Irish Classic Self-Drive - 13 Days/12 Nights

Customer Reviews

• S

  Sheri

  · October 13th, 2021
  I am changing this from poor to bad because CIE did not have the courtesy to respond. I sent an email to customer service and then found the president’s name and sent the same to her. Here is what I said: Here is a discussion of the issues: Giant's Causeway: The bus at the Causeway was not running (I am told that CIE did know this, but the tour guide said that she did not know it as CIE had not informed her). This took 40-60 minutes off of our visit there as we had to walk and therefore had almost an hour less to spend there. This should have been planned for. Lunch: On two days there was apparently no time or place to stop for lunch. On the first of these days when we were going to St. Patrick's Centre we stopped at a travel stop where we could buy sandwiches at 9:30 am (more than two hours before lunch which meant that the meat might spoil). In addition there was only one of their sandwich stands open that early in the day which had a very small selection. Interestingly there turned out to be an open Subway store right by the St. Patrick's Center which would have made an adequate lunch stop. There was no place to eat our lunches except standing outside in the cold or on the bus. The tiny tables on the bus were not totally parallel to the floor of the bus and I spilled my drink all over myself. On the second of these days (Waterford factory tour day), we were told again that there was no time for lunch and that we should pick up something in the grocery store to eat on the bus. Actually had the guide managed time better there would have been time for a lunch in the town we were in where the famine ship was. That spare time was used earlier that morning in a second visit (40 minute) to the Waterford factory store. We had visited the store the day before and certainly did not need a second visit. Tour Guide: There seemed to be chunks of wasted time on this tour. I have never been on a tour before where events did not simply occur in a seamless sequence. I can only say very positive things about all of the prior tour guides that I have had in the past. I really have no positive accolades for our tour guide on this trip. Maureen did not always seem to know what was going on. She rambled a bit. She did not seem to get clear information from CIE. She did not have a decent lunch stop planned for two of the days. She filled in spare time with a second visit to the Waterford store. Her organization, presentation, enthusiasm, and persona did not measure up at all to my past experiences. At the end of the tour she went through the evaluation with us and basically told us how to rank each item. She probably saw that as just refreshing our minds, but I certainly felt like she was telling me how to answer each question especially when she told us how to answer the questions on the welcome drink, the tour guide and the driver. Missed Visit: The itinerary for Sept. 17 which includes a visit to Slieve's League Cliffs says, "Stop for tea and scones before returning to Westport...". We did not make this stop. I asked Maureen about it and even showed her the itinerary. She simply said repeatedly, "I know nothing about it." Hop on Hop Off bus: Our tour guide said that you also own this company so you should know what is going on. Maureen said that they run every 10 minutes, the brochure says that they run every 15 minutes but the bus stop sign said every 60 minutes. There is nothing "hop on hop off" about a bus that runs once an hour. This was an extremely poor excuse for a tour day. In addition we took a bus at 3:50 which said "not in service" but he picked up and others up. Then shortly after the zoo stop he announced that it was the end of the line for him so we either had to wait an hour for another bus or walk back to the hotel. We never did get to finish the hop on hop off circuit. Covid-19 Testing prior to returning to the US: This was a fiasco. According to Maureen, CIE did set up an appointment but dropped the ball and did not confirm. Consequently they did not have it on their books. We needed to go to a different hotel for this and hone in on a different group's time which caused some anger and upsetness with people on the tour and I think the other tour guide. The evaluation form: The form was out of date. It also said that it was totally confidential but we were asked for our names and the ability to seal the form (it said "moisten and seal") did not work. I realize that your business has been dormant for quite awhile but that is all the more reason to have a spectacular well organized product when you reopen. CIE's Commitment to Customer Safety: Your website lists health and safety guidelines and Ireland also has laws and rules. Ireland and Northern Ireland require masks indoors and on public transport including coaches. All of your customers were complaint in this. However both the tour guide and the driver had significant problems adhering to the law and the rules. The driver and tour guide did not wear a mask on the bus 100% of the time. In addition the driver also did not always wear his mask indoors. In addition whenever the tour guide talked to one of us held her mask down below her nose and mouth. First of all, they should have been setting an example. I was really concerned about this issue as I was afraid of getting covid-19 on the trip. So I contacted CIE on the first day of the trip and fully expected you to intervene but you did not. Here is a copy of the reply that I did receive:
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  Trip date: September 2021