Greece Trip Review: Athens, Santorini, 8-Day Vacation

Review by traveler

Myra D.

9.15.2023

General Info

Traveler Review

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Greece

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

I really would like to give this company a 5 star but as much as I was pulling for them, I have to quickly downgrade them to a 3. In theory, they have a great concept and the one thing I will rate them individually on as a 5 is the fact they were able to provide a slew of options of things to do around the islands that I otherwise might have missed or just plainly did not have the time to research. A++ with that and they alleviated the stress and hassle of me having to get my boarding passes to the ferry and two different air transports as I island hopped. THAT was instrumentally wonderful. They also provided transportation to and from which in theory was a great idea but here is where I very quickly started to have to rate them as 3 (C-).

The first day's tour went seamless. The second day I thought it would be the same process however the driver never came to the lobby. I waited and waited so my instincts told me to walk to the edge of the road. (There was no communication from our travel agent or the team to alert me that I had to walk to the end of the road to be picked up. THEN, I get to the car and the gentleman does not speak English very well so he just says he is picking up one person. I asked him to give me my name at which time he proceeded to say he didn't know my name. This is a huge safety issue for me as I am not getting into a random car in a country I had never been to before with a man who hardly speaks English and me not knowing Greek. After having to muddle through this we recognized he was indeed my driver and when he dropped me and my friend off, he just dropped us off in the middle of a madhouse. He did not tell us where to go and the travel agent and/or team did not give us insight of who we were to ask for or what station to go to - NOTHING. It was extremely frustrating. We basically had to fend for ourselves the rest of that day. From this day onward, we found a lot of the same where our driver would just drop us off and not tell us where to go and our agent and/or team would always say "your driver will guide you." But that was not the case and not speaking the language made things even more complicated in many of these scenarios.

Every time we provided feedback to the group there was always an excuse and no one accepted accountability that they had indeed messed up however one of the founders was very instrumental in trying to make things right by giving us upgrades in some fashion after each instance but we were not interested in upgrades… we wanted the incompetence to cease and just be presented with information. The "in a nutshell" feedback is that we are from the US and know nothing about Greece so "we don't know what we don't know". We appreciate having someone do all of the legwork in scheduling and coordinating and going back and forth with us in making decisions. However each night when you verify times to meet the driver, it would be nice to also get a detailed summary of exact addresses and names of where the driver is dropping us off if there is a street address. What are landmarks, etc. If we have to meet the driver at our hotel and have to walk up the road to meet him, that needs to be specified or if we have to walk down a pedestrian street to wait for him at the corner then this too needs to be clearly expressed in the night before confirmations.

We do not feel as if our travel agent really truly "heard" what we presented as "must do's" because we paid over 7k for this trip only for the main thing we desired to be completely eliminated from our tour which truly ticked me off and caused some unpleasantries. The founder comp'ed us again for this huge misunderstanding but it was rushed and and just not fun "after" the fact but the effort for him to try to remedy it was recognized.

There were so many things that went wrong that we even recognized the staff discussing how difficult we were being but again if we pay over 7k for a trip unless it is an act of mother nature keeping us from doing the things we agreed upon, we have every right to expect what we paid for and that is not being difficult. I could list out all of the other mishaps but won't because they were of the same nature just different locations and different drivers etc.

One of the guides was the BEST! She and she alone would probably make me sway my 3 (c-) to a 4 (B) but I just can't do it. However our guide... she gets an A++ as a stand-alone and I thank her for absolutely everything!

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

Santorini is a paradise and the views and the quaint areas were most inviting. Santorini will definitely see me again.

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

I would schedule more time for less touring and be more intertwined with the local life. Being the first trip I wanted to make sure we touched on everything that was must see and do's. I ended up getting food poison while in Athens so I didn't go on the tour scheduled the next day and actually that was the best day I had in Athens. I ventured out to coffee shops... walked the streets, talked with the locals, and experienced life without guides and being on the go.

Travel Company Comments:

Dear Myra,

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback about your recent trip with our travel agency. We hear carefully each and every one of our Travelers since our intention has always been to provide the best possible service.

We were caught by surprise to read that your agent did not “truly hear you” given the fact that in order to craft the perfect trip for you, your communication spanned almost 7 months (from February 2 to August 29) involving 146 emails, 10 different tailored trip plans and numerous phone calls resulting in a 7 day Trip which contained 2 domestic flights, 1 ferry ride, 4 hotels, 5 tours and 10+ transfers. It was our pleasure working diligently to accommodate your requests at no additional planning fee. Just to be transparent the amount paid to our company for the Trip was 4.694,00€ and not 7K as you mentioned. Perhaps, you are also considering your international flights which you booked on your own.

We understand that being in a foreign continent without knowing the local language and ethics can sometimes be intimidating and that is the reason we provide 24/7 support to all our Travelers, with immediate response even when receiving WhatsApp messages in the middle of the night. On top of that we understand that having a foot injury a couple of days before arriving in Greece must have been really difficult to deal with and we believe that we did our best to ease the situation. We are sorry we did not manage to ease your safety issues though, as you mentioned. Unfortunately, as you have experienced, Santorini can be a madhouse in the middle of the Summer, especially on days when numerous cruises unload more than 8000 people on a small island. That is why having a local expert planning and coordinating numerous suppliers for you to have a seamless experience is one of the main advantages when tailoring a Trip. Unfortunately giving exact directions of pick up and drop off points is not an option since many transfers involve docks and places without numbering. That is why we have dedicated members of our Operations Department coordinating everything and handling emergencies whenever needed.

While we deeply regret that your experience did not meet your expectations, we would like to highlight some additional services and upgrades that we offered during your trip, which were not mentioned in your review. These included among others, an upgrade of your cruise of Santorini to a larger vessel so you could be more comfortable due to your medical issues, an upgrade of your walking tour in Athens to a tour with a dedicated vehicle at your disposal, and extra 2-hour time granted in Santorini with a dedicated driver and guide in order for you to capture the perfect Instagram Photo that you wanted so much as you had told your agent. These are just a few examples of our commitment to making your journey as enjoyable as possible.

We understand that every traveler may have different expectations, and while we acknowledge one 3-star review among hundreds of 5-stars is normal, we believe your feedback does not fully represent our commitment to personalized and memorable journeys. We will, nonetheless, take steps to enhance our services, such as investigating the language proficiency of the mentioned driver and providing travelers with vehicle license plate information to address safety concerns whenever possible.