Everything was good except the airline bookings I had major changes both going and coming home to the point I had to fly from Frankfort Germany to JFK New York and rent a car and drive home to Boston they did not give us Enough time to change plains.

Great experience. Thanks!

Although it was a low cost tour but the hotel locations were at a location that made it difficult to utilize the free time. They far away from the city centers.The hotels were too warm and the temperature could not be controlled from the room.

Our tour director Sonja was amazing! Energetic, friendly, funny, extremely knowledgeable about local sites, shopping, food, history and culture, which differ so much from city to city. She got us to places off the beaten path. Sonja motivated us to keep moving to meet all of our vacation goals. Salvatore was an amazing, friendly and safe driver for the many hundreds of miles we covered. He kept us stocked up on water, desperately needed for these warm days The motor coach was very very comfortable. The included and excursion meals were all wonderful, with plenty of surprises. No weight lost on this tour, despite all the walking! Only complaints were about some of the hotels - insufficient AC in a few places made it difficult to sleep. And the hotel pools closed at ridiculously early hours, making it impossible for us to jump in the pool after a long hot day. All in all, service was terrific and a great value vacation

The trip was excellent and the tour director was a joy to be with. She filled us with knowledge of the sites we visited and made us laugh during the coach rides to each location Ursula was the best and would be a reason I book a tour again with that operator. The one item I do want to point out was the hotels were not 4 stars as listed except for 2. And those were from the American chains. Rooms were extra small in some locations with showers that a full size male could not fit into. In one location I did request a new room and was given a much larger room with larger shower. Should have been given that room to begin width!

I thought overall the whole trip was terrific, the best vacation experience I've had! We were able to see a lot of things in 9 days, so I didn't mind getting up early every day to stay on schedule. The tour director was great, although maybe she could have been a little more flexible on things, such as seating assignments on the bus and also, she was repeating things more than necessary. I loved at all the sites we saw, but wished we had more time to spend at Pisa and the coliseum. I didn't have time to climb in the tower of Pisa and I would have liked to actually go inside the coliseum, instead of just walking around the perimeter of it. I understand the schedule was tight, but after all, those 2 are among the highest tourist attractions in Italy. One of the optional excursions that I did, the Tuscan farm dinner was wonderful, but a little too pricey. Also, I don't drink wine, so I could have skipped the winery tour. Other than that, it was a wonderful tour for somebody going to Italy for the first time, like myself.

There was no problem with Affordable tours . Our problems were with Cosmo. Some of the places we stopped on the road were really not all that good . The tour was a constant go but some of the places we visited was justed stopped at the door . Eveything else was Extra !!!!!!

There was a lot of walking, your tour tips that you published suggested to wear comfortable shoes and clothing, and that is what I did. It was a plus. It was awesome seeing the historical places and being there than just reading and seeing them in books and video. I felt I became part of history.

The trip was excellent. The tour director was very good. Few concerns were the time given at an attraction locations was very small. For example, at Pisa we were given only one and a half hours to look around that included walking to and from bus to the location. There were no local tour guides provided at most locations.

We had an absolutely perfect time. Out tour director was fabulous. He is a wealth of information about every city and village that we went through and the places that we passed along the way. He was incredibly helpful when it came to places to shop and places to eat and managed to personalize the trip for each of us, even though it was a very large group.

Hotels closer to the city

Cosmos Tours should have explained the optional tours in detail versus what was covered on our regular itinerary. That way we could weighed our option on what additional tours we can take.

the only negative comment I have is that I felt the accommodations--especially for the last night--were not up to par. Honestly, it's only the hotel the last night in Rome that I really thought was unsatisfactory. Unfortunately, we completed our satisfaction surveys with BEFORE that last night of lodging, or I would have made note of it. Personally, I would rather pay a bit more and have nicer accommodations, but I may be an outlier on this...

Love every minute of our tour!!!

Everything and places we went were fantastic, but I do think it was an excessive amount of walking, and it would have been helpful to know this prior to trip.

Our agent was very patient and responsive. She was always very pleasant and able to answer our questions. I really enjoyed the Cosmos tour. Our guide was excellent and so was our driver. I look forward to taking another tour. Thank you.

Our Cosmos Tour Director was outstanding and knowledgeable. He gave histories and tips that I wouldn't have known if I had done the tour myself. 

The plumbing in the hotel rooms were generally unacceptable with mainly showers that were broken in most of our hotel rooms (had to be moved to another room in one case) and strong sewer gas smells in the Venice hotel. Hot breakfasts at hotels were were not hot (e.g. eggs, meats etc.). Otherwise the hotel rooms were clean and comfortable and staff freindly and helpful.

My wife and I were happy over all with the tour offered by Cosmos and cordinated by Affordable Tours. We very much appreciated the services provided by the tour director. She is not only excellent in interpersonal skills, she demonstrtaed her depth of knowledge in her articulation of her commentary. Her sense of humor also made the journey more enjoyable We feel that she should be given the responsibility of training other tour directors, particularly the the not so experienced ones. We were unhappy with accomodations provided in Rome, particularly the Fleming. The hotel in Montecatini was particularly disappointing. There was only one small, slow elevator for the entire hotel and we often had to trudge up and down 4 flights of stairs in order to save time. Regarding the two included dinners: we were shocked to see that even mineral water was not included with dinner (we had to buy it). At a minimum, the dinner should include mineral water.

My trip with Cosmos was fun

As far as the operator was concerned there were too many optional packages that could have been incorporated into the actual tour and we had too much time to ourselves to tour certain areas and shop. At times I felt that it was a shopping tour and not a sightseeing tour. If all cosmos tours are like this one I would rather find a new operator.

the tour to Italy was pretty nice. 

The tour director and the bus driver were professional, friendly, and truly excellent. I highly recommend them both and would be very happy having them on any other tour I might take in Italy. The tour director was very accommodating when I fell ill and had to cancel from an excursion. The extra excursions, for the most part, were interesting and fairly priced. Some of the included experiences were more aimed at separating us from our money than in truly showing us the culture and art of Italy - a bit disappointed in that aspect. Really liked the free times - was quite nice. Overall, a pretty good tour. Glad I went.