Have you used the 'The traveldepartment.ie'?

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Silvera

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I have seen lots of adverts for 'the travel department.ie' recently.



The company offers escorted tours to several different destinations around the world. We are considering their Italian 'Lake Garda' or 'Lake Como' trips.

Has anybody here used this company for holidays?

If so, what is the approximate age group on the tours?

Are the hotels used a long way from main tourist centres?

Good value for money?
 
Yes, I have been on the Lake Garda tour. The age group would tend to be older, 50+.
some of the hotels are out of the way, but tours etc go from the hotel. They are good if you like everything laid on, less so if you are a more independent traveller.
 
If you search here on aam, you'll find mixed reviews of the travel department

I did the Lake Garda tour several years ago, which included trips to Venice and Verona. The road journey to Venice took at least 3 hours each way, we ended up with approx 4 hrs in Venice and had to find something to eat during that time as well. Verona was 2 hour journey each way if I recall.

The hotel wasn't great at all - the room was dark, dingy and dirty. The photos show a very "stately home" type hotel - but there's a prefab-type annex at the back and that's where we were. It was noisy too. The food was "canteen food", we had to sit at the same table with the same people every night for the week, and the staff were very cool and stand-offish towards us. We later found out that a couple of people on the previous Irish trip had tried to leave without paying their "bar tab". Just looked at the website, and it's the same hotel being used.

The hotel is in the middle of Riva Del Garda, which was about the only nice thing to say about it.

Age group mixed, from late 20s/early 30s up to retirees.

I was booked to go to the USA with them (had to cancel for personal reasons), the reviews of the hotels were awful - they were out of the way, and not very good.

Personally, I won't travel with them again - they're cheap for a reason.
 
My mother who is in her late seventies has gone on holidays with them several times and has never had a problem She has nothing but praise for them.
 
I have gone on several trips with them until I got sense after a horrible USA trip. Whatever about a longhaul holiday, a trip to Lake Garda can be arranged on a DIY basis for a fraction of what you would pay The Travel Department. Remember you pay per person with them but if you stay in a hotel room that you book yourself you pay per room basis.
Fly Ryanair to Bergamo. Get train to Desenzano. Base yourself there and visit local towns using local buses or hop on one of the boats that traverse the lake.
 
SoylentGreen said:
I have gone on several trips with them until I got sense after a horrible USA trip. Whatever about a longhaul holiday, a trip to Lake Garda can be arranged on a DIY basis for a fraction of what you would pay The Travel Department. Remember you pay per person with them but if you stay in a hotel room that you book yourself you pay per room basis.
Fly Ryanair to Bergamo. Get train to Desenzano. Base yourself there and visit local towns using local buses or hop on one of the boats that traverse the lake.
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I suppose it's a matter of personal preference really. My attitude is that I want to be able to relax and switch my brain off when I go on holidays, and what you just described there sounds like a lot of hard work to me - I'm travelling with them for the first time in a couple of months, and we'll gladly pay a bit extra for the convenience of being picked up and brought around the place over there, rather than trying to be figuring out stuff and managing logistics while dealing with a language barrier.
 
mandelbrot said:
My attitude is that I want to be able to relax and switch my brain off when I go on holidays, and what you just described there sounds like a lot of hard work to me
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If they were going somewhere that is not easily accessible then I just might consider them but to say that getting to somewhere like Lake Garda is like a lot of hard work is a joke.
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys!
We will be considering all our options....
we have always booked our own holidays...and this year will now be the same.
 
Odea said:
If they were going somewhere that is not easily accessible then I just might consider them but to say that getting to somewhere like Lake Garda is like a lot of hard work is a joke.
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I said I'd consider it hard work; I'd say that you calling my personal opinion a joke, is a rude joke!

I'm obviously not alone either or they wouldn't have a successful business model. I've had traveldepartment recommended to me for lake Garda by several relatives & colleagues who went there with them.
 
I wouldn't normally book an organised holiday - but I was going with my mother to New York in Feb - the day that there were no flights due to snow. Every time I've been before I've booked flights and hotel separately - in this case the traveldepartment just refunded it straight away in full. Much less hassle, and was around the same price
 
I have gone on a good few trips with. tend to go on a lot of holidays by myself as like to go long haul and my friends are not keen on these. went on a great trip with them last year to si Lanka. would also recommend their Icelandic one and the one to Jordan and Israel. last year went on a walking holiday with them to Andorra which I would also recommend
 
Don't bother booking anything with the Travel Department, they are useless.

I took a holiday with them and it was easily the worst travel experience of my life!

- The bus broke down.
- Poor communication from rep.
- Bus never arrived for drop off to airport.

It is safe to say that the stresses and worries ruined the holiday.
As an experienced traveler who has traveled worldwide I can tell you that a Travel Department holiday is not worth the money, hassle, and stress.
 
Hello,

We have used them in the past and while their packages appear very good value, the accomodation has been limited.

Overall, I'd be happy to recommend them but on the understanding that you don't get the fanciest of hotels etc
 
We had some very poor holidays and a few O.K. holidays with them back in the day. Looking back I wonder now, why we traveled with them at all. You can book flights, hotels and research transfers very easily online. I know one couple who use them all the time and I would think of these people as being quite lazy with surplus cash.
 
Have used them for Formula one trips and found them good for that. Transfers to and from track, to and from hotel. They worked well for trips like F1 but never used them for a holiday type trip as I prefer that freedom of choosing locations, times etc
 
I booked flights to and a separate tour package with accommodation to Iceland last week. Its a very expensive location. I saw a tour from traveldepartment to Iceland and Norway for a similar time with direct chartered flights from Dublin for about half the price. I was very tempted but preferred the looking of the more expensive tour. So my point on it is they are not always a more expensive option.
 
I traveled with them to the USA and had a complaint when they changed the itinerary without notice and for no reason. They didn't deal with my complaint at all. I wouldn't use them again. I prefer to design my own holiday and travel at my pace not theirs.
 
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