Travel agency review Аккорд-тур Туроператор (Lviv)

Extremely disrespectful to tourists

Author:
Date of purchase: 19 july 2017
Written: 30 july 2017
4.0
Travel agency: Аккорд-тур Туроператор (Lviv)
Service type: экскурсионный тур

Below, I will try to be subject-objective and leave the emotions "behind the scenes" of this review.

So-Tour Attention! Let's start... Baltics and Scandinavia!!!

Visa support

The visa was granted to us ON THE DAY OF DEPARTURE. At the same time, we had to arrive in Lviv ahead of time and spend the night in this wonderful city, NOT BEING sure that they would not refuse a visa. All documents were provided on time, but Accord did not bother to check some of the bank statements, as a result of which my wife was called back directly from the embassy, ​​and only thanks to the condescension of the embassy workers, the issue was resolved in our favor.

At the border with Poland, our air conditioner broke down. It's funny, but the senior in the group, Vsevolod Nevsky, successfully ignored this fact for some time, pretending that everything was in order. The air conditioner was repaired only in Tallinn.

No complaints. The drivers coped with their duties with a bang (considering the fact that they have absolutely nothing to do with the Accord).

In principle, there are no complaints. The hotels corresponded to the declared level. In Riga we were settled in a block house converted into apartments. Of course, in a residential area. But even there it was clean and dignified.

Excursion program

The principle of the company is to extract as much money from the consumer as possible. For this, several simple tricks are used.

A) Pulling money along the way. The leader of the group immediately draws the attention of the group to the fact that the money for excursions is not returned (if they are not canceled due to force majeure) and asks to pay everything in advance.

B) The time frame is deliberately distorted. De facto, about an hour and a half is allocated for each short excursion. Accordingly, if you want to “breathe the city”, then there is NO point in excursions.

C) There can be no talk of any diversification. You CANNOT choose between the Amber Road and the city on the water, just because you will initially be put in a rigid framework and you will go where the majority decides. Accordingly, if everyone wants to go to Jurmala, then you will either have to go to Jurmala or stay in Riga and wait for the group to return.

D) The leader in the group does not miss the opportunity to earn extra money. More on that later.

E) Walking tours of the city (usually included in the price) are more than enough to get an information load. Don't waste your time and money.

More about the excursion program

Lviv - Lublin

If you think that you will end up in Lublin, I have to disappoint you. There was no talk of Lublin. An exhausting many hours of travel through the territory of Poland awaits you.

Trakai - Riga - Jurmala

Breakfast. Moving through the territory of Lithuania. If you have time, we recommend visiting the “Medieval Fairytale Castle – Trakai!!!” (16€ + entry ticket).

IN FACT, you go to Trakai anyway, because the bus stops in Trakai. The tour is not worth the money. It's cheaper to buy an entrance ticket and just walk around the castle. So you will have much more free time.

Moving to the capital of Latvia - Riga. Walking tour "City of tiled roofs - Riga" (16Є).

ACTUALLY, the tour is NOT informative. In Riga, you will have ONLY three hours, after which you will be taken to the hotel. Don't waste your money and time - take a walk around the city on your own. The entire historical center can be reached in an hour and a half.

"City on the wave - Jurmala" (28Є / 23€). We offer a walk along the "Ancient Amber Road" (30€/23€)

REALLY - the above excursions are mentioned for promotional purposes. In other words, Accord-Tour, to put it mildly, sins against the truth, because you simply will not have time for these excursions.

"Helsinki - a cocktail of East and West" (68 € / 48 €).

ACTUALLY you will be taken to Tallinn first, and the next day you will go to Helsinki. But, keeping the wrong chronology indicated on the pages of the Accord, we will mention the excursion to Helsinki.

TOTAL, in Helsinki you will spend TWO hours. Of course, no one will warn you about this ahead of time. An hour will be spent on an excursion, to visit which you will have to ride in public transport (twenty minutes there and twenty minutes back) and listen to a talkative Ukrainian-phobe guide. All excursions are 40 minutes in the city center. Not worth the money, much less the time spent. Additionally, the company offers an excursion to the fortress on the island, but this excursion CANNOT take place initially, due to the time frame. The money was returned to us, but for this we had to approach the senior in the group, feeling like petitioners from the Doge of Venice.

The sightseeing tour is included in the free program and worth a visit.

excursion to the town hall

A ticket to the Town Hall costs THREE euros. Draw your own conclusions.

"Legends of Tallinn"

Such a tour simply does not exist. You won't have time for it.

Accommodation on board the ferry.

Regarding the ferry. The prices on the ferries are as follows: Dinner-35 Euro (all inclusive and everything without restrictions (including beer and wine; dinner duration is two hours). Breakfast-12 Euro. On the same ferry, dinner in a chic restaurant will cost you thirty-five euros for two (the leader of the group convincingly agitated us for dinner for 35 euros per person, arguing that all other restaurants would cost us more. Breakfast in a fast food cafe cost us 10 euros for two. On the ferry from Sweden to Gdynia, prices are more democratic, so, for example, an all-inclusive dinner will cost you about 20 Euros per person and is worth the money.Of course, there can be no talk of any black caviar, as indicated in the comments on the Accord pages, but, In principle, all the dishes served are very tasty.

Walking tour of the central part of the city "Gamla Stan - the heart of Stockholm"

The tour is conducted by an extremely rude guide with obvious psychological problems. A girl named Anya forbade herself to be filmed and threw a uniform tantrum about this. In the best traditions of Egyptian touts, she did not really answer ANY of the questions posed, arguing her behavior by the fact that all the information would be provided in a paid bus tour.

Bus tour with photo breaks "City on the water - Stockholm" (23 € / 18 €).

Royal Palace, embankment of Lake Meleren, photo against the backdrop of the lake and the Town Hall.

No comment. Given the small amount of time, the tour is worth the money.

The guide was mentioned above.

You will not have enough time for all other excursions (if you want to spend it in a free search).

"The capital of the land of the Vikings - Oslo".

In the capital of the Vikings, you will get about six hours. You will spend three hours in it and go back to Sweden (about 600 km to the hotel). Without having special mathematical abilities, one can still easily establish the relationship between a small amount of time in the city and a long journey. In other words, you will spend the whole day on the bus. Oslo is a beautiful city and we had an excellent guide, but I would not waste time on excursions, but simply stay in the city and devote three hours to it.

bus tour "City of four kings - a great walk around Oslo" (23 €).

A trip to the springboard gives away some kind of hopelessness at all - the famous ski jump has absolutely nothing but a view of the ski jump itself. A VIEW of the Oslo Fjord was provided at the Olympic Hotel, where it is IMPOSSIBLE to stay and, accordingly, it was possible to admire the fjord for about three minutes, until they were driven away.

Breakfast. Moving to the city of Hans Christian Andersen - Copenhagen. We invite you to plunge into a fairy tale! Walking tour "Copenhagen - the city of royal wonders":

Good, but very short and uninformative tour. The guide is great though.

If you decide on a second tour, then you will not have free time in the city AT ALL. If you do not agree, you will have to walk to the Little Mermaid (half an hour from the embankment one way).

Also, we were offered an excursion to Fredericksburg Castle. The leader of the group hinted that he would lead us through the protected paths at a reduced price. It was paid about 15 euros per person.

Interesting fact - the bus brought the whole group to Fredericksburg. Of course, there could be no question of any excursion - the senior in the group showed us the meeting place and was like that. There is no entrance fee to the castle park. So the question is, what was the money spent on? And to whom were they paid - to Accord or to the group leader personally?

Group leader

1) Do not expect to be told about the countries you will visit, about their history and the way of becoming. Instead, you will have a fascinating tour of the bus with a detailed explanation of how the seats recline; several hackneyed comedies and one good series. The documentary series by Kozhukhov and the doc will serve as reference materials. Movies a la Discovery Channel.

2) On the very first evening, on the territory of Poland, I saw a very funny picture. The group leader enthusiastically loaded crates of beer onto the bus. I don’t know what he did with them and how he ordered them, but in the morning he looked somewhat sleepy. Again, I do not want to blame anyone indiscriminately, but the fact of buying beer in a HUGE amount in front of 26 tourists was recorded.

3) Mr. Nevsky has one unpleasant feature. Not being able to answer this or that question, he uses his imagination. So, for example, when asked about the exchange rate in Denmark, he confidently stated that the rate was 9 to one, while the actual rate was seven to one. When asked why the whole group was brought to look at a useless springboard and spend precious time in Oslo, which under other circumstances could be spent contemplating Munch's works, he answered with a question, they say, what to do in the city all this time (!!! ). Questions related to the order of prices on the ferry were given untrue answers. And when they asked him why we didn’t stop by Lublin, he even began to dream about some kind of Polish visas that are issued to tourists, as a result of which the name of this city is indicated on the site. Despite the fact that we were issued visas by Swedish.

4) The climax came at the end of the journey. We had to leave early in the morning and decided to pass the time in Terminal A. Mr. Nevsky informed us that the terminal was open and we, not knowing the ford, went there, instead of staying at the station or going straight to the airport.

5) The terminal (located in the middle of a picturesque and dark field like the gates of the night) turned out to be closed and partially de-energized. Of the living people, only the ancient watchman was available. Fortunately, we were brought up by wonderful guys from Lviv.

CONCLUSIONS

Will I use Accord's services in the future? I cannot answer this question yet.

Is it worth it to go on a Scandinavian tour? You decide.

The Nordic countries are beautiful and worth it, believe me! The organization of the tour, to put it mildly, does not correspond to the declared one.




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