I'm sure I've missed some posts others have contributed due to the holding back of posts.  Really frustrating.  

I have two JY holidays booked for 2018, which I was looking forward to, but all the problems are worrying.  In fact booked the India trip with Amritsar, as this is a well established trip over choosing the Central America trip which isn't and suffers also from the huge JY increases in prices.  (And as Bob and Mike will remember I've done a prior new trip in that area which didn't exactly go smoothly.)

Have been booking with lots of other companies, a couple have been great (so far) but I'm tearing my hair out over a future planned trip with Riviera Travel - so not everything elsewhere is rosy.  

Problem for me is not getting a feel for some of the other companies trips beforehand.  Having now been with Titan and Jules Verne and spoken to others on those trips have an idea of what I'd like with them.  But, for instance seen a couple of new tours with One Traveller - to Southern India and a Nile cruise - which I might consider for 2019 but I'd like to have some feedback first.

I think one point made about relying too much on local agents is really important.  I can think of several instances of where this caused major problems.  I still remember with absolute horror the complete dump we were taken to for the welcome meal in Nice - the walking tour on the Côte d'Azur - I couldn't believe there could be anywhere so bad in Nice - some who had been on previous JY trips gave the TM an awful time (I felt really sorry for her, she didn't know where she was taking us) and what the newbies thought I dread to think.

And I'm so pleased to get the option of a ski trip after many years, with no one to go with.  Fingers crossed.

Katy

Hi Katy

For info I tried One Traveller over last xmas and new year touring Thailand and found them to be very efficient and organised and I had a fantastic trip with all excursions and food included. Now looking to book Vietnam and Cambodia with them for Jan. I recently found out that this company was started by someone 10 years ago who used to work for JY. 

Is it me or are more excursions having to be paid for with JY.

Alan

hi Alan,  almost missed your post.  Think it was another post that was slipped in late, for some reason. Glad you had a good trip with OT, their recent brochure very appealing. Good to get some feedback on them.  I've got a trip for next November booked with them, looking forward to it, they were very helpful on the phone.   Off to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in a couple of weeks (not JY).  I'm still going with JY on trips - just paid for their skiing in Bulgaria in January and have India booked for February.  But like others, finding JY a bit wanting recently.

Katy

I have spoken to one of our holiday creators who has assured me that the included and optional excursions remain unchanged.

Kindest Regards,

Amy

I'm sure I've missed some posts others have contributed due to the holding back of posts.  Really frustrating.  

I have two JY holidays booked for 2018, which I was looking forward to, but all the problems are worrying.  In fact booked the India trip with Amritsar, as this is a well established trip over choosing the Central America trip which isn't and suffers also from the huge JY increases in prices.  (And as Bob and Mike will remember I've done a prior new trip in that area which didn't exactly go smoothly.)

Have been booking with lots of other companies, a couple have been great (so far) but I'm tearing my hair out over a future planned trip with Riviera Travel - so not everything elsewhere is rosy.  

Problem for me is not getting a feel for some of the other companies trips beforehand.  Having now been with Titan and Jules Verne and spoken to others on those trips have an idea of what I'd like with them.  But, for instance seen a couple of new tours with One Traveller - to Southern India and a Nile cruise - which I might consider for 2019 but I'd like to have some feedback first.

I think one point made about relying too much on local agents is really important.  I can think of several instances of where this caused major problems.  I still remember with absolute horror the complete dump we were taken to for the welcome meal in Nice - the walking tour on the Côte d'Azur - I couldn't believe there could be anywhere so bad in Nice - some who had been on previous JY trips gave the TM an awful time (I felt really sorry for her, she didn't know where she was taking us) and what the newbies thought I dread to think.

And I'm so pleased to get the option of a ski trip after many years, with no one to go with.  Fingers crossed.

Katy

Hi Katy

For info I tried One Traveller over last xmas and new year touring Thailand and found them to be very efficient and organised and I had a fantastic trip with all excursions and food included. Now looking to book Vietnam and Cambodia with them for Jan. I recently found out that this company was started by someone 10 years ago who used to work for JY. 

Is it me or are more excursions having to be paid for with JY.

Alan

I'm sure I've missed some posts others have contributed due to the holding back of posts.  Really frustrating.  

I have two JY holidays booked for 2018, which I was looking forward to, but all the problems are worrying.  In fact booked the India trip with Amritsar, as this is a well established trip over choosing the Central America trip which isn't and suffers also from the huge JY increases in prices.  (And as Bob and Mike will remember I've done a prior new trip in that area which didn't exactly go smoothly.)

Have been booking with lots of other companies, a couple have been great (so far) but I'm tearing my hair out over a future planned trip with Riviera Travel - so not everything elsewhere is rosy.  

Problem for me is not getting a feel for some of the other companies trips beforehand.  Having now been with Titan and Jules Verne and spoken to others on those trips have an idea of what I'd like with them.  But, for instance seen a couple of new tours with One Traveller - to Southern India and a Nile cruise - which I might consider for 2019 but I'd like to have some feedback first.

I think one point made about relying too much on local agents is really important.  I can think of several instances of where this caused major problems.  I still remember with absolute horror the complete dump we were taken to for the welcome meal in Nice - the walking tour on the Côte d'Azur - I couldn't believe there could be anywhere so bad in Nice - some who had been on previous JY trips gave the TM an awful time (I felt really sorry for her, she didn't know where she was taking us) and what the newbies thought I dread to think.

And I'm so pleased to get the option of a ski trip after many years, with no one to go with.  Fingers crossed.

Katy

Good Morning Katy,

I apologise for the price increases at JY. We are always reviewing these and hopefully these will change in the future.

Warmest Regards,

Amy

My apologies for not posting your thread immediately, the JYHQ has been very busy recently.

However, I would like to reassure you that we are always reviewing our prices, so please do keep us in mind when you are thinking about booking future holidays with us.

Warmest Regards,

Amy

I made a post on this thread at about 6pm last night, which hasn't appeared tho' one by Mike which would have been made later - timed at 4.01 has been added.

Can you explain more clearly what it is that put posts into some black hole.  If there are some things that cause issues it would help to know so we could try to avoid them.

Kind regards

Katy

You’ve summed up exactly my own feelings about JY right now. They used to be a company that I felt that I could trust, but as time goes on, more and more problems seem to arise. I can’t help feeling that they will come to rue some of their business decisions this year - the New Tours fiasco, numerous brochure/booklet/pamphlet issues which have only served to confuse and disappoint everyone, not to mention some of the very large price increases added to many of the tours.

And on top of all that we have posts not appearing on the forum for days - and I’m not referring to posts that require an answer from elsewhere in JYHQ, I’m talking about posts that often answer a query posed by another forum member, which could be issued promptly after going through ‘moderation’ checks.

And now we hear the horror story of a person who has flown halfway around the world (reading between the lines I’m guessing that’s Chile) to find hotel rooms not ready, and the hotel thinking that customers were sharing! And I’m sorry, but the age-old excuse of blaming local agents for this kind of error just wont wash. It’s not the local gents name on the brochure...it’s Just You’s good name on the front cover, and in my opinion they should take much greater care of it. It’s JY who should be checking that all the necessary arrangements for a tour to run smoothly are in place - after all a good reputation takes years to earn, but by the same token, it can be lost very quickly.

Like you Bob, I will continue to travel with JY, but only because they offer such a wide range of holidays. However, with an increasing number of good competitors to chose from I may well be spreading my custom from now on.

Cheers

Mike

I have two JY holidays booked for 2018, which I was looking forward to, but all the problems are worrying. In fact booked the India trip with Amritsar, as this is a well established trip over choosing the Central America trip which isn't and suffers also from the huge JY increases in prices. (And as Bob and Mike will remember I've done a prior new trip in that area which didn't exactly go smoothly.)

Have been booking with lots of other companies, a couple have been great (so far) but I'm tearing my hair out over a future planned trip with Riviera Travel - so not everything elsewhere is rosy.

Problem for me is not getting a feel for some of the other companies trips beforehand. Having now been with Titan and Jules Verne and spoken to others on those trips have an idea of what I'd like with them. But, for instance seen a couple of new tours with One Traveller - to Southern India and a Nile cruise - which I might consider for 2019 but I'd like to have some feedback first.

I think one point made about relying too much on local agents is really important. I can think of several instances of where this caused major problems. I still remember with absolute horror the complete dump we were taken to for the welcome meal in Nice - the walking tour on the Côte d'Azur - I couldn't believe there could be anywhere so bad in Nice - some who had been on previous JY trips gave the TM an awful time (I felt really sorry for her, she didn't know where she was taking us) and what the newbies thought I dread to think.

And I'm so pleased to get the option of a ski trip after many years, with no one to go with. Fingers crossed.

Katy

I wonder if this post will ever see the light of day? Time will tell, but this is just another example of a increasing level of discourse which exists between JY and their customers. Maybe things were already starting to deteriorate before G Adventures took over, but for whatever reason their stewardship cannot be regarded as a great success thus far.

Cheers

Mike

Many thanks for your reply - I don't want to abandon the forum at all and I do know that it has been a huge help to many JY customers over the years, myself included.  But I do wonder what is the point of asking questions or raising issues on the forum that aren't going to be properly addressed.  I'm feeling increasingly angry and disappointed - so many people have passed negative comments in recent weeks about their experiences and the vast majority of them have been ignored by JY - or at best, poor Amy has tried to pour oil on troubled waters.  I really do think that we need a high level response to the various issues we have all been complaining about - and, even more importantly, for the staff at JY to get their acts together and stop all these failures from happening.  It seems like every day there is some new complaint or difficulty that someone isn't happy with.  A lovely travel buddy of mine has just arrived at the first hotel of her tour, having flown half way around the world, to find that the hotel rooms weren't ready and the hotel thought the customers would be sharing.  The very last thing you need when you are exhausted.  These sorts of things should not be happening and attention to detail seems to have gone out the window.  Too much of the organisation has been left to local agents, when JY should be double checking every aspect of each departure themselves, to ensure that each tour has the best possible chance of running smoothly without any hitches.  I have lost so much faith in JY at this stage - the only thing that is keeping me travelling with them at the moment is that they have such a fantastic range of holidays, to places I really want to see.  So I am sticking with them (for the next while at least) in the hope that things will get better.  I don't suppose this post will get a proper response from anyone at JY either.

Best wishes,

Bob