Nordic Saga Reviews 79

Good morning, Anna of NordicSaga!

Holly and I have returned from our lovely trip to Scandinavia. We appreciate your working with us to plan it so beautifully. I'd like to offer some feedback—mostly highlights and a few challenges.

The hotels you chose were just fine, and you know how wonderful hotel breakfasts are in Europe. The breakfast was especially terrific at the Best Western in Bergen. Yum! The most wonderful hotel was in Ulrik, Norway. We enjoyed an incredible view from our room—water and mountains!

The train trips were perfect. The trains were so clean and comfortable. All transportation was excellent, buses and planes included. We made every connection without a hitch.

The only challenges we encountered were in Norway with the Hardanger in a Nutshell tour, and while they were not major problems, we think it would behoove you to be aware. We were impressed with how well-orchestrated the connections were. The buses were waiting for us as promised, as were the boats. There was no time for dilly-dallying, as the drivers left right on schedule. When we arrived in Ulvik, we were the only passengers on the bus who stayed in Ulvik; all the other passengers boarded a boat. This confused us, as it was not clear that we had an entire free day in Ulvik! We spent a few hours feeling like we 'missed the boat.'

At about 11 am, we began walking up the road to our hotel and fortunately met the owner of the hotel when we asked for directions. He took our baggage to store at the hotel, but we could not check into our room until 1:00 (supposed to be 3:00, but they made an exception). We checked out the hotel and then headed back into town for something to do. There is a lovely church, open to visitors, with a fascinating cemetery on the grounds. We visited the local grocery store and bought snacks for a picnic at a park on the water. Our day in Ulvik turned out to be delightful, thanks to a young woman at the local Tourist Office (We recommend you suggest that people on our plan go to the Tourist Office immediately after departing the bus). She suggested that we walk up to an apple orchard in Ulvik called ulvikfrukt&cideri. We enjoyed an hour round-trip walk to the orchard and a glass of cider once we reached our destination.

Another issue in Ulvik was that the hotel had no record that dinner and breakfast were included in our reservation. We showed the receptionist our hotel voucher, and she reluctantly did not charge us extra for meals. That was a little awkward. The incredibly delicious water made up for any misunderstanding. It was the best water I have ever tasted!

The next day, June 11, was an incredible day by boat and bus. The waterfall was inaccessible because of a car accident, so we went to a little farm instead. It was just right. At the Hardangervidda Nature Center, we watched an incredible panoramic movie about Norway and ate a delicious lunch at the lodge. The boat trip was incredible! We stopped at several towns to let passengers on and off, getting a flavor of the country. Our bus ride back to Bergen was fine, yet the walk back to our hotel was NOT short. It was about a mile, and with luggage (and we travel light), it was more than we bargained for. I would suggest that people take a cab from the bus station to the hotel.

You did a fabulous job connecting us from Copenhagen to Stockholm to Nassjo, back to Stockholm, and onto Bergen. We enjoyed a few days with my relatives in Sweden. Stockholm is my personal favorite city that I've ever visited (Budapest a close second). All the travel vouchers worked, and we felt organized and confident at almost every step of the way.

Thank you for making our trip so memorable, Anna. I would not hesitate to recommend you for Scandinavia trip planning.

Sincerely,

Cary

Our hotel, train, boat & bus arrangements were handled well by our travel agent Bobby at Nordic Saga. We enjoyed seeing Norway's inland & coastal cities, fjords & mountains!

Got delayed in NY by blizzard. Agent was great in rearranging things for us and had a taxi waiting at Rejkavik to pick us up and take us to meet the tour group. The tour itself was excellent. Accommodations were very good. Food was good. Bus was comfortable. Booked the cheaper option (large group) but as it turned out there were only 19 people in our group. Driver was great in bad conditions. Felt very safe with him. Scenery was wonderful and have no complaints.

Our visa-free tour from Helsinki to St Petersburg was wonderful! All arrangements worked out smoothly. The ferry trips on the St. Peterline’s “Princess Maria” from and to Helsinki were pleasant with a comfortable, roomy cabin and great choices of food for dinners and breakfasts. As promised, a private tour guide (Ludmilla), with car and driver (Dmitri) were at the St Petersburg ferry terminal to meet us for the extensive tour of the city. It was certainly a huge benefit to have a private guide for our visit to the Hermitage Museum, bypassing the queues. Ludmilla was an excellent guide throughout the entire day. The Hotel Domina Prestige where we were taken at the end of the 7+ hours of the tour was of a very high standard, with friendly helpful staff who spoke excellent English. This hotel is so central – an easy walk to the Neva River, the Hermitage, Palace Square, etc. Mariia was our guide for the next 2 days, driving us herself to Pushkin one day and to the Peterhof the following day. We cannot thank Mariia enough for her enthusiasm in sharing so much information with us during these 2 days. We also thank Susie Main for her helpfulness in arranging the tour. In conclusion, we can whole-heartedly recommend this visa free tour to St Petersburg arranged for us by Susie Main of Nordic Saga Tours, and we thank Susie for all her help! The tour gave an excellent overview of the city and the museums and palaces which were included in the program. Best of all was the benefit of the private guide, so much better than tagging along with a full-busload of tourists with one guide! Many thanks to Nordic Saga Tours and Susie, Ludmilla and Mariia!

I used Nordic Saga to book all our travel and accommodation arrangements for our 30 day trip to 5 Nordic countries. By using this company, we were able to travel independently, without having to worry about various travel and lodging logistics. Everything worked out very well, their choices were very suitable for our needs and budget.

Of note, Nordic Saga was able to get us good travel and accommodation rates, better than other companies who packaged travel and hotels together and called it "an independent tour", with rates that appeared to be about 10 to 20% higher than Nordic Saga. They also got us a better trans-atlantic flight rate than I could get booking on my own online.

Nordic Saga was able to provide the advice we needed both before our trip and even during our trip when we had a few questions. Susie Main in particular was very knowledgeable and responsive to our various queries.

We had a group of 15 family and friends traveling to Iceland and Norway in the summer of 2015. Susie was very helpful with all of our groups needs and changes and was able to find accommodations to fill all our needs. The whole trip was wonderful (except for the chilly weather) and ended with our stay at a lighthouse in Norway which was beautiful.

Nordic Saga (Susie) planned our itinerary, booked flights, car rental, and all hotels. They helped plan every step of the way and answered all my questions. The trip was beautifully planned and hotels were great. Only snag in our trip was handled by our travel agent as soon as we returned. Would highly recommend this agency!

Nordic Saga and Susie were really helpful and patient helping me with planning my trip to Norway with my granddaughter. The up front planning and ticketing of the domestic flights was really smart and enabled us to fit in a LOT of stops - visiting relatives plus seeing the most scenic, memorable areas of the north, west coast and Oslo.

Hi Bobby, We're back from our tour of Scandinavia and Russia. Wanted to reach out and say thanks again for making it such a successful trip. We loved getting to see all those different countries in only a week. The whole trip was highly organized and the guide we had was very professional. Other than the poor weather in Stockholm, it stayed sunny the majority of the time which we were both thankful for. There were so many things we loved in each city, but just being on those guided city tours was a lot of fun. I always enjoy learning about the history and culture of each new place I visit. It gives you a new perspective and you tend to appreciate your surroundings a bit more while you're there if you're actually familiar with it.

I am a travel agent and used Nordic Saga to arrange a vacation in Norway for my clients. Here is their rave review!
That was the most incredible vacation ever, in Norway. That is a WONDERFUL country to visit. All of the arrangements were perfect! Thank you for taking on the project of scheduling everything for us. Wonderful trip. Best vacation I ever took.
Judy M.

We were very pleased with this trip for the most part. It was done by the oldest tour company in Iceland and was well arranged. The guide was knowledgable, and kept an eye on the weather, changing itinerary to ensure the best weather possible. There was ample time provided to see sights and just spend time enjoying the scenery. There were dozens of stops for photos. I would not recommend tourist class for elderly or handicapped, as the hotel rooms were all upstairs and there were no elevators. Staff was mostly helpful with luggage, but rooms were tiny with no room to put it once we got it there. The restaurant at the hotel in Akeyrui was super expensive, and there was no other in close proximity. We ate sandwiches and yogurt several evenings. The hotel in Hella had a supermarket near and a good restaurant with a owner who treated us great. Food good,also. We had a great group of people traveling with us from various European countries, Australia, Canada, And Asia. Everyone was friendly, and by the end we were good friends. The only problem occurred on the return to the airport. The bus was looking for us at a different hotel than where we were booked, and we had to take a taxi which barely got us to the airport in time and cost us $125.00 U.S. We did not get reimbursed for that, I have traveled in the past with a group that handles everything for us, so this was a learning experience. One more thing, you can charge everywhere, even street food vendors. You need a card with a chip and you are good to go.

We had a wonderful tour - Fabulous Scandinavia. Everything went on well and the tour was conducted in a professional manner. The tour leader was Mr. Rafael and he did a superb job. Besides, Mr. keith from Borealis Destination Management was very helpful. The climate was pleasant throughout the tour and places visited are very scenic and real treat to our eyes.

The tour booking and arrangements was done thru Mr. Alex Vilkevich of East West Travels (BRIDGES UNLIMITED INC. 18518 Bothell Way NE, Ste B, Bothell WA 98011). Though the request was sent very late, he handled it courtesouly and professionally and his efforts were really outstanding, without which our tour would not have been possible.

Overall, it is an excellent trip and a memorable one and is highly recommended !

Susie Main, the operations manager at Nordic Saga,was most helpful as we made arrangements for our trip. Our flights to and from Iceland were uneventful . She booked our transportation to and from the hotels where we stayed prior to and following our tour. Our only complaint was that the second hotel refused to give us any kind of breakfast,even a piece of fruit,because we were picked up by the airport shuttle prior to the start of breakfast. The first hotel,on the other hand, offered to give us breakfast if we had to leave before the official breakfast time.

For the first week,we stayed at Hotel Edda in Akureyri. The hotel was convenient to town (within walking distance). A beautiful breakfast was served each day and was included in our tour cost. We saw some wonderful sights; however, because our tour guide did not speak English clearly, we missed out on a lot of the history and culture of Iceland. Needless to say, we were very disappointed. Our tour guide was not at all personable. In fact, he rarely answered questions posed by members of our group.

For the second week, we stayed at Hotel Hella near Reykjavik. This hotel was completely unsatisfactory! First of all, it was near absolutely nothing. When we returned from the tour each day, there was nothing to do; there was only one restaurant and a grocery store anywhere nearby. The breakfasts were unsatisfactory - very little was offered and that was not appetizing. For example, what was presented as orange juice was some type of powdered mix (tang in the US). We could not buy yogurt at the grocery store and keep it for breakfast, because there was no refrigerator in the room. We had to drink warm soft drinks and wine if we chose to buy any at the grocery. Hair dryers were not provided. The rooms were not clean. As you can imagine, the week was horrible.

Finally, on our South of Iceland tour (the second week of our trip), we spent one day doing exactly what we had done on one of the days on the North of Iceland tour. To me, that was not fair to do the same thing on two days.

Due to the inability of the tour guide to interact with the participants, we will not use Nordic Saga again. I think that with the amount of money we spent, we should have had a knowledgeable and well spoken guide. I also think we should not have been subjected to a third rate hotel when the ad for the tour implied that accommodations would be comfortable and adequate - definitely not the case at Hotel Hella.

Clients were extremely satisfied because the guides made the trip come alive for them. The highlight of the trip was the helicopter excursion (a total personal experience). Thank you Alex, for your patience and wealth of knowledge and seeing that our clients expectations were greatly exceeded.

We had a great time on our trip to Europe. The flights were quite good, the hotels were very nice (especially the one in Florence and Paris), and the tour guides were outstanding. The sightseeing program was a bit too busy and lengthy, but we learned a lot about European history and culture. The weather was nice too with cool days and only one day of rain. We will continue to use your services and will recommend you to friends who are seeking assistance with travel plans.

We have just returned from a 7 day trip to Norway. We planned this trip because we thought it would be a great adventure and we were not disappointed. We loved everything: the country, the people, and amazing fjords... Nordic Saga Tours was very instrumental in arranging this trip. They booked our hotels, airfares, train and ferry tickets and city passes. We received our complete itinerary and all train tickets and vouchers 3 weeks before the trip. It would have been nice to get our travel documents sooner but some of the train tickets could be booked only 45 days prior to travel. All travel arrangements worked out like clockwork. Vouchers and train tickets were accepted without any problems. Alex from Nordic Saga selected very nice hotels, clean and quiet, nothing fancy but good quality and value for the money. We were satisfied with Nordic Saga Tours and can recommend them unequivocally.

Pat and I had a great trip to Iceland. The tour guide and bus driver were well adjusted to the requirements of the touring members and performed their duties beyond. Other members of the group got along very well with each other and many laughs were shared among the group; this alone makes for a good tour.

The scenery around the Island was an experience which included a great many things hat I have not seen before, such as lava flows, glaciers, glacier lagoons, dormant volcanoes for a few.

Hotel accommodations were very good, however, a couple had small shower facilities and several did not have sufficient cover on the windows to keep out the daylight at 2:00am which none of us were use to seeing.

The meals were very good for those of us who would try anything at least once. I found at most locations at the end of day meal (supper) there was a set meal of either fish, lamb or chicken -not bad-. However there were two or three members who did not eat meat or fish and because of little selection of food provided were served roasted stuffed "Bell Peppers" three nights in a row.

On the final night our hotel was changed from the "Hilton" to the "Marina" which was OK since it placed us in the downtown area where it was an easy walk to the main attractions.

However, the hotel was not in good communications with the "Flybus" company as we were told by thr hotel receptionist to wait in the lobby and the driver would come into the area and announce the bus. This never happened. Apparently the "Flybus" driver waits at the street corner (out of view from the lobby) and if nobody is there they continue to the next hotel. As a result we were running out of time and I was thinking of hiring a Taxi to the airport. However, in the end everything tuned out as Flybus held the main bus at the terminal until they came on a special trip to get us. But then one has to expect a few glitches.

All in all it was an excellent experience.

My family loved our tour of Denmark, Susie made booking our trip enjoyable and we look forward to working with her again!

My wife and I really enjoyed the tour we took to Iceland through Nordic Saga Tours and we can't thank Susie enough for all of her hard work. All of the arrangements went smoothly and the guides and hotels were excellent. I would highly recommend Nordic Saga Tours when traveling to Iceland.
Martin

We had so much fun on our tour in Sweden. Great hotels, wonderful service, and the tour guides were engaging, very knowledgeable, and mad the tour lively and fun. Beautiful scenery and just an all around excellent trip! We worked with Susie at Nordic Saga Tours and had the best experience. She made all of our arrangements with ease and our trip went very smoothly. I will definitely be working with Susie again in the future and she comes with my highest recommendation!