Smartours & Friendly Planet
 

My parents had 2 tours with Globus to:1. Spain/Portugal/Morocco (1 day) and 2. Italy and also were happy with centrally located hotels and tours.

Also they went to Thailand with smartours in 2005 and Japan Panorama tour with Friendly Planet in 2008. They enjoyed both tours and didn't have any complaints. Everything was well organized.


Now I am booking them with gate1 travel to Eastern Europe - Warsaw, Vienna, Salzburg, Budapest, Prague - European Kaleidoscope. I asked for reviews of gate1 and referral, but unfortunately didn't get response from here.

PS The only difference that I found when booking Smartours is that they charge additional % for using credit card, Friendly Planet - didn't. I prefer to pay with cc. Also, when I quoted Smartours w/o air, they deducted a less value for airline ticket than I expected,in my opinion.

Not a great experience
 

After reading these and other reviews, and talking to friends who had taken Friendly Planet tours, my wife and I took the "Incredible Italy with Sorrento extension" tour in september 2012. It did not meet our expectations, and in retrospect I may have spent more time researching this company.

After returning from our tour, we emailed them everything below, but never heard anything back from them. I guess they thought that since they had our money, they didn't have to be concerned with us anymore.

1) Our biggest problem was that it was our understanding that this was going to be a Friendly Planet run tour. Only much later (within one week before departure) did we discover that there was a "bait and switch" - the tour was outsourced to another company (Central Holidays - we had never heard of them). Again, we had NO notification until our final papers arrived a few days before heading out. While this may be the "norm" in the industry, we believe it was deceptive to advertise this as a Friendly Planet tour and not clearly notify prospective customers that the tour may be operated by another company. If we wanted to book with Central Holidays, we would have researched that company, and booked directly with them.

-2) We were never picked up at the airport upon arrival in Venice Italy, at the start of the tour. Airport pickup was supposed to be included. This was also in direct contradiction to an email that we received from the reservation agent of Friendly Planet, in which we were told that we will "definitely" be picked up. We had to take a cab from the airport. The cab dropped us off at the outskirts of Venice city (since cars are not allowed in the city) at night. We had to carry four suitcases and other luggage over two large bridges. We missed the welcome dinner that first evening. We then got yelled at by tour director saying "someone was there waiting for us and we weren't there"; the next day after doing some investigating, the tour guide admitted that there was in fact no one at the airport to pick us up, apologized, and reimbursed us our cab fare. Not a good way to start the trip.

3) We specifically requested two beds in each room. There was only ONE bed in all of the rooms except last one.

4) We got one email from friendly planet for a change in the hotel in Rome before the trip started. Then while going to Rome, the tour director said on the bus that we would be staying at yet another hotel - very confusing as to where we needed to be. We asked the tour director about the email we received, and he was annoyed at us - he said to just stay with the "original" itinerary. Fortunately the original hotel did have our reservation. So why did we get the email notifying us of the room change?

5) Late transfer from hotel to airport. 4am to leave sorrento to get to naples for a 6:05am flight. Left at 4am - got there at 4:55 and long line at airpoirt for security - almost missed flight. Several people in our tour felt the same way and were discussing that on the ride to the airport.

6) One person in our group was vegetarian, and we specifically and clearly requested vegetarian options (including no fish). The vegetarian food was horrible or nonexistent at meals that were covered by the tour. One time the main course consisted of several small slices of cheese, another time it was just some lettuce.

7) We were told we would have to pay 15% surcharge if we used credit card to pay for excursions. Now why would that be??? We have never heard of any company charging 15% more to use credit cards over cash. Even with the credit card company merchant fees, it does NOT come to 15%.

8) During the tour, couldn't get clear information for plans for future days. For example, 2 days before leaving naples, I asked "what time will we leave for the airport" - i was told "don't worry, we'll deal with that later". I'm thinking OK.....that doesn't sound too comforting. Any information requested for several days out, we were told that we would have to wait to find out. We couldn't get information on how long the day would be, how many hours we would be out of the hotel, etc. Gave the impression that they were planning things at the last minute.

Update on Friendly Planet Italy tour experience
 

In late January 2013, we spoke with Peggy Goldman, owner of Friendly Planet. She apologized, and said this was not characteristic of their company. They have put into place certain measures to avoid these problems from occurring again (e.g. - being left at the airport on arrival). They got rid of certain employees, and provided a small credit to us for future travel with their company. Good to know that progress was made in improving their service level.

Discover Spain
 

First time poster. Traveled a few places in Europe, but never to Spain. Can any body comment on "Friendly Planet Tours" specifically to Spain? What are your experiences with this company's itineraries? We are considering their new package "Discover Spain" for July or August. They had other Spain itineraries in the past. I asked the agent if they contract it out to another agency? The reply is, may or may not, depending on the group size for each date itinerary, kind of vague :confused:. So, looking forward to hear about your experiences with their previous itineraries. Thank you.

I'm thinking of going to Cuba with them so any feedback is very much appreciated. Thx.

I would suggest looking at ExploreWorldWide, a UK-based company that I have traveled with multiple times, never a problem. I just got back a month ago from my second trip to Spain with them - simply fantastic.

Friendly Planet- not great Spain 9/2013
 

Overall my husband & I were disappointed with the quality of the Discover Spain with Barcelona extension tour, Sept 20-30, 2013.

Hotels: Very basic service in all. We did appreciate the wifi in all but Madrid hotel. The hotel in Seville was nice, but the others were barely 3 star. Desk staff downright rude in Madrid. We did not appreciate the last minute change to Barcelona hotel. The staff there were very nice, but very bare bones and construction underway on our arrival.

Guides: Very poor coordination in Madrid and city tour was sub-par. The only very good guide was in Cordoba. Other guides were adequate to poor. Barcelona guide was worthless. Bus break down in Seville. We noted that our group was the last to depart the hotel every day. We also particularly take issue with being delivered to a souvenir mall at the end of the Toledo city tour, where it was obvious that the guide was getting a cut of sales.

Transportation: Many changes of drivers along the way which impacted service. Elderly people largely left on their own to manage bags, including in and out of bus.

Overall: The tour provided adequate transportation from place to place, but we found no added value beyond that. We will likely not travel with Friendly Planet again.

Be cautious of Friendly Planet. I just got back from the taste of China tour. The first hotel Broadway Mansions was terrible filthy dirty. When I complained and asked to be moved I had to wait a day. After moving to another room there was a foul order that I later found to be sewage in our room. They would not move us and told us to open the window. The toilet and bathtub was stopped up. The carpet was filthy dirty with footprints. I was scared to death I would get bed bugs. The tour guides were good but it was rush, rush, rush unless they took you someplace where I am sure they get a kick back like the silk and jade factories. The other hotel were better. I would give them a 21/2 star. When I e-mailed friendly planet they said they never received a complaint on that hotel and it was very popular. They made all kinds of excuses. Air China packs you in like canned sardines. If you are 60 or older you cannot sit by the exit rows. Pay more and get better hotels. Sure friendly planet is cheap but it comes with a price.