Exceptionally knowledgeable guides

The Italy portion of the tour was coordinated very well to include drivers who were punctual and professional, tours that were interesting with guides who were exceptionally knowledgeable and stays at historical hotels in central areas that provided us a full cultural experience. Thank you Firebird for that. However, we added on Greece to our itinerary and this is where things didn’t go as well. The flight from Napoli to Athens was delayed by almost 3 hours, which resulted in us missing the next flight on a different airline to Santorini and having to purchase new tickets! Although this was a circumstance beyond Firebird’s control, a fair resolution would have been some kind of reimbursement, especially given all that we paid for this tour. In addition, a ferry was arranged from Santorini back to Greece which was a 5-hour ride that was delayed by an hour, so our whole day was wasted. A 50-minute plane ride would have been the better choice. Also, an evening food tour was scheduled after the ferry ride to begin 45 minutes from the time we were to reach the hotel, which we couldn’t make because of the delay. While there were attempts to rearrange the tour for an hour later, that still wasn’t enough time because there was heavy traffic getting out of the ferry terminal. By then we decided we couldn’t do it and I was told there was no refund. Instead, they did offer to reschedule for the next day but we already had other plans. Bottom line, we relied on the travel experts to coordinate our itinerary but I feel the Greece portion of our trip could have been done better. During very busy travel periods, delays are the norm so planning the tours and activities should be done with that in mind. But, putting all this aside, we’re glad to have finally made the trip to these magical countries.