We recently returned from the 9 day classic Italy tour with gate 1 and I have mixed feelings about this trip which I want to share partly because the gate 1 website doesn’t allow you to submit a review and the only ones available on their website were all positive and wonderful. This was not the case for us.We had a great and busy trip but excursions were optional and food included in trip was fair to horrible. Hotels were not the best but not the worst. They were clean, beds were comfortable, AC worked great, and very good water pressure. Some rooms were very small but for a short stay (2 nights) it was manageable for 2 guests. The first day of arrival in Murano, rooms were not ready until after 4:00 pm which was unbearable after a long flight and time changes. I think this can be better especially if you are organizing a group of travelers. The island of Murano was quiet, not a lot of restaurants and many of them were closed. Keep this in mind when booking this trip. Venice is a lot more active and has many more options for dinner and shopping.Tours and excursions were misleading and not clear when booking trip. Tours included walking outside and exploring the city, rarely did you go inside anything, that was all extra. The worst one for us was during booking it implied we would be going to the Mighty Colosseum, possibly the main attraction of Rome only to find out we were not going in just walking past it. We were told they couldn’t get tickets, then were told only small groups are allowed in at a time. This was all false we had to buy a separate tour to see the Colosseum which was a group of 30 people. In fact, you had to buy many separate tours to actually go inside and see anything. This package included breakfast and 4 dinners. If you are expecting amazing food at these dinners think again. Two of the the 4 dinners were pretty bad, one at Starhotels Metropole in Rome was horrible. A type of meat served, possibly roast beef, was inedible. You couldn’t cut it or chew it. Service did not ask how was your food or why aren’t you eating it. The dinners served an appetizer, pasta, some sort of meat (type unknown), and a desert. There were no choices or options for different types of meals. You get what you get and if you didn’t like it you didn’t eat. You were not even able to buy yourself another meal. Coffee was never offered with desert. The restaurants should have at least 3 different dinner options to choose from. Some of the dinners were cheap and poor quality. Tour manager did not tell you where the dinner was or what was being served in case you needed to make other arrangements. Tour manager was receptive to limited availability of food but had no solutions. This is troublesome since you are indirectly paying for bad meals through your vacation package. Gratuities were not included and should be in the package. It was out of control and awkward. Everyone wanted and expected a tip and travelers were reminded to tip at least 3 times during the trip. It was great to have someone else handle your transportation, hotel accommodations, and show you around the different cities. Tour managers and guides were kind and friendly. They appeared knowledgeable about the areas’ landmarks. Their recommendations for shopping and restaurant options were not the best. Found better recommendations on yelp and trip advisor.
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