"Hi, Derek-
I hope all is going well with you.
Just wanted to give you some general and specific feedback on the trip, now that we’ve been back for a couple of days and had some time to get acclimated with real life again.
The Flemings Mayfair is a wonderful hotel. Having been to other 4 and 5 star London hotels before, we felt this hotel was a tremendous value . The private guide (Sam) on Monday the 18th was phenomenal. We’ve had several private guides in other cities and he was the best.
The Harry Potter Tour was fantastic, and the transportation services were easy to understand and painless. The guides were wonderful. The studio itself doesn’t do a good job of separating those on VIP tours with those in the general admission. We had our own guide, but everyone just followed her around and listened to her as she was talking to us. We got the same experience as general admission. We DID NOT get to skip the queue for entry as they promised. While inside, we were not made aware of additional photo opportunities not available to the general public as promised. We did have the option to go back through the studio and stay as long as we wanted, but I can’t imagine why anyone would want to do that. The tour was comprehensive.
Hotel Montalembert in Paris was lovely. I felt it was overpriced for what we received, especially having just come from such a wonderful property in London. But not having been to Paris before, we have nothing to compare it to, so I may be too critical.
Our room was not ready until 4:30pm on check in day, which was rather frustrating.
The 2-hour driving tour of Paris was wonderful – glad we booked this on the first day as it gave a nice overview/layout of the city to help inspire ideas for other days. Our semi private tour of the Louvre was cancelled because of threat of a strike, so we rescheduled from Thursday to Saturday.
The full-day tour of Versailles was amazing – couldn’t have been more pleased with this experience. The tour guide was great – not as good as Sam in London, but Sam was the best.
The evening dinner cruise was wonderful. A bit of a cattle call and rush experience at the beginning, but once everyone was settled in, it was a very enjoyable experience and well worth the expense
Semi-private tour of the Louvre was great. These tours are definitely the way to go.
Thanks so much for your help in putting all of this together for us. It was a wonderful trip; one we will never forget.
My best,
Preston C.