The cruise was scheduled to dock back at Singapore at 8.15am.

With limited choices of activities for little children and parents stuck with little children, our day became same old same old.

We started the day with breakfast at Windjammer's.

Maiden cruise vacation.

Day 5 | Day 5 started with an extravagant breakfast buffet at Chef Mickey (~S$50 per pax).

We had originally planned to take a taxi from Shamrock Hotel to Disneyland. But the little one wanted to go on the Mickey Mouse train, so we lugged our suitcases onto the MTRs and went line-hopping again.

In anticipation of a hectic Day 3, we woke up earlier than the previous day.

While we have read flattering reviews of the Shamrock Hotel breakfast buffet, the spread still left us in awe. Definitely one of the best we have ever had.

We have always sworn by packaged tours. So when the little one said that he wanted to take the aeroplane for vacation, we automatically searched for the most kid-friendly package.

Day 02+03 | We woke up prematurely at 6am, groggy from the repeated knocking that sounded in the room throughout the night.

 

Feeling uneasy, we requested for a room change at the front desk en route to Saltwater Cafe for breakfast.

With a recent big money purchase and a planned vacation to Hong Kong, we were adamant to tighten the purse strings.

 

But when Changi Village Hotel came knocking with a free birthday upgrade to executive club room (from deluxe room), we took the bait.

Day 02 | Breakfast was same same. Same spread of food, same wispy Kenny G tunes. In fact, Kenny G was in the air throughout the hotel; if you paid attention, you could even hear it in the room!

 

After breakfast, we planned to hail a cab to get to Hello Kitty Town @Puteri Harbour. Having watched one too many Hollywood thrillers, I was mildly worried about taking cabs in a foreign country.

 

But there was a rather professional-looking cab booth situated at the hotel lobby with a chart of the approximate prices for each location (MYR$55 to Hello Kitty Theme Park). Like Singapore taxis, the fare runs by meter and the driver's ID are displayed in the car. The one that we took even had the driver's name printed on the door (like fighter plane sia)! And did I mention that the driver had namecards?

June holidays are finally here!

 

And for our first getaway… KSL Hotel! This time we took a more free-&-easy approach.

 

Day 02 | One of the things that we always look forward to with hotel stays is the buffet breakfast!

 

Although modest, the buffet spread at the Saltwater Café was more-than-fulfilling with a sprinkle of local and international cuisine, pastries, tim sum, egg and noodle counter, salad, fruits and juices, cereal and hot beverages.

We have always found local staycations too extravagant. Dollar for dollar, a 1-night stay in a local hotel can never compare to the more eventful getaway to a neighbouring country.

Day 3 was Sanrio Hello Kitty & Thomas town day! The pick-up time to Puteri Harbour was 12 noon so there was ample time to take a leisurely breakfast and do some last minute shopping.

Day 2 was a day of eat, sleep and play!

Baby Coven learned to walk at 14 months so we decided it's time for our 2nd family trip! This time with the maternal grandparents, aunt and uncle-to-be.

It’s been almost 4 years since we jetted off to Europe on our honeymoon. But every now and then, we still receive emails asking about our experience with EU Holidays and for advice on the Italy-Switzerland-Paris package.

 

With many of the queries being similar, we decided to compile all the Q&As into a single FAQ post.

 

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Travel Package: 13 Days Italy/Swiss/Paris with 2N Dubai (Reverse Itinerary)

http://www.euholidays.com.sg/package/77/13d10n-italy-switzerland-france-winter

 

Value	★★★★☆
Food	★★★☆☆
Hotels	★★★★☆
Itinerary/ Pace	★★★★☆
Service/ Tour Manager	★★★★☆

 

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[Optional Tours]

 

What were the optional tours offered and which did your group eventually go for?

 

The optional tours were:

(1) Louvre Museum+‎Sacré-Cœur (€??),

(2) Seine River Cruise (€45; S$72),

(3) Black Forest, Titisee (€??)

(4) Railway Trip to Kleine Scheidegg (CHF189; S$247)

(5) Bern (€??)

(6) Florence (€59; S$94)

(7) Dubai City Tour+Desert Dune Bashing ($155).

 

We went for (2), (3), (4) and (6). Most of the group went for (1) and (7) too. (5) was skipped entirely.

 

Were the optional tours communicated to you when you booked? I'm looking at their Eastern Europe tour and they mentioned the entire tour only has 2 optional tours, which seems very shocking (I half believe they will introduce more!). 

 

We did not ask about optional tours when we signed up because it didn’t occur to us that there will be too many of them. Hence we only learned of the optional tours during the trip briefing (~2-3 weeks before departure).

 

If I am thinking of only going for 3 of them, which optional tours would you recommend?

 

In order of preference: (4) - (3) - (6).

 

Did you experience some of the tour members opting out of the optional tours and were there any backup plans from your guide?

 

The Paris and Dubai packages were actually catered for free & easy days so we simply had the days off and traveled on our own. On Day 1, the group who opted for the Paris package was brought to Louvre Museum as it is closed on the intended day of visit (which happened to be a Tuesday). Those who opted out were simply given shopping time at Galleries Lafayette.

 

I heard that the optional tours are not really optional if the majority of the tour members want to go ahead with some of the places. Is it true?

 

For this tour, the group was rather unanimous in deciding the optional packages so we didn’t encounter that problem. Personally, I don’t think that is true from our experience with EU Holidays.

 

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[Itinerary + Pace]

 

Did you eventually go to every single attraction stated in the itinerary?

 

Yes. But I guess we had luck on our side – favorable weather, traffic conditions etc. Of course, credit has to go to the experienced planning by the tour manager.

 

How is the overall pace of the whole trip? Is it mostly touch & go considering many places are covered in the itinerary?

 

I would say that the pace is good; we had adequate time at most attractions. The only items that were touch & go were: (1) Paris city tour (Day 1) as the guide had to bring the optional group to the Louvre museum and (2) Lucerne as it was already night time when we reached there after our optional tour to Germany.

 

Were you brought to many souvenir/ merchandise shops and stayed there for a long time?

 

Not for this tour. But yes for those to HK (Chan Bros), Taiwan (Dynasty Travel) and Turkey (EU Holidays).

 

The shopping outlets that we were brought to were: Galleries Lafayette (Paris), La Vallée Village (Paris) and Barberino Designer Outlet (Tuscany)

 

Were there a lot of shops, museums or attractions closed in the year end due to winter season?

 

Not that we encountered.

 

Did you see any Christmas markets around Europe that time?

 

Yes, we encountered Christmas markets at ‎Sacré-Cœur, Paris and Lucerne, Switzerland. But we came across them when wandering on our own during our ‘spare time’ i.e. before the meeting time given by the guide.

 

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[Hotels + Food]

 

Were all the hotels 4-5★ as stated in the package?

 

Yes. Or at least I think so. There were some deviations though:

 

(1) There was a 1-night stay in Venice but it turned out to be not on Venice ‘island’ itself but in Mestre (Venice province);

 

(2) the advertisement proudly stated in large fonts a 1-night stay in Victoria Jungfrau Grand Hotel (5★ Luxury Hotel) in Interlaken‎ but we were told that it was fully booked and we ended up at Lindner Beau Rivage instead.

 

Hotel List

10-11 Dec Paris (2N)	FOREST HILL LA VILLETTE
12 Dec Nancy (1N)	PARK INN
13 Dec Lucerne (1N)	HOTEL POSTILLON
14 Dec Interlaken (1N)	LINDNER BEAU RIVAGE INTERLAKEN
15 Dec Geneva (1N)	NH REX
16 Dec Milan (1N)	NH MILANOFIORI
17 Dec Venice (1N)	DELFINO
18 Dec Florence (1N)	WEST FLORENCE
19 Dec Rome (1N)	IDEA ROMA Z3
21 Dec Dubai (2N)	COPTHORNE HOTEL

 

How was the food during the trip? Any particular restaurant/ meals worth highlighting?

 

Most of the meals were average. But we can't decide if it's because the food weren't tuned to our palates or that the restaurants were not good and meals were budget.

The more special meals we had were (1) pork knuckle + black forest cake @ Drubba Cuckoo Clock Factory, Titisee (2) bratwurst and rösti @ Restaurant Bahnhof, Kleine Scheidegg (3) cheese fondue @ Bebbis Restaurant, Interlaken.

 

Were there more western or oriental meals?

 

We had only one oriental meal: Sichuan Panda restaurant @ Galeries Lafayette, Paris.

 

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[Service + Tour Manager]

 

How was your TM? Were there any lapses in service?

 

Our TM Paul only joined us from Day 3 after sending off his earlier group. We were pretty satisfied with him. He was helpful, experienced and knowledgeable. You could tell that he really makes the effort to provide high standards of service.

 

There was one incident but it involved another TM Fiona who took us for the first 2 days: a big family in our group requested for a stopover at La Vallee village to do some shopping. So the negotiations went on at the front of the coach and when the message trickled to the back, it was if we were agreeable with the stopover. And we agreed.

 

But we got a shock later when we were asked to pay €25 each for the stopover. Apparently, the negotiations concluded with an agreement to pay for the stopover but many of us had no idea at all. So that caused some unhappiness amongst the group.

 

Kudos to Paul, on seeing our discontentment and learning about the miscommunication, he refunded all of us the money. We were rather impressed with their customers-before-profits service.

 

Were the introduction of the places given by local guides or the tour manager?

 

We had local guides at some places such as Paris and Rome. Other times, the introductions were given by Paul. But we were quite satisfied with his knowledge of the places and attractions too.

 

How big was your group? Were there a lot of delays and waiting time?

 

We had a few short of 40 pax. But there weren't much delays or waiting time. I guess it can be attributed to: (1) sufficient time given at each attraction, (2) experienced planning and clear instructions given by the TM and (3) Singaporeans generally being instruction-abiding.

 

Were there a lot of long distance coaching? Was it tiring?

 

There were a few long distance coaching. The longest one was from Paris to Lorraine, which pretty much took up the entire day. But they were not unbearable. There were rest stops for us to alight, TM would engage us with information on the places we were visiting, and we pretty much caught up on sleep during these long rides.

 

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[Expenses]

 

How much roughly in total you and your wife spent for the entire tour?

 

~$5000 each (includes optional tours, food, tips, travel insurance)

 

How much foreign currency did you change?

 

€400 + CHF300 each

 

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[Miscellaneous]

 

Was it safe to wander around on your own in Europe? I have heard many stories of theft and pick-pocketing.

 

We did not encounter any problems during our own excursions. We did take precautions like placing our money and passport in under garment money belts, carrying our bags in front, avoiding contact with strangers and taking care not to flaunt large amounts of cash in public.

 

We were also warned by our TM to steer clear of the groups of gypsies hawking souvenirs at tourist attractions (‎Sacré-Cœur, Duomo di Milano). But for unknown reasons, we actually stopped to buy Eiffel tower souvenirs from one hawker. Thankfully, nothing bad happened.

 

Was the cold bearable? How many layers of clothing did you wear?

 

Temperatures were between 0-10 °C. We generally had 4 layers: thermal inner wear+ 1-inner long sleeve t-shirts+outer t-shirt+fleece jacket/wind breaker. Scarf, cap, gloves, muffs may be essential too. All bought from uniqlo. And pack some heat packs too.

 

Did your tour group have any members who extended their stay and traveled to other places on their own (without joining tour and only extended their flight ticket and coming back to Singapore themselves)? My wife and I plan to go to Amsterdam ourselves for two nights, after the last stop in Paris with the group.

 

We had the reverse itinerary: started with Paris. There was a couple who flew to Amsterdam few days earlier and joined us on the first day of our tour.

Day2 | Despite setting the alarm for 7am, I was lightly awakened by the effervescent chirping of birds outside the windows. With mama and baby Coven not due to wake up in another hour, I decided to sneak a workout at the gym.

 

But the plan was thrown out when I caught the neon red sun peeking through the horizon at the lift lobby.