Rainbow Travel

I recently returned from a 2 week European Group Tour arranged by Rainbow Travel with CIE Tours. Although Europe is a beautiful country with so much to see and experience, our group was rushed through most of the attractions (we were given a 20 minute abbreviated tour of the touted Russborough House, a 45 minute limit at the Titanic Museum in Belfast and our walking tour of York consisted of running from the bus to York Minster before it closed!), the itinerary and arrangements were all confused, none of the attraction tickets had been purchased ahead so we had to wait at most attractions for at least 30 minutes before we could get in line, 4 of the 7 hotels where we stayed were at a 1 star level, our tour guide would not provide us a corrected itinerary & suggested we just listen to him to know what was going on, and although we were told we would have time in most cities to explore and shop - that only happened in 2 cities of the 10 cities we visited. I realize that most of these issues directly reflect on CIE Tours and I certainly don't want to detract from that, however I do feel that Rainbow Travel as a customer of CIE would have the decency to feel somewhat obligated to at least apologize for the negative incidents a group (28) of their customers experienced! After paying the cost of my trip and being severely limited by the lack of taste in hotels, the lack of organization and communication in regard to the itinerary and daily schedule, the lack of remorse at allowing people only 15 minutes to view Notre Dame after traveling thousands of miles and paying over $5000.00 - I would think that Rainbow Travel would be a bit more sympathetic. I will not use either company again and would suggest that if you decide to - you proceed by getting everything in writing and keeping good records each day on your trip!

I also booked tour through Rainbow Travel Agency via St Patrick's Denison Tx. It is my understanding they were acting as agents for CIE tours. Although we covered all the British Isles and I realize now this was an ambitious undertaking, I feel it was misrepresented initially and due to serious lack of communications between St Patrick's agent, Rainbow Travel and CIE tours, a series of miscalculations in time, hotels and scheduled tours occurred throughout the trip which resulted in wasted money, time and energy on the part of the whole group, comprised of 34 lives. Due to misrepresentation additional tours double booked and monies collected for a theatre show that never came to fruition, causing myself a sizable amount of extra cash, none of which has been refunded. It is said that a professional agency such as Rainbow failed to apologize or even acknowledge there were issues involved resulting in loss of money and wear and tear on our group physically. Several of the hotels included in our tour were not the four stars touted by their representative. Once the agents got together in British Isles, they attempted to make sure all points and attractions were met in our "contract". This was probably accomplished but at a very low quality level. 15 minutes at Notre Dame did not even get us in the door. We were promised the top of the Eiffel Tower and never made it past the first level, although our package included the additional cost. We were rushed through both of these attractions to get us to the train station 3 hours early. Russborough House was shaved down to a 20 minute tour and we were never allowed to the second floor due to time constraints. The much touted Tattoo in Edinburg was not scheduled until 10pm, but we were not informed until that day and then we were scheduled to leave the next morning by 7 am. I understand mishaps and misscheduling can occur; however, working in customer service myself I also know that a professional should have acknowledged issues and offered us, the paying customers, some choices and especially a revised itinerary upon arrival. I am also appalled that we were never given anything in writing to verify what our $5000 was for except for the plane fare and flight insurance. I asked for a financial accounting and it was promised by representative from St Patricks but never forthcoming. I did, in fact, email all my concerns to Peggy at Rainbow Travel and that has never been acknowledged. I am afraid at this time I could not recommend either Rainbow Travel or CIE tours for anyone at this time. This was a once in a lifetime experience for myself and my daughter, $10,000 plus the additional $500 in the above mentioned additional tour and evening at the theatre is a large sum for me, taken from my retirement. It should have been the experience of a lifetime and sadly it was not.