"Experience with Imagine cruising"

We have travelled with Imagine cruising a few times. The tour we chose was just what we wanted. Morgan made the booking experience easy. He was informative and helpfull and rush us.

"Excellent customer service …"

Chris was extremely helpful with all the information needed to make the right decision for our cruise next year .. friendly and professional.. will certainly use again ..

"Excellent customer service again…"

Excellent customer service from Chris (Laurence). He was so helpful and knowledgeable about the two trips we’ve booked - one to New Zealand and Australia the other to South East Asia and Bali. Chris had personal experience of some of the hotels and the rail trip between Sydney and Perth which gave us added insight into our holiday. He was especially helpful in explaining the pros and cons of various cabin types on the ships as well as the optimum time of year to travel. We’ve always had great holidays with imagine cruising which are good value for money and would highly recommend.

"Chris Laurence was excellent- is total…"

Chris Laurence was excellent- is total command of his subject including the fine detail and made the whole purchase journey easy.

"Simple booking process"

Very quick response and made it easy to book. Andrew was very knowledgeable

"Andrew speaking about the cruise"

Andrew speaking about the cruise

"Very thorough without being boring"

Very thorough without being boring! Great job.

"Cruise was fine, but dreadful admin errors made the rest of the trip very stressful"

We took the Alaska cruise, Calgary stampede and rocky mountaineer trip in July. On the whole an enjoyable trip but the tour administration left much to be desired - hotel rooms not booked, airport/ hotel transfers issues, sometimes were on the list, sometimes not. We also had 7 days of private travel across Canada organised by the company and the admin errors caused a great deal of stress. Vouchers not issued, Pick up times non existent, took repeated calls to UK to find out what was happening. The pick up time in Montreal was scheduled for hours before the train had left Quebec to get there! I was told that all the information would be on my final itinerary before we left the UK, or vouchers would be issued by the Canadian agents. The information was incorrect and caused a great deal of stress throughout the trip. Add to the mix two questionable hotels, one appeared to be a back packing hotel and the other had health and safety issues - dirty air conditioning. For the thousands I paid for the holiday the service was appalling. I was offered £200 voucher as compensation. I refused as I could not trust them again, accepting the £100 goodwill gesture. I wish I had booked with Audley or Cox and Kings. I can only judge IC with companies I have used before.

"The whole experience was made extremely…"

The whole experience was made extremely easy by the the advisor Bob.
He answered all of my questions, explained everything with patience and humour.

"Personally I used this company for the…"

Personally I used this company for the first time this year and would never use them again. I paid an awful lot of money (after saving for a few years!) to celebrate a big birthday. The holiday was for 3 weeks starting with a cruise with Cunard Queen Victoria followed by a tour of the Italian Lakes and returning to London on the Orient Express. The Queen Victoria has seen better days with restaurant staff not always have a command of English even with some basic ‘menu’ words, the Maitre’d seldom smiled and was very curt! The entertainment was appalling - mostly quizzes and Bingo (which cost $30 extra - oh yes everything was priced in dollars!) the only enjoyable music was a couple of Irish guys called Foggy Duo who were fantastic and fortunately they played every night in the pub. Don’t even want to mention the cost of the drinks package- or the fact that a casino was plonked right in the middle of the main thoroughfare encouraging people to bet who might not have otherwise…landed in Rome - now the chaos and disorganisation begins.. no-one on the dock to meet group - confusion reigned, eventually coaches arrived - this was our transport for the duration of the trip - long distances between locations in uncomfortable coach with no on-board toilet or refreshments!!! Hotels originally booked were all changed from 5* to barely 3*- we had been told that hotels were changed but the rating would be comparable - well it wasn’t - all new selections were a good distance from main Tourist attractions, one destination they tried to put in a shuttle bus which failed miserably but still dropped you far from main area, long walk for anyone with mobility issues. Distinct lack of interesting site information and in Florence we found out that the Cathedral was booked up for 6 weeks ahead - so we would have needed to book before we left home - we were not told - no information given for restaurants unless we asked - the whole trip was a complete information and communication desert!! The local girls did their best….. the whole trip was a complete disappointment and I know many of my fellow travellers were of the same mind - the transfer from the final hotel in Lake Garda to Venice to get the Orient Express was also chaos, as was the arrival at Paris for the transfer over to the Gare de Nord . Originally we were supposed to get ourselves from Gare de l’Est across Paris!!- because of this it was suggested that passengers might like to go by coach to London as it would be easier (that is for Imagine) I declined this offer and stuck by the Eurostar (which was what I was originally told) after much heated discussions transportation was arranged and of course those who had opted for the coach were told they couldn’t change back (leaving them with a very very long delayed trip back to St Pancras.) my summation as I said at the beginning is I would not travel with this company again nor would I recommend them -
ENDING ON A POSITIVE NOTE- something Imagine cannot take credit for - the Orient Express was fabulous, from Alex our Carriage Concierge - to all the restaurant staff, to the food, the decor the whole overnight was perfect! Imagine could learn a lot of lessons from The Orient Express with regard to the meaning of ‘luxury’ and customer service.
After complaining I got little empathy and was offered £500 compensation (a drop in the ocean in comparison to the cost of the trip) plus an initial £200 back in the beginning for the inconvenience of changing hotels - NOT in any way compensation for downgrading the hotels - in my opinion) plus a £200 voucher to use against my next holiday with them 🤣🤣🤣🤬) WHICH INCIDENTALLY HAS NEVER ARRIVED!! Still saved me putting it in the bin…I rest my case!!!! Choose your holiday company with care and research - I certainly will in the future!!