sephiac

I'm interested in taking a tour using friendlyplanet.com; however, I can hardly find any reviews/comments about the tour company itself. The trip I've been considering is a 15-day excursion to southeastern Asia which will cost about $2000 a person.

Has anyone used "Friendly Planet" before? If so, I would appreciate any feedback you can give about your trip especially details concerning hotels/activities.

Thanks in advance!

vxmike

I'd be curious if anyone has used them before too.

sylvia hennesy

A Friendly Planet air/hotel/tours/some meals LAX--Shanghai, Xian, and Beijing for $1400 (10 days) was too good for me to resist. I did find some positive reviews on Tripadvisor. This is my first tour ever (not my usual preferred mode of travel), but China was just too big, and the language(s) too difficult, so I figured for my first (hope it's not the last) visit, it was a good idea.

[There was one for an awesome price to Thailand, but really, a full day and 1/2 devoted to the River Kwai Bridge, museum, and memorial hike was not something I wanted to do. (Yes, I can hum and whistle the entire march, and probably quote dialog, too...)]
Hope someone can reassure me; I've plunked down my deposit and am now committed...

Djlawman

Most information I could find was at frommers

http://www.frommers.com/community/fo...ravel-good-bad

Many of the posts seem to be from regular contributors (i.e., probably not "plants" from Friendly Planet)

No experience with them myself.

iolairemcfadden

I only taken tours with the 2 main competitors to Friendly Planet - Gate1 and SmarTours (never Friendly Planet just due to their availability/price at the moment I booked). Both have been good in relation to the value. Your trade on such a trip is a lot of time on a bus, but you will cover much more ground than on your own. I've felt that the groups are to big in general to receive good advice from the guide - such as small authentic restaurants to eat at. On plus of the Asian tours is the hotels should be fairly nice - in Europe you end up with more basic hotels.

My attitude is that the group tour might not meet your goals 100%, but you could always go back and at that point you'll have the major sights knocked off.

Assuming the price is a priority for you I would recommend these packages.

ontheway

Smartours and Friendly Planet are sister companies. I went to China with Smartours and got quite the bargain. the cost included :
air to beijing,
transfers to 4* hotel for four nights,
breakfast every morning
Transfer back to airport
flight to shanghai
transfer to 3* hotel for three nights
breakfast every morning
Tranfer to airport
flilght back to new york
price: 1399.

sightseeing tours were optional. I went on line and found a company in Beijing where you did not have to pay in advance, so I wasn't worried and booked local tours with them. they were fabulous. we got to do things the company did not offer: a whole day with a local family in a local village: cooking with them, dining with them and more. hired a private driver for two days and he was great as well.

In shanghai we used the tours with the company. Our only complaint was that the tourguide did not wait until everyone had gathered to start her talking.
They were reliable and we got lots for our money.

nnguyen21

The first trip I took with Friendly planet was to Japan in 2008 and it was well organized and the hotels were nice. The 2nd trip I booked with them was to China in Nov 2010 and that was bad. The our room in Beijing stink to high heaven and there was mold behind the sink and on the floor. I asked other people in our tour and they had the same problem. The hotel in Shanghai was nice it was a 4*, hotel in Xian was a 3*.

We took the extension to Hong Kong and the tour guide Donald was so boring and he didn't even wait for two other people in our group if anything he didn't bother taking count to make sure we were all there.

The hotel in Hong Kong was 3* and they messed up our reservations. Instead of giving us two twin beds they gave me and my friend one queen size bed and a rollaway. The tour guide was useless and told us to talk to the manager. The manager said it was Friendly Planet's fault and not the hotel. We emailed Friendly Planet while we were in Hong Kong but never got a reply.

When I returned to the US I emailed them beginning of Dec 2010 regarding the stinky bathroom and the mix up in our rooms. Friendly Planet said they would look into it but it is now Jan 2011 and still haven't heard from them. I wouldn't use them again. Poor customer service.

boris_tj

I just return from my trip to Thailand, and was perfect, the hotels were beatiful, the tour guide was exelent, my experience were fantastic, i recomend it.

Rafael H. Mexico

africafan

We have taken several tours with Friendly Planet, including South Africa, China, Borneo, India, and Russia. They are the best value for money tours hands down, and we have traveled with a number of other companies including Globus, Gate 1, Uniworld, etc. My only complaints are that sometimes the group is larger than we would prefer, but the other travelers are genuinely friendly and welcoming. Although I have not traveled with them alone, there have been several single travelers on past groups, and they have no problem being included in activities. We've just signed up for another to Turkey--you cannot beat this company.

lee77088

I leaned about this tour company from Travelzoo that they have a special for Dubai and Kenya. I found that they do not care much about clients:

(1) they cancelled my tour 12 days after I paid the deposit because of low participation and I lost travel insurance paid for this tour because it was beyond the insurance company refund date. I called twice only in order to get a response from Friendly Planet.

(2) they promised me to book on other date when they have enough people. Again, they cancelled on me and I only found out when I called them a week later.

No word yet when they refund my deposit and the money that I lost on insurance. I feel that those wrote good about Friendly Planet were very lucky people in the planet. Think if you are not so lucky? I will keep you posted when I get my money.

lee77088

I did receive a deposit refund plus the money that I lost on travel insurance because they canceled my tour after the insurance refund deadline. Unlike other tour companies that guarantee all their published tour departures regardless of headcount, I found it hassle to deal with Friendly Planet. Hope you all have a better luck than I had.

DrMaturin

So two people join FT to praise Friendly Planet, each giving identical ^ while a third person joins just to slam it. Not quite sure what to make of this.

chiefkays

I only have a singular data point to add, but its a positive one.

I took a Friendly Planet tour with my sister back in 2006 to New Zealand and Tahiti. The folks were great. The hotels were much nicer than I could've found for the same prices, especially in Tahiti and Moorea. In Queenstown, we even lost our original hotel and they managed to find us another one even closer to the water. And if you don't like what they're doing that day, you're free to roam about on your own. No complaints from me.

Cher905

Probably just lurkers who found a topic they could contribute to. Wouldn't think too much of it unless a whole raft of new members start popping up.

globetrotter14

Hi-

A few days ago, I came across a travelzoo deal to Turkey that sounds amazing. I've never toured with Friendly Tours before and wanted to gauge thoughts from those who have previously.

Also, for those who have traveled with these tour services, would anyone go again, or would you seek out other travel tour groups?