Travel Review: Australia Family Vacation, Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney

This is a review of the land and internal air reservations made for my family of three adults for a trip to Australia from November 28 to December 12, 2015.

The overall rating I give this travel company, and their representative with whom I had all my communications over a period of almost one and a half years, is a rating of Superb. Almost all of of our requirements were attended to and recommendations from them were timely and complete.

All the tours selected, the tour companies selected and their tour guides provided by the tour companies selected by this company were superb. We were met and taken to the tour areas on time, with excellent transportation, the tour guides were knowledgeable and professional, all transfers to and from airports and accommodations were on time and friendly. 

The overall 14 days were constructed with the type of tour and length of tour carefully planned so as not to  interfere with needed nights of rest for the next days event(s). The internal air reservations between cities were planned and contracted for in our behalf at reasonable times of the day. The Australian ETA Visas were obtained for us and emailed a few weeks before our departure from the USA with Vouchers for all planned transfers, tours and accommodations. The Vouchers provided by our travel company gave all the information we would require with the name, address and telephone number of the Tour and Transportation Company as well as the Australian on ground contact if it was ever needed.

Most of the the accommodations, of which there were 3, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney were superior.The only accommodation that was a little crowded and lacked drawer space was the 2 Bedroom, 2 Bath, Loft facility in Melbourne. This facility, having a very narrow and winding staircase, to the second floor loft was more crowded in terms of individual space, placement of personal belongings and baggage storage for 3 adults. A larger facility in Adelaide and Sydney  gave us much more space and adequate facilities.

There were a couple of miscommunication events that should be noted : 1. Upon arrival at the first stop in Australia at the hotel in Adelaide we were given a 2 Bedroom, 1 Bathroom facility. Only after I showed them the Voucher for a 2 Bedroom, 2 Bathroom accommodation did they somewhat reluctantly provide the type of facility contracted for. 2. Unbeknownst to me and my adult sons, all the facilities required a cash deposit to cover the full number of days  at the facility to cover "incidentals" , i.e. minibar, laundry, etc. costs. When our laundry fees amounted to more than the amount of cash deposit given at the time of registration, we were presented with an invoice that was required to be paid immediately. That represented another unknown -if we wished to pay the laundry invoice with a credit card there would be an additional 1.5% fee added on. This was also the case if we wished to pay any additional fees when we checked out- a 1.5% add on to the closing invoice if we wished to charge the outstanding fee(s)  to a credit card. Advance notice to the client/traveler would help them to either be equipped to pay the additional charge or have enough local currency to pay for the fee in cash. These types of local procedures and methods should be told to the traveler before departing for their trip to any locale that entertain these ways of doing business. They should not be an unwelcome surprise.     

Overall, my sons and I enjoyed the trip immensely and would definitely recommend this company and their representative to anyone who would want a referral for a trip to Australia.