Sri Lanka & Maldives Travel Review: Luxury 2-Week Tour of Colombo, Kandy, Yala, Dambulla, Nuwara Eliya

Review by traveler

Jessica M.

9.20.2021

General Info

Traveler Review

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

Sri Lanka

Maldives

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

Our travel specialist did a great job in working with us during a difficult time of traveling! COVID-19 certainly provided a lot of roadblocks and extra hassles, but they were able to help us go on a wonderful vacation in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. They did a good job of checking in with us and arranging our COVID-19 tests. The driver and the activities they picked were very good, fit our needs, and there was a great mix of different things in our itinerary that we liked. We also loved our accommodation options. Overall we had a great vacation!

Some things that could use improvement:

Attention to detail- there were some things that were overlooked. For example, their travel contract clearly said we were responsible to get our own country tourist visas. We used another service to help us with this and when there were delays, our travel specialist seemed upset. When we reached out to them, they said that was a mistake and they were doing our visas and the hold-up was on us because we had used another agency to help us with the visas. Very frustrating communication.
We had given them our passport and other information months before the trip. I am a US service member and was deployed and did not have access to email at that time- I usually am on top of details like my passport expiring, but this was an unusual circumstance. We then found out two weeks before our trip was set to leave that my passport expired 5.5 months after our trip and we almost were not able to take the vacation- we then had to rush to get a passport. This is why we pay a travel agent to have an eye for detail and the way in which our travel specialist responded to this issue was less than ideal.
During the vacation, we had no scheduled lunches. Every day we had breakfast at the hotel, and dinner was planned at a hotel, but during the day we would sometimes wait a very long time before we were able to have our driver find a place for us to eat. Definitely something that should be considered for the next trip.

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

Maldives:

Loved the resort we stayed at! Wonderful, luxurious, and perfectly timed
Loved being able to dive and see so many different types of fish
It was wonderful to have an overwater villa and just go outside and snorkel on the reef

Sri Lanka:

All of our accommodations were wonderful but our hotel in Nuwara Eliya was SUPERB
Touring the Sigiriya Rock was magnificent and with beautiful views
Dambulla Royal Cave Temple was breathtaking and one of the most unique cultural sites we had ever seen. A MUST do!
Yala National Park was so special- our safaris there were wonderful and we saw so many animals and birds.

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

Plan lunches out during the trip, despite COVID changing things
We would probably have more options and more activities planned - we had a few afternoons/evenings where we were looking for something to do
Definitely do Sri Lanka first and then the Maldives

Travel Company Comments:

Dear Jessica,

Namaste!

We thank you for sharing your feedback.

We are glad to know that you had a pleasant experience in Maldives and Sri Lanka with us. We are also glad to know that you liked the accommodations, guides and drivers during the trip.

Regarding passport validity rule (of 6 months from date of arrival), we had mentioned the information in terms and conditions section through a link in the proposal. But, after this incident, we have started to highlight the passport validity rule in the pricing section of the proposal so that it is clearly visible to our guests and they can take action accordingly. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused due to this. Our team spotted this information about 3-4 weeks before the trip and we are glad that you were able to get a passport renewed in this short duration.

Regarding VISA, in normal circumstances we ask our guests to get the VISAs as the process is simple and online. But, in Covid-19 we arrange the VISAs so that the guests have to face less hassle. Also, as per the new VISA rules of Sri Lanka which keep on changing depending on Covid-19 situation on the ground, local tour operator is mandated to give confirmed reservations with VISA applications so that the VISA is processed. As you had applied the VISA through an agency in USA, there was a delay as the confirmation of hotels were not submitted along with the application. But, we are glad that all was resolved and you had a great trip. We again apologize for the inconvenience this would have caused.

Steps taken to improve:

1. Started to highlight passport validity rule

2. Started to highlight in Bold that VISA is included for Sri Lanka trips

We look forward to serving you again in the near future. We assure that we will improve in the areas suggested by you and make your experience better.

Please stay safe and healthy.

Regards

Team Bespoke

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