I am also interested in this topic. I am interested in South Africa, Kenya and Israel for 2020, possibly. I look forward to learning more.
I am also interested in this topic. I am interested in South Africa, Kenya and Israel for 2020, possibly. I look forward to learning more.
I haven't done any but have looked at them quite extensively. There are a few that are interesting both for Collette and cruises esp river cruises. I have 3 or 4 trips that I have slated to do at some point that fit in with the points exchange options including 14-15 night Amsterdam-Budapet river cruises, circle Great Britain tour, another Alaska cruise, plus a couple of others less well defined. When the time comes I'll look at my available points, my options, cash prices of similar choices, etc and decide. I've also done a fair amount of research online about Collette and I must say that gives me some hesitation but not enough to rule them out at this time.Any of them, but the China tour in particular?
TT, we are booked for the Iconic Israel tour with Collette in September 2019. I can tell you so far that they have been extremely helpful and pleasant to deal with in making the arrangements. Very patient answering all of our questions.
We booked our own premium (business class) airfare from NYC to Israel as we found better pricing thru AMEX platinum travel services.
Also, we weren’t aware til booking the tour that as Chairman’s Club members we get a $200 credit (per couple) to use for any add ons, extra hotel nights or options for the tour. Our initial bill from Collette was actually a credit!
They have their own tour insurance which is very comprehensive and I would recommend considering. The MVC trip insurance does not cover the Collette tours.
Will keep you posted as to our experience as we leave in a bit over 8 months!
Happy new year!
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That's because there is a drain on the cash as it goes through the steps. Marriott contracts a price with them, likely a discount off rack rates. Then they have to rent out time based on points and I suspect that the reservation system gets a cut. I know with DVC it was a full 50% at one point, not sure if it still is or not.The part that I struggle with most with the Explorer Collection, and in this case Collette tours and cruises, is that the points required to book are inflated by 25% (Collette) to 50% (cruises) of cash value. I am vacillating between trying to rent out my points and take the cash to book directly through Collette or cruise lines or for simplicity, let MVC skim off the points and use MVC points to book them.
I have not, hence the reservation. I have registered an account that matches my name here on TUG with Steven Ting's site. There are lot of things that I am not set up to handle like accepting of money via Paypal etc. I know I am smart enough to understand all of these if I were to put time into it, but boy am I lazy! LOL. So for the price of laziness, I may end up letting MVC skim off my Collette / cruise bookings.Have you rented your pts out before (we never have). It'd have to be quite easy for me to bother vs using them.
Very interested in hearing how the Israel tour goes. Please do let everyone know.
The online feedback for the collette trips are mixed, hence my hesitation, but there's enough good feedback that I can't decide if it's just dependent on who your guide is or some people just can't be made happy, or what.
So for the price of laziness, I may end up letting MVC skim off my Collette / cruise bookings.
TT, we are booked for the Iconic Israel tour with Collette in September 2019. I can tell you so far that they have been extremely helpful and pleasant to deal with in making the arrangements. Very patient answering all of our questions.
We booked our own premium (business class) airfare from NYC to Israel as we found better pricing thru AMEX platinum travel services.
Also, we weren’t aware til booking the tour that as Chairman’s Club members we get a $200 credit (per couple) to use for any add ons, extra hotel nights or options for the tour. Our initial bill from Collette was actually a credit!
They have their own tour insurance which is very comprehensive and I would recommend considering. The MVC trip insurance does not cover the Collette tours.
Will keep you posted as to our experience as we leave in a bit over 8 months!
Happy new year!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Good to know.Hi all, we are just back from our Collette Tour, Iconic Israel booked through MVC using points. Here are my comments observations about the tour and the experience as well as my overall assessment.
- the tour itinerary was very good and comprehensive. We did a lot of things and covered a tremendous amount of ground in seeing the places promised.
- the activity level of “4” (very active) was accurate and the pace was exhausting. Wake up calls at 6am just about every day, in order to gather luggage (on days changing hotels) and to have breakfast and leave for touring by 7:30 most days.
- tour guide was awesome. Knowledgeable, engaging and really added local color to everything we saw and did...BUT guide followed Collettes guidelines for meals, which I will explain below...
- overall the food was terrible. “Included meals” as stated on the tour were primarily buffet breakfasts and dinners at the hotels we stayed at. These are large hotels that cater primarily to tour groups. We dislike buffets and although the choices were varied the quality of the food was not to our liking and NOT what we expected.
- these included meals were at assigned tables to the group, which was fine but sometimes we felt crowded. The times were set as they wanted the group to eat meals together. We found The Times were a rush after returning to the hotel from touring, wanting a bit more down time to relax and get ready for dinner. One day on the bus when the tour guide “asked” if 7 pm was good for dinner nobody spoke up until my wife finally called out, no, that’s too soon. He then said 7:30 and everyone enthusiastically agreed!
- on days when meals were not included such as most lunches, we stopped at pre selected restaurants where they were set up to serve the group with 2 or 3 entree choices, at our expense. We didn’t like the choices and frankly these restaurants weren’t very good except for one in the city of Bethlehem. “Not included” meals didn’t mean we got to decide about lunch, only that we had to pay separately.
- the hotels were all disappointing and certainly were not up to Marriott standards! I could go on in much detail but I won’t.
- there were also some logistic issues with the start of the tour in Tel Aviv, that required me to make 2 calls at my expense to Collette in Rhode Island.
- the final night Farewell dinner was the best meal of the trip. We ate at a very popular restaurant in Jerusalem and had our choice of several entrees all of which were excellent. If they were trying to get a better survey response from us it didn’t work as the guide had handed the survey forms out to complete and return before dinner that night.
- BTW, the tour bus was very nice, comfortable and had charger outlets at every seat (no bathroom on the bus). Our driver was excellent and the transportation logistics throughout were very good, including airport transfers.
We had never done a group tour before so maybe our expectations were different than the reality. In any case If our tour was indicative of the quality of Collette tours I don’t think that MVC is doing a service to its loyal members in offering these tours. They should look into different tour groups, maybe overall or maybe by country to offer for using DC points.
If anyone has any more specific questions, I’d be happy to respond.
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We looked into their China tour. I looked at the hotels they were using on TripAdvisor and Europeans and Russians said that the hotels were dirty and not great. I felt that if they felt that way I would hate it. After more investigation I found 2 tours through Viking River Cruises to China. They are similar to the Collette tour as you are on the Yangtze River only 5 days. The rest of the tour is land and you fly from city to city or take the bullet train. We are booked on the 19 day one for 9/2020. We used DP to book. If you have any specific questions send me a PM.Any of them, but the China tour in particular?
Also, from my investigations Collette is NOT a top tier tour company, there are far better ones, Tauck tours for one.