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Good service in terms of coordination ( Amit ji ) , the chauffeur ( Pankaj ji ) & the guide( Mishra ji ) master of there work , polite and punctual. Nice experience Will consider it again !!!
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Date of experience: October 2020
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I did a short 4 day Golden Triangle tour with Travelogy India and it worked out fantastic. They put together an itinerary on very short notice and it worked out great. A representative met me everywhere I went and they set me up with local guides that were very knowledgeable. The hotels were very nice and everyone I interacted with was very helpful. A great experience! Mike…
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Date of experience: January 2020
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Review of Palace On Wheels Luxury Train Tour – December 25, 2019 We went to India late in December 2019 for the 7-nights the Palace On Wheels (POW) luxury train tour through the western state of Rajasthan – starting and ending in New Delhi, and including Agra and the Taj Mahal, as well as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary and Ranthambore Nation Park. The tour dates were boarding December 25th to disembarking January 1st. Please see the various POW websites for the itinerary. This was my third visit to India after living there for 3 years many years ago. And I love India. But it was my friend's first visit to India. So I wanted it to be a superb introduction to India for her. We totally enjoyed our Palace On Wheels adventure. It exceeded both of our expectations. She was so delighted with it that she considers it a "trip of a lifetime" – on a par with our African safari a few years earlier. I stumbled onto Travelogy India for the booking as one of the official POW websites – via an Internet search. Later I learned that US travel agents are NOT able to provide POW bookings. I was initially very wary of booking with Travelogy, which was a totally unknown & far away travel company to me. Mr. Nilesh Kumar was our sole contact person at Travelogy throughout the booking process. Fortunately he was usually readily available by phone (Skype for me). His responsiveness and faithfulness in hanging in there with me to answer all of my questions before and after our booking soothed my concerns. So that we finally felt comfortable and happy with our long-distance booking. We remain extremely pleased with how well our entire POW adventure in India was organized and how well it worked out. Mr. Kumar met us at the New Delhi airport upon our arrival well after midnight and escorted us to our hotel. We had just flown 16 hours non-stop to New Delhi from California. Mr. Kumar also met us at the train station December 25th to make sure that we were on board on time. All of this special attention was very helpful and reassuring. We booked our new Delhi hotel, The Leela Palace, on our own through Hotels.com. We had 2 nights there before the train tour and one full day (day use) after the train before leaving for DEL to catch our early morning flight back to the USA. We were very pleased with the accommodations, food, rooftop pool, spa and service at the Leela Palace and would be happy to stay there again someday. Due to a foot injury well before the trip, my friend needed a steadying hand/arm going up and down the many stairs/steps without handrails and uneven stone walkways, roads, etc – which are in or around almost every palace, fort, monument, restaurant, shop, etc. on the tour. I was often not a steady support because these stairs also were tough for me and my arthritic knees. Fortunately the POW assigned Mr. Ramachandra of their staff to assist her on the tours every day from the very beginning. And he was very attentive and helpful. The daily tours were all excellent – well organized, informative, culturally rich, well paced, and easy to do. The buffet lunches during each tour day were at excellent hotels or restaurants and were also good. Our cabin was small, simple and compact (as are train cabins) – but was comfortable and clean. The beds were very comfortable and we slept well. The bathroom was small & basic, but adequate. The shower worked the way a shower should work. The room temperature control worked well. The small cabin was quite OK for us, as we needed it only for sleeping & the shower/bathroom. Both of us quickly adjusted to the rocking around and the noise of the train while traveling to the next destination at night – and we rather liked the rocking and rolling! The restaurant car's food was good every day – with a couple of choices of entrees, as I recall, and a variety of side dishes. It was good food, and quite ample, but not gourmet food. We had breakfast and dinner on the train and lunches outside during the daily tours. In Jaisalmer the dinner was in a hotel garden courtyard and included a cultural performance. We enjoyed dining in the restaurant car and being able to get to know our fellow tourists (from several countries) better while dining. The restaurant car's bar was “sort of” adequately stocked with basic soft drinks, beer, booze and some liquers, but the red & white wine selections were limited and not very appealing. The bartender (whose name I don't remember) was very good and always ready and willing to help. Our main cabin attendant, Mr. Bhanwar Lal was excellent – really responsible, conscientious, pleasant, professional & always ready & willing to help. Both he and Ramachandra were very respectful of our privacy and wishes. Ramachandra was equally good as Bhanwar's assistant. The tour manager for our section of the train, Mr. Umesh, was also superb. He seemed to be everywhere -- managing the details of the daily tours (buses, guides & drivers), creating photo ops, managing the local guides and various gatekeepers, guards, and attendants at the sites we visited & the representatives at the hotels & shops we visited. He seemed to be very efficient, very effective & completely in charge. And he was always congenial, positive and ready for the next moment. As passengers on the POW, we were always treated as VIPs everywhere we went on the daily tours – with immediate access to all of the places that we visited. Umesh knows the territory and he saw to it that every daily tour, lunch, etc. went smoothly – and that every individual on each daily tour was well taken care of. Umesh was also our primary general manager & overall guide on the train itself. He traveled with the train. The train manager, was rarely present. It was Umesh who advised us on the last day about tipping our cabin attendants and the restaurant car staff. There were about 80-85 passengers on this POW tour. We were in two groups, each with its own assigned dining car (out of 2 dining cars). On the tours each day, we usually went in two large and comfortable buses (coaches). Be prepared to tip the local guides each day and the coach drivers. Your train's tour manager (e.g., Umesh's counterpart) will advise you on the tipping. By the way: It is important to manage one's cash well during the tour and make sure that there's enough cash left over on the last night and morning for tipping all of the train's staff who were so kind and helpful; namely: the cabin attendants, the restaurant car staff (chefs, servers & bartender), and the tour manager. ATMs are available in some New Delhi hotels, some train stations, and some of the hotel stops during the tours each day. But there are NOT any ATMs on the POW. Credit cards are acceptable on the POW for check-out on the last day, but the aforementioned tips must be given in cash. Due to our early morning arrival Dec. 24Th, we did not take full advantage of the complimentary Delhi/New Delhi guided tours that were included by Travelogy in our booking. After the 16-hour non-stop flight from San Francisco we opted to rest on December 24th and we also got a late start Christmas Day. But once we got out, we enjoyed our tour of Qutub Minar and our drive past the India Gate, government buildings and diplomatic enclave. We liked our December 25th tour guide's style and knowledge. But we were not happy being unexpectedly subjected to an hour-long “sales pitch” at a Kashmiri carpet shop, which we regarded as a waste of our valuable time -- and a detraction from an otherwise good afternoon tour of New Delhi. So, beware of this kind of standard “shopping stop” on any city tours. Inform your tour manager/tour guide beforehand that you do not want to be subjected to this kind of sales pressure and waste of your time. We thank Mr. Nilesh Kumar and Travelogy very much for all of their expert assistance and guidance in booking the Palace On Wheels for us, as well as the transfers to and from the New Delhi airport, and from the train to our hotel January 1st. We are now recommending the Palace On Wheels to any of our families, friends and work associates who ask about our trip! And we are recommending Nilesh Kumar and Travelogy for the booking! Also, we are now inspired to look more closely at the other luxury train tours in India for our future vacation travels. DW, California…
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Date of experience: December 2019
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We booked a 10-day tour with Travelogy India in Dec 2019 for a party of two families comprising 9 Pax. My SIL who was joining us from US and us from Australia meeting at Delhi. I chose Travelogy based on some good reviews about them on Tripadvisor. The tour manager Ramesh Kapoor was very helpful throughout the process and provided support when and as needed. However, the disappointing part of the whole tour was the driver hired by the company. The driver (Prem) appeared to be upset about something and was totally uncooperative, grumpy and angry throughout the trip. He would put loud Punjabi folk music during the trip, which none of us understood and when we would ask him to stop, he would get annoyed. To make matter worse he would regularly short drop us at sightseeing points saying this was the agreed drop off point or some excuse about local laws. We had a 5-year-old and my grandfather who was 77 years old who had to walk in the freezing winter, but it made no difference to him. My only recommendation to Travelogy is that however well you plan the trip, it takes only one staff to ruin someone’s holiday which they have planned to remember forever. Will be wary of booking and recommending to anyone. The quality of service was patchy and inconsistent ! …
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Date of experience: December 2019
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After paying for 4 start hotels. They changed to cheaper hotels from whom they got a deal. Had to stay put in some hotels without A/c and some with mosquitos. Ruined our 30th wedding anniversary trip.
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Date of experience: March 2020
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