Reviews

A fully packed holiday which did live up to expectations and exceeded by the prescence of an excellent guide who was with us throughout the holiday.

I would recommend this holiday to anyone who would like to see Vietnam in a very condensed period of time

Wendy Wu Japan Undercover - October 2024


This was my 5th holiday booked with Wendy Wu over the past 14 years and found some aspects of the Japanese holiday disappointing.

The size of the Japan Undercover tour group was 27 travellers in total which was far too large for a very busy tourist place like Japan. Plus with some within the group finding it difficult to visit some of the planned places of interest listed in the Wendy Wu Japan itinerary, because a large proportion of the group were limited in physical ability or stamina in so many ways.

This had several repercussions when visiting sites of interest listed in the itinerary like the spectacular Kiyomizu Temple, which was cancelled at the last minute and the group was given the option of going shopping with the Tour Guide or going on their own to find places of interest for the next few hours until rejoining the group again. As a keen amateur photographer of over 55 years I was absolutely furious as this was meant to be one of my highlights to capture behind the lens. I did not pay all this money to be offered a shopping trip as some means to compensate! I was not alone in feeling this disappointment . I do not think on this occasion that the Tour Guide made the right decision.

The slow moving group of 27, generally had less time in visiting sites of interest listed in the itinerary and on one occasion with limited time when visiting the snow monkeys, a large proportion of the group walked to the entrance gates at an average walking pace and paid for their own admission fee’s instead of waiting for the Tour Guide bringing the slower members of the group to the entrance gates. This give me and others valuable time to take photos.

Visiting Mount Fuji was also very disappointing with only 30 minutes visiting time allocated from getting out of the coach and returning back to our seats. It was a cloudy day ( not in anyone’s control) and waiting for a break in the clouds to see the peak was near impossible with the time allocated, with only a very few of the group managing to see the summit. Again a major disappointment for me. I shared the same view with others on the Tour that Kiki had not planned our departure time adequately . We were told that morning that the evening meal at the hotel was booked early, “at 6 o’clock” which left little time to return to the hotel from Mount Fuji .The hotel evening meal was rushed with plates taken away before some had even finished their food. We had to leave the table before the next Wendy Wu Tour group was arriving at 7 o’clock. Why on earth was a meal at the hotel at such an early sitting even considered versus the opportunity to see Mount Fuji. The food and service weren’t even worth rushing back for. This was not acceptable and I was not alone with feeling so let down by Kiki’s poor planning.

Sometimes the itinerary felt like a tick box exercise without having adequate time given to enjoy the sites of interest. It was apparent that too much time was allocated for midday food (lunches) and shopping within tourist traps. As stated before why come all this way to Japan at such an expense to be offered such a poor rate itinerary on some days.

On a positive note it was wonderful having a Wendy Wu representative meeting me at Osaka airport with a friendly face and being very helpful by looking after me and my travel cases for an hour until the hotel coach came to collect me.
Also the professional friendly coach drivers with their clean and comfortable coaches was really welcomed .
Our Tour Guide Kiki was also very friendly, helpful and hard working with such a large group in a very busy environment. In my opinion it was unfair of Wendy Wu Tours to expect such a large group of diverse ability to be managed fairly and equally by Kiki. It was evident that although Kiki did her best to manage the dynamic of our group, she did on occasions struggle with the challenges presented to her, by this inequity of the group composition.

However, I would like to balance my feedback and share that Kiki’s spoken English on the odd occasion was a little confusing, but her knowledge of the sites we visited and information provided to us was very good.
At this point I would like to point out that Wendy Wu Tours had promised that for groups larger than 10 people , the group would automatically be provide with both an international guide ( Kiki) and a local guide. We were not provided with a local guide for this Tour and an explanation was not given. This was not acceptable and once again this Tour was not cheap.

For our last night, the river and dining cruise was well received by my group with everyone had a wonderful time.

In summary, overall the contents of the itinerary was good but had we been given more time at the dedicated sites would have made the trip more memorable.

The hotels chosen, with their locations were generally of a high standard.

The lunches provided were not of a good standard, however on most evenings the hotel meals provided were good.

I believe for me this is now the right time to say goodbye to Wendy Wu Tours and to find an alternative travel company that better suits my needs and expectations .

It is sad that this last tour has not lived up to my expectations as the last four tours were great when I visited China, Vietnam & Cambodia, Myanmar and India . These were memorable for all the right reasons.

With sincere feedback I close with these comments… I truly believe that if Wendy Wu plan to maintain their status in this highly competitive worldwide travel industry ,that you need to seriously consider the size and make up of the dynamic , ability and age of the groups . Putting profit before quality is not in my opinion the way forward,

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to read my feedback.

An absolutely amazing adventure with a great group of people and an amazing guide in Vietnam - Kim !
This was my first solo holiday and I would not hesitate to go on another Wendy Wu tour but this will take some beating !
We saw Vietnam essentially from top to bottom . From the bustle of Hanoi to the peace of the Panhou retreat just 30km from the Chinese border to the majesty of Halong Bay . Then onto Hoi An and Hue both so different but both equally memorable . Then Saigon - a Vespa tour is an essential for everyone - and the time to reflect on what we saw in the Cu chi tunnels and the war remnants museum . And then onto the Mekong delta for an overnight stop in Ben tre
The walking in Hoang Su Phi was not as challenging as the itinerary might have suggested and I chickened out of the cycling ! The hotels were all well situated and all of a more than acceptable standard - the most important part was the beds as certainly needed good nights sleep to keep up with the adventure .
The group was sad to leave Vietnam and Kim who as I have already said was amazing at looking after us and was full of amazing stories and shared his experiences with us .
However we still had Cambodia to visit and I guess my only criticism of the whole trip was it should have been slightly longer to give us a bit more time in Cambodia . The Angkor Wat complex was amazing as was the visit the following day to the village on stilts . Our guide Chet obviously had a hard act to follow but again he was great !
My highlights - the retreat , walking in the mountains , Halong bay , the bamboo circus in Hoi An and the mad ride on coracle boats , the Vespa tour ,eating and drinking fresh coconut in the Mekong the Angkor complex and the Phare Circus !
A truly amazing adventure

Efficient, knowledgable and friendly - very good indeed

This was a holiday of a life time for me. I researched for holidays in Cambodia for a while and decided to book with Wendy Wu Tours as it incorporated Vietnam too. Both the countries were amazing, their people, cuisine and historical buildings were incredible. The guides for both countries were extremely knowledgeable about current affairs and the history and made the whole travel experience feel seamless. My fellow travellers were also great fun and helped with making the holiday enjoyable. I had such an amazing experience that when I got back to the UK, I booked next years holiday with Wendy Wu.

It was a magical holiday. As a fairly recent widower I was concerned about being one of only three singletons but this was not to be as everyone was really friendly - 'A good bunch of Brits and Aussies!'.
Observations/Comments:
* Slightly disappointed in the 'Sabi River Sun Resort' hotel compared to all the others but understand this was a rescheduled venue for some reason and it was for only one night.
* Lizwe Ndlovu was an excellet ****** for the first part of the tour however disappointed by Nabeel Daniels who was the ****** from Port Elizabeth through to the end of the holiday:
- he made no attempt to get to know 'who was who'. This became evident when one person missing on a 'head count'.
- he did not represent Wendy Wu well in appearance wearing 'joggers' for most of the time and only a 'WW' poloshirt on our arrival at Port Elizabeth and on departure day.
- no formal 'goodbyes' for those leaving at different times.
- he kept reminding us to provide a good review!
* As an observation the double wine tour together with the final night event at 'Gold' was a bit much for the final day even though all much enjoyed.
A great trip and I'll be back for another 'WW' tour - last year was Vietnam and Cambodia (incl Mekong Cruise).

Amazing Holiday with excellent guides throughout

Very efficient and friendly

Excellent tour to Cambodia and Vietnam although very full on! All the major attractions visited. The cruise to Halong Bay on the Auca2 was amazing although could be a bit longer…one night and it felt like we didn’t get the full 2 days’ cruise! The guides were very knowledgeable and looked after us very well, cannot fault them at all.
Most of the restaurants’ set meals, sharing at times were good except a 2 restaurants where there wasn’t enough of a dish to go round and when this was pointed out we were told it’s to be shared between 4 people and made to feel like we couldn’t count! - the portion allocated was enough for 3 people! Lol!
Kimi

Really great tour, only frustration was the last day, where we had to check out at 12.00 noon, but were not picked up for our flight until 9.30pm and no late check outs available, and nowhere to shower or change. Long day !

The tour itself was fine. The meals were the same things for lunch and dinner and after 12 days everyone on the tour was fed up and wanted something different. It would have been nice to have some time to do things on your own, like shopping. It was an early starts every day and then about 1 hour to get ready for the evening meals. The tours were very long winded at times in the very hot weather and people started to walk off. The guide was very good and helpful. Very disappointed that we did not go to the show as advertised. We were told before travelling that the Tonkin show was not running and it would be a similar one. The night before we saw this show from across the river and it looked brilliant but when we were taken to a show it was not the one we had seen the previous evening it was just acrobats which was very boring. Hoi An is famous for its lanterns at night but we never even saw this. Wendy Wu needs to realise that people do not want to know about the very ancient history all the time but would like to see the way of life in Vietnam now. I love history but it goes over your head when there is too much of it.

I did everything on line and it was very easy. I have confidence in Wendy Wu as I have used them for China, Japan, Ecuador and Cambodia/ Vietnam already. I have always wanted to do the Five stans, however a level "5" holiday is too much for me these days. Seeing Uzbekistan was a level "1" and within a capable price bracket and was offering a discount, I jumped straight in.

Arti has been very helpful with my friend and I booking for next year to go to Vietnam. She gave us all the information that we needed to decide and explained what was covered in the price.
I already have recommended WW to a friend at work who has registered with you.

Phone call centre to enquire about additional nights on published tour. Natasha handled all my questions very professionally adding suggestions from her own experience. Called back two days later to book holiday. Different operator but not a problem. All details were on screen with additional flights and hotels. All very smooth now booked and looking forward to my trip.

The staff were extremely helpful when we were booking our holiday and very patient in answering our questions. Nothing was too much trouble and we are really looking forward to our holiday to Vietnam and Cambodia next year.