Travel Review: Australia Vacation, Melbourne, Cairns, Sydney Opera House Tour, Great Barrier Reef, Aboriginal Tour

Review by traveler

BinBin P.

2.4.2017

General Info

Traveler Review

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

Australia

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

While the vacation that was planned was adequate, I felt that it was very tedious trying to get ahold of the head of the company who was working with us to plan the vacation. I felt that I was putting forth most of the effort in arranging phone calls to discuss travel plans.

The Sydney Opera House tour that was scheduled for us was truncated due to the fact that there were too many performances going on that day. The opera house said that they told this to each tour operator, but we never received any news of it. As a consequence, we were not able to get access to any of the backstage or concert halls, the supposed highlights of the tour. If our representative had told us this complication, we would have been happy to discuss alternatives, but this news never got back to us.

We also requested Mandarin-speaking guides when possibility. While 2 out of the 3 were adequate, the third one was a translator and not a guide, which meant that we had to pay an extra person to come with us. If we had known this was the case, or if we were given a choice, we would have opted to translate the information within the group and avoided the extra cost. The translation was very amatuer and mediocre, at best.

Overall, while the accommodations were good, especially in Cairns, we felt like it was not good value for the money and did not feel that Warren put in the effort to help us have a special trip. Everything was adequate, but not above and beyond, but since this was supposed to be a luxury travel experience, we expected something more, and not just some average vacation that we could have easily organized ourselves. We didn't feel like our travel agency valued us that much as customers and did the bare minimum while charging a high fee.

This was especially apparent when we said we wanted to book our own accommodations in Melbourne, since we have a timeshare there. Our travel agency was only able to find 2 tours for us in this area even though we asked for more activities, citing that our hotel was too far from the city. When we arrived, it was very obvious to us that there are plenty of tour options in the region and it was merely that our travel agency did not have time/capability to do a little more research for us. I was very disappointed with this. Also, we did not receive the detailed itinerary until the day before we left for the trip. Given that this was a fairly large group that was traveling together, all coming from various countries, it was essential that we share the itinerary as soon as possible. I had to send several emails to chide them to send this to us before we received it. This is also not acceptable. All this is in comparison to the excellent experience we had last time when we arranged a trip to Italy with a travel agent, also booked with Zicasso.

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

We enjoyed the Aboriginal tour in Cairns very much, as well as the experiences with our Great Barrier Reef tour operator.

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

Find another travel agent.

TRAVEL COMPANY COMMENTS:

Thank you for your review. I have to say I was more than a little surprised and shocked. I am very sorry.

Firstly to address the things I can hopefully do something about after the fact:

We were never notified by the Sydney Opera House that tours would be ‘truncated’ due to there were too many performances on 21 January. In 20 years of selling tours and performances at the Sydney Opera House I have never heard of tours being shortened for any reason. There have been days when tours are not conducted – but never shortened. I have asked the Sydney Opera House for an explanation. If we had been notified of an operational issue I would never have arranged a tour on the day we booked it for you. We will refund the cost of the truncated tour you took on the 21st.

You stated “As a consequence, we were not able to get access to any of the backstage or concert halls, the supposed highlights of the tour.” The tour we booked for you should definitely have taken you to the Concert Halls. There is a ‘Backstage’ tour of the Opera House that operates early in the morning. Access to the Backstage is not part of the regular Opera House Tour and I am sorry if someone gave you the impression you were going to get Backstage as part of the tour we booked.

Again, I am saddened that you found the Mandarin-speaking guides simply adequate - and even more disturbing to hear the 3rd guide was “amateur and mediocre, at best”. I have passed on your comments to the translation service provider we use. We will of course refund the cost of this guide/translator.

I didn’t receive everyone’s arrival and departure flight details until Thursday, January 12. We notified our transfer companies that day (which was Friday in Australia) and received confirmation pick up times from them on Monday, January 16th. We sent final documents to you on January 17th. Yes, it was close to your departure date, but we couldn’t have issued your final documents until we had those flight times.

I am glad you enjoyed Cairns, the Great Barrier Reef and the Aboriginal tour in Sydney. I hope they played the didgeridoo for you on the cruise part of the tour. But I am very sorry your overall experience was ‘adequate’. That is not what we strive for and I am sorry that was your experience.

But more upsetting to me was the fact I left you feeling it was “tedious trying to get hold of me”. I’m at a loss as to how to fix that. I am sorry I did not pick up on your frustration at the time. I know you wanted to schedule a call the week I was going to be on vacation. And sometimes we did not get answers from Australia in a timely manner. But there were more than 120 emails between us and several conversations. But I was obviously not making myself more available to you and for that I apologize.

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Travel Review: Australia Vacation, Melbourne, Cairns, Sydney Opera House Tour, Great Barrier Reef, Aboriginal Tour

General Info

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

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

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

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

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