We recently returned from this 8 day trip and it is the first time we have ever paid to come back a day early because we were so fed up! We booked through Canadian Sky as the holiday we wanted with Titan was not available at the time, I so wish we had waited as this tour company need some serious lessons on how to organise a tour.
We flew on the Saturday and had to make our own way to the hotel in downtown Toronto , not too much of a problem as we expected this only the company had changed the holiday from the Marriott to the Holiday Inn, I can only presume this was because it was cheaper as it certainly was not pleasant. The room, as in all the hotels, was fine, spacious beds with good bed linen and a decent bathroom. No kettle though and we found that throughout our trip we only got paper cups in the rooms and mostly at breakfast, also paper plates and bowls and plastic cutlery, we definitely felt like the poor relations. The breakfast here was poor and ill organised – two tiny toasters for a room of over 100 people, a small amount of fruit salad with no yoghurt, no veggie options other than egg and garlicky potatoes, very disappointing. On the Sunday we had a reasonable trip to Niagara ( where we have been before) and Niagara on the Lake before setting off early the next morning ( around 8.00am) to Ottawa. It took all day to get there and we arrived at 5.00pm when all the museums and attractive historical buildings were closed – all we got was a 15 minute tour in the bus. The hotel was pleasant but a 25 minute walk from the city centre and as most of the group were older not very convenient. We left about 8.00am the next day after a poor continental breakfast with soggy croissants so no time to explore Ottawa and we wondered what the point of driving there was?
Enroute to our destinations we mainly stopped for coffee and lunch at horrible fast food places such as the Rotten Apple (sorry official name Red Apple, full of pastries and sweets but nothing at all healthy) or Tim Hortons. After another long drive we arrived at Quebec and this time had an official tour guide for an hour which was helpful as was the stop to get an evening meal for two hours as it turned out our hotel this time was not anywhere near walking distance from the city. I tried a veggie poutine – a famous dish in Canada with chips, gravy and cheese curds – not very exciting so I was disappointed but it was nice to sit in the sun and eat it. The hotel again was comfortable and had a wider choice of breakfast – even cook your own waffles- but the second night we were invaded at 10.00pm by a school trip who were noisy when they arrived with little supervision and descended on the breakfast like a plague of locusts making it difficult for us to get anything! On the second day in Quebec I was going to go on whale watch tour but as that would have meant another 4 hours on the coach I decided to give it a miss and went to Quebec for the day instead, the coach driver took us there but we had to make our own way back via taxi or two buses – this put a few of our fellow travellers off going at all which seemed a great pity. Quebec is a beautiful city full of lovely old buildings and a lot more nice places to eat for a change so it was a nice day though a bit worrying at the end finding a taxi etc ( and quite expensive). Next day, Thursday, off again early to Montreal and this time arrived around lunchtime so we were allowed an hour in the city centre to both eat and look around. The official tour guide then met us and we had a coach and walking tour for about an hour, quite interesting, before going to our hotel. This was fairly central but a very small room and not in a good area – we were advised the nearby pedestrian streets were a good place to eat but we were accosted by more than one drug addict asking for money which rather put us off. Eventually we ate in a pub as we were too tired from all the travel to go too far but it was far from good. Montreal centre seems really good but again insufficient time to explore as we were off back to Toronto the next morning. Here again our hotel had been changed from the Marriott in downtown Toronto where we had arranged to meet friends to the Marriott at the airport , the best of all the hotels and a good breakfast but not convenient for doing anything in the city centre. We also did not arrive until late again due to a stop for a one hour optional boat trip which made us get caught up in the Toronto rush hour, dreadful planning or lack of it!
We had to go to the airport the night before to sort out my husband’s seat as once again the travel company, Canadian Sky, had given us two different references and his did not work, fortunately the staff at Air Transat were very helpful and reserved two seats for us together with good leg room for my disabled husband. The coach was also described as a luxury one but it was quite squashed with no wi fi and not even a hook to hang jackets on so far from luxurious.
What we expected to be a lovely trip ( we had thoroughly enjoyed Western Canada with Riviera) turned out to be the worst holiday I have had in my 73 years, what a shame and what a waste of funds.
22.06.24
