I booked Bangkok /Pattaya tour package with a Jayanagar/ Bangalore based tour operator Chariot world tours.
During the tour Sales and booking process I was confirmed by them that they are honest tour operators who take end to end bottomline and arrangements from the time we left bangalore till we arrived back. After our Tour experience I had with them this statement was nothing but a sales pitch.After the booking amount was paid and booking was done the whole face of Chariot world tours changed. When asked about how the flood situation in the Bangkok was and was there any issues with the tour and the itenerary of the tour. They were always saying that the tour is going on well and all the tours laid out in the itenerary was conducted as planned. I realised how wrong these statements were only after landing in Thailand.
Chariot promised me in writing that they would put me up in a specific set of hotels in Pattaya and Bangkok which was changed in the last moment when I received the itenerary(Day before departure). When I landed there in Bangkok I realised that the Chariot tours are nothing but an operator who charges a heavy premium(at least 20% more than the competition) and outsources the entire tour to a cheap tour operator in Bangkok called "Welcome Tours".
For a person like me who has travelled a lot getting an on arrival visa was not a issue. With no instructions at all from Chariot I am not sure how a first time traveller would be able to manage to get to the visa on arrival counter and get the visa on time to catch the bus for Pattaya. We arrived in Bangkok int. ariport at 6-15 am and by the time we got the on arrival visa and got through immigration and customs it was 7-30 am. We met a representative from Welcome tours at a specific meeting point. We were then immediately taken to a bus departure terminal(on lower floor of the airport) without even an courtesy of asking whether we need some water to drink or sometime for freshening ourselves. We were handed over a bus ticket to Pattaya and the agent disappeared without any further inputs on what to do in Pattaya.
Highlights of Pattaya -
Noognooch village tour and cultural show/elephant show.
Parasailing on day 2(Paid extra for this not covered as part of package)
Lowlights of Pattaya -
We were taken to a small jetty where more than 100 people were stuffed for underwater experience. It was a 5 min experience again not covered as a part of package but we were made to wait for more than an hour despite us not interested in the experience. Waitign there in the middle of the ocean with more than 100 people cramped in a small jetty was suffocating and unwarranted. Day 2 was Coral island tour which was given only 1 hour on the island. for people who had not signed up for either parasailing or underwater experience all they got was a boat ride and 1 hr on coral island. which I thought was a total ripoff.
Jems factory tour - despite our not wanting to go to Gems factory the tour operators forced us to go there. there they were hell bent on us buying some gems or the other. Then I found out that the tour operators got all the tour transport arranged(Either free of cost or at a substantial discount) from the jems factory folks. so we spent another 1 hour in gems factory before we were taken to our hotel.
Next day we were off to Bangkok We were dropped off at hotel Eastin in Bangkok at 11am. Bangkok experience was totally disapponting to the entire family. Here none of the promised sightseeing(Prior to booking the package) was adhered to. River cruise was cancelled(Flooding was given the reason) and we were asked to collect the refund from Chariot here. I fail to understand this logic of cancelling the particular sightseeing. we travel to places to do some sightseeing and appreciate the places we are visiting. we at least want a good alternative arranged when a specific commitment can’t be met so the customer don’t feel cheated. This made me feel cheated.
Highlights in Bangkok -
- Hotel facilities in Hotel Eastin was really good.Swimming pool, excellent Breakfast Buffet spread to name a few.
Lowlights in Bangkok -
Day 1 - No River Cruise. Lunch not arranged properly. mismanagement by local operator.
Day 2 - A whole day Safari world and Marine park tour was cancelled and replaced by a Suboptimal Siam Ocean world tour with 4D cinema and Glass bottom. Instead of a one full day Safari world /marine park tour with lunch we were only taken to Bangkok aquarium and we spent about 90 min there. 4D Cinema and Glass bottom boat ride was a scam. 10 min boat ride in an indoor pool with few fishes swimming around was the much publisized glass bottom boat ride while 4D cinema was nothing compared to what one sees in Disneyworld(Honey I shrunk the Audience).
Day 3 - Bangkok city tour. Instead of half a day tour of sleeping buddha and Golden Buddha. Golden buddha was flooded hence was cancelled and no alternative provided. sleeping buddha temple was shown but the nearby palace was not taken as the 400 Baht fees was not covered by chariot to the welcome tour guys. What happened to the money saved by them on the Golden buddha temple that they didn’t take? The only answer I got was talk to Charriot.Jems factory tour was made mandatory at the end of City tour even though we didn’t want to visit that place.
Food arranged by Chariot was in indian restaurants and was below par. there is an Indian Restaurant called Rasoi near Indra Market which is worst than a roadside dhabba, both in terms of ambiance as well as taste of the food offered by them.
To Summarise Chariot World Tours are a bunch of unprofessional tour operators who cannot handle a tour exceptions and do not care about customer satisfaction. In future I will stay away from these operators and will advise each and every one of them to do the same.
Please do drop me an email if you would like to know more about the scam created by the so called HONEST WORLD TOURS.