4.6/5

A fun and informative tour

The guides/driver were excellent. Choice of towns and excursions were enjoyable. I would and have recommended CIE.

The tour was very well organized, and any issues were minor and dealt with efficiently. I would recommend them to anyone.

Another perfect tour with CIE

This was my second CIE tour to Scotland and Ireland. I booked this tour online with Ian McCarthy he was so very helpful and patient as I changed my mind a few times. Perfect from start to finish. No problems at all. This was a birthday celebration with my sister and he really helped with making this tour perfect!

good

Knowledgable, friendly, helpful tour guide and driver. Good agenda.

the tour, and tour staff were great. What was really negative, confused, and screwy was office staff actions. For example,we originally were planning on 6 in our family group, but a couple of weeks after we booked the tour, and 6months before the tour was scheduled to start, one person cancelled. We had time scheduled before and after the tour. Instead of cancelling that ONE person, CIE staff (STUPIDLY) cancelled ALL our reservations. So we had to totally reschedule the remaining group. Because of that,we lost out on a hotel booking we had for after the trip, and we lost out on airline scheduling, which cost us extra money and added much inconvenience with flight scheduling, making us have to wait for a later flight, and having additional HOURS between flight legs. In addition, the travel insurance your company books with (compared to others we have worked with), refused to reimburse US for anything. they would have paid something to the person who cancelled- who had not ACTUALLY PAID ANYTHING! (We had paid all the fees, not her.) so, we lost out on an additional >$300, for that alone. All of this greatly increased the cost of the trip. We might deal with CIE in the future, but would not trust office staff competency, and would micromanage everything having to do with the office. Left a negative feeling with us. Driver and tour guide were great. HOtels were great.

The Ireland/Scotland Sampler tour

The Tour was awesome from our tour guide Kristianne to our coach driver Allan.
I would recommend this tour, it takes you from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland and Scotland.....well worth the money.
All hotels and sights were #1

Simple, easy booking & confirming trip.

Love CIE tours.

Definitely recommend CIE. Everything was perfect. Love the backpack, and just used it on another 18 day tour. Also there were no 5:30 AM wake up calls.

Booking service was intuitive and easy

Great trip

Excellent--Haven't taken a tour of any kind in almost 30 years and was amazed at how easy it it was.

Well run tour. Good accommodation. You took us to very interesting locations. The tour director was outstanding and very knowledgeable and very well prepared.

Loved so many things. Military Tatoo was the best. Whiskey tasting,sheep farm,castles, and the Jacobite train were all amazing.

I enjoyed my trip to Ireland. The tour guide was amazing and extremely knowledgeable. I would highly recommend CIE Tours to others.

One of our best vacations!

CIE tours met and exceeded all of our expectations. Every detail was met. Everyone was friendly and knowledgeable. From the coach driver to every guide they were the best. It was truly a trip of a lifetime!

Good but could be much better!

Overall, it was a good tour. But it would have been better if we would have had a professional guide on the coach during the tour too, not just a driver-guide! The local guides we had in some of the small towns we visited were excellent! - too bad we only had them for a short time! But the driver-guide and the local guide in Dublin were below expectations. It was also too much time spent on the coach and very early departures every morning! So it felt a bit superficial and rushed, but otherwise we wouldn't have covered that much. Some of the hotels and meals could be improved, but in general they were ok.

Exellent tour of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland

excellent, Brian out tour guide was knowledgeable and nice.

Outstanding! Very helpful and easy to work with.

Professional company, well planned/organized, but lean tours for elder folk

As far as customer service on the phone, and with the scheduling and the materials included (backpack, rain gear, etc..) it was fantastic. Tour guides were very professional and knowledgeable.

Great good trip. Will do it again.

A. The booking service worked very well, with three exceptions.
1. Although American Airlines is a partner with Alaska Airlines (where we have our mileage accounts) Alaska Airlines would not give us credit for the miles because we did not make our American Airlines reservations (US to Scotland and return) through Alaska Airlines.
2. The two extra nights at the Holyrood hotel in Edinburgh were not billed as advertised, but at a much higher rate. We spoke to the manager of the hotel, and he did provide a limited discount, but the billing was much more than we had anticipated.
3. The individual hired to narrate the tour at Edinburgh Castle was a bit too talkative and the microphone and headsets did not work. The narration was informative to a degree but included information not specific to the castle, leaving little time to ask clarifying questions or to fully appreciate the views and history.

B. We enjoyed the trip very much. The success of the trip for us was primarily due to a few factors.
1. Our tour guide, Gordon Tait, was outstanding. His knowledge of the history of Scotland allowed us to fully understand the historic significance of the places we visited. And, his understanding of the transportation system allowed us to continue the tour when the ferry to Skye were unable to travel due to weather conditions.
2. Our driver, Mervyn, did a wonderful job of driving through the cities and the single carriage lane roads at times.
3. The hotels and food arrangements were wonderful.

C. Question. During the trip to Edinburgh Castle, a group photo was taken. We have not received a copy of the photo. Is there a way to order a copy of the photo?

As a first time overseas traveler I found your booking agents to be very helpful and courteous while assisting me with my trip.