Client letters and thoughts on their holidays

Sent: - Tuesday, January 31, 2008

Amazon & Galapagos- Ecuador holiday

Hi Nick

Just a line to say what a fantastic holiday we have had. You and your team here and the people on the ground in Ecuador have done a marvelous job. Hotels, Flamingo I, guides and transport arrangement were first class, everything was well organised and ran smoothly every day.

The weather was great also and we have so many photos to look at and edit it will take days.

Congratulation on your perfect holiday arrangements and needless to say if any of our friends want to see the wonders we have experienced we will give them your details.

Best regards,

Brian & Rosemary Wright

• See this Galapagos itinerary

Sent: - Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Beaches, Rainforests and Volcanoes - Costa Rica holiday

Hi Nick;

Just thought I would let you have some feedback following our trip to Costa Rica.

We had a fantastic time!! The meet and greet on arrival at Santa Maria Airport worked like clockwork, as did the transfer back to the airport at the end on the holiday.

We were really impressed with the Grano de Oro. We both rated the menu the best out of all the hotels we stayed at.

The Shawandha Lodge had a great setting. The food was excellent and there were great local restaurants we tried as well. The Arenal Springs Resort room had brilliant views of the volcano which was active whilst we were there. We watched the lava flowing down on 2 nights. Hotel Fonda Vela in Monteverde was in a great situation and, as at the Shawandha, the food was excellent. Considering the location of Monteverde, the food/wine was certainly not overpriced as we might have expected in Europe!

We unknowingly saved the best for last! The room, facilities and staff at the Peace Lodge exceeded any expectations. The double deluxe room with garden bathroom was breathtaking with spectacular views.

All in all, we had an absolutely marvellous holiday and we met some really nice Costa Ricans. Although self driving was sometimes a bit fraught we would do it again as we got off the beaten track and found some great locations and local eateries etc.

We sincerely hope to return to Costa Rica by 2009!!

Kind regards,

Mike Herbert.

• See this Costa Rica itinerary

Sent: - Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Otavalo Indian Market & Galapagos Islands - Ecuador holiday

We feel we must write to thank you and your team at New Worlds for such a fantastic holiday.

We have recently returned from 2 weeks in paradise and everything ran so smoothly right from the start. The meet and greet worked liked clockwork and we had 3 days to enjoy Quito, Cotopaxi and the Otovalo Indian Market (with some excellent guides)  before we embarked on board the Eric M/Y for a wonderful 7 night cruise around the Galapagos Islands.

The Eric was wonderful and the crew and naturalist guides were second to none - their knowledge of the Islands was excellent and we had some wonderful moments - close encounters with sealions, sharks, iguanas, birds of all descriptions, penguins and many more. Lonesome George showed himself well at the Charles Darwin Research Centre.  There were other children on the boat so our grandchildren had some younger company and they all got on really well together. The crew and guides made them all feel very welcome. The children will have some wonderful memories and will never forget this holiday. 

Once again many, many thanks for a wonderful holiday.

Diane & Derek and Jackie, Ian, Matthew & Zoe

• See this Ecuadorian itinerary

Sent: - Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Amazon, Cuenca & Galapagos Islands - Ecuador holiday

We were very pleased with the Manatee Explorer, the staff and our guide, Rubin. The river was very low at that time so the boat was unable to move very far because of the shifting sandbanks but we were still able to fulfil the itinerary in the motorised canoes.

The Chiva Express came up to more than our expectations. The 'carriages' had been refurbished with upholstered seats and waterproof jackets on the roof. We were able to spend the whole trip on the roof. We made detours by coach to an Estancia for lunch, rose nursery, local crafts, etc. The Abraspungo in Riobamba was a charming hotel though we arrived after dark and left at dawn, after a very early breakfast!

The Maison Alcazar in Cuenca was another delightful hotel. We had a good tour of Cuenca and a trip around the Gualaceo Valley as the weather was not good enough for El Cajas NP.

The Mary Anne was a good ship, being heavy meant she was very stable. The cabins were as expected on a boat of that size. We used the single bed for our cases and there was adequate hanging and drawer space and spacious shower and toilet area. We had a hard-working guide, Graciela, and the trips ashore were very informative. The snorkelling was great. The Darwin Centre information section was a little disappointing but I imagine little money is spent on it. Lonesome George only showed us his back from a distance!

It was interesting meeting a different group of people on each section of the trip and we had an especially good crowd on the Mary Anne.

We were pleasantly surprised at the quality and variety of food, both on the Manatee and Mary Anne. On the Chiva Express, our guide, Diego, made sure we never went hungry and we had frequent tasty food stops.

Although tiring at times, we loved our trip and the people of Ecuador.

With kind regards

Angela Brown

• See this Ecuadorian itinerary

Sent: - Thursday, February 08, 2007

Colonial Cities & Caribbean Seas - Cuba holiday

We had a brilliant time, all your arrangements worked smoothly and the country is beautiful. Just a few niggly things to mention, not so much from New Worlds, but organisation/communication in Cuba itself (just for advice for future travellers I guess).

The VIP guide through the airport worked fine, she wasn’t the friendliest of people, but got us through quickly, its just we spent over an hour in the VIP Lounge while she went for the luggage and after the hour we were getting extremely worried as we’d heard nothing from her. It was only when the driver of the transfer car turned up that we found out she’d struggled finding the luggage and he’d managed to sort it out for us – he was great, his whistle stop guide of Havana on the way to the hotel was worth the money alone.

La Ermita which you recommended to us was a beautiful hotel, great position, just warn people to avoid eating in the restaurant, the food is AWFUL, I would still recommend the hotel to people but tell them to eat in Don Thomas restaurant in Vinales itself (or feed their tea to the lovely tabby cat that lives in the hotel restaurant.)

Tejadillo hostel was fabulous, it was Craig’s birthday while we were there and the hotel bought him a cake and the maid left him a birthday note, they were always friendly and helpful and special mention for Daisy the tourist info lady. She came up with lots of great advice and even walked us to a parador she recommended for Craig’s birthday, the conversation we had on the way gave us a really good insight into life in Cuba.

All the hotels were lovely, very comfortable, just the food let them down, if you eat elsewhere the food is really good.

We would recommend the ‘Hop on Hop off’ bus in Vinales that goes from the hotel, is dirt cheap and takes you to all the sights, the best of which was the Indian Caves (lunch for 9cucs 3 courses, definitely the best meal we had). We would also recommend making the journey to the Che Guevara memorial and the museum in Santa Clara, beautiful area and fascinating to see the derailed train re-enactment. Also interesting was the Jose Marti memorial, the views off the top of the tower were great, but the museum at the bottom was really interesting too.

Finally thank you so much for all your arrangements and recommendations, it was certainly a holiday to remember and everything you arranged for us worked perfectly and we enjoyed every minute of our stay in Cuba, we hope the country doesn’t suffer or change too much when Castro inevitably goes as it certainly felt one of the safest places we have ever visited and pretty everyone we talked to was friendly and eager to help (especially all those with friends in London!)

Thanks again for everything you did and all the advice you gave us that made a brilliant holiday. We’ll definitely be recommending you to our friends and hope to travel with you again sometime.

Best Wishes

Cheryl

• See this Cuba itinerary

Sent: - Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Eric, Flamingo and Letty - Galapagos holiday

Hi Nick,

It was wonderful. Eliot and I still have 15 rolls of photos to look at, at home. Conrad made great friends with Tristan another boy same age on the boat. We all loved the holiday and no other holiday will equal that. I'm spoiled now.

The boat was fantastic - the guides were wonderful and they looked after us well.

Hotel was wonderful again - fantastic room. The staff were excellent. Thank you! Quito was fine - we decided not to go anywhere just stay in the city as there were loads to see and we were tired from the boat ride. The Ecuadorian are lovely people. They are so helpful. We travel a lot and we find them one of the friendliest people in the world. (The other are the Thais)

Galapagos was excellent. The wild life was fantastic - swimming with turtles, penguins and sea lions. Eliot had a great birthday present. We need to think of another fantastic holiday in future. Do keep in touch.

Once again thank you for everything.

Julita

• See this family itinerary

Sent: - Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Titicaca, Inca Trail & Samba Yacht - Peru & Galapagos holiday

Having just about got our breath back on our return from South America, I thought that I should drop you a note.

First of all, we really enjoyed every aspect of the trip and (nearly) everything went very smoothly indeed - for which many thanks.  The start at Lake Titicaca enabled us to acclimatise before transferring to Cusco (although the first 24 hours arriving at altitude from Lima certainly affected us!).  The Inca Trail was very tough but we enjoyed it greatly and the scenery was magnificent.

The Galapagos was just magical; the Samba was a lovely boat; and we recovered some energy and weight loss!  The guides both on the Trail and on the Samba were absolutely first-class.

… the trip of a lifetime as far as we are concerned.  Thank you very much indeed for putting together such a splendid itinerary, and we thought that the Patio Andaluz and El Balcon in Cusco were just right in their different ways.

Many thanks again.

Gillian and Martin Cross

• See this itinerary

Sent: - Thursday, June 01, 2006

Cuban Discovery Itinerary - Cuba holiday

The itinerary you prepared for us was spot on.

All of the hotels were great, and the staff were extremely friendly.  We originally had a room with no window a the hotel in Havana, but when we asked for a different room they gave us a fantastic suite with balconies etc.  The transfers to and from the airport, and down to Trinidad were very good and professionally run.  The classic car from the airport when we first arrived was fabulous, and the driver was extremely pleasant - pointing out things as we passed through the city.

.. the holiday was fantastic and we will definitely recommend you to any friends planning to travel to Cuba.

Thanks again.

Susie

• See this itinerary