Tips to remember before deciding on CHARIOT WORLD TOURS
1. Compare the prices with other tour operators since the chariot tours charged us a bomb for the facilities they provided compared to other tour operators who were providing same or better facilities.
2. All that promises made, was never adhered to by chariot tours.
3. Please remember chariot tours are only booking agent making a clean profit.
4. The tour is conducted by star world tours and they were never aware of the assurances made by chariot to its customers.
5. Please review the hotels on trip advisor or similar website since majority of the hotels selected had bad reviews given by guests stayed, and at least five times the hotel list were amended and customers are always kept in dark till the last minute. As I noticed other tour operators had provided better hotels and had adhered to the list provided in their website.
6. Some of the hotels were really bad rather they were dingy rat holes.
7. Non of the add-ons were served at appropriate time and were never relevant.
8. Coffee was never made available and tea was either served with lunch at 12.30pm or after dinner around 9pm.
9. The itinerary was too cramped and there was no breathing time and sometimes it was too tiring instead being holiday it turned out to be punishment.
10. Some days after dinner we had to travel 200kms to the hotel, this was height of stupidity and lack of proper planning and most days we had to travel quite a distance to hotel after dinner.
11. On one occasion the the bus crew left us at least half kilometres away from hotel making us carry our heavy luggage to the hotel.
12. When plenty of shops were available to buy cuckoo clocks just 2kms away we were confined to a spot were only one shop available with inflated prices the same cuckoo clocks were available at half price at Switzerland.
13. Please use discretion while buying chocolate from the shops recommended by the tour guide, the same best chocolate is available at less than half price at some other shops and at Lindt chocolate factory located at "Top of Europe " tourist spot.
14. Never ever make purchases from the shops recommended by the tour guide since it is at least inflated by 100%.
15. The entire tour was very hectic without any breathing time.
16. Chariot has no discretion or knowledge about how the tour is conducted, they are just the booking agent and the entire discretion lies with "star World tours"
17. The caps and the bags provided were disgusting and pathetic. Was not worth carrying since it gives a different opinion about Indians to the world.
18. The pre-departure meeting was held at a very dingy, stinking, unhygienic,dark and smelly place.
19. Chariot thinks it's a favour to provide rooms with private facilities for the bomb they have charged.
20. Food was nothing exceptional it was routine tasteless North Indian fare.
21. Continental breakfast was most part of the tour was bad and days passed without even bread for most of the days it was different breakfast for the hotel guests compare to the pathetic breakfast served to us, Chariot tours had compromised our interests for making profits.
22,sufficient bottled water was always served.
23.Finally we had to bear the nonsense of the most crude, unprofessional, disgusting and Remorseless man called Mr.shanbag who has no sentiments attached to the wellbeing of customers compare to the dirty profits he is after.
May 13
basavaraj and Laxmi b raj Europe tour from 20th April 2015, chariot world tours. We travelled through etihad airways from bangaluru stopped over Abu dhabi for connecting flight to London, all through emigration clearance was smooth without any hurdles except for long ques at London. Food was ok nothing great about. After coming out of airport the city tour started immediately first was visit to swaminarayan temple then after lunch city tour continued we visited the jewels of thrown everything was glittering from their to dinner it took three hours it was very tiring dinner was ok back to room at copthrone hotel at 9.0
Pm rooms were ok, it was very compact and small. Day one was not planned well after jet lag and severe body pain and tiring journey the tour planners should have shown some mercy on us.
Day two, got up at 5.00pm planning to visit London eye........morning after an excellent breakfast we headed to London eye our guide had got special passes at a price, so without waiting in the que we moved into London eye now owned by coco cola an fantastic engineering marvel one gets an 360 degree view of the city and its almost constructed on river Thames there was a 4d show for a duration of about 5mns then had a good lunch at masala zone. After lunch we visited madam Tussauds wax museum met all Bollywood, Hollywood and dignitaries of yesteryears and the present, it was worth the price paid again we did not wait in the ques from their we went to visit lords cricket stadium the gentlemen guide explained us the all the significance of the stadium. The day was spent well except for the lunch that was served at 6pm somehow it was far too early.
Yesterday we left London at 6.30am and travelled to Brussels then again to Netherlands till 1am in the morning, it was tiring and felt it was very badly planned itinerary. Travelling for such long hours put us off in addition we had to change over the bus and our baggages without any help from the driver and his assistant. A total put off. Chariot had not organised the day well. Hope the coming days will be good. The bus was very bad just like its driver and his assistant.
Today we left to tulip gardens, amazing place, beautiful landscapes filled with people of all races and ages. Our tour operator did not offer food instead gave us 10euro each which did not fetch much. The chariot fellows to be blamed for showing us very ambitious itinerary which is impossible to achieve is what we experienced. The dinner was average and added to it the tortuous driving of more than two hours to the hotel was uncalled for. Instead of the painful exercise the hotel should have been identified close to the restaurant which would have saved two hours of our time in addition we would have got some quality sleep. Amsterdam was great in the cruise. Due to paucity of time and Ill planned itinerary Madurodam was just touch and go we could rather allowed was just five minutes.
We vacated the nh hotel at Netherlands, hotel was average, rooms were small and congested. After breakfast we left towards Germany. Slight drizzling and outside climate was at 12 degrees
It was drizzling all through, high way was great the landscapes were feast to eyes. We were taken for lunch at Rangoli near the church, quite a bit of walking through the market place, we had about ten minutes for shopping other than that the church was huge gothic design elegantly painted glasses were artists superb talents, later on in the day we took Rhine river cruise was very good all through it was scenic and beautiful. We reached our hotel at limburgerhof very tiny rooms which cannot even hold two suitcases we can call it a true "rat hole" dinner was Indian and normal.
Today is 27th April we are planned to visit Black Forest and later Austria. We visited Black Forest all through it was beautiful. I had planned to buy cuckoo clock, I had already studied about so many shops and we were having plenty of choice and the best prices but in reality " The chariot guys took us to such a place were their was only one shop and when questioned he said that was the best shop" most of whom planned gave up the idea of buying one because we knew we were feeding euros as commission to "THE Chariot guys" when we enquired, the other tourists said their were plenty of shops just 3kms from-the spot this guy had parked and their was beautiful lake which was an attraction that was denied to us. From Black Forest we proceeded towards Austria and it was amazingly picturesque all through. The scenery was spell bounding with titonir Alps covered with snow is now visible all through the journey. Austria was again beautiful with snow filled Alps all around it. We had good dinner and surprisingly the stay at hotel stay inn was good. The hotel with spacious rooms and good location made the day. The only regret was that the agent cheated us of good shops for cuckoo clocks because he was greedy for commission, as usual the greedy made it all and tried to loot our hard earned money.
Today we started at 8-30am drove 500km to Venice. Roads were good all through picturesque Austria and as we entered Italy one can notice the change in architecture and industries in Italy. We had our food at Gandhi restaurant and headed towards romantic Venice. Truly it was romantic. The rain travelled with us all through but got relief when we took the gondola ride, it was beautiful. Today we stayed at Sheraton, beautiful and spacious rooms.
Our last destination Venice was beautiful fro there we proceeded towards Rome, started our journey at 8.30am to cover a distance of 600kms in between we stopped at Ferrari museum. It was impressive. We could see all the ferraris manufactured right from beginning to the latest, some authentic merchandise of Ferrari was available for sale, a little expensive but good. The journey was tiring the tour operators should have other mode of transport but the bus journey was ultimate test on human body. Reached hotel at 7.30pm immediately after dinner we proceeded towards "Rome during night" another two hours of journey, the monuments were good but the day was tiring they could have planned the day better. The journey was a monumental waste of precious time and energy. The hotel "The Aran park"was good and spacious .
Today our itinerary was Rome. We visited Vatican in the morning it was beautiful with Michael angelos painting and sculpture it took us a full two hours then the time machine were we were taken back to past explaining everything about Roman Kingdom, it was good, after lunch again to colosseum ruins and other main ruins then we visited St. Paul's church the worlds largest church beautiful it with amazing sculptures at a very bigger scale.
Visit to Rome was once a life time opportunity, since then we travelled to Florence. We visited duomo the city's iconic landmark then Renaissance sculptures in an open air museum beautiful sculptures, technically superb display of the talents of the artist a walk of more than 3kms worth all the while. We proceeded towards Pisa to visit the leaning tower after visiting the sculptures felt nothing significant about it except an engineering goof up, around 8pm we got into a dungeon called hotel, one of the worst place to be called a hotel. It is in ruins not keeping date with the present the lifts were a direct lift from horror movies, the room were shabby with worn out paint, rags called as rugs a direct descendant of Roman ruins well they are maintained and this hotel never ever gave a scent of being maintained.
Today we left Florence at 8am and halted at Milan on the way the fashion capital we could visit a beautiful church designed by Michael angelo then travelled towards Switzerland reached Switzerland around 8pm. It was picturesque from half way through. One can see snow covered mountains, innumerable small falls, water streams and greenery all through. Quality of life seems to be unmatched. Since it was 1st may not much of traffics, heavy traffic was out of road so the driving was smooth reached hotel Ramada, seems to be good.
Reaching Switzerland was a mesmerising experience, today we visited titles at more than 10000 feet travelled in cable car in different stages to reach the titles. The experience was wonderful, in short it was heaven on earth. The snow covered mountain at a very reachable sight makes you wonder the pinnacle of engineering design adopted by the agency to make tourists enjoy the amazing Titlis. Late after lunch we left to Luciano lake, it is a fresh water lake huge one in fact it was crisp and clean, the cruise ride was amazing and very picturesque. We were given time for shopping from 4.30pm to 6.30pm the sad part is none of them could do any worthwhile shopping because on Saturdays most of the establishments were closed after 4pm. The tourist were looking for some quality time to shop but the tour Guide Mr Jagdish shah turned out to be sadist who some how scuttles our plan to shop or directs us to such shops were he gets his share flesh as commission. The tour guides are like mafia when it comes to shopping by tourists. They always take us to such shops were they get their commission or discourage us from shopping. Today I bought a wrist watch at Switzerland we had to get custom stamp at border but he has been giving us excuses since he is deprived of commission. Today morning we are heading to Geneva.
From Switzerland today we went to trummel Bach falls which is inside mountain, we get into a lift and then walk to experience the falls , amazing experience. Totally mesmerising, the falls was falling at 20'000 litre of water every second. Later travelled to top of Europe in train. We had to change two trains to go to top of Europe. It was heaven on earth. The entire mechanism of going to top of Europe was built in 2012' one has feel and see the Mesmerising mountains covered in snow. Beautiful is a lesser word to explain what you see we were given around 4hours to fall in love with the snow filled mountains. The nature is at its full bloom, and we were the lucky few to experience the spell bounding scenery all around you.
Every good is balanced with bad, we were told the best deals for chocolates was at Luciano at a particular shops like wise for people who still wanted to buy cuckoo clock could do so and as well shopping. The tour guide Mr Jagdish shah calls himself repeatedly "gold " with 32years of experience. People had purchased quite a big chunk chocolates branded as Lindt but the chocolate was available for less than half price at Lindt chocolate factory at top of Europe, cuckoo clocks were available at less half price at Luciano compare to Black forest where it originates and manufactured. In fact at Black Forest he took us to one particular shop and there was no other shop or competition. At Luciano most of the shops were closes by 4pm on every Saturday s and this guide with 32years experience didn't know was hard to believe. People were Deprived of a good shopping experience, and the guide made quite a bit of money by way of commission by guiding us to particular shops were he had a tie-up . Tourists should beware of such greedy corrupt polluted culprits.
Today after breakfast we left Geneva to reach Paris, on the way at Geneva we could see some historical buildings like CRY, WTO, UNO and other buildings Paris was 545kms from Geneva and we started driving highway was relatively free. Halfway through we were given packed lunch, highway had some place with some tables and chairs and restrooms, we had a quite cold lunch. Reached Paris at 7pm and was asked to report to coach by 7.30pm to enjoy a panoramic night drive in Paris. We were dead tired and was in no mood to enjoy the ride. We would have missed the beautiful drive if we had opted out. The fashion capital of the world was at its full bloom, we had our dinner and roamed some important streets and historical buildings, the illuminated Eiffel Tower was visible from every corner of the Paris and what a view it, later at 11pm we were near Eiffel Tower and exactly at 11pm the tower went full bloom with sparkling lights for a full 4minutes "it was a full paisa wasool " amazing, and breath taking view everybody enjoyed by the time we came hotel Mercury it was around 12am, straight to bed.
Today we left hotel and headed to Eiffel Tower it was drizzling and cold. We stood in the que for about 15mns previous night we were prepared to tolerate standing in the que for at least 2hours fortunate we were not much of a crowd it was breezy and cold we were allowed up to second level only that was enough to have a great view of Paris. Enjoyed the second level inspite of strong wind and cold later after lunch we visited Versailles palace of Louis xvi beautifully maintained palace with lots of sculpture and paintings, then dinner and back to room.
We were taken to Disney world and we opted for Disney studios. Some of the shows we visited were great fun. Earlier we had requested for some time for shopping, so we limited our time till 3pm at Disney world, later we took metro attached to Disney world and in flat 2minutes we were at a huge shopping mall, prices were reasonable and all global brands were present. We shopped till 6.30pm and we were back in coach. After dinner we went to lido show, it was a beautiful show without an atom of vulgarity, every adult and teens enjoyed the show. It was worth every penny we spent "a full paisa vasool ", by the time we were in bed it was 2pm.
Next day it was a leisurely wake up, we went on a seine river cruise for an hour, it was good, later we had lunch and left for museum to visit the most commercialized mo alias, we had no appetite for any of the other exhibits so strolled the streets to see for a worthwhile shopping, but nothing exited us and the day was over and the next day we traveled back to Bangalore.