4.6/5

Fantastic

Leslie our driver and guide was absolutely brilliant.

John Doran our CIE tour guide and coach driver was knowledgeable, competent, and witty. He made sure we had a schedule for the start of the next day and knew what to expect. The only regret I had was that we would have liked more free time in Galway and in some of the stops. Also, my sister and I had family in Ireland we planned to meet but then one of our cousins passed. John was able to call our cousins and arrange for them to me us at one of the pit stops that was a few miles from his house. This reunion meant the world to us. At 81 nothing in life is so rewarding as meeting family. I loved the entertainment included on the tour. i would recommend this tour to anyone who wants to experience the beauty of Irelands fields, peace of its sheep and cows grazing, and the caring concern of its citizens show in their wit and humor. Great Trip.

Had the Best time

Everyone was so wonderful. Our guide Linda was just the sweetest and informative woman and our driver Neil went above and beyond for everyone.
The tour itself was well organized and very pleasant

The C.I.E. Tour Was Great but the Airline Flights Were Horrendous!

I would take a C.I.E. Tour again but would never book my air transportation through them. Our original flights were perfect but by the time of the tour they had changed several times and ended up being completely unsatisfactory (3 connections!). When we reached out to the airline they said they were unable to help us because the flights were booked through C.I.E. (a third party vendor).

Good stuff and bad stuff.

The tour itself was wonderful, but we never got vouchers for Dublin attractions or a complete itinerary. The driver kindly located a few passes, which were outdated and unusable by the time we got back to Dublin. Another couple gave us a copy of the itinerary.. The Clayton Hotel had no idea about CIE tour schedules at all, which was worrisome to us before we found some other tourists with CIE badges. All the hotels on the tour were very good, clean and with helpful staff.

Wonderful trip, highly recommended

Our guide and driver were incredibly friendly and so knowledgeable about all the areas we visited on our trip. All of the places we were able to see were definitely bucket list items! It was so nice having everything taken care of for us such as the accommodations and activities. We also had free time of our own to explore. It also felt like we were able to do a lot for what the price was. I would highly recommend this trip to anyone looking to go experience Ireland and have already suggested it to many friends, family, and coworkers.

Amazing trip!!

A fantastic tour!!! We would have NEVER been able to see all of the amazing sights on our own!! A magical vacation.

IRISH Classic tour

Excellent tour especially tour director Brian. Enjoyed the places we visited but more importantly the history of Ireland and the reasons for the Irish experience.

I have been on two previous CIE tours to Ireland and Iceland and never had any complaints. In fact, they were fantastic! However, I feel this tour did not rate as highly. First there was an issue with our last flight leg being cancelled before we left. I called CIE to get this corrected, but they ended up putting us back on the same flight that was previously cancelled. I assumed they checked that the flight was back on, but as it turned out, it was indeed cancelled and we had to find our own flight to a different airport and as a result, find transportation to the hotel. The was not a good beginning to the trip. Our first hotel was not actually finished, and therefore had no open restrooms in the lobby. This was very inconvenient. It's not clear why they couldn't let us check in early as there was no one in the rooms yet. This would have solved a big problem. And lastly, the entertainment on the last night was mildly amusing, but no where near what we were expecting. Having done the Ireland tour previously, we thought we would get something on par with the last night there. The room was nothing special, the food just average, and the entertainment cheap. We were disappointed.

A Wonderful trip for my Sister in law for her and her son, first time.

Our driver, John, was excellent in his driving and telling us history as we traveled, he also was concerned that we were having a good time. He should us many local places that were fascinating. The places we had breakfast and lunch and dinner, the staffs made sure that we had what we needed. The Dunraven staff were exceptional to me and my family. Taylor’s in Dublin for lunch treated us wonderfully, even the musician was extremely nice to me. The walk around and sheep dog stops were very good in explaining the towns and how to teach dogs to move sheep. My sister in law got to play with a lamb after the demonstration, she was thrilled. It was a wonderful trip even with the extreme winds on a few days. When my hat blew off my head one of our co-travelers caught it before it went into the ocean at Slea Head. This was second trip with CIE Tours and third time in Ireland. I will tell anyone that this was an excellent vacation in Ireland.

Superb tour 👌🤩

Beyond our wildest dreams

Tourists are in your care.

Depending on each trip you may have a lot of older tourists traveling with CIE.
Due to the nature of having to ride a tour bus for extended periods of time ( more than 3 hours ), the necessity for frequent rest room breaks.is required.
Sooo having the bus driver say… what goes in the bus rest room stays in the bus restroom, trying to discourage the use of the bus restroom is not helpful..
Being uncomfortable with full bladders is no way to enjoy the CIE tour experience….. as we were reminded countless times…the driver would say we are Crucified Irish Employees…. Meaning CIE management does not operate a conducive environment for happy employees.
Also recommend that at every opportunity that the bus stops for lunch or a walk around or scheduled tour, the bus driver sanitizes all common surfaces that are touched by the tourists in your care getting onto the bus.

Great trip! Wonderful, knowledgeable guide, beautiful .

I would recommend CIE but very disappointed in location of Edinburgh hotel which was 25 min from Edinburgh

Awesome trip!

Our driver Laurence was awesome. Everything was well planned. Hotels and meals were great. Places we went were amazing

Great trip

My third CIE TRIP. Drivers and tour guides are pleasant and knowledgeable. I especially liked several nights in each location so we didn’t have to pack up and move daily. Accommodations were adequate, but 2 did not have elevators.. I would recommend CIE to future travelers.

It was a great trip with a great tour leader and bus driver (Graham Bruce and Gordon
Tait). Graham was super knowledgeable and related that knowledge to us. Gordon
was a super nice man also and a great driver. The trip itself was everything I wanted.

Would use CIE Again without a doubt.

Everything was handled professionally and went smoothly. Avoya Travel was great, as was our driver in Ireland (Jeremiah).

6 day Taste of Ireland review

Overall a really amazing trip! Our guide was Noel and he was full of information and funny and told lots of good stories. Felt very safe with his driving, even through the mountains in the rain and fog!

We did not get to do Dublin Castle because Joe Biden was visiting and so we were sent to a museum in Dublin called Epic instead. We found it rather boring and wished we could have done the original plan but appreciated CIE having a backup for us.

All of the hotels we stayed in were very nice and comfortable with pretty decent breakfasts, although they were all exactly the same. All of our other meals (some lunches, some dinners) were great though. The Limerick hotel/stay was one I think should be changed as their was nothing to do in Limerick and the hotel was not that centrally located.

We absolutely LOVED the dinner at The Merry Ploughboy with traditional Irish music and step dancing. The castle at Bunratty was also a fantastic and super fun night. The Cliffs of Moher and the sheepdog demonstaraion were awesome. But I think our favorite day was Blarney Castle which was also the best day weather-wsie, we wished we could have stayed all day. Killarney was our favorite city, so much fun and lots of great shopping.

Yes, you are on the bus alot but with so much beautiful scenery to look at and no stress of having to drive- we enjoyed it. Yes, you are up early every day so we were pretty tired by the end but that was expected on a 6 day tour; we were happy by the amount of places/things we were able to see and do in such a short amount of time.

Well done CIE!

Bad start but great trip overall

Excluding issue at start of trip, no transfer to hotel and hotel not open to guests for first day. After the bad start the trip was excellent

Wonderful tour! Wonderful tour guides. Wonderful accomodations.

Wonderful tour. Wonderful guides. Wonderful accomodations!