The travel agency is dishonestly behaving towards its tourists

I want to leave a review about the trip Kherson + Askania Nova, which took place on 30.04-02.05.2017.

The trip initially went wrong, the bus was late for an hour and a half, which left its mark on the whole trip. As it turned out, this program was "experimental" and the route was supposed to be run on us, as we were informed by the head of the group. But at the time of purchasing the tour, no one in the group had been notified that the trip would be experimental. As a rule, such trips are made much cheaper, or at least they are notified about it at the stage of buying a tour.

As it turned out later, the trip was really experimental. Starting with transport, which turned out to be absolutely not ready for such long trips, ending with the tour program and the group leader. The tour program was not completed, we didn’t stop at Oleshkovsky Sands at all due to the alleged lack of entrances, we stayed in Askania for exactly 2 hours instead of a whole day, as indicated in the program. All the participants of the trip with whom I spoke noted that they went on this tour for the sake of Askania Nova and Oleshkovsky Sands. But the head of the group independently decided that he could change the program without the consent of the tourists. At the same time, he also used such words as a feat, meaning that we completed the program in his opinion. Although this was far from the case. The only thing he admitted was that we were not in the Oleshkovsky sands (it was hard not to notice). The fact that the whole group was not happy with the fact that we, in fact, were not in Askania (the arboretum and the zoo cannot be called the wild steppe that was promised to us), for some reason he did not notice. At the same time, he also tried to deceive us, saying that supposedly no one goes to the steppe, since it is a nature reserve. Although the guide in Askania itself immediately said that every two hours there is a trip to the steppe. Separately, it is worth noting that in the tour program a trip to Askania was listed as optional and cost 300 UAH. All members of the group were sure that we would spend most of the day there, so everyone paid for this trip without question. As a result, 300 UAH for 2 hours, you see, is somehow a little expensive. There are arboretums and zoos in other places of Ukraine, but the wild steppe, behind which everyone was driving, was shown to us from afar. They literally said so - there is a steppe over there) It would be funny if it were not so sad.

We were in a hurry somewhere, the leader constantly urged the guides in Askania, in Olbia, in the Museum of the Missile Forces. On the other hand, we spent more than three hours in the so-called Farms of Tavria and did not know what to do. As a result, almost the entire group went to a local tavern, where we just sat and waited for us to go to Kherson. We could spend this time with benefit in the same Askania. But again, no one consulted with us whether we wanted to be there for so long.

The main goal of the group leader was to complete the program, and he was of little interest to how the tourists would feel. As a result, we never completed the program and the tourists were dissatisfied.

In addition to the program, there is also the everyday comfort of tourists, especially on such a long trip. As I said, we were constantly in a hurry, for all three days of the trip we did not have a single full-fledged lunch, although the tour program included at least one lunch. Okay, adult tourists, but we had a lot of children in the group and the task of the group leader was to at least warn about what stops we have and where we can at least have a bite to eat. What can I say, even if information about the toilets had to be literally extorted.

Separately, I will dwell on the state of the bus. It was, to put it mildly, unsatisfactory. Depreciation in the bus was practically absent, on the second day the air conditioner failed, which was never fixed, and at the end of the day the battery broke. Moreover, the head of the group deigned to inform about the non-working air conditioner only after the tourists began to resent and ask to turn on the air conditioner on the third day, since it was, frankly, difficult to travel to +27,600 km. Before that, the head of the group apparently thought that it would do and our people would endure everything. The fact that the children behind the bus literally became ill did not really bother him. And only when the tourists began to resent and say that they would notify his management, the head began to show some kind of activity and we were replaced by a bus that was much more comfortable and which initially had to go on such a trip. Which, of course, was also presented to us as a feat, instead of starting to solve this issue on our own and not waiting for the indignation of tourists. Fulfilling your duties is not a feat!

Also, throughout the route there were problems with navigation, which led to the fact that neither the driver nor the leader of the group knew where to go, because of which we lost a lot of time and in the future this affected the time of excursions and sanitary stops.

The only bright spot of these three days can be called a hotel. She has no complaints. But I did not go for a good hotel, I went for nature, which I never saw.

Believe me, this is only a small part of the impressions from this enchanting trip. In general, I was on such a trip for the first time, where most of the group members were not happy, although I was on a large number of such tours. Moreover, the group, it is worth noting, gathered very organized and adequate, consisting mainly of experienced tourists.

In general, this trip could be called a march, or a survival tour, but not a tourist trip for more than 2 thousand hryvnias.

Needless to say, that the representative of the travel agency responded to my complaint, instead of sorting it out and taking measures so that this would not happen again in the future, she began to argue and behave defiantly, knowing that there would be nothing for them in fact. Therefore, once again I draw conclusions for myself that it is better to travel on your own, so as not to run into such 'professionals'.

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