Hi Gabriel: (Thailand and Beijing Tour in October 2006)

I’ve talked to my clients, Fehr, Hezel, Carrier and Legg. They had a wonderful time. Everything was very well taken care of for them. They thought the tour guides were very knowledgeable, friendly and efficient. In Bangkok the day that they were to board the ship the traffic was atrocious. The driver that they had took some back roads and by driving through small towns he was able to get them to the ship in 2 ½ hours. The group from Quebec who decided to book through another supplier did not have as much luck and apparently it took them 4 ½ hours to get to the ship. One day they took less time at one of the temples than the time that their guide had allocated but they didn’t have time to go back to the hotel to rest. Their guide suggested taking them for a foot message and this was something that they thoroughly enjoyed. They were very pleased with the tour operators that you deal with.

They only had a few minor quibbles. I feel that for the most part it is just a matter of personal preference and also a couple of the members in the group were not feeling well towards the end of the cruise. The issues that they brought up were:

They got to point where they felt “templed out”. Too many temples. This is a personal issue. Many people would be disappointed if they missed out on some of the temples One of the days in Beijing was too long. Again I feel this is a personal thing. If you want to see everything there is to see in a short period of time you will have long days. I also think the age of my clients and health issues factored into this issue.

In Beijing the evening that dinner was included as part of the package (not the Peking Duck dinner, this was very good), the meal was inedible. Apparently the tour guide told them to be sure that they had a good breakfast that morning as dinner at the restaurant in the evening would not be very good but unfortunately he had orders from his boss that they were to go to this particular restaurant. This is something that I think can be corrected. Could you discuss this with your supplier? This is one area where all of my clients expressed their dissatisfaction.

Thank you, very much for everything Gabriel. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Best regards,

Valerie Brotherton,

Travel Consultant,

Arriva Classic Travel