Overall I was very impressed with my Shearings holiday, and am currently looking into booking another coach trip through them/Legers for next year.
Travel (Coaches, Transfer Point etcetera):
I arrived at my pick-up point ~20 minutes early and was pleased that the transfer coach was ready and waiting. Unfortunately one person on the transfer coach did not arrive early (as requested in all paperwork) so we were sat waiting for a while but the coach was comfortable and the driver/s friendly so it was a pleasant wait. The journey to Stop 24 Services took a couple of hours, during which time the process of the transfer etcetera was explained to us which I appreciated.
The transfer process itself was smooth, it's clear that the staff know what they are doing. I had enough time to grab some food and use the facilities before relaxing before my tour coach number was called. Unfortunately my tour coach to the Austrian Lake District and Vienna was not a Shearings/Leger coach and was a lot less comfortable than the transfer coach. There was pretty much no leg room, the USB chargers didn't work for the most part and it took the drivers a day to get the onboard mike working. The air con also worked for some people, sometimes worked for others, and for a few never worked at all. Luckily we didn't have too many hot days but there were some days it was very uncomfortable. I definitely think the coaches need a better quality checking process before going out on the road again.
The journey from Belgium to Austria (and vice versa) was mostly smooth, but due to SatNav issues we took a longer route there which was not communicated by the drivers. This aside it was a pleasant journey with pleantiful breaks to stretch our legs, and a longer lunch break (both ways) at a well chosen motorway services somewhere in Germany.
If I had to critique the overall journey, apart from the coach, I'd have liked a bit more interaction from the crew. They were really good at ensuring that people had drinks etcetera, but I'd have perhaps liked some updates - "we're now in Germany", "we're passing Munchen" kind of thing... that said the drivers were brilliant, very personable and definitely invested in ensuring everyone enjoyed themselves. They went above and beyond to make sure people were happy and were real ambassadors for Shearings/Leger.
The transfer back was smooth - I liked that the bus driver confirmed they had my case when I got on board as that took some of my worry away. The driver/s on this return journey were very good at letting us know when we were close to the drop-off point so we could arrange taxi's etcetera. Again I had a better coach on this leg of the journey than on the tour itself.
Hotels:
The first overnight hotel was adequate, but breakfast was hectic and I think could have been better organised with coaches given different breakfast times depending if they had ferries to catch. The food was fine, not great quality but it was brought out quickly when emptied.
The hotel in Austria was very good. We arrived late the first night but dinner was held for us. Staff were accomodating to reasonable requests, and dealt with some poor attitudes very well. The bedroom I was assigned was spacious and quiet, it was clean and the bed was comfortable. The shower was a bit dated, but had decent water pressure and heated quickly enough. The food at the hotel was very good, plenty of choice (and I say that as a fussy eater) and the hotel were very accomodating when I requested small changes (e.g. no cheese in my packed lunch on the Vienna trip). I will point out that the evening meal does not include a drink, this surprised me so worth sharing with others! I would happily stay at that hotel again if I were in the Salzkammergut area.
The second overnight hotel, back in Belgium, was really good - it was in a better position for us to make the ferry home the next day. Breakfast was more organised (though a number of the later coaches still arrived early), but the staff coped well. The bedroom was, again, spacious and clean. The bathroom was very modern, and even later in the evening the shower heated quickly and had very good water pressure. Breakfast was impressive for an overnight hotel, proper fresh orange juice and a great variety of food.
Day Trips:
I opted to take all of the day trips, including the optional ones, and was pleased I did so as I think they were all decent value for money, with the Vienna coach tour being the only option that I was a tad disapointed with.
Mondsee and Attersee are lovely places to visit, I'd say you can spend more time in Mondsee than was allocated, but these two trips are a lovely way to get an idea of Austria after a heavy two days of travel. The Bascilla at Mondsee is well worth a visit, even if you are not a fan of the Sound of Music. At Attersee I recomend heading down and to the left from where the bus leaves you as there is more to do that way (at least more eateries).
Salzburg is amazing and somewhere I want to return to. The walking tour was very well done, with plenty of time given to each area and a slow pace so that I'd say if you have mobility issues you'd likely be okay with this. The amount of free time after the tour was really good, allowing you to really explore Salzburg on your own. The walking tour was about 90 minutes, and we had about 2.5 hours to ourselves afterwards.
Bad Ischl and Halstatt are places I may not visit again - if these were optional on a future tour I think I might skip them. Halstatt has an amazing viewing platform but it is rather expensive for what it is and the 3 hours you have there can mean you are rushed for time as the queues to get up the mountain were around 45 minutes. There's a lot of places to eat in Halstatt and a lot of tourists so I'd recomend making sure you have enough water when you go yourself as the queues were long and I didn't spot any water fountains.
Vienna is a long day, and whilst the coach tour was interesting you don't really get any photo opportunities. If you've not been there before I think it would give you a great breakdown of places to return to on a city break though. We had about 1.5 hours free after the coach tour, which was enough to get some sachertorte in a cafe by the church.
St. Wolfgang is a wonderful way to spend your final day. It's touristy without being overwhelmed with tourists and I thought was a lovely place to spend some hours. One word of warning, the bus parks at the top of quite a big hill, so if you have mobility issues you may find this hard - luckily there are a nunber of cafes en route where you can take a break!
Overall then I'd give this holiday 4/5 stars - had the coach had either a bit more leg room, or working air con then I think it would have been a 5 star holiday.
Quality: 4
Value for money: 4
