Travelmarvel Tour & Cruise Reviews

If you have never been to Canada or Alaska.... Go! You won't be disappointed! I didn't realise Canada has 'semi arid' grasslands in amongst its mountains, rain forests, snowy peaks and glaciers! The scenery and countryside changes by the hour as you travel through it. In Banff the temps were in the summery 20's the day we arrived - the day we departed ...read more it was snowing! The snow continued to fall as we arrived in Lake Louise making our stay there even more memorable. We saw bears, elk, otters and seals but what I absolutely loved was watching the little chipmunks and squirrels that didn't give a hoot if you were watching them as they went about their activities collecting for the coming winter. The Rocky Mountaineer capped of our couch tour perfectly. If you have travelled 'The Great Ocean Road' and thought it was great, then the scenery you will see from the train will knock your socks off. Travelling in Goldleaf for us made it so much more memorable. Do it, you won't be disappointed! The only disappointing thing about this holiday (for us) was that the cruise portion of the trip wasn't long enough. We would have liked to go all the way to Wittier rather than return back to Vancouver from Glacier Bay... but that's only a personal preference. If anyone is considering a holiday to Canada and/or Alaska, this product is a great starting point. Do it, you won't be disappointed!

This was a wonderful trip. Accommodations were on the most part excellent, Kelowna let the side down a bit. Both Tour directors, Christine and Simone were well informed and presented all information in a humorous and interesting manner. Coach drivers Byron and Len were most professional and at the same time friendly and fun to be with. Most of the ...read more included activities were excellent with the exception of the First National experience in Ottawa. Although the people were enthusiastic and interesting the quality and quantity of food provided left a little to be desired. Some people missed out on their meal as the food had run out. The Rocky Mountaineer train was amazing and the staff on board very friendly and efficient. Amazing food and service in the Gold Leaf Class. Passing through US border control to get onto the cruise ship was a long nightmare. Not enough border control staff to handle the two ships trying to embark their passengers. Realise this is no fault of Holland America Line but still was very frustrating. Disembarking was much easier! In my opinion having a balcony on this cruise is a must! Cabin crew and all the ship board staff friendly and very helpful. You could be assured of a smile any time of the day. Would certainly recommend this tour to anyone.

Paul & I thoroughly enjoyed our Canada experience! Our tour guide especially on the east (Will Pringle) was excellent, and our coach driver on the west (Charlotte) was an excellent, safe driver. Regarding optional excursions, I did not look further on the Holland America site when printing off our boarding passes. When we did receive an excursions booklet ...read more on board, we were surprised at some of the prices of the excursions. Paul did suggest that maybe a copy of the excursions booklet could be given to us before the trip from Travel Marvel. I know our itinerary booklet did mention optional excursions on certain days but a hard copy would be good. We, however, did find the itinerary booklet printed for us very helpful. We will now go through our photos and re-live our experiences while in Canada. Thank you, Hannah, for replying so promptly to my requests before the trip! We have some great memories and our fellow passengers were just like a family and it was sad to say goodbye at Vancouver after spending 31 days with some of them.

Booking our trip with Yvonne Brooks could not have been bettered, she was excellent, thank you Yvonne you made everything easy for us. We enjoyed our trip very much. Our Cruise Director was also excellent, she was very professional and helpful to each and everyone. We could not fault ship staff and tour directors, they all did an excellent job. Thank ...read more you for a wonderful trip.

Thank you Hannah and Travelmarvel. What an amazing journey. A very well organised and run tour with very professional and knowledgeable guides. Would highly recommend this tour and Global Journeys to anyone thinking about doing this trip.

I wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed our river cruise with Travelmarvel. The cruise could not be faulted in anyway. Our cabin and the rest of the ship were both well designed and spotlessly clean. All the staff were very friendly and went out of their way to ensure everyone had a good time. The activities were varied and the tour director Petra, ...read more kept us entertained and looked after us exceedingly well, even to the extent of supervising the loading of luggage into the bus, in the pouring rain in Amsterdam.

Sandra and I had a lovely time on our European River cruise. It certainly lived up to our expectations. We were well looked after by all the crew on the Travelmarvel Jewel. All tours were good with guides being very informative. Food on board was amazing and we were well tended with lovely wines with our meals. To be honest, we could not find any negatives ...read more with the whole trip except the sun could have shined a bit warmer sometimes!!! We have recommended Travelmarvel to our friends and will continue to do so. Thanks for your help with our booking.

Many thanks to you Hannah. Everything went according to your plan. We had a wonderful trip. The boat and crew were all good. We wanted for nothing on board. The extra excursions were all worthwhile. Could have been slightly more onboard entertainment. Thanks again for your organising. We had a lovely time.

My girlfriend travelled on this cruise and it was a first for both of us on a river cruise. We both had an absolutely amazing time and could not believe the standard of the entire organisation. There really was nothing to fault and the way our tour director, Gudrun, handled 160 guests leaving the ship in Bratislava instead of Budapest due to rapidly ...read more rising waters and a lock under repair was achieved with efficiency and with complete control. The many towns and villages we visited and the quality of the local tour guides was excellent and for me the added enjoyment was the availability on board of the bikes to explore the areas whilst we were docked.My girlfriend lives in the UK and was the only Brit on board, something she really enjoyed, and she can be very critical but even she could find no complaints! I would have no hesitation in recommending this cruise to anyone and furthermore I would like to say a special thank you to Michelle from Global Journeys for her friendly but professional assistance with the bookings. I sincerely hope I will need to use Global again once I am ready to book another trip somewhere.

Thank you Yvonne for your hassle-free booking process. Everything went to plan and there were no major hiccups. The fact that I broke my ankle on 1st of May and then my wrist on 9th May put the trip in jeopardy for several weeks but with complete diligence to my exercise regime I was able to make the trip and had a really wonderful time. Thank you ...read moreagain.

Thank you Yvonne for putting together a wonderful holiday for us. Everything went according to plan, the only downside was at Heathrow airport. When we arrived the person to meet us could not be found, apparently he was there but his sign was so small we could not read it, however after phoning the office the problem was solved. Our business class flights ...read more were excellent very comfortable and we arrived refreshed, no jet lag. The cruise ship was very comfortable and the food was excellent as was the service, the staff were very helpful at all times. We would recommend Global Journeys and the tour to all our friends and to all those who wish to have a very relaxing holiday. We will have no hesitation in using your company and our Tour Consultant, Yvonne, again, both were excellent.

Was very disappointed in the choice of wines as had read there would be a selection of local wines from regions we were passing through. We had one white and one red offered each time and apart from couple nights all were from France. The reds were a 'rough wine'. Halfway though the cruise we realised some tables were being served rose wine and also ...read more champagne. We were never offered this choice and our wine waiter was reluctant to serve us when we asked for them. From that time on we had very poor service for wine. A few at our table did not drink wine and their service was the same. There was not enough seating in the lounge for all the passengers when entertainment was on. The free time in ports could have been longer but realise with the time factor getting through the lochs would be a factor this was not so. Overall a lovely holiday and great experience.

The trip on the Travelmarvel Diamond was one to remember for a long time. People and employees on the cruise were friendly and helpfull. The on shore trips to differrent towns and villages gave a chance to explore, whilst some could use more time over all it was good. Castles, towns and villages viewed from the ship along the river showed old and new ...read more styles of housing in each country. A great way to relax and see a great part of Europe. Friends made and the memories made for a lifetime!

Georgie was fantastic. I had almost given up on the river cruise until I spoke to her. She was very patient and provided great service. My wife and I really enjoyed our first river cruise.

Thought the overall package was very good. The inclusions and guides were great. Really it made it so much easier to see Europe this way. All the research has been done and the canal cruising is a leisurely way of touring.

The only negative we could find was the lounge area on the vessel - Travelmarvel Jewel - was far too cramped for the number of passengers carried. Otherwise an enjoyable and relaxing trip. Excellent included meals throughout. Comfortable beds.

It was a nice combined tour. Overall it was good. Have seen lots, have done lots, just a bit too fast paced.
The local guides were very good especially in Alaska. I would really recommend this combined tour to whoever wants to see Canada & Alaska.

Thank you Hannah for a wonderful job, our tour went off without a hitch. Warren and I had a fantastic time on both sides of Canada and wow the Alaska cruise was amazing. We have made some wondeful friendships with couples that were on the whole 31 days. We took some amazing photos but the photos don't do it justice you have to see it in the flesh. I ...read more have already told so many of our friends they need to do this trip. There is no one spot better that the other all fantastic all so different, I think you get the idea. Yes we had a FANTASTIC time. There was only one thing that stands out during that Vancouver tour which was on the down side - we put this in the Travelmarvel report. The Tour Group that stated in Vancouver up the coast - had a tour group within the tour group. We felt sorry for our Tour Director Craig Smith - he had a lot to deal with because a women from the Phil Hoffman Group (they were a Singles Group) was a very rude individual to everyone in our group. Hopefully they do not decide to join them together again. We still had a wonderful time. We will be travelling again with Global Journeys, you are fantastic. Thank you again.

As we were one of the younger ones in the group (55yrs) the pace for us could have been a little bit quicker, but we did know this before we went. With younger people now booking these tours maybe this could be looked at. Having said that we had a terrific time and would definitely do another river cruise.

Generally we would have preferred fewer stops and more time at each one. We enjoyed the smaller historic villages/towns rather than the big cities. As there were a number of towns that were very similar perhaps it would be better to concentrate for longer on fewer of these. There were occasions where we felt overly organised when we would have liked ...read more the freedom to relax at our own pace. Hotel in Prague was excellent. Hotel in Paris was OK but our booking was not recorded for the fifth day and we were locked out of our room. Some of the TravelMarvel guests had larger rooms with Queen size beds. However our room was small with a Double size bed. Beds were fitted with Doonas that were extremely hot and nothing else to use as an alternative. Overall we were very happy with Yvonne at Global Journeys and would be happy to use TravelMarvel again. We were very happy on board the TravelMarvel Jewel. The food was outstanding and the general atmosphere and service excellent.