Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome and Sorrento escorted small group by train.

Traveler Reviews

• A

  Autumn

  May 29th, 2023
  5
  Wonderful experience and would happily do it again. All credit is due to the exceptional care given to us by our...
  Wonderful experience and would happily do it again. All credit is due to the exceptional care given to us by our guide, Milena. The sights and experiences were certainly breathtaking and exciting, but it was Milena that made it carefree and stress free. There were few troubles but she stepped up and took care of everything, regardless of how small, and watched over us tirelessly. She was there early each morning and late into the evening and available in short order. Without her the trip may have been great, but she made it a once in a lifetime event. Tour Radar accommodations were every bit as advertised and probably better. The only negative I can point out is the radio system used to hear the various guides was sometimes difficult to hear clearly but not frequently enough to be more than an occasional nuisance. Again would certainly use them again.Show more
  Traveled in May 2023
• A

  Alexandra

  November 26th, 2022
  1
  I have a lot to say about this tour. The short version is: Don’t waste your money! Meet & Greet runs overpriced scam...
  I have a lot to say about this tour. The short version is: Don’t waste your money! Meet & Greet runs overpriced scam tours. It seems like this company and their guides are only interested in squeezing as much commission as possible from up-selling the extra activities, day trips and taking guests to scammy tourist trap restaurants and shops. They show no duty of care for guests, or any interest in providing an authentic Italian experience. If you dare to raise questions or complain about the (many) discrepancies and mistakes on the tour, expect a bunch of excuses from the guide, followed by rude and condescending responses from Meet & Greet management. We saw red flags from the very first briefing in the hotel lobby, when the Whatsapp group chat (the only way to contact the guide during the trip) had not been set up, and the tour guide had no idea how to fix it and got very flustered and stressed out straight off the bat. One of the guests ended up troubleshooting and getting everyone added (which took about an hour) before the meeting could finally begin. But instead of a friendly, relaxed introduction, the guide immediately started giving everyone the hard sell on all the extra activities, dinners and day trips - like a high pressure sales pitch. Some group members had literally just arrived from the airport and were exhausted. It made for a really awkward first impression! From the very first scheduled activity (a walking tour of Milan) it became apparent that the day-to-day itinerary description was very misleading. The tour didn’t include many of the activities described in the itinerary, such as a tram ride or visit inside the Duomo in Milan. We were told these were extra optional activities we would have had to arrange and pay for in our own free time. By far the major selling point of the whole tour that set it apart from others was the “hassle free” luggage transfer between hotels. WELL. We were told we had to take our own bags from Milan to Venice, apparently because of a porter strike. Bit of a hassle but okay. When queried in Venice, the guide’s story then changed that we would be responsible for transporting our own luggage for the entire trip because they didn’t offer the transfer service for small groups (we had 12 in our tour). Nowhere does it say this on Tourradar or Meet & Greet website. No one was happy, but more on this later. The tour also felt very unprepared and rushed, with nothing booked in advance, which meant we missed out on certain activities and free time to explore because the guide couldn’t get enough tickets at the last minute. There were days we spent more time queueing for transport than we did sightseeing. For example on the day trip to Como (extra €100pp) we queued in the sun with hundreds of other people for 1.5 hours to get on the slow ferry back from Bellagio instead of the speed boat as promised, and then were instructed to RUN 2km back to the station just to cram onto a packed commuter train where we had to stand for the trip back to Milan. Definitely not the relaxed, first-class experience we thought we were paying for. We were also shocked to notice the tour guide sitting down on the train when there were older guests on the tour left standing. This turned out to be indicative of the overall care and consideration for guests during the rest of the tour. Another example which comes to mind is when someone in our group had a medical episode and had to go back to the hotel suddenly, but the guide was busy smoking and not even aware they’d left until someone else pointed it out. She then got really upset and flustered saying they should have let her know. Instead of, you know, showing any concern and making sure they were safe and okay. When everyone in the group complained about discrepancies in the itinerary, missing activities and the luggage transfer situation, the guide tried to make out like we all somehow had misunderstood, and argued with us for over 30 minutes that many of the activities weren’t ever included, or were on a different tour next season, even though we showed her the full tour itinerary from Meet & Greet. Her explanation was that she was just following the itinerary she was given by the company, like it wasn’t her problem. The Meet & Greet manager also emailed us trying to say we were looking at the wrong itinerary, even though it was the one they sent us with our names and the tour dates on it. It took several days of repeated complaints and emails (from at least half the group) before Meet & Greet finally arranged the luggage transfer for the second half of the tour. We were offered a small refund of €100pp and one dinner at a restaurant as compensation. We didn’t feel this was nearly enough, given the extremely misleading description of the tour and the subpar service and transport we experienced so far. We were made to feel like we should be grateful for this HUGE favour, even though it was only the bare minimum of what we had paid for from the beginning. Ironically, the first porter service we had in Venice overloaded and tipped the luggage trolley, damaging several suitcases. We were told we’d hear back from management about compensation (still waiting). We also still had to load and unload everyone's luggage onto the water taxi ourselves (which was dangerous and almost caused my mother-in-law to fall into the canal) and then carry it to the hotel ourselves. The optional activities and day trips were another rip-off. On the Siena and Pisa day trip, our small group was put on a bus with about 80+ other people for the day. What was described as wine tasting and lunch at a Tuscan vineyard was more like a huge cafeteria and shop, churning through busloads and busloads of tourists. We lost free time to explore Pisa because we had to wait for everyone to finish eating and shopping - strangers that weren’t even part of our tour group. Again, we spent more time on the bus waiting than we did sightseeing. Also, for comparison, we found the same day trip for €38pp online, whereas Meet & Greet charged an extra €129pp. 2 out of 5 hotels were ok, but they clearly just picked the cheapest possible 4 star hotels, often in grungy areas near train stations and quite far from the historic centres or sights. A lady in our group was robbed right outside our Rome hotel in the middle of the day. The included meals were frankly a huge disappointment. For the dinner in Venice, we were literally the ONLY people in the restaurant. When someone in our group made this observation jokingly, the guide got VERY defensive and argued that it was the best restaurant and they had spent WEEKS visiting and reviewing them all, they’d printed special menus just for us, etc etc. then sat in a different part of the restaurant away from everyone. The food was ok, but really nothing special. It was a set menu with a choice of one pasta dish and tiramisu per person. No appetisers, drinks or even bread on the table. The waiters paced around the table staring at us the whole time and just when we thought it couldn’t get any more awkward, a man (who we thought was the restaurant owner?!) appeared to play the saxophone for about 5 minutes, then suddenly proffered a basket and loomed over each person at the dinner table until they put up some cash. Our tour guide was conveniently missing for this part. Super uncomfortable and unprofessional. We also felt tricked into a very expensive, awful lunch in Rome that we didn’t want. We just wanted a coffee and bathroom break, but the tour guide took us to a restaurant (and then again conveniently disappeared) where everyone was served a plate of pasta. Since we didn’t order it or even get to see a menu, we assumed it must have been included, but then the bill came and we were charged €42 each person! That’s almost $300 AUD total for 4 plates of pasta we did not order and barely touched. For comparison, the 4 of us ate at a Michelin starred restaurant in Rome after the tour ended for less than half of that price. When we tried to protest, the tour guide reappeared in time just to get upset and flustered again and it was so uncomfortable and awkward that one person in our group had to pay the total bill just so we could leave the restaurant and try to sort it out later. When we looked up the restaurant afterwards we saw it had multiple names and all less than 2 star ratings with reviews describing the same thing - terrible food, aggressive touts, people being overcharged for meals they didn’t order, and patronised or bullied into paying by the staff. We honestly felt betrayed. A good tour guide should keep you away from scams and tourist traps - not throw you into one of them! At that point we lost the little remaining faith we had left in our guide and the tour company. Why would an honest or good tour guide take us and then leave us at a place like that? She said she had been a tour guide for over 20 years - surely she would know an authentic restaurant with good food and service? We wrote our concerns to Meet & Greet and showed them screenshots of the terrible restaurant reviews, asking them to reimburse the lady on the tour who had paid, but they straight up just told us we were *WRONG* and to pay up. Honestly we were so beyond disappointed in this tour, we couldn’t wait for it to end. We were genuinely shocked, as they had such good reviews prior to us booking (January 2022). We felt completely ripped off over and over again and seriously considered just cutting our losses and leaving early. We’ve been going back and forth via email with Meet & Greet and Tourradar now for weeks to get a refund.Show more
  Traveled in October 2022
• T

  Tamara

  October 27th, 2022
  5
  We had a wonderful time on this tour. It was a great coverage of the major areas of Italy and now we know where we...
  We had a wonderful time on this tour. It was a great coverage of the major areas of Italy and now we know where we might want to spend more time. Our tour guide, Annamaria, was outstanding.She went out of her way to take care of us and was very knowledgable. The selections of activities was just right. Be warned that there is a great deal of walking. The 1st class train travel was a great way to get around. The hotels were mostly excellent, but would prefer better bathrooms.Show more
  Traveled in October 2022
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  TENNILLE

  October 9th, 2022
  5
  Annamaria is wonderful, met some great people, and made some new friends.
  Traveled in September 2022
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  Kevin

  September 2nd, 2022
  1
  Meet and Greet Italy is a FRAUD and a SCAM. Do not book with this company. They will charge you thousands of...
  Meet and Greet Italy is a FRAUD and a SCAM. Do not book with this company. They will charge you thousands of dollars/euros in hidden fees when planning your trip and making your reservations. They also book you in dirty, low quality hotels in bad neighborhoods and cheap tours. You don't get what you pay for with Meet and Greet. You'll overpay for a bad experience. Do yourself a favor and plan your trip with anyone else. We found Meet and Greet (and their CEO Edmondo) on Trip Advisor, and connected with them on HelloReco. They informed us we could hire them for $200 to help us plan our trip to Italy and it would include the planning, booking, and some on-trip support if we need it. They sent us an invoice for a specific itinerary with hotels, transportation, and tours included, and never mentioned the thousands of euros they were charging on top of that for themselves, and what they were offering with that. Since we were close to our travel dates, they pressured us to quickly send payment and so we paid them to get the reservations set, but when we asked for more information on why the trip was so expensive they dodged our questions. It wasn't until after our trip was over that they told us they had charged us thousands of euros for support services we never knew about, wanted, or utilized. And their response to resolving our dispute was to offer a discount off a future trip we'll never use. They are not a good business to work with.Show more
  Traveled in July 2022
  

  Reply from: Meet and Greet Italy

  Hi Kevin, Nice hearing from you again. I see that you have left a review for a tour you never took part in since it was the only way to do it here, but I can understand. As you mentioned, you get in contact with us through HelloReco, which asks you to pay 200$ to hire us, which means to prove your real interest in receiving a quote from our end. The price you have paid for your trip with us was shown since the first quote we sent you, none pressured you or obliged you to book with us. I took the chance to say that if you thought the 200$ you paid to Reco covered trip planning, booking, organization, travel documents, and assistance 24/7 on spots in terms of man-hours, I am not surprised that you have not given the right value to your package. I and All the Meet and Greet Staff hope that, for your next trips, you will find something more in line with your scale of values. Thank you, Cecilia Meet and Greet

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• C

  Cathy

  October 5th, 2019
  5
  Such a fun very busy trip, Elisabetta was the best keeping it so organized, informative and fun. Her tour company...
  Such a fun very busy trip, Elisabetta was the best keeping it so organized, informative and fun. Her tour company is Meet and Greet. Sry professional. I highly recommend this trip and ElisabettaShow more
  Traveled in September 2019
• M

  MarmoraFamily

  October 1st, 2019
  5
  Great family Trip to Italy but made what it even more special was our wonderful tour guide Elisabetta Benedetti. It...
  Great family Trip to Italy but made what it even more special was our wonderful tour guide Elisabetta Benedetti. It was clearly demonstrated how much she cared for the group’s experiences during our vacation. She was always providing us with clear communication via WhatsApp or text, clear guidance and always laughter. She made our stay trouble and worry free by always providing us with our train tickets ahead of schedule, ensuring our luggage was taken care of by the porter, always had an open door policy for whenever we had questions on an upcoming excursion, whether it was 730am or 800pm. She provided us with some wonderful restaurants away from the traditional tourist traps. Thank you Elisabetta for going above and beyond your job, we greatly appreciated everything that you did for our familyShow more
  Traveled in August 2019
  

  Reply from: Meet and Greet Italy

  Dear Marmora You can not imagine how am I happy for your beautiful review. It was really a pleasure for me stay with you during your holidays and having all the laugh we had. It could be fantastic having you here again with me the next year. LOVE YOU ALL. Elisabetta

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• M

  Mandy

  September 29th, 2019
  5
  Elisabeth was a fantastic tour leader. She went above & beyond to accommodate the groups needs. It definitely made...
  Elisabeth was a fantastic tour leader. She went above & beyond to accommodate the groups needs. It definitely made the tour more enjoyable. Thank you.Show more
  Traveled in September 2019
  

  Reply from: Meet and Greet Italy

  Mandy's thank you for your review, it was nice to meet you and my pleasure passing some time together. I really hope to see u soon. <3 Elisabetta xxxx

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• M

  Mandy

  September 29th, 2019
  5
  Elisabeth was a fantastic tour leader. She went above and beyond to accommodate the groups needs. It definitely made...
  Elisabeth was a fantastic tour leader. She went above and beyond to accommodate the groups needs. It definitely made the tour more enjoyable.Show more
  Traveled in September 2019
• D

  Deronda

  July 29th, 2019
  4.5
  The tour was great, but our guide, Elisabetta, made the trip a true joy. She was like a mama duck with her little...
  The tour was great, but our guide, Elisabetta, made the trip a true joy. She was like a mama duck with her little ducklings, protective and watchful and ready to do anything she could to make our trip more enjoyable. A true asset to the company!Show more
  Traveled in July 2019