Wonderful Sri Lanka - Indian Group Tour:
Day 1 - On arrival at Colombo, I was expecting to see the Tour manager & that my trip would start from there to Kandy. Instead, a Cab driver transferred my family to nearby hotel where we waited for 6 hours(8:30 am to 2:30 pm) for the Tour manager Surang & all trip members to arrive. I tried to reach Makemytrip Relationship manager & customer support during this time but no one picked. After starting as 2:30 pm to Kandy, obvious we reached late to Pinnawala Elephant orphanage by 5:30 pm, so it was closed. So disappointed we had to go to Kandy for night stay. First day wasted.
Day 2 - Instead of taking us to the Sightseeing listed in the Tour itinerary, Tour manager Surang kept on taking us to different shops(Pearl shop, Dress shop, Wood craft shop etc.), where he would have got commission for our purchase. So many of us complained to him that we had come to Srilanka for Tour, not shopping. We were not taken to Kandy Lake as mentioned in the itinerary. In the evening, he took us to Srilankan cultural show in a hotel(not an auditorium) & made us sit in the back with no view for the children. Also, it was a setup(not a real cultural show). Day 2 mostly wasted.
Day 3 - Upon our insistence the Tour manager took us to Tooth relic Budda temple in the morning which was closed. In the afternoon we visited a Hanuman temple on the way to Nuwara Eliya, which was good. Ramboda falls was shown from a distance after which he took us to Tea factory to sell us the tea from there. So, Day 3 fully went away just in transit.
Day 4 - We were taken to Seetha amman temple which was good. But not taken to Divurumpola Temple. Even we were promised River rafting which also did not happen due to timing. Night stay at Bentota. By this time, we had just given up on the Tour manager Surang as he was totally incapable for the job & just did it for his extra commission at all places.
Day 5 - Turtle conversation centre was just waste of time. It had too high entry ticket price and just couple of turtles lying inside for show. Then we went to Boat ride on a river which has Mangroves, & it was good. Evening for water sports we were taken to a place which again charged very high price for simple rides. Also, they accepted only cash so we had to go to nearby ATM to get cash. Lot of time wasted. When we enquired the nearby place, they too provided the same water rides for much cheaper price.
Day 6 - Transit to Colombo & as usual on-the-way the Tour manager took us to couple more shops where he had contacts. By the time we reached Columbo it was evening. We were not taken to Galle Face Green citing traffic. So, we took the customary photo below the Lots towers & went to a Budda temple at night which too charged entry fee.
Day 7 - Just transit back to airport.
Main reasons which made the tour worst:
1) Tour manager Surang’s incapability of planning & showing the promised sight seeing places.
2) Tour manager Surang’s money mindedness, due to which we were taken mostly to shops where he got his commission rather than sight-seeing.
3) Afternoon lunch of all days we were taken by Surang to only hotels which charged very extra for the foreigners and gave him free buffet. Due to this we were not able to taste the Authentic cuisine of Srilanka as we were never taken to such restaurants.
4) Makemytrip’s poor customer support & relationship manager.