Ciao Italy ToursReviews of ciaoitalytours.com

We had a day tour of Pisa, a winery, San Gimiganano and Siena. Basically we got bused and dropped off at each site. I saw other tour guides giving detailed information about the site and its significant. We got dumped and given very little information. It was so disappointing to hear so little about the site and its significance. We didn't have enough time to go in catherial. Again at San Gimiganano we were dropped off at the location with no background or history from our tour guide. Why are we paying for a tour if we get no guidance of what is important to look for? The winery was ok, the wines did not really taste good. And the wines were overpriced for the value. The most disappointment came when we were told that we were not going into the catherial in Siena. No explanation of what was in the catherial and no guide. Our local tour guide was also disappointing. I paid out of pocket to get into the catherial and had no guidance. I had to look it up in the internet. If we want to get a ride to places we would just get a bus ticket not book a tour. So very disappointing.

Please, you absolutely knew I was not happy. I just didn’t get to this because I’ve been busy moving. A dinner with friends last night where we were discussing this trip triggered me to get back to it. And for the record, that gondola ride in Venice never showed up. Just one more item I could have mentioned. There are others. Also I never, ever discussed budget restrictions with you. Where do I start... My wife and I and my two daughters book a trip with this outfit to Venice, Florence, Rome and Positano. Big$$$ Be warned these guys are a tour booking company " NOT" a travel agent. They can't even book flights on their own. They use some travel agent to do that. What does that mean? It means they have no concept of how to organize a trip to make it convenient and enjoyable. Their goal is the sell your tours. 1) I make it more than perfectly clear that I wanted the best accommodations. Now I understand a 5 star hotel in Italy is not quite like 5 star hotels in major US cities. Not even close I understand that. But while I was booked in 4 to 5 star hotels, I was given the absolute lowest class room the hotels could offer. In Venice we our one window overlooked the canal between two buildings maybe 10 ft. apart. With added benefit of being the location where the garbage was thrown out every morning onto barges. Room booked was so small I could pass the bed without squeezing sideways. No way we would fit in there with luggage. Needless to say I had to upgrade at an additional cost. In Florence we had to do the same. In Rome the hotel was at least a little more modern, but my daughters had a room where the shower was open to the room in front of the bed! In Positano we stayed in a beautiful hotel on the beach that overlooked the ocean, but of course our rooms faced a side street and building and again over the area where they flung bags of bottles from the restaurants onto the garbage trucks from 10 ft. high at 3:00 AM. every day. Remember..., save money for tours... 2) Transfers / Transportation Remember there are 4 of us, 3 woman with luggage for 13 days, plus carry on. These geniuses have us traveling on what is basically a commuter train from city to city! You get dropped in the station and told to watch the board for your train Dragging your luggage around. You are on your own getting your luggage to the car your booked in. We had to fling the luggage from the platform onto the train, hoping it wouldn't start pulling out. These trains are not designed for travelers with luggage. There is nowhere to store luggage except i small overheads designed for brief cases. Image asking 60 year old's and two young girls to hoist 50 lb. bags on to overheads! I called to complain and ended u paying another $2k+ for private transportation. Keep in mind I was already in for $30k to these guys. 3) The tours, the many tours, the too many tours. These tours are individually booked. For most, no one is picking you up at the hotel. You are on you own finding the meeting places. You get instructions like "meet at the small wooden booth near the post office in St Marks Square". St Marks Square is huge. Plus your dropped by bot nowhere near it. So first, find St Marks Square, the this wooden box. It took 45 minute s of wandering around to find it. Amazing, no one in Italy seems to know where anything is. The walking tours are endless and exhausting. These guys see no issue in booking 2 in one day. One all day tour in Tuscany started with one of the endless walking tours in Sienna, some other thing and then a tour of a vineyard with dinner. Between these activities there are several 30 to 45 minute cramped van rides. By the time we got to the vineyard it was dark. What could you possible see in the dark in the hills of Tuscany. We needed flashlights just to move around without killing ourselves. Now its around 8:30 and we haven't eating since breakfast. Dinner was a small bowl of fennel and some cheese and bread served family style. We were starving. Again here the goal is to sell you wine, nothing else. We get dropped back around 11:30 at the tour office in the middle of nowhere with no way to get back to the hotel. 12:30 before we made our way back only because the tour driver was kind enough to take us back. After this ordeal Ciao has us booked at 8:15 AM for another tour! This tour said "meet" at 8:15" at another obscure location that the cab driver had trouble finding. We manage to get there at 8:20 only to find the tour left! Where does "meet" mean "we leave"? we managed to call the local tour company who told us "oh your can meet them at the museum, it's only a 1/2 hour walk! All the tours were like that, no consideration of our time or how inconvenient it would be. Just book, book, book. In Positano we gave up and just didn't go anymore. A lot more to that story, I continue on another day.

I wanted to have a working relationship with Ciao Italy, but feel I don't get detailed information in a timely matter. I feel the staff is overworked and not interested in new business.