Voyages Jules Verne (VJV) caters for people who want something other than a simple beach holiday. Its programme includes tours of ancient sites, journeys catering for those with an interest in geology, astronomy, botany and photography, walking tours, holidays by train, and trips focusing on ... Read review
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Advantages: Interesting holidays, often with a theme Disadvantages: Not totally honest practice with respect to excursions
Voyages Jules Verne (VJV) caters for people who want something other than a simple beach holiday. Its programme includes tours of ancient sites, journeys catering for those with an interest in geology, astronomy, botany and photography, walking tours, holidays by train, and trips focusing on music, art, or food and wine. Full details can be found at http://www.vjv.co.uk/. VJV will also arrange personalised itineraries for individualist travellers ... ...to avoid the hassle of organising it all. Many of the tours can be booked online at the VJV web site.
The prices of VJV packages vary from the highly reasonable to the highly expensive, so most people will be able to find something to suit their taste and their budget.
I booked with VJV for a week in Luxor, Egypt, including excursions to the major sites of interest in and around the area. On the whole, I had a wonderful ... more
Voyages Jules Verne (VJV) caters for people who want something other than a simple beach holiday. Its programme includes tours of ancient sites, journeys catering for those with an interest in geology, astronomy, botany and photography, walking tours, holidays by train, and trips focusing on music, art, or food and wine. Full details can be found at http://www.vjv.co.uk/. VJV will also arrange personalised itineraries for individualist travellers who want to do their own thing but also want to avoid the hassle of organising it all. Many of the tours can be booked online at the VJV web site.
The prices of VJV packages vary from the highly reasonable to the highly expensive, so most people will be able to find something to suit their taste and their budget.
I booked with VJV for a week in Luxor, Egypt, including excursions to the major sites of interest in and around the area. On the whole, I had a wonderful time, but there were some niggles. In this opinion I will highlight the good and bad points of this trip, in the hope it might prove useful to others wanting to book with this company.
The first thing to note is that VJV will try to sell you insurance for the holiday. They say their prices are competitive, however, I was able to find alternative insurance for a lot less than the prices quoted. VJV also offer to deal with any necessary visa arrangements. Again, this service costs quite a lot, but since a friend had in the past experienced problems in trying to organise his own visa for Egypt, I did opt for this.
I received confirmation of the booking, and a lot of information. I then received the same information in two more mailings! However, I was not informed of a crucial point: we were put on a group visa and were not sent any papers of our own. I had to make a panic phone call to VJV to find out what was going on.
VJV chose to use Monarch as the carrier :( I have already expressed my feelings (vehemently) about this airline in another opinion, so will not repeat myself here.
There was chaos at check-in due to some technical difficulties at Gatwick. The VJV representative at the airport was totally unhelpful. She did not offer any information, made no attempt to reassure people that they would not miss their flight, and brushed off queries in an unfriendly way. Most of the time, she just stood there, and I wondered why she was there at all since she was not doing anything.
On arrival, we were met by the local representatives. These were not VJV employees, but members of a local Egyptian tour company who served as our guides and contacts while we were in Luxor. I was highly impressed with our guide and his colleagues right from the start, and the good impressions remained throughout the holidays. I have nothing but praise for the efficiency, courtesy and friendliness of the Egyptian guide and coach drivers.
We had booked an excursion package from VJV. We were horrified to find that each of the excursions could be booked on the spot in Luxor, at a total cost which was much less than we had paid. The local price also included all tips, but the VJV price did not, so all of us who had bought the package had to contribute a further sum for this purpose. One of the "excursions" that VJV sold to us was a guided tour round Luxor Museum which cost £15. We were taken there by coach, although it was only five minutes walk away. Since the museum is small and the exhibits are beautifully laid out with full explanations, a guide was not really necessary. In fact, our guide was deeply embarassed that he had to go through the motions of "guiding" us round the museum. He made it clear that he also thought we had been ripped off by VJV's package. We ended up paying another £125 per head to buy the tours to the most important sights of the area. Since we had to pay cash, this made a serious dent in our holiday funds.
Because this was our first visit, we opted for the guided tours, although we were aware that we could have visited the same places independently for less than half the price. I am not complaining about the prices of the tours as charged by the Egyptian agency. Our guide was extremely honest and gave us full details of how to organise things for ourselves if we wished. However, I am angry at the scam that VJV pulled on us with their package.
The hotel was pleasant, and the description provided by VJV was accurate and fair.
To summarise, I think that VJV do some good deals, and the holidays they offer are good. However, the company needs to be a bit more honest in its dealings with respect to excursion packages and insurance. I may well travel with VJV again, but I will be very cautious!
If you do book with VJV, be prepared to be inundated with mail about all their other tours. In the last three months, I must have had at least ten mailings from them.
Advantages: Only young girl who was helpful, but I bet she's gone by now Disadvantages: Dismissive and uncaring
...on a holiday arranged by Voyages Jules Verne, but because of the grief they caused a member of my family, I have had major dealings with them as a group. My sister suddenly lost her husband to a brain haemorrage at the age of 44, leaving her with two boys to look after. Feeling the need for some peace and quiet, she booked herself one of their holidays that they offer around the Italian Lakes and Gardens, booking with a single room supplement of ... ...the holiday, she found that a passing acquaintance was also going on the same tour, the same week. When she and this older lady arrived at the hotel, they were separated from the main group with another couple (brother & sister), and told that there was no single rooms available, and were given keys to their new rooms. They were certainly beautiful rooms with a fantastic lake view, but my sister had gone there to grieve for her husband, and sharing ...
Salgirl 12.05.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Voyages Jules Verne
Advantages: Some interesting destinations Disadvantages: Expensive, and not concerned about customer satisfaction
...husband and I travelled with Voyages Jules Verne (VJV) in June to Limone, on Lake Garda in Italy, a lovely resort, with fantastic scenery. We were not impressed with VJV and as well as completing their questionnaire when we left, I wrote a detailed letter outlining the issues which we had various aspects of the holiday. These included several problems with the supposedly 4-star hotel (probably would get 2 stars at most in the UK) - Butlins-style ... ...TV not working, tiny single beds, no information, run on a shoestring.... We talked to the tour rep on one of the excursions and he said he'd passed on lots of complaints to the hotel and in fact the hotel had now 'banned' him, and it would probably not feature in VJV's brochure next year! There were other problems too, coaches were over-crowded on two occasions (invalidates insurance I think), and the flight out was on a very ancient plane. I detailed ...
anneh1957 08.08.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Voyages Jules Verne
Advantages: Most things were done for you Disadvantages: Had to find own way from Train station to Hotel
...February and had ssen the Voyages Jules Verne stand and collected some brochures so we duly phoned them up and booked, up grading to 1st class seats ( an extra £85 each - return). We had no problems at all until we got to Brussels and then had to find our own way to our Hotel. As we had not been to the area before we took a cab (about 10 Euros). The hotel was excellent but unfortunately had been built when the area was more affluent than it is today.
... ...found we were only about 10 minutes away from the Station but in the middle of the area where the asylum seekers congregate - there were loads of them and the area was awful - very run down - yet a couple of minutes in the opposite direction was the Grand Place and all the exclusive shops and restaurants.
We ate in the hotel the first night where the food was excellent but extremely expensive - I think we paid about £85 for the two of us.
On the ...
Jaspacat 15.04.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Voyages Jules Verne
Advantages: Value for money,interesting destinations Disadvantages: Poor administration
...handled by Kuoni, by whom Voyages Jules Verne has been bought last year. Neither transport or accomodation could be faulted, first class service during the whole itinerary! The conclusion is I would travel with them again, as the whole package was such good value for money, but only if I felt that my nerves were strong enough to battle with their reservations department in order to get away in the first place! ...
munchie 22.10.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Voyages Jules Verne
Value for Money
Quick review of Voyages Jules Verne
Absolutely awful! Every contact has been at the level of "What can I do to NOT help you today". Most of the phone personnel have no knowledge whatsoever of what they are selling. On my last....and it will be my last VJV trip...they could not send my trip information out early because their systems were too inflexible and they gave me totally false and inaccurate information which, had I not acted independently. could have cost me a great deal of money and time. VJV..never gain! ...
Arnoldivan 07.04.2008
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Voyages Jules Verne
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