Heritage of America

05/25/2019

I hate getting up 2:30 am!!!

Service

I hate getting up at 2:30!!!! Why do we leave so early?!? Why do we board the plane last?? There is no room for our carry on bags!!! The whole trip is tarnished by these very inconvenient factors. I have started looking into other travel companies!! The few $$$ saved isn’t worth it!!!
Tour

I hate getting up at 2:30am. Why do we leave so early. Why do we board last? There isn’t any room for our carry on bags!!! These events ruin the first days into the trip each time. I looking into other travel companies, the few $$$ saved isn’t worth it!!!🥴

Thank you for traveling with Collette on our Amish Country Getaway tour. We're sorry to hear you had difficulties with your transfer time. Your departure flight was scheduled at 620AM which would be why you had such an early transfer to the airport. While Collette does not have control over the boarding groups and size of the airplanes, we will share your feedback with Delta and United in the hopes that they can improve their overall travel experience.

Collette Support

05/25/2019

Utterly fantastic company

Service

Much of the success of all of our collette tours has been due to our rep, Louie Despeaux . She is very detailed oriented and available 24/7. Plus fun and organized. I also appreciate corporate office catching a flight error by auditing my itinerary. Having to correct the error, saved me an additional $200 on my stop over in Iowa on the way home.
Tour

Enjoyed meeting the Amish families , our step on guide, Jane, was also a driver for the Amish and had a lot of “ inside” info on their lives. She was a delight. I did not enjoy the Landis valley village and farm museum as the farm equipment building was empty as was the doll house. First time in five tours that I was bored. Our coach driver, gladmire morgan, was a repeat driver for us. Very professional yet friendly and helpful. Our tour guide, Mary, made the tour very, very fun.

05/25/2019

Service

Great tour director. She did her best to show us a good time. She has a bubbly personality and made friends easily. However I feel the tour was over priced for what we received. A lot of the things we did cost nothing--(visits to the markets,etc)
Tour

The visit to the Amish home was a great experience. Also loved the Longwood Gardens.

05/25/2019

Service

I loved the tour of the Amish Country and getting to meet the two families. The families were very kind and answered many questions.
Tour

The tour was great. However, we had people on the bus who over talked our tour guides even after they had been asked to be quiet. I know Collette can not teach manners to adults who missed the “be nice lessons” from their parents, but this was very disconcerting to the rest of the tourist on the bus.

05/25/2019

I would not recommend this trip.

Service

All was good except not enough time at Hersheys to do everything thing offered. Not enough time to visit the house and gardens. Most everywhere we went there was not enough time to really enjoy everything. Felt to rushed. Tour guide was awesome and places we went were good. Just not enough time .
Tour

Not enough time at some of the different places to actually see and enjoy them.

Thank you for traveling with Collette on our Amish Country Getaway tour. We're sorry to hear you felt the pacing of the tour was too fast. Your feedback will be reviewed by the Product Design Team in order to improve the overall touring experience for our guests.

Collette Support

05/25/2019

Everything was excellent except the return flight.

Service

The tour leader, Mary, was excellent. Mary had a lot of knowledge about the PA area. Jane, the step on local guide was excellent. Jane taught us all about the Amish people and their life and ways. Goodwin was an excellent driver. The return flight was bad. Collette booked me on a 6:20 pm flight. However they dropped me off at the airport at 1pm. I had to wait over 5 hours at the airport. Bad planning.
Tour

My favorite memory was meeting the Amish people.

Thank you for traveling with Collette on our Amish Country Getaway tour. We're sorry to hear about the issues with the scheduling of your departure transfer. Your feedback will be reviewed by our Transportation Team in order to improve the overall touring experience for our guests.

Collette Support

05/22/2019

Service

The trip was too fast-paced for me and my sister. Evening meals were very late. My sis and I will look more closely at future Collette touts for degree of difficulty. This trip included much walking and stairs.
Tour

Enjoyed NY and Washington DC most.

05/22/2019

local trip advisor was great.

Service

Local Collette travel lady, Denise Milburn was very helpful in setting things up for me and my friend, even though it wasn't one of their featured trips.
Tour

We got our money's worth, although the pace was exhausting- a lot of walking. An extra day in New York and Washington DC would have been helpful. I missed seeing a few things on my bucket list- needed more Smithsonian time. We had a problem getting from the airport to the hotel in New York because of a delay in Chicago. Hope to get reimbursed for our Uber ride. Also, the 3am pick-up time to return in Washington D.C. was way too early! Overall, I enjoyed the trip, except for the things I mentioned above. Good food and nice hotels as always the case with Collette.

Thank you for traveling with Collette on our Heritage of America tour. We're sorry to learn you had an issue with your arrival transfer in New York. Please mail your receipt to our address and we will issue a refund check for your extra transfer expense. Our mailing is address is 162 Middle Street, Pawtucket, RI 02860. Please put it to the attention of Guest Relations.

Collette Support

05/21/2019

Great Tour Company

Service

Great tour. Packed a lot in each day. Terrific service.
Tour

Loved everything we say. Really liked seeing how people lived two hundred years ago.

04/30/2019

Fun and educational tour of our history

Service

Staff was helpful, friendly and knowledgeable. Fun to spend time with and the driver was very capable and careful, thoughtful and friendly too. I don’t agree with the policy that if you book as a group, you don’t get free pickup and delivery from your home, especially at 4am or 10pm.
Tour

Only complaint is the pick up and drop off policy for group bookings.

Thank you for traveling with Collette on our Heritage of America tour. We do offer a complimentary pickup for group bookings, however it is limited to one pickup location. As you were picked up at a different location from the group, there was an additional charge.

Collette Support

04/30/2019

Service

Transfers were very convinent
Tour

Besides the some of the poor restaurant delections for dinner, the tour was well organized. Dinner at Clyde's restaurant in Washington DC was a disaster. A loud and crazy sports bar is no place for senior citizens.

04/28/2019

Service

They could have arranged for the pick up from the correct airport since they had to know our flight had changed. We had to wait almost 2 hours and it seemed no one knew what was going on. Our tour guide Marc P greeted us when we got to the hotel with "your finally here"
Tour

New York felt rushed. Would have like to see more of the Smithsonian. . Best was changing of the guard at the Unknown Soldiers. Memorials at night.

Thank you for traveling with Collette on our Heritage of America tour. We do not have any notes on file regarding a flight change which may be why your arrival transfer was delayed. We do have a 24 hour emergency number our guests can contact to alert us of any flight changes.

Collette Support

04/23/2019

Service

Bus Driver only helped us on and off bus last 2 days. Carolyn was excellent in answering all questions and very friendly. Marc tour guide was not very friendly and didn't help us on and off bus. But was very knowledgeable. Senior Bus. But over all experience I enjoyed.
Tour

Loved Washington D.C./All the monuments.

04/23/2019

Service

Except for my last trip their service has been excellent.
Tour

We did not get picked up at the airport upon arrive, which was a first. Also, our bus driver did not meet Collette standards. My most memorable experience was visiting Gettysburg. We had an excellent and enthusiastic local guide to the battle fields and also a friendly guide through town.

Thank you for traveling with Collette on our Heritage of America tour. We do not have any notes on file regarding an issue with your arrival transfer at LaGuardia airport. Please contact our Guest Relations department if you have an additional transfer expense so we can review reimbursement.

Collette Support

01/18/2019

Very fulfilling tour!

Service

Very filling experience. Several visitations were added during the trip that weren't scheduled, which added to the total experience.Very fulfilling tour
Tour

Seeing the Gettysburg Battlefields and listening to the very informed Tour Guide.

01/08/2019

Trip of a lifetime!

Service

We had great service and the tour guide was excellent. Our rooms for the most part were sufficient. The cities on this trip were perfect for getting a glimpse into our countries history. We had a few glitches, such as no one to meet us upon arrival at the airport in New York. Made several calls and still had to walk a great distance and wait, not fun in a city where you know no one! Some of our rooms were in need of updating and made for uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.
Tour

The overall trip was fantastic! Saw so much and loved all the people on the tour. Gettysburg, 911 Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and the monuments dedicated to all the wars, very heart breaking.

Thank you for traveling with Collette on our Heritage of America tour. Your feedback will be reviewed by the Logistics and Product Design Teams in order to improve the overall touring experience for our guests.

Collette Support

10/30/2018

Service

excellent experience for all aspects of this trip
Tour

excellent experience in all aspects of this tour

07/10/2018

Service

Tour guide was excellent. Her knowledge was second to none. Could change the intinery to accomodate western conditions without a lot of fuss.
Tour

Great tour inclusions.....

06/12/2018

Service

Well organized.Nice variety.Would recommend
Tour

memorable experiences at each stop

05/27/2018

Couldn't have asked for a better trip!

Service

The itinerary was wonderful...hit all the points on my bucket list for an overview of heritage sites and history on the east coast. The hotels were upscale and comfortable. As always, the tour director was helpful and extremely knowledgeable.
Tour

Very impressed with the quality of Collette tours...this was as good or better then any other we have gone on with Collette.

08/08/2017

Great fun tour.

Service

Very organized, good guides, liked whisperers when they worked, good hotel accommodations, and saw lots of sites in just a few days. Some of the meals included wine-since we don't drink, we paid for products we didn't use.
Tour

Gettysburg and Monticello. We spent lots of time at Gettysburg which was great. Would have liked more time at Monticello.

08/08/2017

Great trip. WEL organised and good accommodations, meals and sightseeing

Service

Yes I would definitely use them again.
Tour

Good tour. Great value for money

08/08/2017

Great Value!

Service

Excellent accommodations, service and knowledgable tour guides.
Tour

An outstanding way to see and understand our nations beginnings.

07/10/2017

A nice, very informative trip with wonderful sites.

Service

Tour guide was wonderful. She was friendly, patient, smart, and very informative. The driver did an excellent job also.
Tour

I especially enjoyed the tour in Colonial Williamsburg, Gettysburg, and Washington DC.

06/20/2017

Service

The hotels, tours and food were excellent. In Washington, DC, we saw most of the memorials which was wonderful. I would have liked to stay in Lancaster County longer and interact with the Amish. I will take more Collette tours and will definitely recommend them.
Tour

Going through Lancaster County

06/11/2017

Service

They had a well planned tour with very good local tour guides and local restaurants. All aspects of the tour were managed well. I would take another tour with them and I would recommend them to my friends
Tour

I specifically signed up for this tour and they did a good job especially adding the Yorktown tour

06/03/2017

Service

(personal details removed by Feefo) our tour manager and (personal details removed by Feefo) our driver both always went the extra mile to ensure that everything ran as smoothly as possible.
Tour

The tour covered everything we wanted to see excepting Jamestown which we would have liked to have visited/ The schedule was full and we were kept very busy with lots of early starts etc. I think that the only way to improve things would be to add in an extra day or two to the tour in the middle to slow things down a little and provide some breathing space.

05/30/2017

Service

Good program, good tour manager.
Tour

Presidential mansions and Gettysburg

05/27/2017

Service

The overall experience was excellent. Things seemed to go without a hitch.
Tour

I think that we needed more time in Philadelphia. We were rushed through the museum to make our time slot at Independence Hall then off to lunch and back on the bus. Would have liked to have seen more of Philadelphia two or three hours not enough.

04/26/2017

Service

very nice tour .bit tiring needed an extra day in washington so much to see.
Tour

twin towers memorial.was so moving.

11/22/2016

Incredible historical experience

Service

I loved we went on this trip and our guide was amazing. A couple of the hotels could have had better breakfasts offered but other than that, it was very enjoyable!
Tour

I loved the visit to Independence Hall in Philadelphia

11/22/2016

This was the first time I had travelled with the Collette and had a wonderf...

Service

This was the first time I had travelled with the Collette and had a wonderful time. The organisation of the trip to the places we went was wonderful. The only downside was the tour manager left on the last day before all the passengers had left the hotel.
Tour

The places the trip went to were brillaint. My favourite place was washington

11/01/2016

The tour guide makes the trip .

Service

The tour guide was the best I've ever had and I've been doing tours for 30 years. *********** was excellent and our group was great. Everyone got along and everyone was one time.We enjoyed everything on the trip.
Tour

We saw so much in a short time. The president's homes were veryi impressive. Monticello was lovely.I loved Washington's residence.Sitting on his porch overlooking the Potomac River.

11/01/2016

Discover the America you never knew

Service

Generally excellent tour but rather fast pace and obviously geared for Americans
Tour

Crammed a lot of history in one tour. Loved Lancaster and Williamsburg. Interesting meeting lots of Americans.

10/11/2016

Great Itinerary with Some Room for Improvement in the Personnel

Service

The itinerary was excellent, hotels were very good, restaurants good, bus driver James was excellent, but our bus driver only in NYC was Ernest and he did enter intersections in NYC while the traffic signal was still red (just like so many other drivers do there), plus he held up a lane of traffic while stopped for several minutes while Phyllis decided how to get us back to our hotel more quickly, and then he entered the intersection on a red light and turned right from the far left lane. It seems to me that a tour bus driver should do a better job of observing the traffic laws, even if the general population does not.Tour director ************* did a good job of coordinating everything and leading us, but she verbalized many of her concerns and uncertainties to the group, so that it did not appear as seamless as it should. On several different occasions she told us her job is to look after our welfare and get us from place to place on schedule, and not to provide detailed information on the areas we were passing through. While she did occasionally read brief descriptions, I would have liked more commentary telling what significant landmarks we were passing by in the bus. She showed the movie "My Fellow Americans" in the bus on the way to Shenandoah NP, a comedy that I personally found offensive with absolutely no historical significance or educational value. Our local guide in NYC was Zora. She is a Joan Rivers wannabe comedian with too many jokes and an abrasive personality and kept changing her mind on where to have Ernest take the bus, also the bus microphone was not working, and a portable amplifier that Ernest hooked up also did not work because it needed batteries, so I thought the start of the trip in NYC was way less organized than I would have liked, but it was better after that.
Tour

I especially enjoyed touring NYC for the first time and also seeing the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

10/11/2016

Well organised tour with great tour manager.

Service

Well organised, good itinerary and very good hotels.
Tour

Very well organised and a very interesting time with and learning about the Amish.

10/05/2016

Fabulous Adventure!

Service

The tour had a great variety of sites, experiences and a great tour guide and bus driver
Tour

Amish and Lancaster, PA I learned alot. Also enjoyed the Gettysburg experience

10/02/2016

Fantastic experience - something for all tastes.

Service

Probably nearer 4 1/2 stars, the door to door transport in UK was great but the USA service not so good. The local guides were mostly excellent - some of the timings could have been arranged a bit better as a couple of times we had a while to hang about before we got into a guided house tour then had to rush to make the pick up time for the bus. Apart from these little niggles we had a great time, Brian our guide was great, very helpful, informative and friendly and we will certainly look into booking another trip in the next year or two.

09/27/2016

Enjoyable and well managed

Service

Top of the line.
Tour

I enjoyed it all, so one experience does not stand out for me.

09/27/2016

Very enjoyable trip.

Service

You did a very good job of covering the things that you stated that would be covered. The tour guide was very helpful and friendly.
Tour

Enjoyed it all but wish the tour included the Statue of Liberty, we did it on our own.

08/13/2016

Outstanding tour guide and itinerary

Service

This was my second tour with Collette. It met all my expectations. Our Tour Guide is outstanding! In all my traveling, I've had two guides I would rate A plus. *personal details removed by Feefo* is one, the other was a tour guide with Tauckk. Collette is lucky to have him, from his sense of humor, to his attention to every detail. What I would recommend for this tour would be a longer time frame. Yes, I know it would be more costly, but I think it would be worth it. For instance, in the Shenendoah park, it would have been so wonderful to have more time, even leaving at noon instead of early am would have been better. I didn't like choice of breakfast first day in New York, with the singing waiters. A number of people told me the same thing. Also two full days in NYC would have been better. What I really appreciate: Gettysburg Battlefield! First time there. Learned so much. Also enjoyed the Amish culture. All in all, a great trip, would do it again!
Tour

See above review. I truly appreciated door to door service to and from airport.

06/21/2016

Tour leadership was outstanding. The hostess and guides were very informative and throughout the trip were great.

Service

Found the tour to be historically accurate and exciting.

06/21/2016

Almost Perfect: Wonderful accommodations. More time in Philadelphia and less in Amish Country would have been better.

Service

The purchase process was effortless and any followup questions I had prior to embarking were easily addresses. The tour layout was great, but our tour manager who traveled with us seemed inexperienced. This would make me cautious to use the company again.
Tour

All local guides were great except the NY guide. NY was not covered very well for those who haven't been there before. Fortunately it was not our first time there. Consider adding optional visits to Ellis Island and/or 9-11 Museum.