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Kenneth of Irvine CA (07/03/08)
This is in response to Barry of No-Woodmere, NY ((06/13/06) complaint re SmarTours Russian River Cruise from St.Petersberg to Moscow May 29 to June9.
My wife were on the same cruise at the same time. Barry must be a chronic complainer as our experience was the exact opposite.First of all the cost was about half of what other tour companies charge. The cabins were small but no smaller than some cabins on cruise ships. All the rooms were cleaned and vacuumed daily. The food was not gormet, but quite good with normal proportions plus you always order more if you so desired. The bathroom shower configuration was different from U.S. ships but quite adequate. You did not have to buy bottled water. The ship had drinking water avilable but passengers were advised it tasted different due to the factthe type chemicals used to purify were different from the U.S..
Finally in the SmarTours literature sent prior to the trip it stated: Do not compare to American standards. The river vessels were specifically built for cruising Russian Waterways; therefore, though quite comfortable they should not be compared with ocean cruises.
It is not fair to give SmarTours a bad name just because you expected first class accomodations for economy prices.
next time Barry should stay home.
Barry of No-Woodmere NY (06/13/06)
RE Russian River cruise St Petersberg to Moscow May 29 to June 9, basically my complaints are about the ship 1-i didnt expect to find large size cabins but this was ridiculous, twice the size of a phone booth. My wife and I couldnt stand side by side and had a hard time passing each other.
2- my 6 year old grandson would just about fit on the bed. The mattress being about 1-2 inches thick and looking and feeling 20 years old. Sheets were changed only one time. 3- room was not vacuumed properly and appeared dirty . 4- there was no regular shower in bathroom -- hand held shower head in sink and large drain on the floor. I felt i was back in the army. 5- the food was atrocias. the portions minuscule for adults.micro pieces of meat in stews etc. Ate lots of bread with soup. I could not eat many meals as the food not only looked awful but tasted bad. 6- you had to buy water otherwise you were told not to drink the water from tap as you might get sick.
Jerrold of St. Louis MO (06/12/06)
We took the Smartours 11 day trip through Eastern Europe. For reasons of economy, I assume, we were routed from JFK through Helsinki to Budapest. The time between flights was 40 minutes. When we questioned Smartours we were assured that the plane would be held if it was late. The plane was late and the flight was not held. We were told that the reason was that there was only 6 people from the tour on the flight and this was not sufficient to hold the flight. The next flight to Budapest was 8 hours later.
The result was that: 1. We lost most of a day in Budapest 2. We were late to the Welcome Dinner. We questioned the tour guide who basically told us that nothing could be done to compensate us. In fairness, the rest of the trip went reasonably well.
Patricia of Houston TX (11/16/03)
Booked trip to south america, was there 6 days, and when group arrived in buenos aires, tour escort told me my trip was cancelled and had a strange man take me from the domestic airport to the international airport and send me home with no explanation, no change to prepare for an international flight, and over half of my trip was aborted at that point. I did not want to leave,had paid for this trip months ago, and there was no reason for this. if the tour company had a problem, they should have advised me not on sat. afternoon, but thu or fri at which time i could have contacted the company in new york, as of course they are not open on sat, and i was not properly packed for an international flight of almost 15 hours.
Theodore of Miami Beach FL (04/16/03)
My wife and I were supposed to leave on vacation to Vietnam on 2/17/03 from Fort Lauderdale and connect with Korean Air for the tour's transantlantic flight at JFK. As a result of the “snowstorm of the century” all flights to JFK were cancelled. When called smarTours for help, we only got a recitation of their rules and policies, such as no rescheduling of our vacation to another date, no refund of any kind and no offer of assistance with Korean Air who would only agree to rebook us on a flight either from JFK or LAX five days later.
We did get a good suggestion though from Sheila: “lose your paid vacation and book a new one with us”. Korean Air stated to us (also stipulated on their tickets) that the tickets are non-endorsable but are refundable, however, if we cancel the entire air portion to take another airline, a refund would only be made to smarTours who just told us they will give us none.
Smelling a trap and no other choice, we had to buy, completely on our initiative and expense, a new, one-way ticket from Miami to Bangkok on another airline, and got there a one day late to join the group. In spite of our request, their local agent specifically told us he received no instructions about our late arrival nor the authorization to provide the local services we lost.
When, on our return, we asked Sheila for a refund of the unused flight segment and the lost service in Bangkok we were, just as she indicated before, denied both. Our first letter of complaint about their service, by regular mail, on 3/11/03 was ignored. A second, sent by registered mail on 3/31/03 deserved an answer saying our claims for lack of help are untrue, a hearsay and conveniently ignoring the issues of the refunds by shifting the responsibility to a travel insurance. We have the Korean Air tickets in question and the name of the agent who tried to help us on 2/17 if needed.
The total economic damage resulting was $1713.80 consisting of the cost of two one-way tickets to join the group and one lost tour day.
Patricia of Houston TX (11/16/03):
Booked trip to South America, was there 6 days, and when group arrived in Buenos Aires, tour escort told me my trip was cancelled and had a strange man take me from the domestic airport to the international airport and send me home with no explanation, no change to prepare for an international flight, and over half of my trip was aborted at that point. I did not want to leave, had paid for this trip months ago, and there was no reason for this. If the tour company had a problem, they should have advised me not on Sat. afternoon, but Thu or Fri at which time I could have contacted the company in New York. I was not properly packed for an international flight of almost 15 hours.
Damage Resulting: loss of cost of Brazil visa, over $100; loss of $100 fee to enter Chile; loss of $50 to change my flight from Miami to Houston; loss of $60 for taxi since I had made arrangements to be picked up at airport when tour was over, i.e., my son would not be available at such short notice, as he is a professor at a major university.
To change my flight from Miami to Houston cost me $50, and being a single woman traveling alone, it was very frightening to me to have to go from Buenos Aires to Sao Paolo alone and try to get myself to Miami, after all, I was traveling with a group, which is the only way I travel, being elderly, and have never been subjected to such lack of help and such abject surprise and lack of supervision from a travel company.
Theodore of Miami Beach writes (4/16/03):
My wife and I were supposed to leave on vacation to Vietnam on 2/17/03 from Fort Lauderdale and connect with Korean Air for the tour's transantlantic flight at JFK. As a result of the “snowstorm of the century” all flights to JFK were cancelled.
When I called smarTours for help, we only got a recitation of their rules and policies, such as no rescheduling of our vacation to another date, no refund of any kind and no offer of assistance with Korean Air who would only agree to rebook us on a flight either from JFK or LAX five days later. We did get a suggestion though from Sheila: “Lose your paid vacation and book a new one with us”.
Korean Air stated to us (also stipulated on their tickets) that the tickets are non-endorsable but are refundable, however, if we cancel the entire air protion to take another airline, a refund would only be made to smarTours who just told us they will give us none. Smelling a trap and no other choice, we had to buy, completely on our initiative and expense, a new, one-way ticket from Miami to Bangkok on another airline, and got there one day late to join the group. In spite of our request, their local agent specifically told us he received no instructions about our late arrival nor the authorization to provide the local services we lost.
When, on our return, we asked Sheila for a refund of the unused flight segment and the lost service in Bangkok we were, just as she indicated before, denied both. Our first letter of complaint about their service, by regular mail, on 3/11/03 was ignored. A second, sent by registered mail on 3/31/03 deserved an answer saying our claims for lack of help are "untrue", a "hearsay" and conveniently ignoring the issues of the refunds by shifting the responsibility to a travel insurance.
Theodore could dispute the charge with his credit card company but he would have to carefully read the sales contract with the tour agency. He may be out of luck.
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