Vantage Free Paris Extension

I received an email from Vantage about a 4 day offer: Free Paris extension on French river cruises in March and April 2016. Sounds like a good deal:

http://www.vantagetravel.com/France-ParisExtension-EM49650?_vsrefdom=thursdayemail&utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_source=Email&utm_campaign=EM49650&PROMO=EM49650&SOURCE=EM49650

I received an email from Vantage about a 4 day offer: Free Paris extension on French river cruises in March and April 2016. Sounds like a good deal:

http://www.vantagetravel.com/France-ParisExtension-EM49650?_vsrefdom=thursdayemail&utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_source=Email&utm_campaign=EM49650&PROMO=EM49650&SOURCE=EM49650

It probably is....they don't often offer free extensions, but the extensions we've taken with Vantage have all been excellent.

If it's free take it... otherwise it's not worth it.

We were in Paris on our own first for several days for our anniversary last year, we had booked the "pre-trip" which basically consisted of Vantage paying for our hotel room,breakfast at the hotel (quite a nice selection and VERY expensive if you are paying on your own!) one group dinner in the hotel (which was mediocre at best and not anywhere near the delicious French cuisine we enjoyed on our own) the use of a 'local guide (more about her later) a tour to the Musee d'Orsay and the transfer to the boat for the river cruise.

The hotel Le Meridien would not have been our first choice of hotel in Paris but it was very comfortable (heavenly bed!) and our room was of good size. We booked on our own for 3 nights because we would meet the "pre-trip" there. It was close to the metro and the Arc de Triomphe where we watched fireworks for Bastille Day. We really did enjoy our 3 days in Paris. We met the local guide and the 'pre-trip' group at the 'dinner' at the hotel. She had arrived with the group from the airport and had briefed them all on what was going on. I needed to ask her for an itinerary and copies of the papers all the others had. We were the "oddballs" of the group. There was an evening tour available the next night (Paris by night) but not enough people had signed up for it. We told her we interested and gave her our room number. She NEVER got back to us and later we found out that others took the tour without us.

The BEST thing about the pre-trip was our early admission to the Musee d'Orsay and the fabulous guide we had in the museum. We avoided a ton of crowds and saw a good part of the museum before it became obnoxiously unable to move! The rest of the day was "on our own"

The next day our worthless 'local' guide "forgot" to tell half the group that the bus was meeting BEHIND the hotel and people had no clue where to go with their suitcases. Her lack of communication, lack of concern and attitude was a poor way to start our journey. Fortunately the RiverCruise was WONDERFUL and we enjoyed it very much!!

So Pre-trip not worth the money... but FREE is a good price!!

If it's free take it... otherwise it's not worth it.

 

We were in Paris on our own first for several days for our anniversary last year, we had booked the "pre-trip" which basically consisted of Vantage paying for our hotel room,breakfast at the hotel (quite a nice selection and VERY expensive if you are paying on your own!) one group dinner in the hotel (which was mediocre at best and not anywhere near the delicious French cuisine we enjoyed on our own) the use of a 'local guide (more about her later) a tour to the Musee d'Orsay and the transfer to the boat for the river cruise.

 

The hotel Le Meridien would not have been our first choice of hotel in Paris but it was very comfortable (heavenly bed!) and our room was of good size. We booked on our own for 3 nights because we would meet the "pre-trip" there. It was close to the metro and the Arc de Triomphe where we watched fireworks for Bastille Day. We really did enjoy our 3 days in Paris. We met the local guide and the 'pre-trip' group at the 'dinner' at the hotel. She had arrived with the group from the airport and had briefed them all on what was going on. I needed to ask her for an itinerary and copies of the papers all the others had. We were the "oddballs" of the group. There was an evening tour available the next night (Paris by night) but not enough people had signed up for it. We told her we interested and gave her our room number. She NEVER got back to us and later we found out that others took the tour without us.

 

The BEST thing about the pre-trip was our early admission to the Musee d'Orsay and the fabulous guide we had in the museum. We avoided a ton of crowds and saw a good part of the museum before it became obnoxiously unable to move! The rest of the day was "on our own"

 

The next day our worthless 'local' guide "forgot" to tell half the group that the bus was meeting BEHIND the hotel and people had no clue where to go with their suitcases. Her lack of communication, lack of concern and attitude was a poor way to start our journey. Fortunately the RiverCruise was WONDERFUL and we enjoyed it very much!!

 

So Pre-trip not worth the money... but FREE is a good price!!

I hope you told Vantage about this local guide in your post trip survey. There's a good chance she no longer works for Vantage. We had a local guide in Prague who actually left a woman behind in the Jewish Quarter because she didn't want to tour the old cemetery due to religious reasons and then forgot he had told her to wait when we came back and didn't realize she was gone until her husband told him. He went back, couldn't find her and LEFT her there. She didn't speak Czech and had no local currency to get a cab back to the hotel! She finally found an English couple who put her in a taxi, told the driver where to take her and paid for the taxi....we all complained to Vantage and I believe he's no longer used as a local guide.

HydroKitty... you betcha! As soon as we got on the RiverVenture I sent off an email to Vantage about the local guide and her behavior. (mentioned it as well in the trip report to them.) And just to even things out and to let them know I wasn't just a 'complainer'... I sent an email mid-cruise letting them know what a fantastic job "Tessa" our 1 Program Manager was doing. (I still think Vantage has made a huge mistake in cutting back on the Program Managers and have one person in charge of 140+ people.. I commented on that in another thread.)

HydroKitty... you betcha! As soon as we got on the RiverVenture I sent off an email to Vantage about the local guide and her behavior. (mentioned it as well in the trip report to them.) And just to even things out and to let them know I wasn't just a 'complainer'... I sent an email mid-cruise letting them know what a fantastic job "Tessa" our 1 Program Manager was doing. (I still think Vantage has made a huge mistake in cutting back on the Program Managers and have one person in charge of 140+ people.. I commented on that in another thread.)

Thom

HydroKitty... you betcha! As soon as we got on the RiverVenture I sent off an email to Vantage about the local guide and her behavior. (mentioned it as well in the trip report to them.) And just to even things out and to let them know I wasn't just a 'complainer'... I sent an email mid-cruise letting them know what a fantastic job "Tessa" our 1 Program Manager was doing. (I still think Vantage has made a huge mistake in cutting back on the Program Managers and have one person in charge of 140+ people.. I commented on that in another thread.)

We had Tessa in March. I thought she did a very good job with 140 people, but she would have been even better if she only had 45!

 

Thom

I agree with both of you, but I think we're beating a dead horse!!! Maybe we'll get Tessa too.

The offer is so tempting as this is a trip we would eventually like to do (trying to get the more difficult ones completed while still relatively agile!)

I even checked the Monet Garden website and late April seems to be a good time!

The offer is so tempting as this is a trip we would eventually like to do (trying to get the more difficult ones completed while still relatively agile!)

 

I even checked the Monet Garden website and late April seems to be a good time!

If you want to be even more tempted... read my blog! The first leg of our Treasures thru France trip was the Paris to Normandy journey and we loved it!! We were there in July and the waterlilies were in bloom--gardens were spectacular!

If you want to be even more tempted... read my blog! The first leg of our Treasures thru France trip was the Paris to Normandy journey and we loved. We were there in July and the waterlilies were in bloom--gardens were spectacular!

We were there in late Sept/Oct and the waterlilies were still in bloom! We were on a 3 week bus trip (wonderful and hellish at the same time) started in Paris then went to south to Nice and Monaco, east to Lourdes and Biarritz, Mt. St. Michel, Normandy, Arles, Bayeaux, south to Giverney, Versailles and back to Paris, with a lot in between that I didn't mention. We were on Trafalgar Best of France and my trip review is on Trip Advisor, although is's about 10 years old!!

...I even checked the Monet Garden website and late April seems to be a good time!

Thom

We had a wonderful 3 day pre-tour with Vantage in September, 2014. We had a super local guide. If you can get that tour free, and want to go so early in the season, I'd say , "Do it!" :)