:dodgy:

I am on the trip which is based in Tromso for New Years eve 2014/15. I had my meal alone tonight, as nothing was organised by our rep. All he did was put a notice up on reception board, stating there are plenty of steakhouse's etc in the area for us to explore. I overheard some ladies booking up a fish restaurant at reception, I did look over, however somehow the invite was not forthcoming. I am dissapionted, as some of us are introverted and need restaurants booked for our groups even if it's not included in the tour. I have been on two just you tours before and this was always the case, and then everyone gets on and clicks and fragments of groups do not appear.

This rep is a nice man, however his background is not in this kind of holiday it seems. We have a free day tomorrow, is that going to be the same I wonder ? We do have a trip tomorrow night, and on Friday. But I am dissapionted that the single element I have paid for is not being addressed. The rep could have planned better by provisional booking a restaurant and asking for hands up on coach this morning. That is exactly what a good rep does. ?

Hi Guitarlady,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience last night. I forwarded your comments up to team who were already on the case as Anthony had been in contact with them.

I understand that the hotel restaurant was closed (which would usually be an option for this tour) and the team had been working to find an alternative but unfortunately Anthony had to leave the group for a time due to unforeseen circumstances. Your meal tonight is included as part of your excursion and Anthony will be talking to the group about meal options available tomorrow. My colleagues inform me that Anthony spoke with you this morning at breakfast.

I do hope that you enjoy the rest of your holiday with us.

Kindest regards,

Julia

Hi Guitarlady,

I'm sorry you were upset about eating by yourself last night - I've been on 9 tours with JY and have eaten by myself on a couple of occasions, either by accident or design! I understand you would feel self conscious about doing this, but please don't be afraid to approach others on a free evening as ask if you can join them for dinner. Over the years on the various tours, many people have asked me or the people I was dining with could they join me/us and this has never been a problem! It can feel a bit daunting at first, but I am sure you would be warmly received, as I have been when I have done so myself on occasions. I hope you have a great new year's eve tonight!

Best wishes,

Bob

How sad to hear you ate alone. I am sure no one meant to leave out. It does take a bit of "nerve" to ask to be included. Unfortunately, it sometimes happens that as with life in general, thoughtless and ill mannered people on tours do keep to themselves to the exclusion of others. That's where a good tour manager makes sure no one eats alone unless they are happy to. Please don't let last night spoil your new year celebrations.

Hi Julia, I did in fact spend today on my own too, I looked up the polar museum and went there. On my way back I saw people disembarking a boat which had been out since 9am whale watching. If I had known about this kind of thing I would loved to have gone. However the one full day I have left we do in fact have a trip planned. This is where an optional excursion may have been a good thought ? Or even at the very least the rep getting together with us at the start and informing us of options for our free day. When you arrive in a town you do not know with people you do not know, with activities you know nothing about, it's kinda difficult. And that's in fact what Just You is expert at, not on this occasion though. Dissapionted as I guess others might be feeling.

Hi Guitarlady

I strongly feel that the other ladies should have asked you if you wanted to join them. I know not everyone is confident. Unfortunately such things do not happen often. Hope you still enjoy your trip.

Jaya

Thank you all for your reply. I am home now. The next day again I was on my own as were others it slowly unfolded. Nothing had again been arranged and it now comes to light that most folk were wandering about in pairs small groups or alone in Tromso. Had we of had a welcome meeting this may not have been the case. As I found out too late there were other trips available if we had booked in advance. The other great shame here was the hotel bar was not open at all. Oh it was open to a private party on New Years eve. However Just You had arranged a bash which was really the coming together of some kind of group. The last day was taken up with musher dogs sledging, unfortunately one poor lady broke her foot each side by being rammed into a tree stump by one of the guides, it was accident. Off to hospital she went. Learning from this experience I would be more inclined to make sure I know more about resort before I go next time, that way if a dud rep is leading the way I won't get lost ! However this is a failing of the rep I believe as fundamentally that is what I had paid for ?

I was on this trip and found Anthony was as I would expect from a Just You tour leader (having done around 10 trips). Unfortunately he did have to disappear a number of times when he was taking members of the trip to hospital (sinusitis; failure to depressurise head after plane landed due to a cold; a broken toe; and a fractured ankle) and I think his medical escort duties as a tour guide have to take precedence over arranging a meal.

Having said that, sorry you didn't hear the news that we were all going to meet in reception and then have a walk to find somewhere to eat. In the end five of us went over the road to Pinocchio's which was an excellent Italian. I know most went to the fish restaurant at the harbour as you mentioned.

I like the fact that Just You leave free time to explore. The afternoon of the 30th was enough free time to pootle around the town and pick up some bits for back home; although it was a mistake to have a completely free day on the 31st until the evening out with no suggestions of options to do for such a small town. It's the first time Just You have run this tour and I'm sure all our feedback will be aggregated to improve it for the future.

My main comment was I wished we'd been on the direct Norwegian flights from Gatwick instead of having to change through Oslo from Heathrow on SAS which more than doubled the travelling time with the stopover time, over what it could have been. Norwegian are low cost and the route only runs in the winter months, but you had to pay for food and drinks on SAS (apart from tea/coffee) so there's not that much difference other than an included checked bag. [Having said that, we would have actually been later on the direct because of the Gatwick closure when the Virgin plane landed with a stuck set of wheels, but in principle it would have been a better flight choice.] I went to Salzburg last Christmas and they flew into Munich which was a couple of hours' drive over to Salzburg. This Christmas just gone I saw they flew into Salzburg so maybe they can make the same change on this one for its future tours.

Hi Guitarlady,

Thank you for posting updates regarding your trip. I have forwarded all of your comments along with your recent email to our Customer Care Team who will contact your directly.

Kindest regards,

Julia

Hi Guitarlady,

Sorry to hear you didnt have a good time. On all the holidays i have been on, like yours, there has been a welcome meal and always something to do each day.

The holiday certainly sounds as though it didn't come uo to standard. From my experience of JY tours I have been on, all the reps have done a quick briefing on the way from the airport to the hotel, and sugested a time for people to meet in the lobby so they can arrange going to dinner in groups. If information regardng trips and local places of interest had been provided on arrival, the absence of the rep on medical duty would not have been such an issue. I have now read three accounts of Christmas trips which fell below the normal JY standard. Possibly this is because they were either new or one off trips. Fair play to JY for publishing negtive reports, but not much consolation for the travellers concerned.

I think the post from Pahill puts things into perspective - obviously the tour manager had to deal with several medical emergencies and they have to take priority. At the end of the day, we are all adults and have to take responsibility for ourselves. Having said that, a few comments from the TM regarding some suitable places to meet up or even putting up a notice in hotel reception (some TMs have done that) would have helped matters considerably.

Best wishes,

Bob

I'm sorry that this holiday did not live up to people's expectations, but hopefully JY will take note of some of the suggestions put forward in order to improve this break in the future.

Having said that, the idea of changing the flight to Gatwick would make it a non-starter for me. I live in Birmingham and, with no connecting flights to either Heathrow or Gatwick, I have to travel to Heathrow by National Express which I've done on 5 occasions now. I'm not prepared to travel even further to depart from Gatwick, so adding to the list of departures from LGW is not something that would get my vote.

Mike