Sylvie Di Cristo Bailed on Me in Villefranche

Does anybody have any suggestions for my July 14, 2004 tour? This woman, Sylvie Di Cristo, just cancelled on me. Need some help for 5 people. So much for her reliability

Hi as you know she did the same to me....Join me on the tour that I have booked. I'll email you as well.

Hi

I can't say enough good things about Michel Legrand and Revelation Tours - we had a terrific tour from Cannes to Monte Carlo at our stop in Villefranche while on the Galaxy Transatlantic cruise in May.

First, I want to tell you that Michel and Revelation Tours are exceptional for many reasons.

We found out when we boarded the Galaxy that the itinerary had been changed and that we'd be in Villefranche a day earlier than originally planned. With less than 2 weeks notice and during their busy season, Michel was able to make this change for us. Also, as word spread onboard about our Villefranche tour, we asked Michel to accommodate 16 more Cruise Critic folks in 2 minivans, and he did it for us. He had to sub-lease the vans from another company and arrange for these vans to have the same amenities as Revelation Tours vans, but he did it.

Another special note is that Michel and Revelation Tours did not mind if each of our vans - and we had 5 in total - had a different itinerary, nor if we changed the itinerary as the tour went along. Moreover, Michel went out of his way to draft three different itineraries for us based on the interests of our Cruise Critic groups, rather than demanding that we choose from the existing tours in the Revelation Tours brochure.

We had three vans doing an all-inclusive tour - from Cannes in the west to Monaco/Monte Carlo in the east. Two vans visited Nice, Juan les Pins, Antibes, St. Paul de Vence, Eze and looked out over Monaco/Monte Carlo from La Turbie. The start for the two vans was delayed by an hour by French police checking paperwork and such. And later in the day, the second van developed engine trouble. In spite of that, we all felt the tour was A1 and were not grumbling about these events. Michel approached me - not the other way around - and advised he would not charge us at all for these two vans. He would not listen to us saying we had had an excellent tour in spite of the delays and would not even consider accepting 50% of the tour cost. Our van thought well enough of him and the tour that we tipped him equal to most of the tour cost.

Everyone in all the vans got an information kit with a copy of the itinerary for the day and historical information about the places being visited. Each van - even the non-Revelation Tours vans - offered an audio presentation for each visit site and free non-alcoholic drinks too.

The weather was perfect, the scenery was divine and the service we received was outstanding. We probably had the best shore excursion we've ever had and thought it was a perfect day! You can check out the Revelation Tours web site at http://www.revelation-tours.com or contact Michel Legrand at revelationtours@aol.com

Bev

Wow--I'm really surprised. We used her before and she was 15 minutes early and so were we. We had a terrific day. What reason did she give for canceling your tour?

I am dissapointed to hear this, too. I used Sylvie's services in the Med a couple of years ago for a full day tour and then another in Monte Carlo for 1/2 day, and when in Nice a year later ran into her guiding a European group tour in Nice. We spoke, and she remembered us. Too bad, I hate to see her reputation go down on this site.

I also received a note from Sylvie stating that the tour I had set up for September, 2004 was cancelled. (I am no longer going on this cruise but the other people with me were still reserved w/her.) It seems that even though we had booked more than 11 months out she had turned our tour over to someone named Caroline who is now pregnant and can no longer work so we are cancelled. She did offer for the people in our group to join a group of 12 she was taking out for the day at the same rate as she was charging for 6 of us. Not very good customer service if you ask me. Looks like she bailed on our little private group so she could take out 12 people instead. So much for reserving in advance.

Jackie

Today Sylvie cancelled on our family. We are leaving in 3 days, and now she cancels on me. I booked this tour with her last November. A couple of weeks ago, she said that she transfered my booking to her associate Caroline. I told her that I was not happy with that, and since I booked so far in advance, that I thought that she would be our guide. She said that someone booked before us (the first I heard about this), and we must use Caroline. I accepted, because our trip was just two weeks away. Today I get a notice from her that Caroline has health problems, and she must cancel me, and she hopes that I can find a "solution" to my situation. I wrote back that she should find someone, because now it is too late to book through the cruise line. I said that even if she had to book a competitor of hers, that she should have found someone for us. I expressed my disappointment to her. So what did I do? Well, I remember someone on this board mentioning someone who worked well with them, and I called Revelation tours (Michel), and I was so lucky to book him for next week. He sounds very agreeable. I will let everyone know how it went when I get back (7/14). I can't believe that Sylvie would cancel us with so little notice. Her reviews were so good, but I think that she probably had a better offer, transfered us to Caroline, and then got stuck when Caroline could not work. So she left us with out a guide, and instead of making it her problem, she dropped it in my lap. Very irresponsible! Laura

Hi,

Sorry to hear about Sylvie. I had emailed her a while back about booking our family (group of 12 originally) and she emailed back saying she was already booked for the day (July 2 - we're on Brilliance). She recommended Alain of Dream Tours infos@dream-tours.com and we have since booked with him. I haven't heard any feedback about him but took Sylvie's recommendation. I can post back when we return if anyone is interested but right now I feel lucky I didn't book this with Sylvie!

We just returned from the Med and used Dream Tours. We had a fabulous time! In fact, I believe that it was the best tour of our entire trip!

Frederic was our driver and did an exceptional job.

I will be writing a review of our trip as soon as I get some rest and catch up on my laundry! :)

Dream tours was fantastic!

Our driver was not Alain ( although we met him there and I had made all of my arrangements with him).. our driver was Jean Mark and he spoke perfect English and was wonderful. we started at 9:am and he still wanted to show us things at 6pm.. he was incredible.

Since I just used Sylvie a week and a half ago - I do know Caroline is her partner, she was ill the day we used Sylvie but we had booked first, she took our party of 4 and also another 2 couples. We had a wonderful time with her - she had arranged for the couples using Caroline to have another driver. She checked in with him all day to make sure things were going well - we caught up with them at one point in the day and they seemed happy. I am so sorry she is getting all this bad press as she is a wonderful guide, has been a tour guide forever, guess we were lucky to have her.

I am sure that Sylvie is wonderful because of what I have heard on the board. But because she cancelled on me three days before my departure (after I had booked her 7 months prior), I think that she did an unprofessional thing. I am lucky because I was able to book one of her competitors (Revelation) at a very short notice. I think that she should have done her best to find someone for me. If she did, she did not say so. She just left it to me to make the best of the situation and wished me a good trip. Laura

3 days before our departure. She must have known for a while that Caroline wasn't well, I sent her an e-mail saying that I wasn't very impressed. I also booked her a long time ago and thought she was our guide and then was told she had Caroline doing our tour. It sounds fishy to me. I'm interested Laura, what day did you have her booked for? It almost sounds like she overbooks and then picks the most lucrative group to keep and cancels the rest. Sigh, I doubt that any other good tour companies will still have opening available at such short notice.

My husband and I have been booked with Sylvie since January 23, 2004 for a July 14th booking. I found out through word of mouth that she had been cancelling other reservations on the day of my booking so I called to re-confirm. She tells me the whole story about Caroline's pregnancy and how her party is already booked. I booked this tour 6 months in advance and I still got shafted. I have never dealt with such unprofessionalism in my life. If anyone has booked a tour and would like another couple to join, we would greatly appreciate it, or if anyone knows of another tour company to call, any suggestions would also be appreciated.

reread the posts above then email dream tours or revalation.. then there is also

http://Http://www.taxidurand.com

Good luck!

Just received email that we are also cancelled for our July 21st tour. It really seams funny that alll these tours are being cancelled. I was never made aware that Caroline was our driver. We booked in MArch and just assumed it would be Slyvie. I agree-this is very unprofessional and it's hard to believe this is happening anfter soo many great posts recommending her services. I am in the process of trying to book with Dream tours. I hope we're nor too late. Kathy

Kasha- are you on the Millie? If so, go to our roll call: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=38249

To Macjaney, We were scheduled for July 2. I booked last November and assumed that Sylvie was to be our guide. Three weeks ago she told me that Caroline was to be our guide. I was disappointed because I heard such raves about her, but decided to accept the change. Over the weekend she cancelled on me. I wrote back to her expressing my disappointment, and that she should have found someone else, even a competitor. I did receive an e-mail from her this morning giving me the e-mail addresses of those that she is taking on my date, and saying that I could try to invite myself to join them and perhaps they would let me (we are a family of 5 with one child. Over the weekend I called Revelation Tours, and they will take us. I was lucky. Michel (I think he is the owner) seems very nice and I am sure that we will have a great day. Laura

I am using Sylvie on August 30th. When I made my reservation, I made it perfectly clear that we wanted her as our tour guide. We would accept no one but Sylvie. Your posts did get me nervous so I emailed her again yesterday and she has responded that she will be "touring" us on that date. She explained that she lost her partner "to a health problem" and can obviously not be in more than one place at a time so that's why there were a number of cancellations.

There is a lesson to be learned here: ALWAYS make sure you are getting the tour guide with the reputation not a substitute; although, Sylvie's partner has a decent reputation as well.

I am doing five tours on the Splendour and have set up all tour guides wth the stipulation that they are our driver/guide.

Also, Alain is very nice as well. We used him once before several years ago. He's a good substutue, if need be.

We also used Dream Tours last month, and they were fabulous. They operate out of Monte Carlo and Villefranche. Like Claudia F, we also had Jean-Marc for a driver. It was a wonderful day.

I've said this before, but I think it bears repeating since we are talking about back-up plans on this post. I STRONGLY recommend that you hire a guide who will not charge you if you are not able to go on your tour through no fault of your own. We have been on two sailings in Europe in the last two years in which the port times and locations were changed due to weather, and we were not traveling in the off season. You just never know when there will be a problem with the ship or another situation that is beyond your control. Dream Tours does not charge passengers who are unable to travel to the port for the tour. Our driver advised us that they are uncomfortable taking funds from passengers for services that they don't provide. I think some sort of a cancellation fee may be appropriate, but I think it's just wrong to charge passengers for the full cost of a tour that the passengers can't take due to circumstances beyond their control. I'm sure Sylvie is a great tour guide as shown by the other posts here and elsewhere on this site, but I'm advised that she has charged passengers who were unable to keep their tour plans due to circumstances beyond their control, and it's my understanding that the other tour companies don't do that.

Happy travels to all,

Donna

Sylvie recommended JDO tours so I e-mailed and the driver responded that althought she is not a TOUR guide like Sylvie, she would love to take us around. The cost is much less, 390 Euros for 6 of us as opposed to 110 E each for Sylvie and she suggested this tour:

For the tour we can go by the seaside from Villefranche to Nice, have a walk in the old town and see the flower market.

Then Antibes, choose between Cannes or Saint Paul de Vence (because of the timing) and then Monaco and MonteCarlo.

Her address is: jdotourscan@wanadoo.fr and her name is Jeanne

I don't know what she's like but I'll let you all know when we get back.

Sorry to hear that everyone is having trouble with Sylvie. We have used her twice and she was very good.

She does book for both Carolyn and herself so it does appear that the recent health problems with Carolyn have caused her to cancel tours that she had booked for her. As pointed out above - with any tour agency - it is good to know who will be your guide in advance -- do not assume.

To the poster who said - Sylvie books multiple parties and then picks the most profitable - I can tell you from experience that our 1st tour with Sylvie was for only 2 of us. I know for a fact by talking with other CC members she turned down many larger parties for the same day. I think Sylvie is true to her word.

I just read another post from a CC member who said their tour guide never showed at all in Italy so guess it does point out it is good to always have a backup plan.

We used Dream Tours last year and they were brilliant. We had Jean-Marc and he was a most personable guide. It was one of the best days of our trip.

Jennie

Just back from 2 week cruise of Med. Sylvie emailed me in March saying we (5) would be with Caroline instead of her. Well, Caroline was a no show. Other tour drivers who were waiting for their customers told us Sylvie had just left with a group of 17. She left no message, even at the info desk!! We were STRANDED!

There is NO excuse. Our day was ruined.

Just returned from the Millie sailing Barcelona-Venice...

Used private tours for all ports (Daniele/Fabritzio from Driver in Rome), except a Celebrity tour for Dubrovnik and hop on hop off for pre-cruise stays in Seville, Madrid, BCN...

Although we would highly recommend Daniele and Fabritzio from Driver in Rome (they were fantastic), our best/most productive/pleasant day (9 hour tour) was with Michel Legrand from Revelation-tours (http://www.Revelation-tours.com), and also best value for the 4 of us...Will have a detailed review later, but just want to share with other cruisers that our tour from Cannes, St Paul de Vence, Nice, to Monte Carlo, among other stops was very informative and pleasant. As a licensed tour guide, Michel was extremely knowledgeable (he narrated fluently in English, even though we do speak French); and a good and enthusiastic historian...He was also very accommodating, pleasantly waiting for us at various places, and did not charge us extra for having arrived one hour late at the port because of the tender situation (4 ships arriving at the same time that day)...Recommend that others do not meet with their private tour guides in VilleFranche until at least 11:00 a.m...

There were also 2 other vans from Revelation tours that operated that day, touring other cruisers from our same ship...In summary, we were very pleased that Michel was our guide for that day (even though it was on his B-day)...Will post on other tips/recommendations later...

Kim-"Ltgl"