Jules Verne Reviews 74

The week long trip to Uzbekistan crammed so much in during a short time yet it never felt rushed or hectic. Hotels were great and travel arrangements were seamless. Our guide, Kamilla, was superb.

Great riverboat holiday with exceptional food, staff and service on board. Well organised excursions with very knowledgeable guides. Be prepared for chilly mornings and hot afternoons.
Overall good value. We would not hesitate to use Jules Verne again.

This was a really fascinating tour of parts of India away from the main tourist spots - we saw virtually no other westerners during our three weeks, and felt we had got under the skin of this wonderful part of the country. This is a "busy" holiday, with some long driving days on poor roads, but well worth it. Our accomodation was excellent, with a nice range of heritage hotels, and the holiday was made by having such an incredibly good guide in Sukrit - one of the best group guides I've ever experienced.

Returned recently from Silk Road to Samarkand. Fantastic group of fellow travellers. Maftouna our guide was exceptional. Nothing was too much trouble. Coach travel was of high standard. Hotels were all of a good quality.
One of our best trips with Jules Verne.

Everything was excellent except three issues:

1 On arrival we were taken to our hotel, which did not have rooms available for us. Not surprising and that is not the issue. The problem was no alternative but to use the in house restaurant, which had drink and food at almost London top end hotel prices. Ridiculous compared to the prices we paid everywhere else in India. It is not that I cannot afford these prices, but I object to feathering the nest of already rich hotel owners rather than the struggling establishments of the type we used elsewhere.

2. Your pre tour advice on tipping was ridiculously high when compared with internet advice. There are two problems here: a) we wanted to give our driver and tour guide generous tips, because they were excellent, which we did, but if they were expecting tips of the magnitude in VJV advice they may have been disappointed. I am not American, so I believe that normal service should be covered by salary and that a tip is cream on the top for better than expected service. b) the size of tip advised and even the size of tip provided greatly exceed the money I ever carry in cash and per person was more than twice the maximum that could be drawn at one time from an ATM. In the age of plastic money you need to radically rethink tipping expectations.

3. On behalf of one of the other couples on the tour I would like to pass adverse comment on adding one single to one couple in a car designed for three passengers, while the other four couples travel in private at the same price. Even if the couple and single are compatible, three weeks together can be a strain. I understand it also posed a problem with luggage such that they had to carry hand luggage round their feet

Fabulous trip, all an amazing experience. A few negative points, firstly the check in on arrival in Kolkata - 2+ hour wait for rooms! An early check in or an extra night booked to avoid this would be better planning. The extension to Darjeeling would be better the night before in order to actually get 2 days at Darjeeling. But this does not change the fabulous time we had, the guides were excellent, the boat crew exceptional service and food. The itinerary was well planned and interesting throughout.

I've just returned from a Jules Verne 'Turkish Delights' 4-day break and it was horrendous. The hotel was not 4* standard, more like a hostel. The company are hard to get a hold of & not at all helpful when you eventually manage to speak with an operator. The breakfast buffet is a disgrace and the 'double' room is nothing more than a double bed save for 2 tiny side stools. It's not worth the money, I paid almost £1,700 for 3 day tour inc flight & hotel. On checking prices for 4 nights for the hotel & return flights from UK it came in at circa £900 without travel company discount. It is not worth it, in my opinion, I do not recommend this company, below expectations, not up to standard for what they charge.

This is the first time I have done a tour with Jules Verne and it will be the last. The trip was expensive so I expected a very good hotel but that was not the case - my room reminded me of a cell with a dreadful view out of the window and the breakfast was inedible - greasy sausages, hard boiled eggs - no muesli, porridge or nice fresh fruit. The information provided for the flight was inadequate and made it impossible to obtain boarding papers the day before flying back. The tour guide and the staff were very nice but I wish we had just booked our own flights, hotels and bought a 3 day ticket to see the sights when we got there - that would have been about half the price and a better hotel. I have done tours of Jordan, Iceland and Albania recently - all excellent but not Jules Verne.

In 2 weeks Brilliant guide Adriana led us through past, present and future Colombia. Varied, interesting and well planned. Excellent value.

Our tour guide and coach driver were brilliant, the itinerary was perfect and the hotels very good. Tunisia has a fascinating history and this was conveyed expertly by our tour guide whilst we travelled in comfort. Highlights for us were the Roman city of Dougga, the Roman amphitheatre at El Jem, the stunning mosaics at the Bardo Museum and El Jem, and the weird and wonderful Star Wars relics in the desert and at the troglodyte dwellings at Matmata. The various medinas were interesting and the people always friendly. Totally recommended!

I had been wanting to travel to Costa Rica for a long time and this trip lived up to and even exceeded my expectations. The country boasts a diverse geography and the tour showcased this very well in a relatively short time, while nevertheless enabling us to have opportunities to relax away from the group.
The tour guide was cheerful and competent and provided useful background information as well as ensuring that arrangements went smoothly.
The first couple of days in San Jose were quite packed but interesting and provided a chance to start to get to know the rest of the group and to acclimatise.
The next 8 days of travelling from the Caribbean to the Pacific coast produced a series of really memorable experiences. Personal highlights included the hour and a half boat journey along the river and canal to Evergreen Lodge near Tortuguero with the boat pilot slowing down to show us countless birds and animals before arriving at our hotel in the forest, with the capuchin monkeys darting about! The various naturalist-led guided walks that we went on, first, at La Selva Biological Station Reserve near Sarapiqui and, later, in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and the Bosque Eterno de los Ninos were all memorable. I won't forget seeing a resplendent quetzal in the wild or hearing the howler monkeys, not to mention all the hummingbirds, macaws and toucans and the tiny poison dart frog! Walking along the bridges and walkways in the tree canopy was great.
The afternoon at the Ecotermales hot springs near the Arenal volcano was wonderful, too. Even there you were surrounded by trees and plants and birdsong.
Each hotel was different and in keeping with its location but my favourites were La Quinta de Sarapiqui, for its quirky charm and beautiful natural grounds teeming with birds and animals (sloths/howler monkeys) and its two lovely swimming pools, and Macaw Lodge which, despite not having a pool, was very special due to its isolation and its beautiful unique building of native woods and stone, and the stunning view across the ponds from the dining area. I'll not forget sipping a cocktail as we watched the water birds and the bats in the setting sun and hearing the crescendo of the bullfrogs and cane toads. The next morning, we walked on the wonderful trail within the property and spotted a blue morphus butterfly by the waterfall. A second night at this hotel would have been welcome!
The tour ended there - half of the group returned to San Jose and the airport while the rest of us journeyed to Quepos on the Pacific coast and the Hotel Parador Manuel Antonio. This hotel was in another league and the location was incredible and it was a fabulous way to end the holiday - but even here, wildlife surrounded you. We saw a mother sloth and her baby, up very close, and beautiful unreal-looking scarlet macaws in the area of the hotel, while on the beach there were capuchin monkeys and iguanas and in the distance howler monkeys.
All in all, a great holiday that I would recommend.

The arrangements, the accommodation , food and service were all excellent. Despite a hiccup at the beginning due to flight delay because of fog at Heathrow, everything went smoothly. A most enjoyable way to see Venice and its lagoon. As always a very reliable company to deal with.

The Indochina Explorer tour offered a great variety of experiences and we learned a lot about each country. The hotels were all excellent, and three of the four guides were superb. The Halong Bay cruise was outstandingly well organised.
Be aware that the VJV guides will not be able to enter the arrivals halls at the airports, and will meet you just outside, where it can be very busy. Once out, you will not be able to re-enter. The opportunities for eating are limited on the transition days, and we would have welcomed more information about this, and about transfer durations on arrival in each country. The sightseeing involves a lot of steps, and a lot of stepping on and off boats, but we didn't find this problematic, and there is always help available.
Overall, this was a wonderful tour which we would highly recommend.

A fascinating and very enjoyable trip from Aswan to Cairo, though rather overpriced given costs in Egypt. It's impossible to include everything but we felt that Queen Hatshepsut's temple should have figured. The boat was fine with excellent service but its decor is very dark and a bit gloomy. We were exceptionally lucky with our group of fellow travellers, whose company really made the trip.

A wonderful trip to a beautiful country. There was so much to see, our driver Genti got us everywhere safely and our guide, Aryan was very informed, with a wry sense of humour. Hotels were all good, the Mangalemi in Berat being my favourite. Good food, good wine and great company, what more could you ask for.

Sri Lanka is a country which has had a lot of history and foreign intervention. The people have accepted this and are happy to welcome visitors to their lovely country. There is much to see and they are proud to share it. From the coastal areas, jungles, cities, tea plantations and mountains the people are kind, helpful and very welcoming.
Our tour guide was very informative and accommodating. Our group consisted of 3 couples who had never met before but we soon made friends and thoroughly enjoyed our joint experiences.

We had a wonderful guide - Antoine. He was patient, humorous, and well-informed. He really made the trip for us.

This is a disgraceful tour company. E-tickets wrong, resent wrong. We are tying to book in 2nd passenger online and they do not recognise details they have made a massive error somewhere ad no-one at the end of a telephone to help us. We are still waiting for help and our flight is within hours away. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. Disgraceful service, way overpriced and should be reprimanded for advertising a service it cannot fulfill.

The overwhelming number of animals we saw, making this the best safari trip I have ever been on.
Well organised, even though the itinerary was changed, I enjoyed the extra flight. Driver/guides were great, accommodation was very good in Amboseli and Elementaita and just good in Masai Mara (quirky), food good. Had a great time

Costa Rica is close to paradise and is a must to visit. The organisation of the trip was good. The failure was your insufficient pre-flight information and the lack of communication on the local tour guide. The group was exceptional.