My family just came back from China tour by Charming holiday. When we got Beijing Ari port at 7.30- 8.00 pm no body pick up us, we keep asking around , no English, I havd to take a taxi cab. ( rip off ) 100.00us from air port to Marriott hotel, check in . At the hotel no body know what , who is charming holiday. After a night with out sleep, finally contact with travel agent in Beijing, the tour guy call me back, and waiting........ during the tour in Beijing for 3 days is Ok only one sell china medicine. The day 4 th , take the high speed train to Nanjing ( 4/5 hours with out tour guy ) . No ideal when het off the train...... keep asking..no English. Scary????? then get off the train lucky , one man pick us at the station with the sigh Charming holiday (no English ) the rest of the tour is so boring, tour guys try to sell China products like tea, pear..... fake .......made in china. Please if you want go to China please go with a America travel agent please read more

I'm thirteen and this was the first time I went on a tour overall. I was expecting a tour to learn more about the country, since my parents decided to take a historical trip with Charming holidays. The start of the trip everyone was confused where to meet to go to the bus. No one told anyone where to go or where to meet after checked it the hotel, but luckily for my parents and I, we saw the other group gather in the hallway and go to the bus, we were able to figure our way around. WE DIDN'T SEE OUR TOURGUIDE UNTIL WE GOT ONTO THE BUS, but since it was the first day we didn't think much about it. If it's not too inappropriate, I would like to say that from the first minute that my parents had a conversation with the tour guide, they noticed a very bad odor coming from his mouth, which would continue to bother them and others throughout the tour. When we visited the first shrine, everyone excepted the history of to learn the history of the shrine, THERE WAS NO EXPLANATION OF ANYTHING. That also goes for all the shrines we went to, and if there was, the explanation was very general and didn't go into much detail, leaving many people very confused. Luckily, my mother knows how to read Japanese and told me and other people who asked questions what everything means and why it was built, AND BASICALLY DID THE TOUR GUIDE'S JOB. Besides that, the tour guide would disappear when the bus dropped us off to the next destination. The only time we would actually hear from the tour guide was when he would tell us the drama from the other tour group, which was very inappropriate. We also went to many shopping malls that wasted our time, since no one wanted to buy anything. We spent more time in the shopping malls than the shrines, not that there was anything to learn about at the shrine. The tour guide also did a very bad job trying to make the country interesting and wanting to be there. One thing that I remember him saying was that Akihabara was only where nerds go, when many people would only go there to just see that city and is one of the highlight of the country.We didn't get to see the real feel of Japan that everyone wanted to feel, but instead only went to the countryside, which I think was to only play safe and wanting to make their job easier. My parents and I decided to leave early the last day and go somewhere where we wanted to go so we wouldn't waste our time. I would like so say one positive thing, the bus driver was very kind and thoughtful and considerate, even though he had to listen and deal with our tour guide. read more

Extremely disappointed with the 5 nights/4 days tour around Taiwan. Just finished the tour on Sunday, May 18, 2014 with a Chinese tour guide named Sam (Lee?) We purchased this package for $199 USD per person for two adults and our 2 yr old daughter. I was told by Charming Holiday (as I booked the tour with them directly instead of through a travel agency) that we would be staying in 4 or 5 star hotels. That the $130 USD per person admission cost for several activities was optional. That it was mandatory to pay $60 USD per person tips to the tour guide including our two year old daughter. That was hard to accept because tips are based on the quality of care provided by any company, let alone our daughter being included. THE ITINERARY PROVIDED WAS NOTHING CLOSE TO WHAT WE EXPERIENCED. There were two activities that made up the $130 USD costs. First being a very short and confusing would be native dance and karaoke song on Ali Shan. The entrance fee at the place was 50 NTD- $1.66 USD. The second activity was a visit into a scenic east coast national park. We were taken to a road on the outskirts of the park and led down a village motorcycle/scooter trail for 20 minutes in which we saw nothing. It was clear to virtually all of us that we were in what in my opinion was a scam rather than a tour. The first 3 nights, the hotels were nice, but then the last 2 nights we were set up in 3 star hotels, which were well below regular hygiene standards. We never took our shoes off and were quite worried about our daughter's wellbeing. Breakfast is the only meals that we ate at the hotels (which were close to the same food we ate at the restaurants). The restaurant venues were obviously not local restaurants, but rather venues used to turn out several tour buses full of people a day. We would be the only group to show up and be served immediately with simple small portioned dishes.... We literally ate the exact same dishes 2x a day for 4 days. As we understood and expected little from the meals due to the package cost, we were unable to overlook -yet again- the hygiene issues. Their washrooms were unbearable which had us wondering how bad the kitchens were. Our baby chairs were always sticky to the touch and we had to wipe them down ourselves (hand sanitizer is a must on this tour) We had been in Taiwan a week prior to this tour and thankfully so as we were able to see that we were being taken to areas of no significance on a tour of BEAUTIFUL Taiwan. BEWARE!! DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY THAT LIES TO CUSTOMERS. read more

One star is one too many ! This is a company that does not care to respond to any complaints and they turn a deaf ear on them. As long as they can market their tour cheaply, people will go for them. But considering you are paying thousands (airfares plus land tours) and you ended up with the worst vacation of your life - is it worth it ? Quality is the key word - if you read their small prints, they will take you shopping everyday since their tour leaders' income depend solely on the commissions from the shopping. Do your friends and relatives a favor - warn them before they choose to tour with this company. Remember, when you pay the price of "TOFU" in a restaurant, they will not serve you a "LOBSTER". I am glad that you mentioned Signet Tours (AKA SuperValue Tours) - a very reputable tours where Satisfaction is always guaranteed. Try them out and you will experience how a REAL tour operator conducts their business ! read more

My girlfriend and I just came back from a 13 day Europe tour and for the most part was quite enjoyable. Don't get me wrong there were a couple of bumps in the road but I tried not to have these tiny events effect my vacation which I paid good money for and try to enjoy myself to the fullest. We left in July and it was one of the busiest trips of my life... we were able to visit 9 countries and 18 cities in 13 days!!! During the time of our trip... I failed to pack wisely although I was told to by the tour operator which I regretted my fault. The tour guide was very helpful and considerate but became angry at some of the people in the tour that started wandering off and became lost, he did explain to us that controlling 30 people was impossible without our cooperation. We basically visited all the sites on the itinerary and since I have traveled a lot was quite pleased with the amount of time spent at each site. I get easily bored so i didn't want to be stuck in any one place for hours at a time. Another thing I enjoyed was that the tour with quite flexible because the tour leader knew the area and times so well.. he would change the itinerary so that we would have the opportunity to go to places when the crowds were smaller and make the most of our time. This back fired once on him though when we weren't able to make it to Harrods... at the end of the day which I was looking forward too. But on our way to dinner the next day he actually was able to fit it in... plus this was not on the itinerary... but he said he was a man of his word and let us wander if we promised to come back in 30 mins :) ... But honestly this tour is packed... too much to do in 13 days... on top of my Jetlag and going exploring at night... my only time to sleep was on the bus... which i didn't want to because i was taking pictures along the way. All in all it was a good trip for a first time traveler to Europe to see everything and decide which countries i will visit for extended periods... read more

We just came back from Charming Holidays 8-day Europe tour. The tour guide (Raymond) is ok. His English and Mandarin are not that good if you can't understand Cantonese but he is very helpful. We swiftly stopped by the major attractions of the 6 countries. There was minimum free time for your own. The hotels are nice but they are far from the major attractions. So, don't think about seeing more of the city in the evening yourself. One major highlight would be shopping tour. Be aware, everything you buy at the store they take you is a lot more expensive than if you buy else where because of the kickbacks and anything they show you there, you can buy from Canada/US cheaper such as the German steel soap, UK Deep Relief Gel, etc. Don't waste your time at the Amsterdam diamond shop for almost 2 hours which is the longest stay of an "attraction". They add margins on any optional tour or meal. For example, the Moulin Rouge ticket is 102 Euro, they charge you 125 and the British Museum (free) + London Tower tour (16.2 pounds) they charge you 45 pounds. The worst part of the tour was the food. We paid 35 Euro each (not worth it) in Paris for a meal and they take you to "chez edouard" and for 20 Euro more you get seafood. The seafood is 4 shrimps,4 thumb size sea snails, 4 raw oysters, half crab and they are served on ice which taste terrible. This place serves Chinese tours one-after-the other. Between our meals we saw 4 Chinese tours and they only have 3 waiters + a manager. The waiter/waitress are rude. They don't bring food to you or take away dirty plates from you. They expect you to pass. The place is like a food court. The waiter/waitress do not remember what you order. They yell fish/duck loud at end of the long table for you to identify yourself. In London, you eat lunch and dinner at Chinatown Chinese restaurants for 2 days. These restaurants serves mainly Chinese tours. Everything is rush rush rush. The quality is bad and waiters are rude. For example, we paid 12 pounds each for a dinner, we get 6 dishes (tofu, beansprout, duck, ..) and soup. When we asked the waiter to leave the leftover soup in the large bowl at the side, the waiter answered unhappily "you only get a bowl". We know why when we left looking at the next tour's table. They consolidate our leftover to serve them. !!!! MY ADVISE TO THE WOULD BE TOURIST !!!! Join the tour but skip their optional food/tour/shopping etc. read more