Classical Korea and Japan End Tokyo

Customer Reviews

• JM

  Jacqueline

  · August 21st, 2023
  Good tour but has lots of walking and changes hotels daily. Otherwise was a great experience for y family.
  

  Europamundo commented on this review

  Hi, Thanks for the amazing review Jacqueline, we are so happy you enjoyed your time with us in Classical Korea and Japan End Tokyo! . Europamundo team ????❤
  Trip date: July 2023
• LO

  Lilian

  · July 19th, 2019
  This was by far the worst experience I have ever had travelling. Even upon booking we had misleading information from the start, and the only reason I persisted with them was because some reviews mentioned the terrible booking information but said the tour itself was fine. So I tried to ignore the repetitively wrong information, not answering my questions, vague assurances, EU prices despite specifically asking for AUD, etc. The Tour Radar website regularly contains the wrong information and there is no quality control of vendors. The itinerary was misleading, as they kept changing the itinerary and we missed out on quite a lot of inclusions, especially the free time where they forced the whole group to attend things together we didn’t want to do when they could have just released a few people and told them to meet us back next door upon finishing certain activities. We ended up having no time and missing major attractions, which were the main reasons we booked this tour over others. For example at one point the whole group was stuck sitting on the bus for 90 minutes in Osaka while they changed over guides, and we were told we MUST stay on the bus when they could have let us out for an hour but we weren’t even allowed the bathroom and had no idea we would be stuck there so long. Some places were not even near the cities, for example our hotel was in another city next to Busan and not Busan itself. The office did not pass on the required information to guide staff, including accepting vegetarian bookings but then not telling any of the restaurants and my vegetarian mother was constantly told to “pick out the meat” from her dishes. Even when there were buffet options there was no accommodation made for vegetarians, one night at dinner where it was freezing cold and raining, there was nothing but side garden salad and plain bread available for vegetarians while the meat eaters had over twenty dishes and sides to choose from. There was very little “local” meals, and even when promised we would have local food they would regularly change it and take us to low quality venues with Italian food (surely they would encourage Korean or Japanese food when in those countries?). During the Korean segment, the company split us into two buses because they did not properly inform or enforce the 1 suitcase rule, so those few of us that obeyed the rules were shunted onto a tiny second bus where we cramped in with our suitcases and bags literally under our feet and we had to wait for them to be moved each time there was a toilet break or lunch stop so we could actually climb over peoples’ things to get in and out of the bus. Even at the hotels were were often dumped and not given any information or assistance, including where dinner was included on site. They outsource the tours in many countries and then blame the contractor for the problems, and do nothing about it - no intervention, and worst they don’t respond to customers. My first guide contacted the office constantly to advise of the problems but the comnpany did nothing about it and did not respond to me for weeks at a time, and even when they did they only said “we’re looking into it”. The provider was difficult and mislead me into purchasing the tour because I was told they ran English speaking tours, when in fact they are Spanish tours with small adjustments made poorly to supplement the extra money from English speaking passengers. Only two of the four guides I had spoke decent English, however very little explanation was provided in English and this caused a very stressful and isolating tour. Whenever we were being told about a country/city or advised of what was happening, even when being taken to attractions two of the four guides gave me little to no explanation to the point where we didn’t even know what was happening, where we were or what time we had to be back at the bus to meet the group. The poor Spanish passengers had to fumble through poor English to help me and my elderly mother, and I noticed as well the same guides who spoke poor English also did not wait for the elderly passengers or check numbers to make sure everyone had returned before leaving. Even the Spanish customers were not happy at the service they were given despite being treated far better and being given so much more information and assistance, and they were also additionally constantly interrupting the guide when we were being given limited English information. Because there were so many issues with the tour, they did need to interrupt constantly to get adequate explanations although that worsened our experience as the only English speakers on the tour as then we had little to no explanation or time and they clearly prioritised Spanish passengers. In particular it was bad in the Korean part of the tour where the Korean local guide did not explain much, and the English speaking guide brought in had only been to Korea once and did not know our tour so we were all in the dark about what was happening and the brought in guide spent so much time trouble shooting the issues he had no time to translate for us, which was meant to be his sole responsibility. Our Japanese guide would spend an hour telling the Spanish something, and then give me a (literal) 3 minute update, but only when I forced her to. It got to be a joke with the Spanish passengers as they kept repeatedly shaking their heads at her when she would not give me any of the details they gave us, and if I didn’t understand a bit of Latin from my broken Italian I may not have been able to figure out enough information to know when to return to the bus after seeing a site, etc. We experienced so many problems that I can’t even remember it all, but this translator Pablo did try a LOT to raise and address the issues with the company to no avail. The one saving grace with the company was that the hotels were of good quality, but that did not make up for the problems - certainly the company’s attitude made everything worse as they didn’t properly respond to my issues until I threated fair trading action 6 weeks later even though I emailed them on day two. What a deliberate and misleading waste of money and time, for my only holiday in six years but also the amount of stress caused and not being able to enjoy anything because we didn’t know where we were, why the itinerary changed, how long we had, not catering to vegetarians despite agreeing this would be fine, etc. I would highly recommend AGAINST for English speakers, and even for Spanish speakers very few passengers were satisfied and the company refused to deal with any of the issues in Korea or Japan to the point where I watched some Spanish passengers yell out their frustrations in public venues and still no action by the company. Even Tour Radar were really disappointing and while being much faster to respond, they would not do anything but remind the operator by email to respond to me. They might do OK in other countries but in Korea and Japan, NEVER AGAIN.
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  Europamundo commented on this review

  Hi. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, we really appreciate hearing from our guests. We apologize for any inconvenience you may have encountered during the tour. Europamundo team :D❤
  Trip date: April 2019
• SS

  Steve

  · June 2nd, 2019
  David M was an amazing guide.
  

  Europamundo commented on this review

  Hi Steve Samandar, Thank you very much for taking the time to share your experiences online. We are pleased to know that your trip was a success! We are happy to know that David M was an incredible guide, I will make sure to share his kind comments with... Show more
  
  Trip date: May 2019
• LO

  Lilian

  · May 6th, 2019
  Terrible tour especially for English speakers - the tour was badly organised especially in Korea and the itinerary kept changing. We barely got any information, vegetarian meals were not communicated to any of the tour guides and the meals were already poor and mostly Italian which wasted opportunities to experience local culture. Highly midleading and poor communication, we ended up isolated and ripped off. I would never recommend this to English speakers and even for Spanish it was below average. If it wasn't for most of the hotels being great I'd not have many positive things to say. The Korea leg was particularly bad and vegetarians are barely considered. I have taken many kinds of tours and never had any issues like I had with this company. The office and booking teams are the worst part. Guides were friendly but that's it, I should have realised how bad it would be when the booking team were non responsive, gave incorrect information, repeatedly made strange comments, were slow to respond and didn't know their own product. Terrible opportunity for a holiday ruined.
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  Europamundo commented on this review

  Hi Lilian Oh, receive a warm greeting from us, we are very aware that your comments help us improve day by day. Your case was treated in a special way and we gave you a solution for what happened in the destination, and as it was indicated from the... Show more
  Trip date: April 2019