Reviews

Your Words – We tell it like it is! Holiday Reviews by previous Exodus travellers

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14342 Reviews

4.7 out of 5

Clive Marks

Reviewed January 2020

Breathtaking and dumbfounding

The variety of experiences on this trip is among the highest that I have got from any trip, from the serenity of seeing over a million bats streaming out of their roost cave at dusk to the horrors of a killing field and its torture prison, between which are the mystical majesty of the temples of Angkor. are the grand finale to the trip. Along the way were many encounters of real life in this beautiful country as well as snorkelling in the sea.

Most Inspirational Moment

Inspirational is a difficult word to asses for this trip, so let me try some others for you: Horrifying - the sheer inhumanity of what went on in the torture prison and the killing field (I just had to go and find a quiet corner with my own thoughts - our tour leader, Bun, whose parents had been Khmer Rouge child soldiers, came to my rescue as he was the only person to know so intimately what went on here; Humbling - meeting two survivors of the torture camp (I was left dumbstruck); Magnificent - seeing over a million bats suddenly start to stream out of their roost cave and head out to eat enough paddy field pest to save 20,000 tonnes of rice per year (nature at its most beautiful, so shortly after the horrors above); Majestic - the whole temple complex of the Angkor area (some are beautifully carved, some are vast, others are simply serene in their simplicity and tranquility, Ta Prohm not being among the tranquil ones since the Tomb Raider film. Crazy - the traffic in every town and city but this was contrasted by the ability of everyone to get through crowded junctions with in calm chaos. Walking out into the road, in the assured belief that you would not get run over, is a habit that one will have to rapidly get out of back in the UK! Tranquility - so many places were blissfully quiet, even at the fabulous hotel near Sihanoukville, where one had just gone through a vast building site, was so gloriously located on the beach near a fabulous choice of bars and restaurants. This was the first trip over the New Year when I have been able to get to sleep early due to the quiet in our Siem Reap hotel.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Bun was a star so let me tell you why: he always gave us fabulously accurate and informative briefings about the following day (when we needed to be anywhere; what we would be doing; what we should be wearing; what we should bring with us) as well as updates throughout the day; he was always able to find suitable restaurants for group dinners and coped well with the assorted dietary requirements of some guests. Finding a restaurant for 17 people at short notice is very difficult in any location at any time of year, let alone over the New Year period. Some evenings, when no group dinner was needed, we would find him joining us for dinner and fabulous conversations always resulted; his charm was endless, even when some guests were less than polite or helpful; we always knew where he was as we could always hear his delightful giggle; when one of the guests developed medical complications from sand fly bites, he was fabulous about ensuring that she got the appropriate medical treatment in the right facility and kept the rest of us informed of her progress; when another was taken ill during a bus trip, he dealt with it so discretely that most people had no idea that there had been any problem; his knowledge of his country is amazing; with his parents having been child-soldiers for the Khmer Rouge we knew that he had a very close connection with that dark phase of his country's recent history - he was amazingly frank about some aspects of his parents' lives and of his own extraordinary upbringing; he is a great testament as to what someone can achieve in their own life through sheer determination and hard work, making us feel very humble at having had the privilege of meeting him (woe betide any snivelling brat who whinges about not having the latest gadget, just because they "want" it!) with my husband having broken five vertebrae and twice having had his pelvis crushed, he is a self-confessed "princess and the pea" when it comes to bed mattresses. Bun phoned ahead to ensure that our last hotel had extra facilities in the room when we arrived, helping to ensure some 3 good nights' sleep.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Mira Nair

Reviewed January 2020

Poor hotel food and mixed itinerary

We only stay at one hotel the entire trip, which we had a very mixed experience of. The room was nice and large , cleaned well each day, a lovely big balcony. Sadly the TV had the capability to connect to the internet and Netflix but this was disabled by the hotel which is a shame.

I am very surprised so many reviews of this tour rate the food at the hotel positively. We had high expectations but found it was mediocre at the best of times, and terrible (and made us both sick/get a dodgy stomach) at the worst of times. They clearly designed all the included meals to feed a big group as cheaply as possible — and the health and safety standards were frankly for a first world country. We were invited into the kitchen several times for cooking demonstrations but no one working the kitchen wore hair nets or any other basic hygiene equipment and we weren’t required to wash our hands or wear hair nets or anything else despite standing very much in the centre of the food preparation. It didn’t surprise me that I got ill from the food probably as a result of this. It’s a shame as we only had a couple of ‘free’ meals to experience properly excellent Italian food.

The breakfast supposedly starts at 7am but we went down there at 720am and nothing was out yet — we had to wait another 15min to eat after we found the woman managing it and she set it up. Again, pretty poor hygiene standards as she grabbed the bread slices out with bare hands after touching lots of other things in the setup. The breakfast is a very basic continental and we were pretty sick of the very limited selection by the last couple of days. The pastries started out nice and fresh tasting the first day but I think they re-use them multiple days (we saw her take out the same ones from the last day) and they were really hard and disgusting by the last breakfasts.

The two owners are also the two chefs and they both made lots of very inappropriate comments during their cooking demonstrations — one said that he needs to beat the pizza dough to get it out of his system so he doesn’t beat his wife. He also said the olive oil needed to be Italian, ‘not Greek or spic stuff.’ They both also made repeated negative comments about vegetarians.

The first day lunch is not an included meal but we were forced to buy it at the hotel. I asked the guide if we could go find somewhere else (we had tons of time between getting to the hotel and our orientation walk) and he made it out like we had to go to the hotel restaurant. It was very expensive and small portions and very mediocre quality for what it was. A few days later we had a not included dinner so we went to a very good and very cheap pizza place literally across the road from the hotel. Wish we were given the chance to find this the first day instead of being forced to eat at the hotel (I’ve never been on a tour where we’ve not been given a choice for non included meals for where to eat). I paid 11 euro for a tiny piece of not very good sea bass and an extra four euro for a very lame side salad. The pizza place across the street does you an excellent big pizza for 6-8 euros.

The village we were based in was really in the middle of nowhere. The positive of the location is this clearly is a major hub for starting beautiful walks from. But besides that it’s so remote that you feel a bit trapped.

A pool is advertised but when we stayed, it wasn’t being cleaned or maintained at all — which they don’t tell you. It was full of rubbish so they clearly just don’t maintain it in winter but Exodus should really make that clear or else saying there’s a pool is false advertising.

The itinerary hilights for us were 1) the stunning boat ride along the coast from Amalfi to Capri and 2) the archaeology day we spent doing Herculaneum and Pompeii. Many people told me we would need a full day for Pompeii alone but actually we found 2-3 hours at each site was enough to see the hilights just fine.

The biggest itinerary disappointments included the walk of the gods. We did a very lame short version of this where we walked about 2km one way and then turned back and walk back the same way we came. There was endless faffing and unnecessary short breaks on this shortened walk. I also expected we were doing a BBQ lunch back at the hotel afterward as per the trip notes but the lunch instead was a cold lunch with a cheese and salami platter . I would have much preferred doing the full walk of gods and then getting transport back from Positano, because we really didnt benefit from a guide (just the opposite) to do a tiny there and back again chunk of this walk followed by a lunch at the hotel and nothing to do afterwards. This entire day again felt like false advertising from the trip notes.

The first three days (Capri, Pompeii, Amalfi and Positano) felt like full days and the last two non-free days felt very much like half days (Ravello was very pretty but not enough for a day).

Most Inspirational Moment

Lovely countryside

Reply from Exodus

We would like to thank Mira for her feedback, although we are very sorry that some aspects of this trip and the accommodation fell below her expectations. We have been using the Hotel Due Torri for around 20 years and the feedback we usually receive about it is positive; in 2019 the hotel catered for approximately 1700 Exodus clients. The hotel has replaced the old televisions with smart TVs which have over 100 foreign channels, mostly in English. Whilst we were very sorry that Mira was not impressed with the food on this trip, we feel it pertinent to mention that other members of Mira’s group who privately completed Holiday Evaluation Forms (HEFs), rated the food on this trip as ‘excellent’. The breakfast buffet includes cheese, ham, white and brown sliced bread, yoghurt, fresh boiled eggs, muesli, popped rice and cereal alternatives, fresh fruit, jam and honey, plus dairy free alternatives, fresh coffee and cappuccino and freshly squeezed orange juice. The kitchen at the hotel follows rigorous hygiene standards when it comes to food preparation; staff wear professional clothes and hats/hair net as needed and clients who are selected to help with the cooking demonstrations are given an apron and a hat/hair net and are asked to wash their hands before touching the food. We regret that Mira was not aware that the hotel pool would not be open at the time of year that she visited; this pool is usually open from mid-April to mid-October, depending on weather, and we have now included this information in our trip notes. Whilst we are sorry that Mira was disappointed with the location of the hotel, and aspects of the staffing and itinerary, all members of her group who privately completed HEFs rated the accommodation, itinerary, staff members as ‘excellent’, and rated their overall trip experience as 5 out of a possible 5. We appreciate that everyone’s experience is different and we regret Mira’s feedback, but because, as of January 2020, the 78 people who have left reviews of our Highlights of the Amalfi Coast tour on our website have awarded it an overall rating of 4.6 out of a possible 5, we are confident that this trip is running in line with our expectations. Marta Marinelli – Product Manager

Stephanie Scollard

A great trip that could have been SO much more! My husband & I mostly enjoyed the first half of this trip, chosen especially to see the Day of The Dead celebrations in Mexico. The accommodation was pretty good throughout with some lovely colonial hotels, some with lovely swimming pools. Unfortunately we often arrived far too late in the afternoon, to enjoy those facilities and the next day we were off again on the tour. Very disappointing.

Travelling for the whole trip in a minibus (this was mentioned in the trip notes to be fair, but we have never had to endure this in any 7 of our previous Exodus trips, always having had much larger coaches) with no spare seats, unable to be fully comfortable or recline our seats, on some very long journeys (albeit with comfort breaks) spoilt the trip for us. Being in very close quarters with our group for several hours each day, some of whom we felt were selfish & insensitive to the needs of their fellow passengers, was at times, a strain & caused a lot of tension.

In retrospect I think the tour could perhaps should be cheaper and split into two separate trips. So that those who wish to experience the Day of the Dead in Oaxaca can and perhaps add on another separate tour with the Yucatan & Mayan pyramids for those that want to experience the history. The first half with maybe more time in Mexico City to experience all that it has to offer.

We are no strangers to ‘full on’ Exodus trips, having been to Peru last year,also China, Russia, Cuba & India twice. However this trip felt exhausting to us, mainly because of the travelling conditions in the minibus, nearly all the road journeys were longer than the ‘estimates ‘ in the trip notes. It was also very unfortunate I was ill in Oaxaca & had to see a doctor for antibiotics and steroids. To be honest we felt that to appreciate the country, more time is need in some of the towns – Merida & Campeche especially.

Most Inspirational Moment

Personally it was experiencing the Day of the Dead in the evening, with the families in the cemetery. The atmosphere was incredible. To see the decorated shrines and just be there with everyone, was a joy! I loved the skeleton figures everywhere and the rich colours of the marigolds on the altars. Oaxaca was a terrific place to see & feel the celebrations. We also had a great time at Frida Kahlo's house,in Mexico City even thought here were long queues, our guide had prebooked so we got in without too much waiting. I wasn't prepared for the scenery to be so varied either-vast plains,mountains, jungles, forests.... Seeing the Gulf of Mexico just as the sun set was magical! Unfortunately in Oaxaca, we were very disappointed when told by our guide that although printed in the itinerary, we were not going to have lunch with a local family, take part in the parade or go to the family's shrine in the evening. Many of the group wanted to dress up, have their faces painted and really immerse themselves in the experience. In fact that was why we had chosen Exodus, because it offered those things. But it was not to be. Perhaps the trip notes should reflect this in future, so as not to disappoint clients.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Arturo was all things to us all. From being a mine of information about his country's history, culture & religion, he was always willing to go the extra mile - from providing medication when we were ill ( a bad cold struck most of us down during the trip) to providing a fruit plate & bananas for my husband when he suffered an upset stomach and was unable to leave the hotel in Oaxaca for 2 days. Arturo took us to some very good restaurants so we could experience the variety that is Mexican cuisine - despite my dislike for chillies! He was always patient and mostly helpful. We especially had a good time with him in Oaxaca watching the dancing in the square from the restaurant balcony.

Advice for Potential Travellers

.Be prepared for long journeys - with little in the way of 'enjoyable' food when travelling from place to place! Motorway services & cafes do not cater for gluten free diets - so take snacks with you - cereal bars, small packs of dried fruit & nuts etc. You can buy snacks but the food is very 'plastic'! . Take Mexican pesos with you - although US dollars can be exchanged, you are not always near an ATM or bank. . If you like crafts, Mexico is a wonderland. Make sure you have room in your case especially for souvenirs of the Day of the Dead. We experienced some VERY heavy rain one day but generally the weather is good in October/November - take a brolly/packable waterproof in your rucksack. . Take headphones, iPad/tablet, Kindle, book etc to pass the time on long road journeys.

Julie O'Donnell

The picnic of market-bought treats, in a Palermo pub. Cooking lesson. Exploring Greek, and Roman, remains. Gelato. 'Climbing' Mt Etna.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Absolutely the best. It was like being with a favourite member of the family, one who knew his stuff inside out.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Just do it.

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