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Brand: Great Rail Journeys
Generally a very good short holiday. Hotel in Nuremberg , central and convienent
Reply from Great Rail Journeys
Hi Neil,
Thank you for your review.
I'm pleased to hear that you had such a wonderful break in Bavaria and were happy with your hotel in Nuremberg. Happy New Year from everyone here at Great Rail Journeys, and I hope we can have the opportunity to welcome you on tour with us again soon.
Best wishes,
Richard
Very well organised, wonderful trip. A1
A lovely trip to Bavaria by Eurostar and German trains, staying in an excellent hotel in Nuremberg. As well as the Christmas market in Nuremberg old town, we visited Regensburg and Rothenburg ob der Tauber. The trip was escorted by our very friendly tour manager.
Overall, we enjoyed our break but there were a few things which cause us to only give it 3 stars. The first is that after a long journey from the UK to Nuremberg we are starting the walking tour of Nuremberg at 09.00 the next morning. Considering the long journey and late arrival plus the rest of the day was at leisure in Nuremberg the start should have been a more friendly 10.00. Please note here that I would make this comment even if we had not had to use a coach for part of the journey. At the group meeting at St Pancras the whole process took much longer than needed before we could go to pass through Eurostar customs, etc. Our Tour Manager was very pedantic and overloaded us with information about the journey but gave out very little information about general timings, etc for each day of the holiday. Much of this information could have been left to the coach part of the journey where we were a captive audience for a couple of hours. Similarly, general details for each day's organisation could also have been given during the coach journey. I did ask at the meeting at St Pancras what evening our meal in the hotel was to be - half expecting that it would be that evening after our long journey. I was told in no uncertain terms that it was Friday (our final) evening and this information was in that information which we had been sent. Since coming home I have checked all what we were sent and there is no mention of which evening the meal was to be! Sometimes the tour manager will tell you what they do or did for a full time job. It really shouldn't matter but in this case we wondered if he had been a junior school teacher in the way that we were treated. The hotel in Nuremberg was very nice and convenient for both the city and the rail station. The first morning on leaving the hotel with our local guide I asked the Tour Manager about some information for the following days which resulted in us having a brief exchange of words about him not giving any details of what was to come. We have now holidayed some 15 or 16 times with GRJ and have never met such a tour manager before. We have another holiday with GRJ booked for June 2025 and this experience has made us nervous of booking any more holidays with GRJ as we would not wish to have him as our tour manager on another occasion. Interestingly, the Tour Manager normally phones before hand to introduce themselves, etc but this one sent an email. Emails can be a problem quite simply because the sender has no idea if the email has reached the intended recipient and that they have read it. I call them 'non-positive communication'. I suppose this set the scene. The rail ticketing arrangements for the visit to Regensburg were not very satisfactory. There was no guided tour (we don't feel one is actually needed) so everyone was going to go off on their own. With the tickets being for groups of 4 or 5 that meant being tied to the planned return train or arranging with another couple to catch an earlier or later one. Much better to have tickets for each couple so you are truly free to do your own thing. We are experienced travellers with you and we have met many different tour managers (only one have we met twice) and only one has been a problem before. On that occasion the party was large (43 people - this one was only 18) and I got the impression the tour manager was not sufficiently experienced for such a large party. However, overall he still did a better job than the one we had this last time.
It was an excellent trip with a fantastic tour manager
The Christmas markets are a wonderful mix of food and traditional crafts including wooden toys and puzzles
An excellent trip - outstanding tour guide
Very enjoyable tour.
We loved our journey by rail to germany for christmass markets.Hotel was first class never saw a better breakfast so much to choose from.Tour was very informative our guide was great loved everything. Dorothy lucas
Splendid trip. Good hotel except air con switched off at source. Very warm room. Travel all to the nail
The trip was great, the weather awful and Stephen top notch.
Superb variety
Generally ok. Hotel was fine and well located but insufficiently staffed for food on the first night after a longs day's travelling. It was also unstaffed for the bar on the last night before a group meal. Trip to Regensburg was ok and trains were well organised. markets were fine but not outstanding.
Reply from Great Rail Journeys
Dear Mr White,
Thank you for your review. I'm glad to hear that your tour was ok, but I will make sure to pass your comments across to our Product team so we can review aspects for the future.
Kind regards,
Sophie.
The main reason for the low score in due to the very poor travelling. Over an hour delay at St P. The change in the arrival area in Brussels. The Same in Frankfurt - racing up and down the platform hoping to get the right train. The homeward journey was as bad due to problems with Channel Tunnel staff. The amazing number on people trying to find a train in Brussels and the total lack of information from Eurostar staff. However the Tour Manager stood out very well trying to make the journeys as smooth as possible although we "lost" him in Brussels on the way home. The two tours to Rothenburg and Regensburg were disappointing. Regensburg markets have shrunk in the last few years, I guess because of the compeitition from the Palace market. Arriving in the town at the planned time was a problem - very small markets in the town and the opening time of the Castle market 0 3 o'clock in the afternoon together with the planned departure at the same time meant a lot of walking in a small town and no chance to see the Castle market. Perhaps travel times in future should be investigated. Rothenburg is a very picturesque but small town and very small markets, the timings meant a lot of walking until 4.00 in the afternoon. Nuremburg was the opposite, very good markets, an informative guided walk and a long list of places to visit. With little time to investigate - but this was a tour for the markets. The hotel was close to the station and the markets, had helpful staff and good breakfasts. The tour Manager deserves much more than a 2 star rating, but the travel of about 12 Hours home, rather spoilt the rating.
Reply from Great Rail Journeys
Dear Mr Stamper,
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. It really is a shame to hear that your tour fell short of expectations. I will make sure to pass your feedback across to our Product team who can review this tour itinerary and the travel for the future. As we choose to go via rail, we will always be up against exceptional circumstances. However, we will absolutely look into what we can do to make this journey go a lot smoother in future, and overall improve this tour.
I will make sure to pass your praise across to our Tour Management team for your Tour Manager.
Kind regards,
Sophie.
A truly lovely trip. All places visited very interesting and full of Christmas atmosphere. Rothenburg is so very quaint and beautifully preserved. Highlight of the trip for us was visit to Thurn & Taxis Market in Regensburg, quite magical after dark. The local Germans flock to this market which speaks for itself. GRJ need to rethink train times to and from Regensburg to give the whole group a chance to see that market as it doesn't open until 3pm. We were lucky because we'd been on this tour in 2016 and knew this market wasn't to be missed so our outstanding TM, Graham, made sure we had our own tickets do we could travel back to Nüremburg separately later, along with another couple who trusted our recommendation and agreed the rest of the group had missed out. Graham was truly the best TM throughout the trip and it was proven again when one of our German trains home was cancelled and he rearranged the whole schedule so we arrived, as planned, at St. Pancras.
Reply from Great Rail Journeys
Dear Mrs Rose,
Thank you for your review and constructive feedback. That is brilliant to hear! I will make sure to pass your comments to our Product team so we can review these aspects of the tour for the future. I will also pass your praise for Graham to our Tour Management team.
Kind regards,
Sophie.
Good booking experience and customer service. Excellent t programme to interesting venues and high-quality markets. Amazing response to unexpected rail strike to get us all on a flight home. Only slight disappointment was the housekeeping management at the Hotel, which seems somewhat disorganised, with inexperienced staff. Reception service was very good, however. Would book a similar holiday again.
Reply from Great Rail Journeys
Dear Ms Bannister,
Thank you for your review. That is brilliant to hear! It is a shame that your tour was affected by the rail strikes, but it is fantastic that it didn't mar your tour experience! I look forward to seeing you on tour with us again in the future!
Kind regards,
Sophie.
This trip was a great prelude for the holiday season. Snow. Gingerbread. Nutcrackers. Santa. All the ingredients for a very merry holiday and a great trip.
Reply from Great Rail Journeys
Dear Ms Shaw,
Thank you for your review and those wonderful photos! That is fantastic to hear!
Kind regards,
Sophie.
We recently undertook a four night tour of the Bavarian xmas markets. I feel this was too long as the Xmas markets themselves were very similar. It was the location that made the experience. Rothenburg was stunning and what I was expecting although the amount of time there was a tad too long. Everyone ended up on the coach early to keep warm. Regensburg was very underwhelming which was the consensus of most of the party and could be missed off the trip in honesty. I personally would not go again to this location.
Reply from Great Rail Journeys
Dear Mrs McBride,
Thank you for your review and those amazing photos! I will make sure to pass your feedback across to our Product team so we can look at altering this itinerary tour for the future.
Kind regards,
Sophie.
Lovely trip although very tiring. Added expense coming from Scotland. places visited very interesting. Struggled with luggage as Sherpr did not work ( our luggage was returned next day due to mis labelling at depot) Hotel( NH Collection) for stay was expensive and food poor- breakfast items were cold and plates were cold. Bar service very poor. Ivan the tour manager was good and tried to sort everything out when the German railways went on strike and got us home. Cannot fault Great rail Journeys- they got us home albeit by air
Reply from Great Rail Journeys
Dear Mrs McCrea,
Thank you for your review. It is a shame that your tour was affected by the strikes, and I will definitely pass your feedback across to our Product team regarding the NH Collection hotel so we can review them for the future. It is also unfortunate that the Sherpr service fell through. We have now made the decision to go with another luggage company, so in the future we will be with First Luggage instead, so we hope that you will try the luggage service again on any other tours you go on. It is great that your Tour Manager was good and that you still had a lovely trip!
Kind regards,
Sophie.
