Login
Start Free Trial Are you a business? Click Here
Anonymous
Southampton to Heathrow, via Salisbury, Stonehenge and Windsor. The positives: Their representative was at the ship on time (early actually) and did a good job of corralling guests, even late ones. There was a miscommunication between her and the bus driver, but she made a valiant effort trying to find him and it didn't really result in a problem for the guests. Our guide was Andrew. He did a very good job; pleasant, friendly and informative. We had one hour at Salisbury Cathedral. This was enough time to walk inside the church, (donation of L7 expected, but we didn't have to pay as the church was undergoing renovations), briefly see the Magna Carta, then hoof it to town to get a lunch to eat on the bus. Salisbury looked like a lovely town and it would have been nice to have even just 15 minutes more on this stop. Two people were late returning by 10 minutes and Andrews advised that that time would have to be deducted at one of the next stops. Stonehenge was next. I can't fault IF for this, but we were told this was to be the busiest day in the year for visitors. It was PACKED. Our time was 1 1/2 hours, which under normal circumstances probably would be enough. It took about 40 minutes just to get from the parking lot to the shuttle bus, 15 minutes to walk around the perimeter at Stonehenge, another 20 min wait to return via shuttle and 10 min at the visitor center. We were then off to the town of Windsor and Windsor Castle where we were given 2 hours. We opted to not go into the castle itself, but other guests said that even in the express line, they had to wait over 1/2 hour to get in and it was remarkably crowded. The wait in the non express line looked to be about 2 hours. We probably had the better time, walking through some of the charming streets, then finding a pub and having a cider. The drop offs at the airport and hotels were well-organized. So overall, probably a good tour with enough time in off-season. Time was too short given the amount of tourists at each of our three stops. I think adding an additional 15 min at each stop would have made it a bit better, but for what it's worth, we saw two towns we would like to return to and spend more time, AND it got us from the ship to Heathrow in a more interesting way then just a shuttle transfer.
6 years ago
Read International Friends Reviews
International Friends has a 4.8 average rating from 1,772 reviews