Prague, Vienna and Budapest - departed 1st August 2012

[suziewales]

Just returned from this trip. Enjoyed it immensely. Jana the Tour Manager was great - met us at the airport in Prague and stuck with us all the way, with lots of humour thrown in. She is great. The coach driver, Karel (stands for Charles in Chez language), was wonderful as well, helpful with the cases and a safe and steady driver. My only disappointment was the standard of the hotels used. The Prague one was quite old and basic; the food was a set meal (think school canteen!) and neither the hotel in Prague or Vienna had air conditioning; which was a major problem as the temperature was into the late 30's/early 40's.
Hotel in Vienna was better but still no air conditioning although food was buffet style which was better.
Budapest hotel was the best (air conditioning at last!!) but again the food at dinner was set meal and awful, although breakfast was the best hotel of the three.

I think for the price paid the holiday was not good value for money. Beware of the extra costs for excursions not included! I didn't buy many souvenirs and no gifts and still managed to spend a total of £450 over the 3 countries.

Hoping the next holiday to Andalucia in September will be better; as celebrating a special birthday whilst away!

[shyanne]

I agee with the comments about this trip, I thoroughly enjoyed the sights of Prague, Vienna and Budapest with a bunch of great people, especially those on the Manchester flight! I also spent more than I expected as there were three optional excursions that I had not budgeted for but I guess it was my choice to book them.

It was the hotels and food that were a disappointment, having travelled to Europe a lot, I knew not to expect modern quality hotels but this is not a cheap holiday so I did expect a better standard from Just You. The rooms varied in size and quality and it was a bit like a lottery as to which type of room we were allocated and my complaint is that we all paid the same price for the holiday and so should have had equal rooms to a minimum standard.

In Prague, some people had two sleepless nights due to the non-stop rumple of passing trams. The eveining meal was a set meal with no choice and was really rather poor quality. The hotel in Vienna was a bit like Fawlty Towers with toilets that did not flush, showers broken, water pouring into a room from the shower in the room above and some ladies were initally expected to sleep in some old staff room accessed through a doorway off a main corridor and up some stone stairs into the roof space!! It was apparent that some rooms had not been cleaned before our party booked in and we got the impression that if people had not complained then they would not have been re-done, My room there was a cupboard, with just room for a single bed and a small table, it did not even have a wardrobe just a coat rack affair for my clothes and a broken shower! I had to have a hissy fit to get moved after one night but really I should not have to do that, Just You might need to look into using a better value hotel next year, it really was not value for money and many rooms were badly in need of refurbishment.
Most of us struck lucky in Budapest as it was a more modern, mid range hotel that could have been anywhere in the world, with airconditioning and newish fittings. The food though was a different matter, back to a set evening meal with no choice and pretty poor quality.

However, if you have booked already for this season, do not be put off, it is a great holiday and our tour guide was brilliant, you will have a whistle stop tour of three amazing cities with some good excursions of you want to go - just make sure you allow £90 for them.

Just You do need to consider if they are providing vaue for money for their clients though, there were a number of first times in the group who have said that they will not go with Just You again based on the quality of the hotels used - a shame as I have been on other wonderful holidays with Just You and will again in the future - as long as there is more choice of August dates!

[nixon]

Suzie/Shaynne


I would suggest that when you get your holiday questionaire, that you fill it in with a covering letter expressing your concerns so that JY can look into your worries and get back to you.

Cindy.

[SylviaJ]

Hi

I agree with Suziewales and Shyanne as I did this tour in Sept 2010. I think I posted something along the lines of lovely to see the countries but the hotels were a bit hit and miss. The Budapest hotel in particular was awful as I was given a smoker's room and I don't smoke!! I also remember Jana (and her grandmother!) and Karel the TM and driver.

Sylvia

[dianejan]

Hi I agree with all the comments I went in June and the holiday was very expensive for the bad food and not very good hotels i had to sweep the cobwebs away in one of the hotels. Quite a few of us filled in the questionaire and expressed as above comments surely they should take notice.it does put you off booking other holidays.
Di x

[paulajay]

Hi Suzi and Shaynne,

I'm so glad you had Jana as your guide to Prague, Vienna and Budapest. I'm surprised that you had such very bad accomodation in Vienna - we were in the Vienna Woods in an hotel that looked like a Swiss Chalet. I'm partly glad that you agree that the meals were, to say the least, mixed. I felt that you thought I was exagerating.

I agree that trying to organise funds is the most tricky part of the getting ready ritual.

All the best

Paula

[patricebry]

(09/08/2012 12:49 PM)shyanne Wrote:  I agee with the comments about this trip, I thoroughly enjoyed the sights of Prague, Vienna and Budapest with a bunch of great people, especially those on the Manchester flight! I also spent more than I expected as there were three optional excursions that I had not budgeted for but I guess it was my choice to book them.

It was the hotels and food that were a disappointment, having travelled to Europe a lot, I knew not to expect modern quality hotels but this is not a cheap holiday so I did expect a better standard from Just You. The rooms varied in size and quality and it was a bit like a lottery as to which type of room we were allocated and my complaint is that we all paid the same price for the holiday and so should have had equal rooms to a minimum standard.

In Prague, some people had two sleepless nights due to the non-stop rumple of passing trams. The eveining meal was a set meal with no choice and was really rather poor quality. The hotel in Vienna was a bit like Fawlty Towers with toilets that did not flush, showers broken, water pouring into a room from the shower in the room above and some ladies were initally expected to sleep in some old staff room accessed through a doorway off a main corridor and up some stone stairs into the roof space!! It was apparent that some rooms had not been cleaned before our party booked in and we got the impression that if people had not complained then they would not have been re-done, My room there was a cupboard, with just room for a single bed and a small table, it did not even have a wardrobe just a coat rack affair for my clothes and a broken shower! I had to have a hissy fit to get moved after one night but really I should not have to do that, Just You might need to look into using a better value hotel next year, it really was not value for money and many rooms were badly in need of refurbishment.
Most of us struck lucky in Budapest as it was a more modern, mid range hotel that could have been anywhere in the world, with airconditioning and newish fittings. The food though was a different matter, back to a set evening meal with no choice and pretty poor quality.

However, if you have booked already for this season, do not be put off, it is a great holiday and our tour guide was brilliant, you will have a whistle stop tour of three amazing cities with some good excursions of you want to go - just make sure you allow £90 for them.

Just You do need to consider if they are providing vaue for money for their clients though, there were a number of first times in the group who have said that they will not go with Just You again based on the quality of the hotels used - a shame as I have been on other wonderful holidays with Just You and will again in the future - as long as there is more choice of August dates!

Hi there,
Thankyou for your feedback on the Prague, Vienna Budapest holiday.
I was definitely considering this for next year, but there is nothing worse than staying in grotty hotels with mediocre food. I shall go to Southern Europe instead!- regards, Pat

[BGray]

Hi Pat, I've not been on this trip although I've been in all three cities and a lot of the hotels do tend to be a bit on the "vintage" side! However, if you are looking for an alternative tour, all the Italy tours get great write-ups and I've my eye on the Heart of Alpine Europe tour for a few years down the road (hoping that JY still run it then!) as it really does sound wonderful.
Best wishes,
Bob

[Jenny R]

(09/08/2012 11:46 AM)suziewales Wrote:  Just returned from this trip. Enjoyed it immensely. Jana the Tour Manager was great - met us at the airport in Prague and stuck with us all the way, with lots of humour thrown in. She is great. The coach driver, Karel (stands for Charles in Chez language), was wonderful as well, helpful with the cases and a safe and steady driver. My only disappointment was the standard of the hotels used. The Prague one was quite old and basic; the food was a set meal (think school canteen!) and neither the hotel in Prague or Vienna had air conditioning; which was a major problem as the temperature was into the late 30's/early 40's.
Hotel in Vienna was better but still no air conditioning although food was buffet style which was better.
Budapest hotel was the best (air conditioning at last!!) but again the food at dinner was set meal and awful, although breakfast was the best hotel of the three.

I think for the price paid the holiday was not good value for money. Beware of the extra costs for excursions not included! I didn't buy many souvenirs and no gifts and still managed to spend a total of £450 over the 3 countries.

Hoping the next holiday to Andalucia in September will be better; as celebrating a special birthday whilst away!

[Jenny R]

I was really looking forward to this trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hotels look great on their websites. Going on 29th August. I was actually looking for info on optional trips as according to JY there aren't any but from reading previous posts knew there had to be some. So it seems to be take the cleaning materials, prepare to starve but most importantly take plenty of money and have the usual good time.