Five Epic National Parks (USA National Park Non Resident Fees)

Traveler Reviews

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  Anna5.0•May 2025
  Overall it was good. Happy with the tour itinerary
  Traveled in May 2025
  

  Reply from: Trafalgar

  Thank you for being our guest and travelling with us. We hope to host you again.

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  Mark2.0•May 2022
  if your goal is to see five national parks in rapid succession, this is an ok experience. vast majority of time is...
  if your goal is to see five national parks in rapid succession, this is an ok experience. vast majority of time is spent on bus. rest stops about every 1.5 - 2 hours. very very little time spent at each destination. the weather in early May is dreadful at elevation in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. several of the premier activities were cancelled .... and i suspect are commonly cancelled this time of year. covid precautions were virtually absent .... the standard questions are pursued at the start of the trip, temp is taken on passengers' wrists, and that's about it for the rest of the trip. despite at least three bus boardings daily .... no questions about covid symptoms, covid exposures, or temperature checks are done for the entire duration of the tour. the "wellness" emphasis is marketing .... it has nothing to do with reality. staff wear masks when in aisles of bus, otherwise they do not. first two hotels were dives ..... with substandard food, management, etc.. tour director was knowledgeable but not helpful when several of us had problems with early and late hotels. pre-paid breakfast vouchers were nowhere to be found. i had the impression that the tour itself was taken care of better than the customers. for instance .... it was a "new" bus and we were repeatedly asked to limit our use of the rest room on the bus ... believe it or not, "doing number two" was explicitly and repeatedly discouraged ...... we were repeatedly warned not to bring beverages with creamer on the bus because that was hard to clean up. when important activities were cancelled, flimsy alternatives ("a good tour director has plans b, c, d, e and f") of lesser interest and lesser value were substituted. Any cancellation (and there were several) were " I hope you know this is beyond Trafalgar's control" while good weather was "this isn't my first rodeo, you are so fortunate to have me as tour director". the "wellness director" was pleasant, but his role was trivialized by the tour director .... in reality, he had very little to do other than unloading the suitcases. he occasionally made one pass with a single cleaning cloth through the contact areas on the overhead compartments. i observed no efforts to clean the bannisters, the seats, the handles or any other part of the bus. at least one member of the tour was obviously ill. she was not isolated. as i said i observed no temp checks, no queries regarding illness or exposures, no effort whatsoever to isolate the ill. traveling without being able to bring a "carry on" wheeled bag (doesn't everyone travel with a wheeled carry on" was a real pain. it led to unpacking and repacking and every hotel, to carrying relatively heavy bags, and to the threat of extra fees for roll on carry on's". Trafalgar said this was "the industry standard". several of the couples on he tour were unable to keep up the pace and were relegated to sitting on the bus or staying at the visitor centers in the parks. on the other hand, there were very few moments for independent enjoyment of the parks ..... my two favorites were the geologic wonders at zion national park and the wildlife at yellowstone. i am taking another trafalgar tour in three weeks. i certainly hope the service and experience is better.Show more
  Traveled in May 2022
  

  Reply from: Trafalgar

  We thank you for putting your concerns through to us; as this helps our team learn where we are going right and where improvements might be made. That being said, we were concerned to note that there may have been several elements of the Five Epic National Parks trip that had fallen beneath your expectations. This is especially concerning, as we know how long some of our guests have waited to be able to travel with Trafalgar since the start of the pandemic. As such, we would like to assure you that all of your valid concerns have been shared with our Operations and Product Development departments for their attention and consideration going forward. In this way, we aim to provide a better overall experience to our future guests. Though we know this cannot change the outcome of your trip, we hope this goes some way to preserve your faith in our company. Furthermore, we look forward to journeying with you again later this season.

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• TH

  Timothy5.0•September 2021
  Definitely could not have seen all that we saw without the tour. Trafalgar took us to all the great places. The...
  Definitely could not have seen all that we saw without the tour. Trafalgar took us to all the great places. The accommodations were nice. The tour director, wellness director, and driver were all fantastic. Worth every penny! I can't wait for my next tour.Show more
  Traveled in September 2021
• S

  Salima5.0•September 2021
  I really enjoyed my trip: unforgettable landscapes, excellent guide and good hotels. Highly recommend this tour.
  Traveled in September 2021
• BM

  Barbara3.0•June 2021
  Great parks but way too much time on the bus and not enough time spent actually exploring the parks. Not sure I...
  Great parks but way too much time on the bus and not enough time spent actually exploring the parks. Not sure I would ever take a bus tour like this again.Show more
  Traveled in April 2021
  

  Reply from: Trafalgar

  Thank you for sharing your feedback here with us. We're happy to hear that you enjoyed visiting the five national parks, and hope that you were able to see some truly spectacular sights. Having said this, we do recognise that you felt there may have been too much time spent on-board our coach. At times, ensuring that we take our guests to the amazing places outlined in our itineraries can mean lengthier periods on the road. However, we recognise that vacations are also meant for relaxing and exploring, and as such, we have shared your comments with our Product Development Department to establish what potential improvements we might make to this particular schedule. With this in mind, we certainly hope you were able to take home some wonderful memories from your time on the road with Trafalgar.

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• JR

  John4.5•May 2019
  Lucked into the right time for this trip avoiding high season, where time that would have been wasted waiting to...
  Lucked into the right time for this trip avoiding high season, where time that would have been wasted waiting to enter / park / view a site was able to be used to attend other scenes. Loved EVERYTHING. But cherished rafting the snake river around Jackson Hole at the beginning of the tour. And the helicopter ride at / around / through the Grand Canyon at the end. A real life participant in your own memory / movie trumps a single photo for me.Show more
  Traveled in May 2019
  

  Reply from: Trafalgar

  Thanks for taking the time to share your review of Five Epic National Parks guided holiday. It’s wonderful to hear that you thoroughly enjoyed our carefully crafted itinerary, and, moreover, that you really were able to see and experience everything that you had been looking forward to. We loved reading about all of the highlights from your trip, and we hope that we can welcome you again to create many more in the future, wherever in the world you decide that might be.

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