Cuba: Thank you, when things go pear-shaped
I am pleased to say that every trip we have booked with Destination International has been fabulous, five in total. They have organised great trips at great prices. We have never been disappointed in any way in the standard of tour and accommodation.
In March we were on tour in Cuba, when Russ text us to say that the worldwide COVID-19 situation was becoming very bad and we should immediately head home. He organised flights from Havana to Sydney in 48 hours, one day before Cuba announced it was shutting borders – and thanks to his efforts, we arrived home 3 days before we would have been forced into hotels. We were able to self-isolate at home.
Additionally, he sent through all our financial details from the booked tours so that we could claim travel insurance. This has now been paid to us.
We think Russ and the team at Destination International went above and beyond normal good service, we sincerely thank them.
Having a good travel agent when everything goes well is excellent, having a GREAT agency when things go pear-shaped is absolutely essential.
We wish the team all the best for the future,
Neil D. & Elisabeth P.
Thank you: Glad we could help
We are grateful for your continued support and thrilled when we can help our clients…you guys mean the world to us!
“OMG, this is the best news ever, truly amazing!
You have no idea how grateful we are.
Thank you so much, you’ve made our day!”
Annie & Andrew
Cuba: Best value for money
Apologies for not contacting you before now, I had intended to make contact on my return, however with the COVID-19 situation the weeks have been busy.
Firstly the documentation was so informative and was a great help preparing for the journey. The tour company and guide in Cuba, Pedro Foster, was fantastic and the coach company used was very professional. I would recommend this tour to other travellers, especially the Casa stays.
The hardest part of the journey was the flights Melbourne/Vancouver/Toronto/Havana – 28 hours forward journey and more return, in the future travel from the USA to Cuba would shorten the flight time. Air Canada were great, especially not having to worry about the Cuba visa.
It was the best value for money.
I hope you are able to continue to travel soon.
Take care,
Sue T.
Thank you: Getting through it together
Hi Mark
I hope you and your company are coping during this trying time. I have enjoyed a couple of trips with DI and hope to travel again in the future. Good luck and keep well.
Lorraine
Italy & Greek Islands: Help in difficult times
Thanks, you and the staff we have dealt with so far at DIT have been very helpful and professional.
I’d be happy to be put on a mailing list, as we will need a good Travel Agent again one day when the dust has settled.
Regards,
Simon
Europe & Iceland: Help to get home
A huge thank you to the team At DI Travel for their efforts on behalf of their many clients.
My husband and I were victims of the Covid-19 outbreak and about to be stranded last week and face isolation in Poland when Russ came to our aid and got us flights home in a very short space of time. His prompt response was a huge relief, and his efforts greatly appreciated. He and the crew at DI certainly have had enormous pressure on them to fulfil the needs of many clients and I can only be impressed with the professional and responsive manner in which they have reacted.
P.S. the trip to Iceland was brilliant I would recommend it to anyone, great hotel terrific trips, amazing destination. Thanks Leanne for arranging this for us.
A Facebook post from Catherine G.
Iceland: Wonderful winter adventure
Luke and I just wanted to say thank you for organising our trip away for us. We had such a wonderful time and all the hotels and tours that you booked were great!
Kind regards,
Breanna
Travelling Overseas: Support in uncertain times
With all the uncertainty around the travel industry at the moment I am sure you have a lot on your plate…
My thoughts go out to you and your colleagues within your workplace and indeed the industry and hope that you will survive unscathed financially and physically.
Cheers,
Tricia H.
Mediterranean: Flowed as smooth as silk
Well we have arrived home safely from our Mediterranean Holiday and would just like to let you know that everything from Start to Finished flowed as smooth as silk.
Thank you for making sure that this holiday was organised so well for us, and we would not hesitate in recommending yourself and your company to anybody else thinking of doing the same type of trip. Also the tour company was fantastic and very professional looking after everything amazingly.
Once again thank you for all your excellent help in organising this fantastic holiday for us both.
Kind Regards,
Phil
Egypt: Sad when our tour ended
Thought I would touch base and let you know how our trip went.
First of all we loved Abu Dhabi. We did a Desert Safari there and it was fantastic.
Over all we loved Egypt. Couldn’t believe how well we were looked after by the tour company and our guide was incredible. So knowable and was with us the whole time. Never left our side. So hence we were all so sad when our tour ended as we had become so close. Loved the Egyptians and was amazed by the poverty. The Egyptians are so happy and accomodating as they are so desperate for tourists to go there. Oh and we loved the Hot Air Balloon Ride. They talked us into doing lots of other excursions which afterwards we wished we hadn’t done as we were so exhausted by the end of the tour. But still thoroughly enjoyed it. We had a few funny tummies but we pushed on and recovered finally.
The only real criticism of the whole holiday was the Cairo hotel… But everywhere else we stayed was really good. And we just loved our cruise, heaps of fun. And yes we felt very safe and even ventured out at night by ourselves, in a group, in most of the cities as our guide told us we could and we had no problems.
Thanks for all your help,
Frances
South America & Antarctica: Thoroughly enjoyable
THANKYOU!!!! Everything went so incredibly smoothly!!
All 4 of us enjoyed the South American and Antarctic trip. We couldn’t believe how fabulous all the connections were!
Celebrity Eclipse lived up to its name too!! We thoroughly enjoyed Buenos Aires!! The side trips were great too!
David and I enjoyed our little stop over in Auckland and Matamata to go on the Hobbiton movie set and dinner tour! Thankyou for all your organisation!!
Cheers,
Liri
Cuba: Highly recommend this tour
We have returned form our trip to Cuba. It was amazing. Our guide Daniel was brilliant and so knowledgeable. He helped out with restaurant recommendations, things to see, taking photos and even helped out after our tour had finished.
All our home stays and families were comfortable and friendly. The food was amazing. We saw so much and got to experience a great culture. Even though we knew very, very, little Spanish and the Cuban people knew very little English, it was all part of the experience and we enjoyed it and had a good laugh.
The only issue (which wasn’t really an issue) was the return trip home. It was such a long stop over in Toronto, seeing as we had been up since 2am to get to Havana airport on time. It was a long trip home on very full flights. Obviously this was out of our control, but if I was to do it again I’d even consider staying in Canada for a few days to break up the flights if there was a long wait again.
I highly recommend this tour for anyone wanting to go to Cuba. I’ve already told a few people about it.
Thanks so much for all your help with arranging everything. You’ve been fantastic and extremely helpful. If you have a mailing list, I’d like to be kept up to date with other tours you have. I travel a lot and need some inspiration for my next trip.
Thank you so much again,
Alannah T.
Egypt: Will be recommending you
Just wanted to write to say what a wonderful trip we had in Egypt. Tour company were wonderful, especially our guide Elia who made our holiday extra special due to his professionalism, knowledge and kindness. This made our time in Egypt very special.
We were on board the Crown Empress sailing down the Nile and again, all the staff looked after us very well. The boat was impeccably clean and the food/service in all areas of the boat was first class.
We will certainly be recommending yourselves and the tour to all our family and friends.
Thanks again,
Gill & Ian W.
South America & Antarctica: What an amazing trip
We arrived back safely from our South American/Antarctica adventure. Just a wonderful trip on all levels…What an amazing trip we had! We had delays once we reached Santiago with slow immigration and a late Air Canada flight and similar delays in Buenos Aires so it was 5:30 pm when we reached our hotel. Our tango show at La Ventana was amazing! We got back to the hotel at 1am!! Next day I took Lynne to the Witches Market before our transfer to the port. We had 4 days of smooth sailing to Ushuaia and the next morning passing Cape Horn the sea was like a mill pond – hardly a ripple. Our good weather was the talk of the ship – blue skies and sunshine in Antarctica but very cold wind. Perfect weather to the Falklands and all the way back to Buenos Aires!
Very enjoyable!
Jill W.
Egypt: It was superb
We have returned from our Egypt adventure. Fabulous.
Sue and I must congratulate you on a first class adventure holiday. It was superb. In Cairo and Alexandra we had our own personal guide who was excellent.
The Cairo Sonesta Hotel was very average…Located on the main strip the Alexandria hotel, Steinberger was 5/5. Following was our sail up the Nile visiting tombs, temples and many other Egyptian historic icons with only 9 Aussies in the group. MS Sarah was excellent value…All flights connected, although we were strained by the flight home from Luxor, Cairo, Abu Dhabi and finally Sydney. We should have had a stop over in Abu Dhabi to break the trip.
Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and thank you for your very professional service.
Kind regards,
Robert K.
Europe: Cruising for a great holiday
We now have all we need to commence of trip. Thank you for your help and for the immense amount of work you have done for us in bringing everything to its finality. We hope our Tour Guide is as helpful as you. A great ask, I am afraid.
Cheers,
Steven
Iceland: Tour group was fantastic
Wanted to drop you a quick email to say that we had a wonderful time in Iceland.
The tour group was fantastic – highly recommend them – they packed a lot into each day and ensured everyone was well looked after. The guides were lovely and could not do enough for us.
Many thanks,
Amanda W.
Egypt: Top notch in every way
The trip was outstanding. Top notch in every way. The flow and organization was excellent and it really made the trip much better than I could have imagined. The guides were so good. They really knew how to keep the flow going, explained things very well and made excellent recommendations as far as meals and things that could be added if we wanted to add them. I did follow your advise on saying no to shopping which was a good call. There was one day that we should have figured out a meal a bit sooner but that got solved and all was good.
I could not be more pleased with how the trip went and how easy it was. Laura and I both made comment that it was just so much easier than trying to figure out what to do and when to do it. When I was talking to Michele and Sergio on the flight back we all agreed that we were able to see 60% more than if we would have tried on our own. I anticipate other trips in the future that I will be utilizing your services. I can’t say enough of how great it was and the tour operator in Egypt did an excellent job as well.
Thanks!
Bill T.
Thailand: Exceeded expectations
Just wanted to thank you for arranging this trip for us to Thailand. We had the most amazing time and I’d really like to provide some feedback about the tour; it was brilliant.
The tour guide for the trip (Boom) was the best. She taught us so much about Thailand and organised everything, even advising on things we wanted to do outside of the tour’s activities. She made it fun for everyone, had a great sense of humour and was available 24/7 to all of us. It was the first tour we have ever been on and we were a bit apprehensive. The places and hotels we stayed at were fantastic, the tour exceeded our expectations by a long way. This trip has changed our minds about tours and we will certainly be going on another next time we travel overseas.
Thanks again.
Kind regards,
Kim B (& family)
Europe & Cruise: Went smoothly and extremely well
Just wanted to give you some feedback after our most enjoyable holiday.
Thanks to thorough planning and detailed itinerary all went both smoothly and extremely well.
The bus tour was exceptional. Our guide Gabriella was the perfect host, so informative and such a lovely warm and caring person. The hotel accommodation not only exceeded our expectations but also all others that we spoke to on the bus. Destinations, distances travelled each day, toilet stops, time spent at destinations, etc. were all timed to perfection. We could not fault this tour and would certainly seek this company out for future tours.
The cruise was also very enjoyable, again great destinations, excellent food, very comfortable cabins and excellent on board entertainment. Our feeling is however, if we did another cruise we would prefer a smaller ship…Three thousand passengers, although managed very well by the ship, is too many people for our preference.
Thank you again for a fantastic holiday.
Cheers,
Stewart and Janne
Egypt: Praise for a passionate tour leader
Our guide Bishoy made our trip to Egypt one of the best trips one can ever hope for. Bishoy is passionate about his job and he goes out of his way to help each and everyone. He is attentive and answers all questions and requests in turn. He remembered all of our names. He adds life and humour to the group.
Not only was Bishoy organised in delivering the trip in accordance with the programme, but he also adds other special experiences, such as shisha, walks in the market and music and drinks in a special lounge in Kom Ombo. That is what sets him apart, a special, dedicated guide who goes beyond the call of duty.
We were a bit apprehensive about what Egypt was going to be like, but Bishoy is so capable, knowledgeable and practical in his advice and explaining all the sights and local customs that we became quite confident and comfortable.
And to the DI team, we had a fantastic holiday. Thanks very much again.
Jacintha T.
Central Europe: Ran like clockwork
I just wanted to say thank you for all your hard work in making sure our holiday was brilliant! What an experience, what a wonderful time! Gate 1 is great too!
The whole thing ran like clockwork, and it was a good idea to move that last transfer back a bit as the Berlin airport was horribly disorganised and dirty, actually.
I would not hesitate to call on you in the future if I needed a trip planned!!
Once again, many thanks 🙂
Kindest regards
Deb
International Holiday: Appreciation for all of your help
On behalf of Maureen and myself, please accept our sincere thanks and appreciation for everything that you have done in order for us to embark on our holiday.
The time and effort to be able to arrange all of the paperwork for travellers to travel must have a big job.
Not having met personally, we feel that you are both a very capable and energetic lady and we wish you every success in the future, although at our age, future travel, might be beyond us.
Best Regards,
Maureen and Bruce
Alaska & Canada: Great organisation
Thank you once again for your great organisation and for being so available and solving any queries I had. I would be very happy for you to organise any other trips we want to do as your service has been excellent.
Thanks again, regards,
Helen S.
South Africa: Lasting friendships have been made
We arrived home yesterday early morning. We have had a wonderful holiday, what an adventure and experience, we have come home with so many wonderful memories. A few lasting friendships have been made.
Many thanks for organising this trip and all your help.
John and Irene
Canada & Alaska: All in all a great trip
Our trip couldn’t have gone better (a few more wildlife sightings maybe) all tour operators were outstanding and their organisation of moving people seamlessly between hotels & tours was so well done, especially the Princess group. Maybe this is quite normal across all tours, but as we do not normally take tours we don’t know what the ‘normal’ standard is, anyway their standard was very high.
Also your change to Hotel Blu in Vancouver was a good choice, nice big room, well located within the city and with plenty of facilities (free use of a laundry, free shuttle to cruise terminal to name two). All in all a great trip, a nice mix of organisation and doing our own thing in the afternoons/evenings.
Thanks again,
Gary and Leonie K.
Egypt: We were looked after very well
Just letting you know that we had a fantastic trip to Egypt. We were looked after very well and any issues we had were quickly remedied. Our guide Mazim was great and gave us all the information needed. Apparently one of the feedback forms said that he was telling us what to give him for a tip at the end of the tour. This was not true, we did discuss this amongst ourselves and never did he say this. Being from a culture where we do not tip this was probably the hardest part of the trip and we asked Mazim for guidance on what we should be tipping and when, this was very helpful.
One thing I would recommend you tell people is as soon as they can when you arrive, go to a bank and get lots of small denomination notes as they are needed everywhere, particularly the toilet stops. We all learnt to hold on as long as possible!
I would thoroughly recommend this tour and at no time did we feel that we were unsafe.
Kind regards
Julie
South Africa & Egypt: Saw much more than we ever expected
Yes! We are now back at home after our exciting time in South Africa and Eqypt. We had an amazing time. We saw much more than we ever expected, the food was amazing everywhere we went, our hotels were a good standard, all transfers were smooth and the sites we saw in Cairo and during our Nile Cruise as well as in all of Sth Africa and Zimbabwe were bucket list items and more.
Best regards & thanks again,
Ros C.
Egypt: Would recommend this tour to anybody
I would just like to let you know that the tour are you organised for us to Egypt was absolutely wonderful. The whole time we were away we felt totally in the care of the people running the tour. We had no problems at airports or during the excursions that were arranged. The ship for the Nile cruise was very comfortable and the staff were very helpful. The other accommodations were satisfactory as well . We would recommend this tour and your company to anybody and look forward to travelling with Destination Holidays again soon.
Kind regards,
Joy and Steve G.
USA & Canada: It was an awesome holiday
We all had an absolutely fantastic time. It was an awesome holiday. We would like to thank you very much for putting the last half of it altogether for us. Also thanks for changing our Niagara train time for crossing the border. It went very smoothly for us…we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and managed to tick everything off our list that we wanted to do and see. The weather was absolutely perfect for us for the entire trip.
So once again Russ, thank you for planning our holiday. It was wonderful.
Regards
Jan
Canada, Alaska & Hawaii: Enjoyed our Luxury Escapes tour
We would like to give you some feedback on the package put together by Luxury Escapes. We had a fabulous time away travelling through Canada, Alaska and Hawaii. We thoroughly enjoyed the Rockies and the wildlife in Alaska, not to mention relaxing and exploring the beaches of Waikiki.
Everything went well (couldn’t find fault with anything whatsoever) and the accommodation and tours arranged were awesome. We particularly enjoyed the Key West tour in the Rockies and the Denali National Park tour. The guides and drivers were most professional and friendly. They really knew their stuff. Thank you for arranging this wonderful lifetime experience for us.
Cheers,
Carmel and Gerard
Cruise: The best group I have travelled with
Just letting you know we had a great time. Our fellow travellers were great and really by far the best group I have travelled with. I usually find myself thinking thank goodness I was not travelling alone but with this group it would have been fine. There were quite a few included meals which were of excellent quality. Our English tour leader Derek was excellent. He informed the group that we had prepaid gratuities so they would not think we were failing to reward tour guides or the driver and he was professional in every way. June was very happy with all aspects of the tour (thank goodness) so can see the real benefits of tours more reasonably priced than Scenic. The only hitch was caused by Emirates who failed to pick us up from the ship. A lovely English couple rescued us so dropped us at the airport sharing their taxi. You will see I am suffering a bit of jet lag by the time I am sending this. Thanks once again for your efforts on our behalf, very kind regards,
Denise
South Africa and Egypt: Transfers from airports were smooth and the holidays were fantastic
We are back from our back to back holidays of South Africa and Egypt and just wanted to send a quick note to thank you for your excellent organisation of our holiday. Everything went to schedule and the accommodation and food vastly exceeded our expectations. All meetings and transfers from airports were smooth and the holidays were fantastic especially South Africa which was a Drifters tour and I would highly recommend this company. Egypt was an entirely different type of holiday and was also enjoyed although Chrismar tour company were a bit disorganised and things went to “Egypt time”. Anyway it was a pleasure to deal with you and with Kogan Travel and we will certainly be watching for more special adventures. Thanks again Dave!
Debbie
Africa: Best holiday ever!
My best holiday ever – exceeded all my expectations – loved all the wildlife and the African sunsets were just amazing – hope to go back and see some more of that beautiful continent one day. Have a great day and thank you.
Judy
Sri Lanka: A wonderful and memorable holiday
Tom and I would like to thank you for organising such a wonderful and memorable holiday for us in Sri Lanka. The itinerary was excellent. We visited amazing world heritage sites, fishing markets and had the most awesome meal in the jungle with delightful and generous people. I am now a dab hand at daahls after a brilliant cooking experience in the Thilanka Hotel, Kandy.
We cannot fault Nkar Travel. Our guide, Chammi, was the ultimate professional and a great ambassador for his country and company in equal parts. We at all times felt safe and confident plus he was an excellent communicator. He looked after us with care and attention and was very thoughtful.
We had a problem with our last three nights accommodation at Garton’s Cape – Ahangama. However Nkar travel immediately sorted it without any drama on their part. We were relocated that same night to the Heritance Hotel at Ahungalla, which was so much better and such a relief after our brief but unpleasant Garton Cape experience.
We were so impressed and grateful to them for their swift intervention, especially as it was after hours for them.
As you will gather we have been so impressed and thank you and your team for your excellent communication, organisation and for allowing us to have such a truly wonderful holiday.
Best wishes,
Grace and Tom
