24 Apr 2023
Booked the Windsor, Stonehenge, Roman Bath tour for $250 CND.
Terrible Experience. They had left me stranded halfway through the tour at Windsor Castle.
Recommend taking a train and doing the audio tour for a much better & relaxed experience. I thought I could do all 3 things in 1 day but now realize it was way too much for 1 day and not enjoyable.
They had 300 customers at the bus meetup point that morning 7:30am. Half went on my double decker coach (standing room only till it got sorted) and only 1 guide to manage everyone. It was mass confusion. The other half booked a lunch in addition to this already crazy packed day and went on a separate bus.
The first stop was Windsor Castle. There are big lines even with this pre booked tour for groups. I thought I rushed through the entire site in less than 1 hour (State apartments and Chapel) and still only had 10 minutes to spare to get back. When I got to the designated meeting spot I found out it had changed but the bus had took off without me and I was stranded in Windsor alone!
I just thank God I had taken my backpack with me, as they had recommended we leave it on the bus. Without it I really would have been screwed. I then had to take the train back to London for 13 euro.
I contacted Premium Tours and they offer no refunds or resolution. My problem and they have my money already. I had to spend 13 euro to get a train back to London.
I also witnessed 2 other ladies with a hotdog and pop chasing their tour bus. The driver never even stopped and left them stranded too. I wonder how many others this has happened to?
These tour companies do not care about their customers, they care about keeping good time. They pack way too much into a day which is I think is the reason they cannot wait for any unforeseen circumstances and rushing through the site is not enjoyable for the customer or anyone. It will be a blur and I paid good money to see and enjoy all of the sites.
My recommendation is to take a public high speed train to Windsor from London and do the tour yourself and get the audio guide offered. Premium tours said you won’t have time for that so don’t bother getting the audio guide.
You might even be able to do Bath the same day by public high speed train but up to you as to how much time you want to spend at each site. Stonehenge is just a pile of rocks. Nothing really special in my opinion.
These tour companies offer transportation and no real guide services. You are herded around like livestock and rushed. The value is poor quality.
Viator offered no help. They are a 3rd party website, offer a platform for payment and reviews and do not want to get involved with tour problems.
Next will be stoping the payment with my credit card company. Not a good experience with Premium Tours!