5/28/2010 8:36 AM (PST)

Beth,

I was unable to locate a report on Collette Tours. Do you have their contact information? Please provide this so I may look further into this for you.

5/28/2010 8:47 AM (PST)

Collette Vacations is out of Pawtucket RI (800-340-5158),

5/28/2010 2:18 PM (PST)

Beth,
I found them listed under Collette Vacations.I attached their BBB report above for you to view their A+ rating and no complaints!

6/4/2010 3:14 PM (PST)

WE have just returned from an European River Cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest (April 24-May 9) We booked with COLLETTE Vacations who then contract with Leuftner Cruises. We were on the Amadeus Symphony. The trip was rated as DELUX but I would rate it as 1st class at the best. The crew on board were excellent, but the ship was older and did not have internet access as did many of the newer ships. We had to spend much of our very limited free time looking for internet cafes on shore. WE followed the AMA AMADOLCE and AMADANTE down the rivers. We were actually moored beside the AMADOLCE and had a chance to tour the ship and talk to the passengers. Although there were problems with low water and broken locks, it seems that the problems were handled in a far superior manner on the AMA cruise than they were handled by our ship.

Our trip turned out to be an experience of frustration and disappointment.

The local tour guide in Amsterdam was disorganized and had poor command of the English language. She spent more time discussing with the driver where he should drive rather than conducting the tour. We ended the tour at a commercial diamond factory (we were not impressed)followed by free time at a flea market! Where were the canals and the tulips or even the Red Light district?. (AMA customers had a canal tour and an excellent city tour of Amsterdam.)

The following day, we arrived three hours late to Cologne and had a very quick walking tour of the church square. (45 minutes rather that the 2 hour scheduled tour.) The tour guide was subpar. We had 45 minutes free time and then it was back to the ship. So much for Cologne.

Our tours of Koblenz and Wurtzburg were excellent however as were the tour guides. However, due to low water on the river, we kept falling behind schedule and many of the tours were shortened and we had very little free time to tour on our own.

One of the passengers on our ship had a fall so the ship had to dock along the river to get an ambulance to come. According to Collette, there was always medical personnel on board. This was not the case. Further on in the trip another passenger fell and as it turned out, broke her arm.. When she got back to the ship they did not even have a sling! They cut up a bed sheet and told her to go to a drug store at the next stop and buy a sling!
By the time we arrived at Bamberg we were really running behind. We docked a good 20 minutes from the town. We had a one hour tour of Bamberg (scheduled for three hours) and then it was back to the ship. Instead of sailing for Nuremberg that night we stayed in Bamberg at their docks. (not the most pleasant docks.) The next day we were bussed (instead of sailing) to Nuremberg (2 hours) for a short two hour tour, dropping guests off at the train station on the way. That afternoon we were supposed to have free time as well as two optional tours in Nuremberg all of which were cancelled and we were bussed back to Bamberg at noon. The ship stayed in B