelato, yummy!

[linz06]

Thanks! I understand the company needs to make money but this is part of the reason we chose Cosmos over the other tours with included excursions, so we could choose to save money and not go. I just looked up the tours at Versailles and you can get access to everything for 18 Euros... and the tour company is charging us 70 Euros to go! That just seems really ridiculous to me. I know they need to make money but that is a huge markup!

Everywhere else we will probably just go with the company for excursions because we don't speak the languages so it might be tougher to do it on our own. I wonder if we might be able to get by with some broken Canadian French in France though lol.

From the sounds of some reviews, I think we need to choose our excursions and pay up front in the first couple of days of the tour. It would be way nicer to choose as we go though! But I'm sure that's another way they make money, by people banking on nice weather for everything!

Thanks for the information on the coffee shop! I drink coffee, but not regularly, and Scott won't touch it! But I will probably have to try some there! And maybe I'll bring some back for my parents

[Reese1]

Originally Posted by linz06

Thanks! I understand the company needs to make money but this is part of the reason we chose Cosmos over the other tours with included excursions, so we could choose to save money and not go. I just looked up the tours at Versailles and you can get access to everything for 18 Euros... and the tour company is charging us 70 Euros to go! That just seems really ridiculous to me. I know they need to make money but that is a huge markup!

Everywhere else we will probably just go with the company for excursions because we don't speak the languages so it might be tougher to do it on our own. I wonder if we might be able to get by with some broken Canadian French in France though lol.

From the sounds of some reviews, I think we need to choose our excursions and pay up front in the first couple of days of the tour. It would be way nicer to choose as we go though! But I'm sure that's another way they make money, by people banking on nice weather for everything!

Thanks for the information on the coffee shop! I drink coffee, but not regularly, and Scott won't touch it! But I will probably have to try some there! And maybe I'll bring some back for my parents

I think it's the logistics for a lot of people. I guess if you are familiar with using public transportation and weigh what it would cost you, and the time involved. I think that is one of the things that really appealed to us. Having the headache taken out of it.
I'm not sure how much it would cost to get out to Versailles, plus we were brought in a different entrance for groups, which was nice, no waiting. Same with the Vatican, we had an appointment time to get in and walked by tons of people waiting in the rain. Our guide said people wait 2-3 hours just to get in. So to me it's worth the extra cost on stuff like that. Time was too precious on the tour to waste long lines. Plus quite a few of our excursions included a meal, so that was good.
I think the guides use some of their own discretion on handling the extra excursions. We were lucky to have such a flexible one. We didn't end up paying for all the excursions that we took until a couple days before the end of the tour.

[linz06]

We've switched our focus in the past week to our UK portion of the trip... finding flights (so cheap over there!) and hostels and bed and breakfasts. We used a dry-erase calendar at home to plan out our days! I think we have most stuff figured out for most places... but HOLY FLIP Dublin is expensive!!! We hoped to spend two nights there, and the hostels we've found will run about 160 Euros for two of us for two nights. That's $216 in Canadian dollars! Back here we could stay at a nice hotel for that price!