Carcassonne and Cathar Castles of France

G Sturgess

Liaison/communication between GRJ and local providers needs to be sharper : tour guides were unclear about meeting points and tour contents; initial coach provision was poor until resolved by Tour Manager; there was confusion about the chateau visit. Hotel location and room with terrace lovely. Breakfasts and all meals (in hotel and other venues) very good indeed. Gare du Nord was as painful ever! - not down to GRJ, though.

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Mrs Rosemary Morgan

The Company hadn't bothered to check that what was offered in 2019 was still available, it wasn't. So every day there was a worry over transport, time at the venue, whether the "highlights" were actually Available or whether we had to go back in free time to pay to see the Carcassonne Castle etc which we had alreadg paid for. Whether the Tour Guide would give us the advertised tour or something completely different! The hotel was given the wrong time of our arrival so our meal, which by 9pm we needed but was almost too late to eat, was expected to be served at 7.30pm. Poor chef! Block train tickets for seats that had been sold to other people. Dietary necessities only available for set meals but not for breakfast! The new owners of the hotel were very helpful and all the staff kind and pleasant. The poor Tour Manager was left to remake and check all the trips, meals, guides etc because Head Office were being useless and only available in Office Hours. Poor man, he worked so hard to give us a good time and took the brunt of all the disappointments .

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P Le Jeune

Wonderful destination and one of the best hotels we’ve stayed in with you. Chris Kimber, our guide, was excellent despite having picked up the trip at short notice, and having to cope with some transport problems. Also a mix up with our guide in Narbonne who didn’t seem to know about the visit to the closed market. Overall , very enjoyable.

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Tony Davies

I thought I had already submitted a survey. Excellent tour, temporarily 'derailed' by fault on Eurostar line Calais-Lille setting back schedule +4 hours.

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Marilyn Ireland

Circumstances beyond anyone's control resulted in a delay of 3 hours arriving at Gare du Nord. Consequently we missed the connection to Toulouse. Our rep was very good in communicating with the French rail personnel and managed to get us on a later train. The hotel was presented as a 5 star hotel but this was not the case. Hotel staff left tables uncleared from breakfast, had to constantly ask for cutlery and no variety on the breakfast menu. Tea and coffee had to be obtained via a machine, not brought to the table as one would expect in a 5 star hotel. The food served at the group dinners was ok but seemed to be of a lesser standard than if one booked to eat in the restaurant. Disappointed in the trip to Narbonne as by the time we finished the tour we only had 30 minutes in which to view the indoor market, and stalls were already closing when we arrived. The lunch we had at a local restaurant was not good; some had undercooked chicken and some had tough chicken. We were looking forward to our final night dinner at a chateaux but someone had not checked it was open and so we had lunch instead which was wonderful.We did not have a regular coach driver and on our departure date the driver did not know where the rail station was in Toulouse, missing the turning and then dropping us off at the bus station which resulted in us having a brisk walk to reach the rail station with only a few minutes to spare before the train departed. The area of Carcassone was lovely and we enjoyed our visit to Mirepoix but the hotel had more issues than I have mentioned so I would not stay there again.

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P Harris

Poor hotel service not up to a 5 star barely reach a 4 star

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