Apr 03, 2019 12:54 AM
13951 Views
(Updated Apr 03, 2019 12:56 AM)
Me and my sister chose Thomas cook for our Egypt trip(from 12th to 19th March). Since Egypt is a bit stressful trip and my sister is 60+ so we chose Thomas Cook, thinking they are the best! But they proved to be the worst at every step. They booked cheapest airline(any one heard about Jazeera airlines?) and made us change flight 3 times from Kolkata-Mumbai-Kuwait to reach Cairo. Thus started our tale of sorrow!
The bus they gave was extremely uncomfortable, the Thomas Cook guide(Aniruddha Choudhury) and his assistant who joined us at Cairo were extremely non co-operative. There was a local guide who was equally stupid.
No one could understand his language(oh he was speaking in a strange English!). Because of his awful dialect we failed to enjoy his narration. That spoiled our trip since Egypt is all about history and story. He would give a summary of the tourist spot standing at a point or inside the bus, and then asked us to roam freely.
As tourists are we supposed to know the meaning of those beautiful wall engravings and paintings if the guide is not there to explain the meaning!
Our bad luck, my sister tripped at a tourist spot but there was no Thomas cook guide/assistant to help her. They never even bothered to inquire her well-being even after hearing the incident.
To top it up, the guide always allotted us the room at the extreme end of the corridor and on the top floor which means from reception we had to walk 7-10 mins to reach our room! Obviously they were busy catering to guests from whom they were expecting good tips.
They skipped some important tourist spots like Alexandria library, Stepped pyramid and also discouraged us to visit Tutankhamun mummy. We had to buy separate tickets for mummy visits and spend lots of money on water and tips everywhere. They said this is the custom here, tipping everywhere!
The balloon ride which other tour operators are charging around 80 dollars, the Thomas cook guide told us it would cost 120 dollars. straightaway they are taking commission from the ticket.
They used to drop us at shops and never gave any time limit for shopping! Actually they wanted us to shop from their chosen outlets so that they could earn commission. For these shopping trips, our museum visit was cut short and we were allowed hardly an hour for the museum. can you believe? The famous Cairo museum to be completed in an hour!
I never imagined supposedly a top tour operator like Thomas Cook would act so cheap and cheat their trusted customers this way!
