Review Time
European River Cruise on Monarch Queen from Amsterdam to Budapest. Queen offered great accommodations from cabins, reception, lounges, dining room to sundeck. Staff was professional and went above and beyond, always pleasant, always smiling. Our cruise director Soma and activities director Danielle were the best ever.Booking was easy, the only negative was when we asked to change cabins in the same category I was put on hold a very long time, could see on line the cabin was changed, but still kept on hold over a half hour to confirm.Airfare and travel insurance is ALWAYS something we book separate from any travel company. This seems to be the biggest issue travelers have so it's best to book it yourself so you have control.We will definitely use Gate 1 Travel again....but book our own airfare and insurance.
First trip with Gate 1 and we were not disappointed! It lived up to everything our friends told us! From the ease of making the reservation to getting back home! We took a 12 day trip to Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia and loved every minute! Well organized, well paced and excellent hotels! Lots of inclusion, with centrally located hotels! Our tour manager, Ivona and driver Milan were the best! Ivona was so warm, kind and funny! What a hoot! An amazing ability to keep 40 people working harmoniously together for 12 days is a testament to her! The meals were wonderful, especially the farewell dinner! We have since booked two more Gate 1 trips since returning a week ago!
Our tour guide Christi was very personable as well as being very knowledgeable about our stops along the way. She made this whirlwind tour comfortable and enjoyable. Our driver Steve was a steely eyed driver around some pretty tight hairpin switchbacks. We had a wonderful trip experience due to these two wonderful people.
I just returned from the 7 Day Galapagos Express trip with Gate 1. In a nutshell, this trip kicked my senior citizen butt. It is very fast paced with a lot of walking. I walked more than 5 miles several times. The hiking is for VERY fit and experienced hikers on volcanic rock and uneven stones. The hotel in Baltra was nice but great for mountain goats. There were no elevators and some rooms were up three and four flights of curving stairs. Food and prices were decent. My son, a former Marine, had to rescue two people from drowning when the guide took them snorkeling. These were people with little or no experience in deep water and I questioned why the guide even allowed them to go. There is a lot of getting on and off small boats. I would recommend anyone over 60 or so to see the sights of the Galapagos on the Discovery Channel. I went in the first week in May and the weather was very hot, which made the walking even more tiring. The first day in Baltra we got off the flight and started our hike. We had been up since 4:00 am and the hike lasted until 5 or 6 so everyone was really tired. It's going to take me several days to recover from this trip.
I wish I could give Gate 1 no stars. I canceled a trip, which I had insurance for. Now Gate 1 is saying I have an airline credit which Singapore airlines knows nothing about. Gate 1 is saying I can o my use it with them but can’t use it for the land portion . Well I booked a whole package with them $ they are staying my left over funds can’t be used for anything else and they won’t refund it. That sound ridiculous!! This company is TERRIBLE! I canceled way in advance and had insurance. They already took money for the cancellation fee, which I understand your policy is your policy but why are you scamming people. Why not let me rebook the trip? This doesn’t make since. BEWARE‼️Looks like Gate 1 responded to my complain like they have in the past ONLY they never reach out. They only reply to make it seem like they will help. Today is 8/12 and this is the 3rd time they said they willMake this right and haven’t. Read the other review GATE 1 doesn’t care about their customers. I only wish I would have read the reviews first because loosing 2,300 is not okay especially when you cancel 3 months in advance and purchased insurance. I will file a claim with the BBB so this won’t happen to anyone else.
France April 27 - May 9. We have had several Gale One tours that were Great, but not this one. Basically the accommodations and land travel were not acceptable. Sights were wonderful. First, the Bus was too small for such a long trip. When sitting, my knees hit back of seat in front of me. No space for legs or anything else. Very cramped. Could not use pouch on back of seat in front of me. Overhead bin was very tiny. Secondly, Most Hotels, especially Mercure hotel chain were terrible. No air or windows in the rooms. Asked for fan but not always available. Hotel in Bordeaux was the worst. 1 of 2 elevators not working; very hot in room; no relief in sight; meals too sparse. The only decent hotel was in Lourdes where we could open the window. We understand that air-conditioning is infrequent in Europe, but for the price we pay, Gate One can find better places to stay and still be in center of cities. Tour guide was very nice but seemed uninformed. Gate One tour guides for Greece, Morocco and Sicily were tremendous comparably. Some of her facts about castles etc. differ from most tour books. She needs to use a script as her English is too halted for being a guide. She seemed to often pause mid-sentence thinking for the next word. She frequently asked tourists for the correct word to use. Poor idea to show two 50-year-old irrelevant movies in the bus. Could not see subtitles unless sitting in first 2-3 rows near the screens. We were looking for more history about the country, artists, music, Resistance movement during WWII, French influence around the world, why Paris selected for so many international treaties, etc. Several lunch rest stops were at gas stations. We were captive for expensive, lousy food. It would have been nice to know this a day or two in advance so that we could purchase food elsewhere & bring it with us on those days.In closing, we like Gate One generally and have several friends who used them per our recommendation. Not sure I would suggest it again. Thank you for your opportunity to reply here.
We just got back from the Gate 1 Ecuador, Andes, Amazon tour ( April 25-April 31, 2023) with our fabulous tour manager Daniel Solano. We were on a Classic Tour but with 20 guests it felt more personal. Daniel took care of our group in the most professional way from start to finish. He called us "family" and we felt like family. He was knowledgeable, charismatic, kind, funny, helpful, considerate- all the very things you hope for in a tour manager. It was because of him, we believe, that our group got along so well and had such a great experience. This was our first Gate 1 trip and now know it will be the first of many more to come. We loved the places and experiences from Quito through the Andes and Amazon Rain Forest. Ecuador is a beautiful and unique country. We have traveled with other companies and on our own and this trip rates 5 stars.
I would like to say for most of this trip to Brazil and Argentina it was amazing but there were some hiccups,sometimes it seems as if we were push for time to leave, I miss something i would like to have seen. Seeing the city of Rio deJaneiro from the statue of Christ The Remeemer and take pictures was a very exciting moment. The Iguazu Falls was a fall to remember I though Niagara Falls was a exciting Fall this is something else. I enjoy the Tradition Gaucho Party the ranch was very nice place the entertainment was, I didn't get to see the museum, i did go to the general store. Here one problem i had at the ranch i told the guide that i did eat farm animal but i did eat fish so I though I would get a fish dinner, even though there were farmers, it has always been notice that there were stream, ponds, creeks and rivers near the farms that had fish in them. Watching them do the Samba and Tango was a a delightful experience. In all it was an enjoyable trip.
We are a group of four women who wanted to book a 9-day Classic National Parks Tour with Gate 1. We decided on one date to depart and another for a backup. We called late Thursday (4/20/23) evening, no one answered. We called again Friday (4/21/23) at 9:00 a.m. Three of us already had accounts. One one of us did not. The agent had to setup this account twice, as he lost the first one. We also got disconnected from Gate 1 and they called us back. He also read info to us which took up more time. After 45 minutes, I just had to give him my credit card number. When I gave him my info, the agent stated there is only room for two on the bus, not four. He then wanted to know if the two people were willing to tour without the other two. This entire experience was a nightmare! In addition, there wasn't one supervisor available that I could speak to. A supervisor called me three days later saying the agent followed the correct protocol. It appears customer service is non-existent at Gate 1. They are not the only game in town. I will be using other companies for my future trips.There replies are just computer generated. It appears like they are reaching out to customers who are dissatisfied. But, as usual, Gate 1 does nothing to rectify any complaint. How many of you have heard from them since your negative review?
My mom and I traveled to Italy this past April. We had a great time although it was a bit too busy for us, but we did cover almost all of Italy you could possibly imagine. The breakfast was fair, not good but not bad. Dinners were good but not great and lots of fun. My biggest complaint is we were on a tour in Florence with Gate 1 travel and taken to a jewerly shop were we were than given a short talk regarding their products and than instructed we would receive a discount for being with Gate 1 travel. My mom and I both purchased 1 piece of jewelry each. When we went to purchase the products, we were told our discount was in the form of a tax credit and we had to turn the paperwork into customs to receive this discount. I was skeptical and questioned the process a few times but was reassured by the staff that it was very easy and if we had any problems to contact an email that was written on the instructions we were to follow. We followed the instructions as written and verbalized to us by the jewelry shop staff but were unable to complete due to our flight being delayed from Naples into Munich and we had to literally run to our next flight. I contacted the email 3 times with no response and I double check both my spam and the address given. I than contacted Gate 1 and were told in simple terms, there is nothing they can do. I believe this is a scam!!! I believe this is a way for them to make more money off of you. My mom and I are out 300 dollars. Which isn't a ton of money but I am sure we are not the first ones this has happened too! The Jewery shop is called "The Gold Market" and address is 50122 Firenze. I have also submitted this review to the BBB to further investigate this.
Claim your business profile now and gain access to all features and respond to customer reviews.
More of the World For Less!
