Spain & Morocco

Enjoyed the food!

I felt the tour was fast pace. I would have liked more personal exploring, and shopping time. The time at Bin El Oudaine-. Was amazing! I was able to take a hike up the mountain and take Beautiful pictures of a breathtaking view! My room was outstanding! I could have stayed there for a week. I also like the morning walk on the beach in Tangier. I was so disappointed to see all the markets and not to be able to shop for gifts to take home. There was a couple of times that we were allotted but to short for the lines of people ahead of me. The history and architecture was unbelievable on the tours! Our guides were the best! When I returned home I didn't feel like I was on vacation. I absolutely loved the Camel ride! But that wasn't a planned tour.

My most memorable experience on this tour was walking through the markets in Morocco

The optional camel ride was a hit in Morocco. Such a blast. The resort was super nice and we would have loved to stay the night there. We had people in their 80's ride the camel and really enjoyed it.

One manager great the other not so much. Too much packing and unpacking. Not a vacation I enjoyed.

Learning about the culture, people, society, and religious practices of Morocco. Experiencing the Moorish buildings of Southern Spain. Having excellent plus tour leaders in Spain, Morocco, and our Lisbon extension.

Spain was excellent. Morocco was so-so with too much time on the bus. I enjoyed the Alhambra

I felt Collette skimped on many opportunites to save money starting from flights. Some of the accomodations were fair. Tours were for the most part good; others felt rushed like the visit to the Prado museum as well as Majorelle Gardens. Customer service at Collette was mediocre. For example transportation was arranged for a fellow Baltimorean to pick him up at his home. I lived closer to Dulles, yet I was refused transportation and pick up at my home. Was never given a response by Collette. The group was outstanding thanks to Barry Rosenberg our coordinator.

The food, camel ride, entertainment when we arrived and after our meal. Visiting the mosque.

I have already submitted one review, but omitted a major disappointment: despite being shown every other damned cathedral and mosque, we did NOT see La Famiglia in Barcelona, the single most important landmark in the city. Not even a drive-by. Had I known -- and it was inconceivable that this would be omitted -- I would have booked this on my own.

The trip out to the desert for our camel ride and lunch. The musicians who greeted us and played during lunch made the trip special.

First guild not very educational. Nice guy but didn’t have a lot to offer about life there.

Those two places were an awesome combination for a tour. However my experience in Morocco was much better than that of Spain. This is because the guide in Morocco was very informative, professional and respectful..

The tour guides were so friendly yet so knowledgeable!

The guides were excellent and very knowledgeable. The hotels were perfect and in great locations. There were 6 walkers on this level 3 trip which held up our excursions and trip experiences. They should have never taken this trip with us.

The Covid issues played a role. Also the trip to Toledo was cancelled. And although everyone took the train in Spain, some paid for it but was not reimbursed. The camel caravan was great. The hotel without air conditioning in Spain was not.

Professional, knowledgeable, and always going above and beyond to take care of guests!! One hotel in Fes unsatisfactory. No air conditioning and overall not clean.

The Blue City of Morocco- small city, tiny narrow walkways with beautiful mountain backdrop. Also enjoyed the Leather works, weavers scarfs, Pharmacy tour with argon oil etc, sherry wine tour- all beautiful experience.

Very disappointed by the promise the tour description to see the Alhambra. Only to find out that that was not true. Collette should remove this from there trip description

We loved Cordova - touring the Mosque/Cathedral there was spectacular!

1) Many of us arrived in Madrid at about 10 AM on Sep 15th. The Collette tour manager dropped us off at the hotel reception area and left. Nothing to do till the rooms were made available later in the afternoon. Many of the tourists slept in the reception area. Should arrange some optional local tours. 2) Visit to Toledo the next day PM is worth it. 3) The "Renfo AVE fast train ride" from Madrid to Cordoba is NOT worth the price !! What is the point of reaching Cordoba couple of hours earlier and just sit around waiting or walk around aimlessly for over two hours for the rest of the group to show up by bus to begin the local tour!! For those who take the train option, include some local tour in Cordoba for those couple of hours. 4) Paella Demonstration was rushed through and did NOT make much of an impression. Maybe should go to the internet to find out more about Paella cooking. 5) Chaos on the boat from Tarifa to Tanger trying to get the Moroccan visa. The tour manager should organize the process better and not just walk away leaving the tourists to their own devices !! 5) The two hours or more spent in Chefchaouen looking at a Medina should be eliminated. Instead only stop for lunch and then move on. We can spend that two extra hours in Fez which is more interesting !! Collette may even pursue flying tourists from Tanger to Fez unless flying domestic airlines is not an option. 5) In Morocco, too many Medina ( ancient part of the town) visits. After a couple of visits, they all start to look alike. Should cut down the number of Medina visits and replace those visits with something more interesting. 6) In these Medinas, the very narrow uneven cobble stone streets and the uneven stair steps pose hazard to tourists - especially when they had to look up instead of watching their steps, to see features of interest pointed out by the guide. 7) "Marrakesh by night"- the coach ride is not worth the trouble. A long walk to the restaurant should be eliminated. 8) Rick's cafe not worth the time. Recommendation: Review the tour program and make necessary changes to make the tour more attractive. Stay: 1) My notes about the hotel stays were lost so I am not able to associate the hotels with the issues we faced. In a hotel, the water in the sink and the bath tub would not empty. The Front desk said that they would send a plumber to fix the problem. We stayed two nights. No plumber showed up. 2) In Cordoba, our room #415 has two doors. One door is supposed to be always open and the inner door opened with the card key. When we returned from breakfast, the first door was locked and would not open with the card key. We had to get our baggage out for pick up. Rushed down to the front desk but the lady at the desk was no help. After about 15 minutes delay, a mechanic showed up and took him about 20 minutes to unlock the first door. 3) In a couple of hotels in Spain and Morocco, the card key would not work even the very first time. In one case, the front desk had to make the key a couple of times before it would work. 4) In one hotel, the bath tub was so high many ladies complained about difficulty getting into the tub for shower. Potential for some one getting hurt. Recommendation: Use your leverage as a major customer to pressure the hotels to make sure the rooms are in good condition and everything in the rooms in working order just before the guests arrive. Tour guides: 1) The tour managers in Spain and Morocco simply told the members to rotate daily their seats so that those in the back of the bus will have a chance to move to the front. But did NOT enforce. The result some members always grabbed the front seats and those who sat in the back grumbled. When some tourists followed the rule and tried to move to the front, those who would not follow the rule caused a bit of tension. That is bad. Solution: The tour managers should prepare well in advance of the tour, a bus seat map and prepare excel sheet of the seat assignment for each day and post it daily in the bus so that every body is aware of the assignment. 2) The tour managers and local guides are fairly well versed. But using the "whisperer" device for such a large group of 44 members is not working out well especially in the narrow streets of the Medinas. Solution: Split the group into manageable size of 12-15 members. Which means more local guides.

Very large group. The pace was very fast was told by Tour Guide this is not a shopping trip. When some wanted to do some shopping . I must state the guide in Spain was very thoughtful and helped me quite a bit, Very sociable , he has trouble with English terminology, group size did not help. A few more trips he will be more prepared. He was overwhelmed.

Did not care for lical guides at all in Morocco. Spains were ok. In Spain Cordoba best visit.Would loved staying there over night.

Same as previous comment.

Same as previously noted in overall rating

The time spent in Seville

The itinerary was good and the tour directors were genuinely concerned about meeting the expectations of the travellers.

The tour directors were great. Genuinely concerned about the travellers enjoyment of the tours.

This is difficult. Carmen was very informative in Spain about the culture both past and present and Yasein in Morocco was equally knowledgeable. they had good senses of humor.

excellent sampling of both countries

The cultural and historical connection between Spain and Morocco was explored through the many interesting sites and the knowledge of the guides. What I love about Collette tours is the out of the way, unexpected gems such as dinner in a riad, a visit to Spain Square in Seville and Marrakech by night. The hotels are outstanding. Some of the ones in Morocco were like palaces

I thought the tour was very good and would recommend it to friends especially if they want to see something different and exotic. The included meals were exceptional, the hotels were mostly excellent. The Hotel in Granada was 3 star at best. The hotel in Marrakesh was lovely except for the fact the air conditioning was not working and when reported they brought us a fan. Not acceptable. I also felt when I reported this they did not care, it was only when my husband went to the desk we were given any notice. The tour guide "Tammy" in Fes needs to be reconsidered, his speech about what women want was completely unacceptable. I also felt he needs to tone down his speech about Muslim life style. I enjoyed the Spain portion of this trip very much, I do think that they tried to include a few too many things. There was very little free time which would of allowed us to explore a few things on our own. The other suggestion I would make is if this trip was scheduled around Ramadan again that lunches should be included into the itinerary. I feel our tour managers did an excellent job of finding us lovely places to have lunch, it also wasted so much of our time paying bills ect at these restaurants. Pre-arranged lunches would have reduced this wasted time. Although I do not feel I will ever want to visit Morocco again. I would like to explore more of Spain but at a slower pace with much more free time included. Not unlike the trip of Portugal and the its Islands we took in 2018. I would also like to say the Angela did a 5 star job in both Spain and Morocco.

I've written all of this in a previous box. I'm through now. Thank you.