History Tour & Trip Reviews

Me and my best friend went on the London/Dublin tour. The tour guide was great but I honestly don’t see where the money went. We only got one meal per day and it was terrible. Rooms were shared and not private. No tour was actually included. They dropped us off at various landmarks and we had to pay and wait in line on our own if we wanted to tour them, there was nothing scheduled for us. The final goodbye dinner was laughably bad, like the portions were small, food was cold, and ice cream was dessert but…it was literally all melted. Yes they served everyone bowls of liquid ice cream, I am not exaggerating in the slightest. Before booking the trip, it was extremely difficult to get anyone at EF on the phone to answer questions, and emails usually went unanswered. I do not recommend this service at all. The only positive was that we got to meet some other cool people.

I don't even know if this company Aer Lingus Vacation Store is still in business. They are NOT part of Aer Lingus airlines. They have had my money since January 2020. They canceled my 2020 trip and gave credit - NO REFUNDS. Travel advisory for Ireland in Sept. 2021 says DO NOT TRAVEL to Ireland due to Covid. I have sent many emails, spent HOURS on hold. 12 calls just in the last month with no answer, reply or ability to leave a voice message. A month ago a live person answered, she said that she works out of her home and she would get back to me. There is no indication that this call was ever acknowledged nor any actions taken. I am scheduled to leave in a week and I still can't get a hold of anyone at this company. There is no way to cancel on line, I will be resorting to contacting the airline and hotel and car rental directly to see if they will take the cancellation. My friend and I are out over $4,000 by dealing with Aer Lingus Vacation Store.

My wife and I, together with our son and his girlfriend, booked 3 nights on Caprice to celebrate her 60th birthday. We even paid extra for early check in and check out. We did this because we had had to cancel our holiday in Majorca. At less than half a day's notice, after we had packed our car with provisions for the cruise, we got a phone call from Marcus at Le Boat to tell us that the booking had been cancelled because the boat had broken down. And unless we were prepared to accept an alternative (which would effectively have given us only one day on a boat) we would have to accept a refund. We were staggered at this short notice cancellation, because it is impossible now to book anything by way of an alternative. When I asked what compensation they would offer, I was told that it would be limited to £80 in accordance with their terms and conditions. This is entirely unsatisfactory. It amounts to a risory £6.66 per person per day. We are deeply disappointed at not being able to celebrate my wife's 60th and they clearly don't care a jot, sticking rigidly to their Ts and Cs. The alternative was completely unacceptable, as was the suggestion that we should change our dates (which was impossible, as my son and his girlfriend had taken leave specifically for the dates booked). In short, we feel utterly let down, disappointed and would strongly advise never to touch this company with a bargepole. It is likely, we think, that they knew about the problem long before they rang us, because they had failed to make any contact with us in the week before the cruise as they had promised to do. Jeremy Groombridge

Absolute shambles of a company. I know covid is still rife, but come on. Read on.....
Booked flights for Sunday 26th September until 17th October from Manchester to Orlando. First time doing 3 weeks but I'm 60 when we're away and thought this would be a treat. AL informed me that they won't be starting flying out on June as expected because of covid but would be flying from 30th September. So my holidays are before this date. Thought okay - get refund and book for a week later and still get 2 weeks away. Nicey nicey. So I paid a deposit, expecting my voucher to arrive before I pay the balance. Still waiting. Incidentally, I was on the phone for 1.5 hours before I got through to an AI robot, which was a huge waste of time. I had to repeat myself umpteen times and her voice was burbled and gargled like she was drowning. Nothing was achieved. The day comes when I have to pay my balance for my rebooked flight, I go online to pay, but the website is playing up, as actually stated by AL themselves. It said the booking had been cancelled, I assumed because of covid, but no email to say that or even to ask me for my balance, which is just as well I remembered it was due. Tried phoning them and held on for 1hr and 10mins. I phoned another AL number later and held on for 1hr and 30mins. Screenshots to prove! In between all that, desperately trying to get my hands on somebody by email, Facebook or Twitter to no avail. Actually AL on twitter had a statement saying they were having problems with the website and an engineer was working on it! Managed eventually to send a message on FB messenger and got an automated response. Woke up next morning (15 hours after leaving message) and they said as I had not paid my balance on time my booking was cancelled and my deposit was forfeited. I said the deposit should go against a new booking, refunded or even a voucher, under the circumstances. After explaining to them their website was not working and explaining my whole story again, this was to no avail. After 24 messages back and forth (screenshots to prove) she said there was nothing she could do and send in a form! This is still where I am at. Through no fault of my own, trying to pay the balance online, phoning for hours, emailing and messaging them, they are taking no responsibility. Absolute shocking. She said I could have paid by phone, but this was not stated online and I would have probably had to hold on for 2 hours! I have no deposit back and cannot afford to be over £300 out of pocket. They need to get real people there in case of serious problems like this, not AI robots. Disgraceful. Still fighting them.

I just had Aer Lingus cancel parts of my flight back to the US. Despite the fact that I had a ticket in my hand for Aer Lingus, they were unwilling to help me sort a new flight, stating that I had booked through Kayak and they were unable to alter flights booked through a third party.

I contacted the booking agency who said this was not true. The agency told me that they have agreements with other airlines for situations just like this, and that there were laws specifically for this. Still, they refused to help me or let me speak to a manager. For some reason, they also hung up on me not once but twice. I know it's had to believe, but I was incredibly nice even though it was a horrible situation.

They said the call dropped, but it switched to hold music before it dropped, so that doesn't make sense.

Of course now, flights are triple what I paid six months ago. I am stuck in the UK with no way home. I may look into a solicitor. This doesn't seem right.

I booked a trip to Ireland in January 2020 before Covid restrictions went into effect. It was supposed to take place in December 2020, but they canceled it because of covid. I paid over $2700 and purchased travel insurance in case of an emergency, yet they refuse to give me a refund. I have been contacting them multiple times over the past few months, only to receive no response which is increasing my frustration. I do not want a voucher for a future trip - I want a refund for the money they stole from me.

They are liars and thieves, and I hope they get sued.

I would give them negative stars if I could.

DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY.

Fantastic Company!

We went on our first Le Boat Holiday in 2014 and have been hooked ever since! We always book the same boat, take the same route through the Camargue from St Gilles Base & are always completely delighted with our experience. The staff just could not be more friendly or helpful. We will go here Every year for the rest of our lives. Paul & Melanie All the staff, From the telephone operatives to the Boat Base Team are ALL absolutely wonderful!

Fantastic Company!

We went on our first Le Boat Holiday in 2014 and have been hooked ever since! We always book the same boat, take the same route through the Camargue from St Gilles Base & are always completely delighted with our experience. The staff just could not be more friendly or helpful. We will go here Every year for the rest of our lives. Paul & Melanie All the staff, From the telephone operatives to the Boat Base Team are ALL absolutely wonderful!

Customer service is superb.
We have had a booking for a trip on the Thames since August 2020, with changing restrictions the booking has changed many times over the last 12 months and Le Boat have always been very accommodating.
With the latest delay to restrictions lifting in June 2021 we have been unable to go on our holiday, Le Boat have processed a full refund.
We have travelled with Le Boat twice before and always had good service and been pleased with the quality of their boats both in the UK and in France.

Someone can explain why does this company even exist? They are just thieves, they take your money without any judicial consequence. Last month I booked a flight, some days later day cancelled for unexplained reasons and never got back to me with neither an explanation nor a refund which I have submitted for more than a month now. Please, no one buy flights from this company, they just laugh at us, and I think seriously this should be taken to court.

They canceled both of my trips from 2020 and now the one I rescheduled with their voucher for 2021 due to the pandemic which is fine. What is not fine is that they refuse to give full refunds back. The crazy part is that I even purchased travel protection and they could truly care less. THIS COMPANY DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOU, THEY ARE MONEY HUNGRY AND YOU WOULD BE SAFER PLANNING A NICE TRIP ON YOUR OWN. I trusted them to plan my first vacation out of the country, do not make the same mistake I did.

Caledonian canal sept 2020 - very little info. From leboat pre trip. Anything we found we got ourselves from other sites. The information we got from leboat was conflicting and leboat/whs blamed each other for communication issues.

Picking the boat up we had a minor problem where the gas canister was stuck on on day 1 and on the last day the boat controls failed leaving us stuck in reverse.

A complaint was made and leboat did nothing to compensate us.

Not good.

When things go wrong, even when they have no control of the situation, LeBoat are brilliant with their Customer Service. Very flexible, very helpful.

Their boats can be, as described, basic but their Customer Support is second to none

Very disappointed arrived at pick up Marina which was very dilapidated only to be told that our boat would not be ready for 2 hours due to it arriving back late, having be informed by email that we would receive a phone call 48 / 72 hours before if the boat was not ready, we never received and when we question the staff said it was nothing to do with they do not phone anyone.there are no toilet facilities or refreshments available. We were left sitting in an overgrown garden on plastic chairs. When we did get access to the boat we were found it to be old and tired and the cleanliness was a lot to be desired, the bedding smelt musty and the towels were thin and worn. I had to clean my self before we were happy. Luckily I had my own towels. For a large company and the amount we paid I expected more. On the plus side it was well equipped with utensils, crockery etc. The Caledonian Canal was lovely apart from the constant rain, and the lack of Lockeepers which meant we spent 7.5hrs the equivalent of a days sailing waiting for locks to open. Subsequently we couldn’t get to Inverness or Fort William.

Avanti Destinations is a HORRIBLE and dishonest company. Paul Barry(who is sole owner) along wtih executive team of COO Mark Grundy, CMO John Hanratty and CFO Susan Marra should be ashamed on how they run a company. As a military family we booked our trip to London to leave March 21, 2020. This was to be our FAMILY trip overseas. While C19 is not the fault of Avanti, it is Barry who is at fault. While other airlines and travel agencies are giving a 100% REFUND not just vouchers Avanti is holding our money hostage. Trying to work with anyone associated with this company does not response. How can USTOA stand behind this company? How do we get a FULL REFUND from Avanti? My travel agent sent us information and our of almost $7000.00 we would get back $1700.00. Seriously? We are PCSing to another country in Asia and want to travel. What is Avanti decides to file bankruptcy because Barry does not know how to manage clients money. SOMEONE HELP US!!!