Has anyone have a good experience where they absolutely love Collette and would travel with them again?? I am trying to make up my mind on which company to use and Collette was the company I was leaning towards but from this site all it seems like is that I have heard negative things. Please if there is anyone out there with a good experience let me know!

Our vacations with Collette to Canadian Rockies and to Hawaii were wonderful. Hotels, meals, guides top notch. This year we went to Scandanavia and the tour was horrible! The guide was the very worst. He didn't have any interaction with people and everytime anyone asked a question he said, "We will talk about that later." We never did. We spent most of our time on the bus and were exhausted by the end of the trip.

i agree with what the previous reply stated-- also or guide needed a guide- when asked where a good restaurant was- he replied "that it depends on your taste" he knew nothing and constantly asked the bus driver for answers. I phoned and wrote Collette several times but was not afforded the courtesy of a reply. We will NEVER travel with Collette again-- Have learned our lesson and wil go with Tauk or others

a PS-- If anyone is interested enough to want further information you may email me at co@bw.anchorcon.com
I am still quite angry with Collette and will do my best to inform anyone interested, about our various travails during this very poor trip. Not only was the guide an amateur, but he was also quite disinterested and on occasion nasty.

Colette was terrible to our group. They cancelled our trip w/o explanations, apologies. We were at least hoping to be given options for any future departures. NONE!

And the worst--- we have NOT been given our refunds yet!

Collette was a nightmare. I chose to ignore lots of negative messages when we were in the planning stage--- NOW, we have packed with NOWHERE to go!

eighteen of us from Portage, MI went on a Collette tour to Costa Rica in November 2005. The trip was well-paced, included outstanding experiences, wonderful hotels, and an excellent native Costa Rican guide whose English was excellent. It was a Smithsonian Tour. I would chose Collette again.

My family and I have traveled with Collette for their D-Day and Scotland Tours. We are also planning our next trip with them to the Alpine Countries.

The tour guides vary from tour to tour. Or first tour guide for the D-Day trip was so so but really cocky. But our last tour guide with Scotland was just phenomenal. Both had been with Collette for years.

I like the fact that almost all the meals are included and you don’t have to pay for extra side trips like most other companies.

As a former travel agent (with a company I will not name), all travel companies will cancel trips if they are not full or at least at a break even point for profit. The company I worked for was notorious for opening a lot of dates and then canceling them about 3 months out. This is how all travel companies work.

What I would recommend for anyone interesting in any travel company is to compare itineraries and prices. What is included and what do you have to pay extra for. Only pay the deposit up front and wait to pay the rest of the trip closer to the travel date. Look at the date you chose to travel; are there a lot of dates around it open? What the company might do is combine several dates into just one date.

I think Collette is ok. I would like to try some of the other companies for comparison but my father really likes Collette so that is why we stay with them.
If anyone is interested in talking further you can email me at Isis62374@aol.com. .

Good luck and happy travels.
Karen

My family and I have traveled with Collette for their D-Day and Scotland Tours. We are also planning our next trip with them to the Alpine Countries.

The tour guides vary from tour to tour. Or first tour guide for the D-Day trip was so so but really cocky. But our last tour guide with Scotland was just phenomenal. Both had been with Collette for years.

I like the fact that almost all the meals are included and you don’t have to pay for extra side trips like most other companies.

As a former travel agent (with a company I will not name), all travel companies will cancel trips if they are not full or at least at a break even point for profit. The company I worked for was notorious for opening a lot of dates and then canceling them about 3 months out. This is how all travel companies work.

What I would recommend for anyone interesting in any travel company is to compare itineraries and prices. What is included and what do you have to pay extra for. Only pay the deposit up front and wait to pay the rest of the trip closer to the travel date. Look at the date you chose to travel; are there a lot of dates around it open? What the company might do is combine several dates into just one date.

I think Collette is ok. I would like to try some of the other companies for comparison but my father really likes Collette so that is why we stay with them.
If anyone is interested in talking further you can email me at Isis62374@aol.com. .

Good luck and happy travels.
Karen

I went on a Collette tour once and it was horrific!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Poorly trained guide, awful hotels and food . .. ..and our driver abandoned us the last day of the tour.

ALSO, I was on a tour and staying in a Hotel in Alaska last year and their National Sales force was staying in the same hotel (The ones who actually sell their tours). . They were drunk, obnoxious and screaming until all hours of the early morning. No one could sleep. What's worse, the next day we went to a native village and they were standing around drinking, smoking and talking so loud we couldn't hear the Native Speaker's presentation. It was insulting and demeaning to the Native peoples. We complained to the President of the company, Dan Sullivan of Pawtucket Rhode Island and despite HUNDREDS of witnesses he claimed it never happened. Is this the kind of company you want to travel with?????????

Collette does the Smithsonian Tours and also History Channel trips so you know they have to be good. No trip is perfect. To take or not take a trip because one tour went badly seems silly. Collette has been around for many years and unlike most hires their own tour guides who work for them exclusively. With almost any other company you are getting a contract person who can vary significantly from tour to tour.