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10th May 2012
hi all,
just wondering if the prices for tours on the website are set, (ie. already has the tax and stuff included). anybody know???
10th May 2012
If my luggage weighs 50 lbs will I have to take stuff out? The information I received says the luggage can only weigh 44 lbs. I leave for the Grand Explorer tomorrow.
Thanks.
10th May 2012
Hi everyone,
I am heading on the European Inspiration on 23Feb 09 and have found a great way of saving a bit of money when on my trip. Free audio tours for italy and france. Go to the the link below and you can download mp3 or ipod files of various attractions narrated by Rick Steve. I have listened to a few of them and they are rather informative. Save money by taking these with you on your trip so that you don’t have to pay for guided tours etc. Also there are mud maps of each attraction to guide you around.
Audio tours
Enjoy! 
10th May 2012
I have just returned from the Egypt and the Nile Contiki trip, and I need to warn everyone about a scam we ran into. It involves the waiters and managers on the cruise ship (in our case the M/S Carmen but they are mostly all owned by thee same company; Egypt Hotels).
When we ordered drinks on the boat, the waiter would write down our order, pass us the pad to sign for the order, then retrieve the pad, tear off a pink carbon copy receipt for us and go and get us the drink. The bill was to be paid at the end of the trip. When I came to pay for my bill at the end of the cruise I was shocked to find a list of bills that were much larger than anything I had signed for. I asked for their copy of the receipt which the management produced after much reluctance, which clearly showed that they had added drinks to the receipt AFTER I had signed my name at the bottom. For example, I ordered one beer. The receipt they produced had “1 x beer” written down and just under it in a different handwriting “2 x Heineken beer”. I never drink Heineken, and nobody else ordered with me, just the waiter and I were present, so I can be 100% sure that this was falsified on purpose. What is more, during that night, the waiters didn’t give us the pink receipts. This turned out to be because they were unable to forge our bills and add drinks if we had the pink receipts. I had been given 6 out of the 10 pink slips for the cruise. These pink slips I had tallied perfectly with the blue receipts they had kept for the drinks. But for the 4 bills that I wasn’t given a pink receipt for, I had had many beers and cokes added by the hotel afterwards.
When I noticed this had happened upon paying the bill, I asked around and soon enough, there were a number of people that had found their bills to be doctored. Different hand writing was used, cokes were added to people’s bills who were caffeine intolerant (impossible!), some bills were summarised as “3 x beer, 1 x beer” which doesn’t make sense as they would have just written “4 x beer”. I now discovered at least 6 other people extremely unhappy with the way their bills had been falsified. The management of the cruise ship was very hostile towards us, and our tour guide had disappeared. We argued for about 2 hours but things were getting more and more heated and we looked like getting stuck on the ship with the armed police present without any ability to speak Arabic and defend ourselves, it was a very scary and unpleasant experience. We were then basically forced to pay the inflated bills as otherwise we would be unable to carry on with our tour.
After that night, I asked around and found more people who had paid their bills but had secretly been suspicious of the high amount but hadn’t said anything. I believe that in total at the very least 10 people were scammed like this. I was charged 184 Egyptian pounds too much; other people were overcharged by different amounts. This was a horrible experience as I felt threatened and forced to pay for forged bills by people who had no respect or courtesy for us and were vicious and spiteful. The waiters were certainly involved, and I have good reason to believe that the management were also involved due to their complete lack of concern, insistence that we pay and unwillingness to investigate multiple reports of theft from on their ship.
PLEASE be aware of this forgery. Keep and ask for every single pink receipt that you can, tell all your fellow tour friends to do the same, then they can’t scam you.
Finally, this trip was the most fun trip I have ever had, so do enjoy yourselfs, it is truly fantastic. I just need to make sure that Egypt hotels get punished for what they did you us and that nobody else gets treated like we did.
Nick
10th May 2012
Hey all,
i dont know if anyone noticed, but the new brochure came out for Best of USA and i was going to book… but for some reason after a certain date early next year they are cutting out LA all together, & starting the tour at Sn Fran, so the trip is shorten.. but the price is the same.. so howcome the price hasnt decreased??? if im wrong, could someone plz correct me..
Im a lil annoyed as i was about to book for next year!
cheers
camo
10th May 2012
Has anyone done this tour? How was it?
Does anyone plan on going on this tour anytime between late May – July?
10th May 2012
hi guys !!
i am heading off soon on the european vista.
i need to fit in the relatives visit, who live near amsterdam. can anyone tell me the detailed itinerary of our time in amsterdam?
they probably can meet me at our hotel (does anyone know the name of it? i have not recieved the documents and i leave in 6 weeks).
the brochure itinerary looks like this…..
Fri – arrive in amsterdam. out on the town, nightlife etc.
Sat – bicycle ride through edam. (when is this done, how long does it take?). free time in the afternoon. i want to see anne franks house etc, a few things. is the optional canal cruise/dinner/sex show this night?
sun – leave for london. free time in the morning?
THEREFORE…. if i have a few hours free to see relo’s and maybe a few sights out of town, could i do this on the saturday? or not possible as too rushed? if not then, when !!??
many thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions, i would love to get this all organised before i go.
cheers, and happy travelling!
danielle
10th May 2012
I have been reading everyone’s reviews on packing with a suitcase vs. backpack … seems like the consensus was that a suitcase was much easier to have on a contiki tour. I am doing the Grand Explorer, however I am planning on travelling on my own in NZ after the tour for approx. 10 days and am not sure if a backpack would be better in this case. Has anyone travelled on their own afterwards and if so, what did you use and what are your thoughts about it? I don’t know if many people have suitcases when they stay at backpacker hostels?? Any advice would be great, thanks!!
10th May 2012
Hi Guys,
I am currently in the UK with a backpack containing a couple of t-shirts, jeans and a pair of cargos (and some brown swade hiking type shoes). I will be departing on Sunday for the 16 day trip from London to Rome going via France.
The guide book ‘recommends’ classier clothing. Should i spend what little money i have left buying some ‘duds’ in London so i can attend all night time ‘functions’ or is it not worth it?
Keen on hearing the thoughts of those that have travelled on this or similar tour.
Also keen on hearing from anyone embarking on this trip.
Cheers
j (aus)
10th May 2012
Hi, I just booked the aussie explorer for April 2010, I’m super excited! I also booked 1 night pre tour in darwin & 2 nights post tour in sydney. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice of what I absolutely shouldn’t miss while in either of these cities with my limited amount of time. I’m especially wondering about sydney since i’m guessing i will probably just be recovering from jet lag in darwin. also, if any one had any insight of what the weather will be like mid april to mid may it would be much appreciated. thanks!
10th May 2012
I am doing the Cairns Sunshine Trail in August 2008 and I am really into photography. Knowing me I will be aching to take pictures of the unique sea life I am hoping to come across while snorkeling. Does anyone have advice on the best way to do this? I know there are disposable waterproof film cameras but I was wondering if there was a way I could still use my digital. Thanks!
10th May 2012
I was wondering if you take your own laptop, is there anyway that you can connect the internet while you are in Europe?
I have read a few posts about banking, photos, emailing home etc and i would feel much more comfortable with my own..
Any advice???
10th May 2012
I noticed that on the price of the tours says that it only includes land travel for the tour. Does that mean we need to get our own flights to the starting country of the tour? How will we know where to meet the tour group?
However when I go to book my tour, there is a Flight section that asks me where I am departing from, but nothing else. No further flight information is provided. Why is that?
Thanks
-Phil
10th May 2012
I’m spending 26 days in Europe, including a 19 day Contiki tour.
I sleep really badly without my own pillow (one of those special foam pillows). I know it will be a pain to carry it around europe, but is it worth taking it? I do plan to sleep, I am not a partier, and am worried that I will not have a decent nights sleep in 26 days!
Need some advice…
10th May 2012
I am 28 years old and I want to go on one of the European tours. I am debating between the encounter and inspirations. Anyone have any suggestions/advice on which one to do? I am planning on going July 2007. Which one would be better for someone my age??
10th May 2012
i was just informed by contiki that my ETA visa to enter australia was not approved . they try to do it on line but no luck so now thay are telling me to do everything on my own..yeah right after charging me $3,000.00 us dlls. i cannot afford to loose all that money contiki should let all the USA citizens to get a visa or ETA before they can even sell the tour.it is not fair for some of us that are not approved for the ETA on line. What i did i had to log in to a website to try to get my ETA i was charge $35.00 us dlls and they told me that i will have to wait 24hrs to get a response. i finally get a response from them now they are telling me that they will forward my information to the embassy of australia in canada and i will have to wait for another 3 days.my departure date is 01/21/08 i only have 3 weeks to get this visa. if not i will have to go to the embassy of australia here in LOS ANGELES Calif. if for some reason i cant get my visa there trust me contiki will be responsible they should tell all of the people going to australia that sometimes visas are not given to some US citizen. they never told me that.so if someone out there are planning to visit australia you should get your visa or ETA first before u can book your trip. CAN SOMEONE TELL ME IF I ARRIVE TO AUSTRALIA WITHOUT A VISA OR ETA WILL I HAVE ANY PROBLEMS?? can i apply for a visa once i get to the airport of sydney?? please let me know..and contiki im very upset i just hope i get my visa or else u will have to credit me back to another tour due to the fact that u never told me that sometimes visas are not approved. and not only that but contiki had to wait until the last minute to let me know that they were not able to process my visa to enter australia.. wow what a start for my vacation i am stressing already i just hope to get my visa within this week.
10th May 2012
I was just wondering, for anyone who’s done the Eastern Discovery tour, how many activities/places you go where you need to be 21+ ? Is it just clubs? I am not underage here (20), but will be in America if I go next year.
10th May 2012
I hear you can buy a ticket for day tours that go around london in the contiki basement.
Do the tours fill up fast from your experience? How much are they and are they worth the money?
And is it like a hop on hop off tour type or what? What forms of payment do they accept I hear that there are other companies selling at stands on the streets. Are these worth it?
All help is appreaciated.
10th May 2012
Hey guys. I am doing the Berlin to Budapest tour that ends Dec. 30, but am staying an additional 2 days on my own in Budapest to celebrate New Years there. However, I don’t want to just sit in my hotel waiting on the clock to strike 12. What are some things to see/do, maybe even day trips I can take to maximize my time there?
10th May 2012
Hey. Im going on the European Contrasts tour on August 29th, just wondering from the poeple who have been on this tour, which cities give you the opportunity to do laundry?
Thanks.
