tcsworldtravel.comReviews of tcsworldtravel.com

We used Chelsea at TCS for our dream vacation to Africa (Victoria Falls, 3 game reserves in Botswana, then ended in Cape Town for R&R). We deferred almost completely to Chelsea on the itinerary with some general guidelines on what we were looking for. Each of our hotels/camps were fantastic and very high end in terms of accomodations, friendliness and professionalism of the staff, and knowledge of the guides was outstanding. A truly memorable experience. My only complaints / suggestions are that the trip was very expensive and there was little price transparency on what each component of the trip cost. Additionally, we were constrained to 20 lbs of bags and the bags had to be in a duffel without wheels when it turned out that didn't really matter to the small planes we were traveling in. And two of the camps provided nice DSLRs with large telephoto lenses but TCS couldn't arrange similar cameras in the other locations so I had to carry my own.

TCS did a FANTASTIC job with my ATW trip - 13 solo travelers and others got along well. Trip was well planned - they anticipated all our needs. Water, bug spray, sunscreen, etc. available to us as needed. Great destinations, tour options, 5 star hotels, plenty of room on buses, last minute changes were possible if wanted. VERY unique experiences. Tour guides were wonderful and supportive. Meals, tips all inclusive. NO nickel and diming! Plane and crew were also accommodating and excellent - loved all the room and flat bed seats! This was a FABULOUS journey I would take again! We had a photographer to capture all of our tours and events and a doctor should we need his services. Loved the Vespa Food Tour in Cambodia and Hot Air Balloon ride over the Serengeti - all included in the price of the trip...no extra payments were required. TOP NOTCH service. Can't say enough about how impressed I was! Don't wait for something special - celebrate YOU now, and experience the world the TCS way!

The destinations were great and all the planning and organization was fantastic; nothing was left to chance and the staff did everything they possibly could do to meet our needs. The expedition leaders were great as were the experts, the chef and other staff. The aircraft was impeccable; the only thing that could be improved would be the wifi on the aircraft that did not work at any point in time during the trip so that could benefit from an upgrade.

Attention to every detail and well taken care of.

Team leaders were very qualified and always willing to help arrange any outside activities, plane was fantastic, this is our second around the world trip

The trip was very well organized. The itinerary was well thought out and when a major change was necessary after the trip began, TCS personnel made the change seamless.

This is a very expensive trip! What was great - the plane and the plane staff - absolutely flawless aside from some meals when served on a trolley; the sites visited which is why people go on the trip; the hotels - absolutely wonderful, aside from Australia; the tour leader Andrea who knew we were not happy but did every thing she could to fix things/make it better - she was outstanding. What was not so great - 1) we thought we were signing up for private jet travel and FBOs. Instead we went through commercial airports and stood in security lines, immigration lines, walked to commercial gates, ad nauseum - with one exception (I think is was Egypt). We were told we could leave stuff on the plane on our destinations but instead had to carry everything off with no assistance in some places and take our luggage to a van in a parking lot. I counted 26 security/immigration lines that we stood in. 2) the schedule was, to put it politely, nuts. We had to have our luggage out of our room often at 4 am and sometimes the night before we left. Because we were going through commercial airports, we needed to leave the hotels four hours in advance. We ended up skipping the Taj Mahal because it would have required buses to and from the airport, in-country flights, lines, security, etc. before flying 8 hours to Tanzania. 3) the promised lectures from two excellent academics seldom happened because the technology on the plane didn't work - that resulted in jamming in lectures between arriving some where and dinner in an already jam packed schedule. As I said to Andrea, I feel like I'm in the army. 4) not TCS's fault but just about everyone got sick - we were all croaking by the time we arrived back in Orlando to wait for our luggage in the commercial airport baggage claim, to take the train to our hotel. 5) Every inquiry that I made prior to the trip was answered incorrectly - can I take hiking sticks to Machu Picchu (no - but in fact you could), can I leave medication that required refrigeration on the plane (yes - but in fact we couldn't); can we have oxygen portable cans in Cusco (yes - but instead we arrived to find a hospital-grade tank in our room), are we going through FBOs (yes but in fact we didn't). There were other people on the trip who had traveled with TCS before and said that they had always gone through FBOs. Not sure why this changed. I gave this three stars because the contrast between what was excellent (which was really excellent) and what was awful (which was really awful) resulted in an average. I would never recommend this company to any one who expects first class service. It did not live up to what was promised/implied by their PR. But Andrea was great!

TCS handled all details perfectly. We had an amazing adventure and seamless service.