72-person ‘small-group’ tour

My husband, Steven, and I took the 10-day “Life in Japan” tour, May 13-22, 2007, with General Tours. The cost was $6,328 for both of us, including one extra day in Tokyo, another in Kyoto and the optional tour to Nikko. We purchased airfare separately.

In two phone conversations with General Tours representatives, we were told that our group would have only 13 people. Upon meeting the tour in Japan, we found that five General Tours groups (on the tours “Life in Japan,” “Inland Sea of Japan,” “Japan Sampler,” “The Spirit of Old Japan” and “From Japan to China’s Yangtze”) had been combined into one massive tour of 72 people for most of our trip and only later would divide into smaller groups. During discussions with several people on our tour, we found that they had been told the same thing and were as shocked and upset as we were.

At the check-in, we all were divided into two groups and assigned one of two buses. The two groups kept the same schedule as we toured Tokyo. There was a guide on each bus who walked us through the main tourist places.

The guides walked briskly. We were constantly reminded that we had to stay up with the group or we would be left behind. This caused real problems for several people who had some minor problems walking. I personally was told that I didn’t walk fast enough and was asked why I was on this tour. Two women on the tour fell and were injured.

The optional trip to Nikko had 40 people and a different tour guide. She gave several directions in rapid succession, telling us where to be or we would miss that part of the tour. This caused much confusion, as she could not be easily heard or understood.

We heard some of the explanations but missed a lot. There were group discussions trying to determine what she had said. She continued on with her explanations and kept moving. The weather was pouring rain.

The two buses and 72 people stayed together for our trip to Mt. Fuji and Hakone. We felt like we were being herded to the Fifth Station (a tourist stop on Mt. Fuji) and up a tram and on a boat ride in Hakone. It significantly reduced the enjoyment of that part of the tour to the point that it wasn’t worth it.

After the boat ride, we were told that some of us were not going to stay with the main group at the Palace Hotel. There was some excuse that 72 people were too many for the hotel to accommodate. We were relegated to another hotel without the same quality of accommodations, like the spa facilities.

That evening, our “special” Japanese dinner was a Western-style meal served very late, after all the other guests had finished their dinner.

In Kyoto we were again on two buses. Once we were at our hotel there, our guide remained in the lobby to answer questions. We told her that there were three additional places we wanted to see. She said that two of them were too difficult to arrange and there would not be time on the tour to shop in the marketplace, so we should go to the market on our free afternoon to buy the special cooking knives we wanted.

We did that — speaking to the hotel concierge, who quickly arranged all three visits — and missed seeing Nijo Castle. As it turned out, there was more than enough time during the tour to visit the shop for our knives.

Our Kyoto/Nara day was exactly like our other touring days, with two large groups, brief explanations and a fast pace.

The next day we began the 3-day, 13-person tour of Kyoto. It was wonderful. This is what we thought we had signed up for. Our guide, Miko, tailored things to the abilities of the group. We saw everything on the itinerary and did not feel rushed.

We felt we had been misled by General Tours’ description of the palace tour, though: “Here you enjoy an exclusive visit inside the Kyoto Imperial Palace.” We thought we would see the insides of the buildings, not just the grounds. Learning this made missing Nijo Castle even more disappointing.

Our special tour of the palace grounds was open to a huge group of people and we had difficulty even hearing the official Japanese guide, so it was good that our guide had provided additional explanations.

I must admit that during the entire trip the tour guides tried to make sure people were not left behind. They described each place we visited, and whenever we were up in front we could hear what they said. They did ensure that people knew where to eat, change money and do shopping, etc.

We would have chosen another company for our trip had we known we would spend most of our time in an extremely large group. It greatly diminished our enjoyment of the trip.

DOROTHY SCHECHTER

Fountain Valley, CA

ITN sent a copy of the above letter to General Tours (53 Summer St., Keene, NH 03431-3318) but received no reply. Ms. Schechter did receive a letter from General Tours. She told ITN that it contained an apology and read, “Although we were not successful in obtaining refunds from Japan vendors, as a goodwill gesture I’ve enclosed a check in the amount of $200 as well as a $200 travel voucher. . .”

“I appreciate General Tours’ problems and their apology. I would travel again to Japan but not on one of their tours.”