Spotlight on London

Loved everything we saw just a lot crammed in, I wwould like a bit more leasurely pace

Too much time traveling on the bus. Would have preferred touring more local sites in London.. Christmas markets too commercialized. The tea was Disappointing. The time a Harrad’s was too short. Blenheim was outstanding and the tour of Westminster was informative. .

Susan Orr was the worst tour guide I have ever had. She was so rude to me and the group. She blamed everything that she did wrong on Collette. It was so embarrassing When I meet here at the airport I said hi Susan I’m Linda and she said oh and shredded her shoulders. If I tried to count people on bus she told me to sit down and if they were not there she said she was leaving them she lost people on trip 3 times because if you asked her again what time to meet bus she said I told you on the bus yesterday. She was out to make Collette look bad. These were all my great Collette clients and great friends. I have had the most fantastic tour guide this year. John on Ireland Marc on islands of New England and George on Greece and Evonka on Canadian Rockies. She complained about everything. My over all of Susan Orr was she was just a mean person. Please take her off your list. I would never want a group to experience this. A tour guide can ruin a trip So sorry. If I had not gone I think it would have been even worse Every morning I said to her at breakfast good morning Susan and she never answered me until the last morning. I tried to be nice to her but it was impossible I asked for John Barton for your guide in this trip and I was told I could not ask. I didn’t d not ask again because every Collette tour guide has been outstanding until now.

I really liked the Windsor Castle visit. There was lots to see and I really like seeing historic places. Windsor Castle is especially interesting since it is still in use.

Andy Parker is a great tour leader

Our tour guide was incredible. I loved Westminster Abbey the most and Buckingham Palace.

I had a wonderful time. I would like to go on more of the trips.

There was nothing that I would complain about! Touring the BBC was wonderful. I greatly enjoyed the Tina show. I'm glad to have seen castles, palaces and churches that I had only heard about in the past. Having unscheduled time so I could do a solo visit to the Churchill War Museum was also a plus.

Lorraine was amazing. So funny, helpful, and full of knowledge. I had a couple experiences I enjoyed the most. One would be the Tina Turner musical and the other would be the Tower of London tour.

Everything was planned out like clockwork. Excellent Tour Manager, excellent accommodations, excellent local guides. This was my first tour with Collette but I would highly recommend them.

Visiting Westminster Abbey

We were scheduled to see many sights but still had free time to see what else we were interested in.

Everything was very organized and we didn’t have to worry about a thing, our tour guide was sooo knowledgeable and went out of her way to include everyone even the two young boys on the tour.

Six nights are not enough to warrant the trip, 2 days to get there and 1 to get home, it should be at least 8 or 9 nights.

Great tour guide, great bus driver, wonderful tour sites

I enjoyed all the tours. Ann Carr, out tour manager, was extremely knowledgeable. She was attentive to our needs, and went above and beyond her duties to ensure all of us were taken care of. I liked home-to-airport and back home transportation.

we had a very good tour guide and they showed a good time and were always polite and well knowledgeable

Great value, great guide and bus driver, great agenda. Loved the high tea; disappointed in the choice of the play we attended. So many Broadway shows and although the actors were good, thought the play was a little on the community theatre side rather than Broadway quality.

when you are rated highly, why is it you require more info?

I loved the Tower of London, the history and architect was amazing and I loved the menagerie!!

This trip was magical! London is beautiful and Laura brought it to life! The group was fun and interesting. The staff at the hotel were polite and accommodating. I absolutely loved my experience.

Learned so much about each place…and especially enjoyed the Tea.

I would have rated them lower had it not been for the Tour manager and local tour guides who were all excellent. Information from Collette about the tour experience was inadequate and lack details to better prepare for the tour. As a company, I will not trust and use Collete again.

Tour was great...but Collette as a tour company has poor customer service and predatory pricing policies. We learned that our post- tour accommodations (2 nights) in London for which we were charged $1,330 by Collette was invoiced by the hotel at $875, a 35% markup! Collette Traveler Relations was unresponsive and never returned calls or e-mails. Will not use Collette again nor can we recommend.

Our tour guide’s name was Kim she was not organized. She didn’t want to use the headset where we could hear her talking. There were 40 people in our group and she was at the front so most people couldn’t hear what she was talking about. She left to elderly people, husband and wife probably about their 80s, we were supposed to meet at a certain point at 2:30. She said we are leaving. Someone said the people weren’t there yet and she said they’ll find their way we took a bus back to our hotel. She did not seem concerned at all that they were not on the bus with us , my sister-in-law and I saw Kim later and said have you seen the couple that we left and she said no they’re probably here. No concern at all. Ended up a couple waited for 30 minutes the woman had had to use the restroom so they weren’t there right at 2:30 so Kim decided just to leave them and they had to take a taxi I believe back to the hotel Pretty much our whole group was very upset with her another incident a young man was with his grandparents he was probably 1415 he was at the hotel and we were in front of the hotel and she said let’s start walking and somebody mentioned that the young man was in the hotel and she said oh he can catch up he did eventually catch up but we had to look for him to make sure he found us. I feel like Kim is in the wrong business. Thank you.

I loved everything about this tour. We got to see so much with guides who could answer all our questions and who knew so much about their particular area.

We had a wonderful guide who was always available, knowledgeable and friendly. Everything advertised was offered. The hotel was very nice, centrally located, clean and offered a generous, varied breakfast with terrific service.

The tour guide was knowledgeable and helpful, but made unnecessary and unacceprltable disparaging remarks about trans people which made me uncomfortable. I always thought guides were accepting of all who take a tour.

The tour offered a great range of experiences. The included meals were excellent as was the hotel accommodations.

The highlights, the hotel and the local guides were excellent and would, in my opinion, be five stars plus; however, the size of our group at 40 plus was, again in my opinion, too large for one tour manager to handle. This, unfortunately, is reflected in my evaluation of the tour manager.

All tour guides were knowledgeable and wonderful information. Susan kept track of how everyone was doing and helped if any problems.

The tour exceeded my expectations. Hotel close to the metro station. Tour Manager was very accessible, helpful and friendly. Afternoon tea was lovely. Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace. Westminister Abbey, Tower of London were extraordinary. Enjoyed the National Galery. The local guides were very knowledgeable. Enjoyed meeting the Button King and Queen and hearing about the charity.

The most memorable experience on this tour was actually when our TM walked us, on his night off, to a restaurant a little ways from the hotel. We were on our own that night for dinner but he so graciously made sure we got to the restaurant and even had dinner with us.

Kensington Palace which we toured on our own.

The Xmas markets were disappointing. I've been to better markets right here in Pennsylvania. My favorite part of the tour was the optional trip to Windsor Castle. The reason that I gave the tour 3 stars is that we seemed to spend too much time at many places and not enough at others. For example, Blenheim palace had a pointless Alice in Wonderland exhibit. I could have done without it. Oxford demanded more time. A tour of the university should be included.

Lots of walking put us close to so many sites - much better than being on a bus all the time. I loved Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle, London Eye, boat tour up the Thames River, trip to Oxford, excellent theater production of Juliette, dining with the tour group.

Poorly thought out

I loved seeing the items on the tour except I hated Harrods. The crowd at harrods gave Me anxiety. But seeing the castle and palaces was amazing. And the food place Colette took us too were amazing! I loved the hotel as well with very clean rooms and friendly staff.

We expected a different type or more of Christmas, not the commercial type markets..but we found some on our own.

This trip was well organized and we had an excellent tour guide.

I loved everything

The Tour Director’s service made the trip wonderful.

My favorite experience was High Tea at Harrods. Since our original visit to Harrods was cancelled, I went there on my free day.

Tour guide excellent. Could do without tour with "Tubes" to Christmas Market which was closed early in morning.

Excellent tour guide.

The Tour of Westminster Abby, was just wonderful

Needed more time in Oxford

The trip to Oxford and Blenheim Palace. We could have spent much more time doing excursions out of London like this and I would have been much happier.

Tour was not as advertised

A play was included in the experience and it was very entertaining. The trip to Oxford was very good but too short. Should have left Blenheim Palace out or curtailed the time there.

Kensington Palace was the most interesting to tour!

The trip was everything we (my daughter and me) expected and more. We had a taste of London and would like to have more. Even the weather was good. The food was very good. Our tour manager, David, was the best. We could have skipped Harrod's though. Mark and Spenser would have been better. Thank you, Collette, for a wonderful tour.

excellent hotel, beautiful artwork, staff were wonderful, great daily breakfast, interesting tours,great tour choices, wonderful food, public bars and restaurants had kind staff members, just an overall fantastic trip experience!!! Our tour manager was the best!!

Well handled tour, 44 people a bit too many, but tour director did great job. Stonehenge a favorite.

I expected to visit some places in London, not just drive by them. We were left on our own to get on the tube to travel to other places. Sometimes the directions were inaccurate. The Churchill War Room was changed to the Imperial War Room, but out tour director said that the Churchill War Room was much better. We paid our own entrance fee even though the Kensington Palace fee was included in the cost of the tour. We thought it was changed because the Churchill War Room was closed. The Imperial War Room doesn’t charge a fee. I changed my plans because my husband was unsure about getting to the theater on his own because of the poor directions that we experienced the day before.

Kensington palace was the best. Loved Oxford and Blenheim palace. Did not like the food tour at all. Would have preferred a tour of Windsor palace instead. Bath was nice but short. No time to really explore the shops. The Harrods stop was too short to do anything other than find restrooms. The best thing Collette did was rebook our return flight. WE were on our way to Boston when the power went out in the airport. Before we had landed and got the news, Collette has already booked us a flight for the rest of the journey. I saw the mass of travelers struggling to make other arrangements. For this reason, we will always travel with you. Thank you to Collette!

Well planned. Just too short. Need another couple of days to see all we wanted to see.

Too many last minute changes. Too large group.

David Beaumont was interesting, very informed, made sure we saw everything on the tour itinerary, had great stories and was considerate.

I believe the tours of the various gardens and sightseeing in London itself was very memorable and enjoyable--not sure I can pick just one memorable experience.

Enjoyed everything about the trip especially the Chelsea Flower Show!

Overall, an excellent tour. The tour guide and bus driver were outstanding. The choice of theater show (Thriller) was a bit disappointing, but the performers were very good. The walking food tour was fun, but, 1st course was somewhat disappointing because of skimpy quantity and no offer to have wine or anything other than water. 2nd course was very good, but did not appreciate that we had to stand on the curb instead of going into the restaurant. Courses 3, 4 & 5 were very good.

The play "Thriller!" and the Chelsea Garden Show.

Loved the hotel in Bath. Great sights and experiences in London. Wonderful tour manager who looked after our every need.

I enjoyed the walking food trip , which gave us a taste of different foods and beverages! I was disappointed for my husband that we didn’t get to visit the Tower of London and some other venues. I have been to London several times before but he had never been. We will have to go back and organize our own London experience to actually see some of the sights we rode past.

These tours are always the BEST way to travel. You get knowledgeable, caring and considerate tour guides; fabulous destinations, and fun while learning a ton about your destinations. We've taken over five tours with this company--and we plan on taking many, many more.

Everything was handled in a professional manner

Many favorites! If I had to choose one it would be Windsor!

Tour manager was the best

the trip to Bath was great but too short

Tour guide was excellent .

Local tour guide, including the tour manager, were excellent. Coach was comfortable, a valued service.

The Friday, or last full day was great as we went out on our own. London’s Christmas markets are really lacking when compared to those in Germany, France, Switzerland and Hungary. The food at the pub on the first night, the welcome dinner was terrible though the location and staff were great. The final dinner was one of the best we had while traveling with Collette, our five trip. The hotel staff were very friendly, helpful and caring as well as accommodating. The hotel itself was old and one of the worst we have had while with Collette.

Our additional trip to Bath and guide there made my traveling companion and me want to go back.

Too hard to choose, each site had its great points. We enjoyed our free time. Oxford

taking the tube to get to several locations and taking the train to Bath

The spotlight tours gives the perfect balance of group activity while giving the free time that I wanted. My Tour Manager Michelle Purvis did an outstanding job! She was always willing to assist and she always had a smile on her face.

There were several memorable experiences. I really enjoyed the "pub night", when we were able to sample several different kinds of meat pies and beers. I also enjoyed our time walking around Kennsington Palace and Windsor Castle. Our guide in Oxford was very knowledgeable, and for all of us who are "Frost" and "Endeavour" fans his noting of particular filming areas was great.

Most memorable experience was the overview of the city. However, it was also my most disappointing in that it was just a brief drive by of sites with no time to stop and view close up.

The only issue I have come across is that you advertise this tour being "seven" days. But, it actually is not seven days. We fly during the night to Europe. That is NOT the first day of the tour. Then, you count the last day, which we had to leave at 8 am to airport, as the seventh day of the tour. My issue is with the "First day". This tour was more of a "Five DAY" experience.

The tour guide was knowledgeable, and we loved getting all of the behind-the-scenes info.

We were in London the week of the Queen's birthday, the birth of a new prince, and the London Marathon!

Churchill War Rooms was just incredible.

Weather was a factor snow. Did noy get to Oxford

Touring Winston Churchill's war rooms before the crowd was unmanageable. Also, Oxford and city streets.

Not as well known as some of the other sights in London, but I thought that the Churchill War Rooms was really interesting and worth the time.

Loved this tour. There was enough free time that I could explore on my own, as well as visiting outstanding gardens with knowledgeable local guides.

Christmas in London is amazing! The holiday atmosphere is everywhere... The decorations are beautiful, the shopping excellent, and the food fun and festive! Highlights of this trip were Windsor Castle, Blenheim Palace, the London Eye, Herrods, and a wonderful visit to Oxford. I could do this trip every year and love every minute of it!

I loved being able to tour inside Windsor Castle. It would have been nice to have tours of Parliament, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, etc also included, or offered as options.

The group was too large (42) for a Spotlight tour. My previous tours had 24 or less. Although she was pleasant our tour guide had us rushing everywhere and wasn't as organized as she should be nor had good communication skills. My previous guides were excellent so this experience was not typical. Visiting Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and riding the London Eye were great highlights of the tour.

I really didn't have a favorite experience on the tour but I loved seeing London Tower and the museums on my own.