Travel Company Recommendations

[zinedineontour]

Used Celtic Horizon travel twice and no problems. True colours are only shown in the event of a crisis. Have used 747 in the past but wouldn't do so again after a very long night in Moscow. The agents are there because alot of us only have the bare minimum of time for these trips with work committments etc. If you lose 3/4 hours each way because of flight changes, buses to hotel etc, that could be up to 8 hours from a 3 day trip, then to me it's worth an extra few quid to get to your hotel asap.
I will book direct if I have the time and it's a direct enough route. If it's too much hassle then I'll be talking to Celtic Horison until such time as the s**t hits the fan and their colours are posted to the mast!!

That lad down in Tullamore or where ever sounds ok. Didn't he fly people back from Cyprus for free after a problem with their plane. I read somewhere he organised food and in some cases money. Anyone know his name?

yeah that was through premier soccer promotions .. they good company have dealt with them before no probs ... Global Travel sadly shafted so many people ... The only reason most use travel agents for these games and i prob will again for prague and cardiff is to get the match tickets ... dont trust 747 though cause when i went to macedonia a few years back with them michael the head of 747 was in the bar drunk just handing out tickets to everyone in the bar for the game he was so ****ed and half of them were not even with 747 .. ****ing joke ..

[Reddladd]

Yeh, I wouldn't be too keen on Michael either. He has plenty of regulars but I find him a bit too smarmy. Our flight from Moscow was delayed for 7 hours, most of us had no money and no information. Michael was nowhere to be seen. I also heard from some lads that for the Swiss game even though tickets were supposed to be included in the package deal he was charging 10-20 euro over face value.
I just found him to be a hungry huare. Apparently he uses good hotels, for what that's worth.

[zinedineontour]

Yeh, I wouldn't be too keen on Michael either. He has plenty of regulars but I find him a bit too smarmy. Our flight from Moscow was delayed for 7 hours, most of us had no money and no information. Michael was nowhere to be seen. I also heard from some lads that for the Swiss game even though tickets were supposed to be included in the package deal he was charging 10-20 euro over face value.
I just found him to be a hungry huare. Apparently he uses good hotels, for what that's worth.

yeah dodgy as **** to be honest ... saw him doing that for the swiss game ... very smarmy fella hopefully wont have to use him at all for any of the away trips but for the likes of wales and prague and prob germany i can see myself been up **** creek ...

[TheJamaicanP.M.]

Yeh, I wouldn't be too keen on Michael either. He has plenty of regulars but I find him a bit too smarmy. Our flight from Moscow was delayed for 7 hours, most of us had no money and no information. Michael was nowhere to be seen. I also heard from some lads that for the Swiss game even though tickets were supposed to be included in the package deal he was charging 10-20 euro over face value.
I just found him to be a hungry huare. Apparently he uses good hotels, for what that's worth.

My first away trip was to Paris during the last qualifying campaign. I went with 3 mates. We booked together with 747. The price was 499euros with 25euros tax to be paid later. Michael promised us match tickets and promised a boat trip along the Seine as part of the package. He later rang us to ask us would we be willing to pay an extra 30euros to upgrade to a better hotel (at this stage we hadn't even been told what hotel we were going to be in). We said no, we didnt want to pay extra for the hotel. A few weeks later, Michael rang us to say he'd taken the boat trip out of the package and upgraded our hotel instead. He told us we were getting a good deal because the hotel upgrade was more valuable than the boat trip (as if he would lower his profit margin!). As it happens I had no interest in going on a boat trip but I was ****ed off because it just felt like 747 were conning us. How were we to know if he had actually upgraded our hotel?

Three weeks before the match, Michael told us he had 4 match tickets ordered for us at a cost of 45euros each. He said that the face value was 35euros but that the French ticket agent added a 10euro charge to each ticket. That was fair enough because the ticket agent was charging that price 10euros extra per ticket. We paid 747 for the tickets immediately. I went in one week later to pick up the tickets. Michael was all flustered though. The fcuker had given our tickets to some other group. He went downstairs and came back up with 4 tickets that belonged to some other poor customer. At this stage I was glad to take them. However, after I left the shop I noticed that the face value on the tickets was actually 23euros. That means that he charged us 12euro extra per ticket so he owed us 48euros. Taking the advice of foot.ie member Don Vito, I decided not to bother returning to complain. At that stage, we were just so p!ssed off with the tricks that 747 were coming up with.

Before the plane even left Dublin airport, we had each spent 570euros for 2 nights in Paris. I found Michael to be a smarmy pr!ck. That was my first trip away to support Ireland and I would never go back to him.
Then you have Ray Tracey who charges extortionate prices. It seems to me that Tracey has a monopoly on the market.

From now on, I'm going to book trips on my own. This summer four of us are going to Germany for a few days for the World Cup experience.

Our return flight to Hamburg cost 118euros. We're spending 5 nights in 3 cities (Hamburg, Hannover and Berlin). We booked city centre hotels in each of the cities which came to a total of 179euros. Therefore, for 297euros each, our flights and accommodation have been taken care of. That price is significantly less than the cost of going to Paris.

I would advise every fan on this forum to book their trips independently. Travel agents should be a last resort.

[4tothefloor]

I would advise every fan on this forum to book their trips independently. Travel agents should be a last resort.

But travel agents are a last resort. I only booked with Global Travel for Cyprus because it was working out at only about €50 cheaper to book by yourself, and that did not include any transfers from airport-hotel-airport. So to me Global was a good deal, and the trip worked out fine in the end. I agree with Paul, it sounds like the company has gone bust. If it's gone bust it's gone bust, sh!tty one but nothing you can do about it. Just goes to show, you never know.......And they're all cowboys if you ask me.

Any game I go to I always try and book on my own as well. Did it for Paris last year, and will do it again next campaign. I do the same for any Liverpool games that I go to, except where it's an absolute impossibility to get a ticket, such as the CL semi-final against Chelsea last year. I went with Premier Soccer Promotions in Tullamore for that one, and they were great and very accomodating when we asked to mix the package with our own flights from Shannon. Tony Bernie is the guys name, runs it with his wife Dympna AFAIK. Having said that, his prices for the Cyprus trip last year were at Ray Treacy levels.......

[zinedineontour]

But travel agents are a last resort. I only booked with Global Travel for Cyprus because it was working out at only about €50 cheaper to book by yourself, and that did not include any transfers from airport-hotel-airport. So to me Global was a good deal, and the trip worked out fine in the end. I agree with Paul, it sounds like the company has gone bust. If it's gone bust it's gone bust, sh!tty one but nothing you can do about it. Just goes to show, you never know.......And they're all cowboys if you ask me.

Any game I go to I always try and book on my own as well. Did it for Paris last year, and will do it again next campaign. I do the same for any Liverpool games that I go to, except where it's an absolute impossibility to get a ticket, such as the CL semi-final against Chelsea last year. I went with Premier Soccer Promotions in Tullamore for that one, and they were great and very accomodating when we asked to mix the package with our own flights from Shannon. Tony Bernie is the guys name, runs it with his wife Dympna AFAIK. Having said that, his prices for the Cyprus trip last year were at Ray Treacy levels.......

yeah they not the cheapest company but very reliable ... I dont think anyone would book with travel agents by choice but if you cant get a ticket for an away game which will prob be the case for wales , prague and germany what else can you do ??

[zinedineontour]

But travel agents are a last resort. I only booked with Global Travel for Cyprus because it was working out at only about €50 cheaper to book by yourself, and that did not include any transfers from airport-hotel-airport. So to me Global was a good deal, and the trip worked out fine in the end. I agree with Paul, it sounds like the company has gone bust. If it's gone bust it's gone bust, sh!tty one but nothing you can do about it. Just goes to show, you never know.......And they're all cowboys if you ask me.

Any game I go to I always try and book on my own as well. Did it for Paris last year, and will do it again next campaign. I do the same for any Liverpool games that I go to, except where it's an absolute impossibility to get a ticket, such as the CL semi-final against Chelsea last year. I went with Premier Soccer Promotions in Tullamore for that one, and they were great and very accomodating when we asked to mix the package with our own flights from Shannon. Tony Bernie is the guys name, runs it with his wife Dympna AFAIK. Having said that, his prices for the Cyprus trip last year were at Ray Treacy levels.......

yeah they not the cheapest company but very reliable ... I dont think anyone would book with travel agents by choice but if you cant get a ticket for an away game which will prob be the case for wales , prague and germany what else can you do ??

[HarpoJoyce]

yeah they not the cheapest company but very reliable ... I dont think anyone would book with travel agents by choice but if you cant get a ticket for an away game which will prob be the case for wales , prague and germany what else can you do ??

I echo this use of a travel agent. If there is a problem before the trip, there an office that can sort the issue out or make alternative arrangements.

The agent can get to awkward locations from point of departure.
(e.g. Ireland -Tbilisi & Tirane over three days 2003).

Arrange visas.

If a supporter wishes extend the trip to other activities the travel agent can advise.

Buying a package can put a guest in a hotel at a price a lot cheaper than the 'walk-in' price.

I use travel agents at the destination for local information aswell.

Its up to each traveller to weight up the options available and decide on the best value for themselves. ( Value is ease of travel, comfort, meet their needs (e.g. get inside the Stadium) oh yea and price)

[michaelguineys]

oh yeah great lad yeah got a refund ( supposedly ) cause the trip we had booked was all changed .. only got the cheque 3 months late and now its bounced .. the most dishonest person ive ever met and should not be trusted at all .. obviously the above people have some connection with the lad ..

Posted this elsewhere but seems to be more relevant here:...........

Just noticed this thread now, going mad.
We had hassle with them. 22 of us had orignally booked to go to cyprus with them aswell.
All paid up and everything, my friend organised it all and everything and found them very helpful.
She even got a free holiday coz she got more than 20 people to go.
But the hassle started bout a week before we were due to leave.
Check out pgs 18/19/20 of the Cyprus thread, and check out the start of the thread aswell coz i was full of praise at the start. Dont know how to paste link so have just copied and pasted to give ye the gist of it...........

1 - Originally Posted by michaelguineys
Did anyone hear from Global Travel that the company supposed to be flying us from Stansted are gone bust???
And we have to fly from gatwick now?
I don't know if my friend is winding me up or what.
Hope she is-

2 - Originally Posted by michaelguineys
Well we were told from day one from your man steve that it was stansted.
my friends has the emails from him to prove it.
What the hell is going on???
Im not impressed
We have to fly cork-stansted and then get bus to gatwick and go from there.
Why were we lied to in the 1st place???

3 - Originally Posted by michaelguineys Quote:
Dont talk to me...its going from bad to worse with them.
They have changed the apartments now!!
We were originally going cork-stansted-paphos
Now, with less than a week to go we are told everything is changed...
Now its cork-stansted...
Bus to gatwick
Gatwick - larnaca
Bus to paphos!!!!!!!!!

And now we were told today that our apartments are changed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With no reason given!!!!!!

Has anyone else had this hassle with them? Surely we are owed some financial compensation.
Can anyboday shed some light on this please?
Loads us have cancelled already and im thinkin of cancelling now too. Sounds very dodgy[/i][/i][/i]


in the end 9 cancelled because they thought he was dodgy and were welll ****ed off, so 13 of us went coz no way were we missing this game
There was hassle from the start wen we got to gatwick eventually after a 2 hr bus journey.
Steve legged it off the bus, left us standing there wondering whats the story coz we still hadnt received our tickets for flight, accomodation etc.
Eventually found him, miles from where he left us. Got the tickets eventually anyway and off we went.
So then got to cyprus, and we were told that our group were staying in different apts AGAIN!!! The 3rd change!!!!
Now they did turn out to be unreal with great facilities but we were the only ireland fans there, the rest were in a diff hotel. Suited us coz there was a load of us, but thats not the point.

Holiday turned out to be the best laugh ever and we even met up with steve and co for game of ball and we kind of forgot all the hassle beacuse the hotel was so nice and the holiday was brilliant.
But going home was hassle again. Our flight from cyprus was delayed and becasue he had screwed us around with moving us from stansted to gatwick and paphos to larnaca we arrived in stansted after another 2 hr bus journey from gatwick with 30 MINS TO SPARE before our flight left for cork!!!!!!!!

We had absolute war with ryanair ( steve had booked these for us aswell so it was ultimately down to him to see if we made the connecting flight as if we didnt, surely we would need to be compensated) coz they were ignorant pr icks and practially refused to check us in coz so late and then charged us £200 STERLINg excess baggage even though we werent charged anything going out and our bags were heavier then but thats a different story but point is Steve didnt even get off the bus to see if everything was ok coz he knew we were going to struggle to make the connecting flight, he just sped off on the motorway never to be seen again.
That was a disgrace.


I cant believe that he hasnt even answered any of your call, emails etc.
That is an absolute disgrace. You should definitely report him.
The slim possibilty of us travelling with them them again has vanished.
Not a fceking hope in hell

[NY Hoop]

My first away trip was to Paris during the last qualifying campaign. I went with 3 mates. We booked together with 747. The price was 499euros with 25euros tax to be paid later. Michael promised us match tickets and promised a boat trip along the Seine as part of the package. He later rang us to ask us would we be willing to pay an extra 30euros to upgrade to a better hotel (at this stage we hadn't even been told what hotel we were going to be in). We said no, we didnt want to pay extra for the hotel. A few weeks later, Michael rang us to say he'd taken the boat trip out of the package and upgraded our hotel instead. He told us we were getting a good deal because the hotel upgrade was more valuable than the boat trip (as if he would lower his profit margin!). As it happens I had no interest in going on a boat trip but I was ****ed off because it just felt like 747 were conning us. How were we to know if he had actually upgraded our hotel?

Three weeks before the match, Michael told us he had 4 match tickets ordered for us at a cost of 45euros each. He said that the face value was 35euros but that the French ticket agent added a 10euro charge to each ticket. That was fair enough because the ticket agent was charging that price 10euros extra per ticket. We paid 747 for the tickets immediately. I went in one week later to pick up the tickets. Michael was all flustered though. The fcuker had given our tickets to some other group. He went downstairs and came back up with 4 tickets that belonged to some other poor customer. At this stage I was glad to take them. However, after I left the shop I noticed that the face value on the tickets was actually 23euros. That means that he charged us 12euro extra per ticket so he owed us 48euros. Taking the advice of foot.ie member Don Vito, I decided not to bother returning to complain. At that stage, we were just so p!ssed off with the tricks that 747 were coming up with.

Before the plane even left Dublin airport, we had each spent 570euros for 2 nights in Paris. I found Michael to be a smarmy pr!ck. That was my first trip away to support Ireland and I would never go back to him.
Then you have Ray Tracey who charges extortionate prices. It seems to me that Tracey has a monopoly on the market.

From now on, I'm going to book trips on my own. This summer four of us are going to Germany for a few days for the World Cup experience.

Our return flight to Hamburg cost 118euros. We're spending 5 nights in 3 cities (Hamburg, Hannover and Berlin). We booked city centre hotels in each of the cities which came to a total of 179euros. Therefore, for 297euros each, our flights and accommodation have been taken care of. That price is significantly less than the cost of going to Paris.

I would advise every fan on this forum to book their trips independently. Travel agents should be a last resort.

Jesus there's a sucker born every minute

€570 for 2 nights paid before you even left Dublin??? That's a disgrace.

We did whole thing ourselves on the net. Good hotel next to Gare du Nord, the tickets were available on the French FA site and the Ryanair tickets were something like a score cos we booked months in advance. 3 nights in Paris with airfare and match ticket came to about €160ish.

BTW your last line is hilarious......

KOH

[NeilMcD]

yeah i did paris for €250 for 3 night Accomodation and flights and tickets too.

[zinedineontour]

Jesus there's a sucker born every minute

€570 for 2 nights paid before you even left Dublin??? That's a disgrace.

We did whole thing ourselves on the net. Good hotel next to Gare du Nord, the tickets were available on the French FA site and the Ryanair tickets were something like a score cos we booked months in advance. 3 nights in Paris with airfare and match ticket came to about €160ish.

BTW your last line is hilarious......

KOH

I think people like above just book with travel agents cause the tickets are guaranteed end of ... so for wales in cardiff or czech in prague where we are likely to get only 2000 tickets and they will be gone straight away where can people guarantee to see game apart from using agents ... last resort and for some games really a neccesity ..

[zinedineontour]

Steve is a con artist of the highest order and will chase it up as i know someone who actually lives near rugely and is gonna suss out for me what the story is .. Ill letyou know if i hear anything further ..

[gspain]

I think people like above just book with travel agents cause the tickets are guaranteed end of ... so for wales in cardiff or czech in prague where we are likely to get only 2000 tickets and they will be gone straight away where can people guarantee to see game apart from using agents ... last resort and for some games really a neccesity ..

But they don't have tickets.

Block bookers have first call from the F.A.I. They can buy them then like the general public. They don't guarantee tickets - read the T&Cs. They can't...... Sure they use local contacts and buy locally if it is on general sale eg Basle 04 and Paris 04.

BTW Treacy does get tickets but for games where they are in short supply he will limit to regulars only.

[SuperDub]

We use to travel with 747 for a number of years but just got tired of problems arising on every trip. The final straw was when they stuck us in a hotel up the side of a mountain in tirana. They have lost many regulars over the years because of problems that keep arising on their trips.

Since then we have travelled independently to most recent away games. We used Celtic Horizen Tours to travel to israel and found them to be well organised.

[Reddladd]

For the upcoming matches it won't be too hard to organise low cost trips and we'll have dates tomorrow week. So there's a week end then to start checking flights and hotels.
The point is that some destinations are difficult to get to and to save time and hassle it can be easier to use travel companies e.g. Faroes, Georgia, Albania etc.
If you only have the bare 2/3 days and need to be back at work then a package is the best option.
One thing I don't like about the package deals is usually the charter flights are cramped with no leg room and that's a huare on a long flight.

[Forever Dreamin]

DIY travel is the only way to go! 747 only get tickets form ticket touts or agents ouitside Ireland, the FAI do not give them an allocation. Ray Treacy gets a small allocation and in fairness to the guy, while his prices are excessive he stays in the best of hoels and gives the best of service and most of those travelling with him have been doing so for years. You see the same faces with him always so they are entitled to their tickets.

Very rarely can tickets not be got for away games and apart from the 1st game in Basle its a long time since there was a ticket famine for an away game.

Best airlines for me are Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Easy Jet, Lufthansa and Aer France. In emergencies BA and only if all else fails a charter and stand uo for the flight cos the seats are too blood small for a fat lad like me!

[zinedineontour]

DIY travel is the only way to go! 747 only get tickets form ticket touts or agents ouitside Ireland, the FAI do not give them an allocation. Ray Treacy gets a small allocation and in fairness to the guy, while his prices are excessive he stays in the best of hoels and gives the best of service and most of those travelling with him have been doing so for years. You see the same faces with him always so they are entitled to their tickets.

Very rarely can tickets not be got for away games and apart from the 1st game in Basle its a long time since there was a ticket famine for an away game.

Best airlines for me are Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Easy Jet, Lufthansa and Aer France. In emergencies BA and only if all else fails a charter and stand uo for the flight cos the seats are too blood small for a fat lad like me!

yeah that first basle only got tickets in the swiss end cause my bro was living in geneva at the time .. the second basel had tickets to beat the band was literally giving them away as everyone was saving themself for paris me thinks ... think prague will be a ******* to get tickets for as well as cardiff otherwise should be ok ..

[Forever Dreamin]

All going well we wont play wales away till next Sept (07) or Oct, if they are well out of contention tickets may be a lot easier to get.

[pineapple stu]

I only booked with Global Travel for Cyprus because it was working out at only about €50 cheaper to book by yourself, and that did not include any transfers from airport-hotel-airport.

Did you just pay E50 to get a taxi from Larnaka Airport to the town centre then? I think I paid £5 (about E7) with just myself in the taxi. Doesn't that defeat your point?