APT Avis 4

This is the second Danube cruise we have done with APT. Both have been all we could have wished for in all respects,
Roll on the next one!

We really enjoyed our time in Portugal ; we were on a new ship the MS estrela , launched 2024. All I’ll say is don’t upgrade to an owners suite , fair enough beautiful room , lots of space compared to the other cabins , but very noisy , above the engines which run all the time even when moored . Other ships ( with other companies) we have been on owner suites have been at the front , I feel this is a design faults which can’t be remedied but just to warn other passengers, unless you can put up with the noise , don’t bother . Otherwise a really pleasant cruise

We have done 5 trips with APT. We have always loved our trips and felt very special. We have made many recommendations to friends who have also gone with APT. We weren’t as happy this time. We did Istanbul to Athens on Le Jacques Cartier, Ponant. It was a lovely ship, fantastic food, and excursions.
We felt the trip was a little unorganised this time. Our main complaint was when coming back to the ship we were not given a cool towel and glass of water. We alway were on every other APT cruise. The temperatures were in excess of 31C. And there was no hand sanitizer as you came on the ship. After many walking tours this type of welcome should have been a given. Also they are trying to do the sustainability thing. We were given no water to take away on excursions (we were told to bring our own water bottle but they should have still had it available) and no paper daily schedules in our room at night. We were expected to take a photo of it at reception every night after dinner. I forgot most nights, so had no idea what was going on. Plus, we like the hard copies as a remembrance. Some older clientele didn’t have phones.
On past trips the people who were not as active as most were put in separate tour groups so as not to hold those of us who are more active up. This led to a lot of waiting around in 31C temperatures.
On one four hour tour we were put on a full bus that had no AC. The roof vents would not stay open. We were suffocating. All we got was apologies.
A number of people got very sick from pork served one night. It was under cooked. Ironically the menu made the notation that it was under cooked. Why would anyone serve undercooked pork and not expect people to get sick.
We always feel very special on APT trips. We didn’t on this one. APT staff never really knew who we were right up to the end. The ship had 145 people. The last two days in Athens there were only 30+ of us and we were still asked our surname. We actually wore our badges the whole time! Which we never had to do before.
We have always paid a deposit to book in our next trip. Prior to COVID it was $400 per couple. Now it’s $1000. Plus, the option to put a deposit down was left until the last day before disembarkment. Should have had more time to do this. We actually missed the meeting because we didn’t have the daily schedule. There were extra APT staff on the ship observing. We tried to talk to them and they really didn’t have time. We decided after this trip we may consider other travel options in the future.

An Australian owned company with disgusting and greedy business practices.
APT Travel Group were forced under UK law to refund British citizens 100% of all money paid to them due to the global pandemic. Yet, us suckers here in Australia who have paid them thousands of our hard earned dollars for a holiday we will never go on are only refunded a partial amount of what we have paid them upfront in good faith.
Please don’t book with this greedy company who cares very little for Australians and all the stress they have put us through during this entire process.
Shame on you APT Travel Group.