Hi folks,

I promised to put on a testimonial regarding this holiday, so here goes!

Alison, our tour manager, was superb - totally mad and full of life is probably the best way of describing her! Nothing was too much trouble for our Ali and I can personally vouch for that as I was unwell when we got to Vancouver and she looked after me. Jason, our driver and tour guide, was brilliant and full of fun - always making us laugh with his "stories" - we managed to suss out when he was having us on, eventually! Alison is a real credit to Travelsphere and to Just You in particular, and you would be in for a real treat if you ever got her as a tour manager!

The tour over the Rockies was brilliant - fantastic weather simply added to the holiday. I did the Helicopter ride over the Rockies at Banff, and that was awsome, as was the gondolier ride, the glacier walk and the water rafting (are you dried out yet, Colin????) Each spectacle was more spectacular than the last, and it would be very difficult to determine what was the best of this trip - well recommended if you're thinking of doing it. Hotels were first class and the Canadians were really nice people.

8 of us moved on to the Cruise (and I understand that this part is no longer available) and sadly the weather wasn't with us for this part, but this didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves - very relaxing after the hectic tour! The only criticism I have of the cruise was the tour manager - Barbara - as she really came across as disinterested in us Just You clients! I think you wasted your money on her, Travelsphere! Perhaps she was better with the other members, but certainly not the people from our trip! She also obviously didn't read the literature regarding disembarking as she gave us duff information until it was pointed out to her! When we left the ship (which was lovely with brilliant staff in every area) a rep picked us up and took us on a tour to Granville Island and also to a little fishing town (can't remember the name of it) and she was really good and very knowledgable about the area - it certainly passed the time pleasantly until it was time to make our way to the Airport to come back to UK.

All in all, I would thoroughly recommend this trip to anyone considering it and I would like to thank all the lovely people I met on this tour as they were a fantastic bunch of people - but there again, what do you expect from Just You - nothing but the best.

Hope this is of use to everyone

Regards, Annie

Thanks so much for that report. I have booked this holiday for next May, and a first with Just You. I was very excited beforehand, but even more so now that I have read what you said. You seem to have done quite a few extra excursions on the trip - perhaps you could let me know a rough price for them as I have no idea at this moment in time as to how much to take with me. I am sure I have read somewhere that you cannot pay by credit card whilst you are there, but can they be booked beforehand? Thanks Karen gilpin

Hi Karen,

Yes I did quite a few of the excursions - the helicopter ride was something else, and well worth doing! No you can't pay by credit card - it has to be by cash, and you can't pay before you go. Olly has put something in the Community page with the prices and that's what we paid - I can't see it being very much more than that for next year. What you could do is work out how many/much you will need and perhaps take that amount with you so you know what you're going to need? That's what I did and it worked out OK for me. Meals out for lunch and dinner are very similar, if not slightly cheaper, than in UK, I thought - and we had plenty of stops for tea/coffee etc! The visits to all the lakes are fantastic and postcards don't actually do them full justice - they have to be seen to be believed. You don't need to worry about booking anything before you go as your Tour Manager will do all that for you when you get there. And we saw a bear as we were travelling towards Kamloops - I actually managed to get it on camera! You will thoroughly enjoy this holiday especially if you get Alison as your Tour Manager and Jason as your driver/tour guide. If you need any further info, just let me know and I'll do my best to answer

Take care

Annie

I was one of the 8 JY who went on the cruise and I must say Barbara was very helpful as far as I was concerned, answering all my questions and more. She offered loads of advice as well. On the first night there was an open session with her at 6pm at which I was the only JY attending. In fact only about 40 of her 150+ guests turned up. Each day she was at her post at the designated time answering everything put before her as far as I could see. She gave me explicit info on disembarkation and was a very nice lady.

The Rockies tour was very good tho too short, another couple of days would have been nice as it was a bit rushed and not enough free time to see the lovely sights. Hotels were very good (tho would have preferred to be nearer Jasper). Personally I didn't enjoy the cruise because of the awful weather and the fact I acquired a bad cold on board. It rained the whole week, was quite cold and very rough seas for 3-4 days/nights. Not a lot of scenery en route either - just islands with pine trees, murky water and no wildlife worth talking about!

My advice would be for JY to extend the Rockies trip by 3-4 days and forget the cruise (which they may already have)!