Essence of the Scottish Highlands: Nature and Distilleries

Our Zicasso trip organizer planned a perfect holiday for us. First, my husband and I traveled to London and stayed in the Covent Garden area for two days before taking the train to Edinburgh and continuing on to Pitlochry, Inverness, the Isle of Skye, and, finally, Glencoe, before training back to London. We met family in Wimbledon for three days of tennis and then went to central London for four nights to see the sites there.

Our agent arranged all hotels and a house in Wimbledon and the Pimlico area for the family. The itinerary was wonderful and included some out-of-the-way places we enjoyed. She made suggested dinner reservations and all were good. She got us a rental car, transfers, and some pre-booked tours and tickets. The travel company was wonderful before and during the trip.

2. How happy are you with the level of customer service you received whilst booking your trip?

7 stars

There was slow response to our questions and concerns. As we were formulating our trip there was give and take. Guidance from the travel company was minimal. All of the excursions were booked. Drivers were booked.

How happy are you overall with your itinerary?

9 stars

We essentially chose our own itinerary. We had hoped to avoid one night stays.

4. Are you happy with the pace of your itinerary - Did you have enough time in each location?

7 stars

Generally we had not enough time at each stay. Some of this was our own doing as we tried to pack too much into the visits. We were worn out each night.

5. Are you happy that your itinerary provided good value for money?

8 stars

This is difficult to assess monetarily. Certainly, the money spent at the hotels and for meals was in excess of that spent for other trips. The cost of the drivers plays a lot into this.

6. How happy are you with the information and travel documents provided prior to your departure?

5 stars

Everything was planned out as "draft" until the week of our trip. This left a large concern as we had paid all of the costs up front and had no certainty of actually being picked up at the airport in Dublin. Communication was scant and explained away as "computer issues".

7. How happy are you with the standard of hotels/accommodation that you stayed in?

5 stars

The hotel in Dublin had wonderful staff and the breakfast was good. The room was 10 ft X 10 ft and we scarcely had room to move around the bed.

The Lodge in Ashford was excellent.

The Killarney hotel was fine though dated. The staff was not attentive and once we came back to our room and found the door unlocked.

The hotel in Edinburgh was in a good location but we were placed in the annex section that had no access to an elevator. Our luggage had to be hauled up and down steps and we had to wend our way around long hallways to get to our room.

We stayed just one night at an inn in Pitlochry. Again, the room here was on the top floor and we had to haul our bags and ourselves up to the top floor. The room was fine and the meal there was adequate.

Thehotel in Portree was a disaster. We arrived to surly front desk attendants who could not accommodate us with dinner or appropriate breakfast reservations for our stay. We were told that they had sent the travel agency information stating that we needed to do this ahead of time, but they failed to do this for us or forward the hotel's email instructions. It turned out that the hotel did not have a large breakfast rush (perhaps because of the ornery front desk?) and we could eat at our leisure. The last morning the water failed at the hotel and there was no shower available.

The Cameron House was very nice. I would not recommend our first night restaurant.

8. How happy are you with the standard of transport, car hire and/or transfers included in your itinerary?

10 stars

The vehicles for transport were all nicely equipped and room enough for the 4 of us. The drivers were all on time, efficient, and pleasant.

9. How happy are you with the sightseeing and excursions included in your itinerary?

9 stars

The guide gave us an informative walking tour and insight into the town. She was on time and at the site described for meeting.

Kilmainham Gaol, Trinity College, the Book of Kells, and the Epic Irish Migration Museum were great tours. Guinness was interesting but crowded.

The Tullamore DEW distillery Tour was a highlight. Kylemore Abbey and Gardens were nice. We enjoyed the Doolin Ferry Cliffs of Moher tour and the visitor center. The Sheepdog demonstration was great as we met a world champion handler and dog team.

We had a capable and knowledgeable driver. When we asked questions he would generally have the answer. He did not go out of his way to show us spots on or just off the itinerary. We had to ask him to stop at the Cliffs of Kerry as I noticed a sign on the road. He spent a lot of time circumnavigating Connemara without actually going into the park. He did stop at Waterville Golf Links on request and shared a couple of nice spots for lunch.

In Edinburgh, we had a walking tour on arrival afternoon. The guide met us on time. The meeting place was very crowded. The tour of the old town was extensive and we had great insight into the history of its development. She gave us dinner recommendations which came in handy.

The Edinburgh Castle tour was self guided, but we were there on time and saw what we expected.

We left the Castle at 11:45 as directed and caught up with Skye for the Edinburgh Food tour. Apparently we were expected earlier as we got there at noon. The tour guide had already been in contact with our travel agent who texted our party wondering where we were. The tour itself was fun and the guide filled in a lot of information gaps. He gave us recommendations for dinner which we happily followed.

Another guide picked us up on time as we checked out of our hotel in Edinburgh. We found him a huge source of information. The tour at St. Andrews was eagerly anticipated and met all expectations. The gudie took us on the tour of the course. He was quite a character and very informative.

We were then taken to the Culloden Battlefield and then to Eilean Donan Castle which were both excellent visits. We then went to the Isle of Skye for 3 nights. Our driver was knowledgeable and was able to find us a restaurant to eat that evening absent assistance from the hotel staff and the agency.

The boat tour out of Portree was cancelled due to weather. Our driver took us on a tour of the Isle of Skye on his day off. Taliskers Distillery was crowded and it was difficult at times to understand the tour guide.

The Loch Katrine Ferry ride was OK. The staff was nice.

The Inverary Castle tour was beautiful. We actually met the Duchess of Argylle and have pictures to prove it.

The Stirling Castle tour was our last tour and we found that interesting as well.

Through it all our driver was informative and helped to fill our impressions of what we were looking at.

10. How happy are you with the food/restaurant reservations and recommendations provided in your departure pack?

1 star

This was a major fail. In spite of giving detailed instructions, none of our restaurants were arranged. This came to a head on the Isle of Skye. Why, given specific instruction from the hotel staff about breakfast reservation needs, the staff at the agency could not accomplish this for us defies comprehension. We gave them ample time to do this and they failed miserably. If not for our driver we may not have even been seated for dinner our first night on the Isle of Skye.

11. How likely is it that you would recommend this travel company to your family, friends or business associates

1 star

Very unlikely.

13. Could any part of your experience be improved?

If only the agency could communicate. We only heard from our agent when we were supposedly late for our food tour of Edinburgh and the final night as we were packing to leave for home. And then only by text. That is unacceptable. This was not our experience with Zicasso recommended vendors.