I have recently returned from this trip.  There were 30 travellers.  Wendy Burdett was the Tour Manager and Stan our driver.  Ray T provided an excellent review of his May holiday, so my review is based on my personal thoughts only.

A long and tiring trip with many hotel changes.  If you are thinking of doing a touring holiday, please ensure you read the itinerary and take note of the distances to be travelled which means long time on the coach. There was a medium size Travelsphere group ahead of us, so only a couple of paths crossing at some hotels. 

I have previously banged on about the need for a comfortable coach on these long trips.  Again, our coach was new, had only one door and insufficient storage around the seat.  Please JY, two doors and more storage on seats ie coat hooks, trays etc.  Various germs were circulating around the coach which stood more chance of being aired if it had two doors.

I'm not a great fan of the TM's style of commentary which is wordy, rambling and soporific.  I sometimes miss important info which has been interspersed.  This is just my personal preference and probably not a problem for others.

Having done the National Parks last year, the first half of this trip was not new to me.  I wanted to see San Francisco and Yosemite, so decided revisiting other parts might not be a bad thing. At least the weather was better! 

San Francisco was lovely and Yosemite vast and beautiful, but so arid.  I think I would have been better off planning to do this trip next May where the vertical waterfall would possibly have been flowing!  Our time in  Yosemite was only about 4+ hours not a full day.

Of the extra excursions, I opted for most of them.  However, I could not visit the Mob Museum in Las Vegas as it clashed with the Tribal Spirit visit to the Grand Canyon West Rim.  I sold my place to a fellow traveller.

I found the Tribal Spirit a rushed experience with hardly any time to appreciate the exhibitions at Eagle and Guano Points.  Also, 7 people expressed an interest in going on this trip but only 6 places were available.  The TM had us picking numbers out of a box, only fair I suppose.  The unlucky traveller who was bumped still had the experience but with a different company.

The SF evening tour with dinner was not that exciting.  The restaurant was ok, the food average and the city tour disappointing because of two cruise ships in and roadworks on our route. The helicopter flight where we flew under and over Golden Gate Bridge was one of the best helicopter rides I have experienced.

There were various comments from the group on this tour and I encouraged all to feed these into JY so hopefully they will.

Happy travelling.

Sylvia

Hi All

I have recently returned from this trip.  There were 30 travellers.  Wendy Burdett was the Tour Manager and Stan our driver.  Ray T provided an excellent review of his May holiday, so my review is based on my personal thoughts only.

A long and tiring trip with many hotel changes.  If you are thinking of doing a touring holiday, please ensure you read the itinerary and take note of the distances to be travelled which means long time on the coach. There was a medium size Travelsphere group ahead of us, so only a couple of paths crossing at some hotels. 

I have previously banged on about the need for a comfortable coach on these long trips.  Again, our coach was new, had only one door and insufficient storage around the seat.  Please JY, two doors and more storage on seats ie coat hooks, trays etc.  Various germs were circulating around the coach which stood more chance of being aired if it had two doors.

I'm not a great fan of the TM's style of commentary which is wordy, rambling and soporific.  I sometimes miss important info which has been interspersed.  This is just my personal preference and probably not a problem for others.

Having done the National Parks last year, the first half of this trip was not new to me.  I wanted to see San Francisco and Yosemite, so decided revisiting other parts might not be a bad thing. At least the weather was better! 

San Francisco was lovely and Yosemite vast and beautiful, but so arid.  I think I would have been better off planning to do this trip next May where the vertical waterfall would possibly have been flowing!  Our time in  Yosemite was only about 4+ hours not a full day.

Of the extra excursions, I opted for most of them.  However, I could not visit the Mob Museum in Las Vegas as it clashed with the Tribal Spirit visit to the Grand Canyon West Rim.  I sold my place to a fellow traveller.

I found the Tribal Spirit a rushed experience with hardly any time to appreciate the exhibitions at Eagle and Guano Points.  Also, 7 people expressed an interest in going on this trip but only 6 places were available.  The TM had us picking numbers out of a box, only fair I suppose.  The unlucky traveller who was bumped still had the experience but with a different company.

The SF evening tour with dinner was not that exciting.  The restaurant was ok, the food average and the city tour disappointing because of two cruise ships in and roadworks on our route. The helicopter flight where we flew under and over Golden Gate Bridge was one of the best helicopter rides I have experienced.

There were various comments from the group on this tour and I encouraged all to feed these into JY so hopefully they will.

Happy travelling.

Sylvia

Hi Sylvia, I totally agree with you about the coaches in America. I did the National Parks and Canyons a few years ago, which is an amazing trip, but a lot of time on the coach which only had one entrance/exit door and there were 42 of us, which I think is far too many. Can you imagine how long it took for everyone to get on and off! The coach even broke down and we spent hours at the roadside before we were collected and taken to our next hotel by a replacement coach. I hope JY can look at the coach door issue and have a policy on the maximum group size.

All the best,

Bob

JY seem to want us to participate on the Forum and comment on the holidays but then appear to do nothing about our concerns! Vickie?

Regards

Sylvia

I have passed this feedback onto the holiday organisers and I will follow up with them on a response.

Please note, I will always pass any feedback from the forum to the relevant team - we value your comments as they help us to continue to improve our service.

Many thanks,

Vickie

Hi Sylvia,

I have passed this feedback onto the holiday organisers and I will follow up with them on a response.

Please note, I will always pass any feedback from the forum to the relevant team - we value your comments as they help us to continue to improve our service.

Many thanks,

Vickie

Many thanks Vickie.

Sylvia