Journey Latin America / Journeyscape Traveller Reviews

This holiday covered many things Nature, Volcanoes, Mayan ruins,Beach,different modes of travel,Easter festivities.

JLA The itinerary was accurate.

We have just returned from a wonderful holiday in Cuba. Everything about Cuba is astonishing. We travelled around the western half of the island - Havana, Cienfuegos, Santa Clara, Trinidad and Vinales. We stayed in both hotels and homestays and had guided tours in each location. We really felt that we got to know the people and the country. The history, architecture, natural beauty and ambience of Cuba is truly amazing!

Journey Latin America provided an excellent service tailoring our trip to suit our wishes.

Generally went well after volcanic ash caused a delay; the Mayan ruins were very interesting but the wildlife opportunities were not quite as good as we had hoped.

JLA lacked a little current information & could have advised slightly better opportunities.

I saw a good variety of wildlife in two contrasting areas; the Ibera wetlands in the North and the Peninsula Valdes in the south.

The tour operator put me in touch and booked with two lodges I did not know about. Both were excellent.

We gave JLA a brief to work on and they came up with a tour of Cuba which was exactly what we wanted. Their knowledge of the country was second to none. We toured in a car for 12 days and covered 1540 km without mishap. We had professional salsa lessons which were excellent and tailored to our standard. We walked and birdwatched. We met lots of local people and were met always with courtesy and genuine friendliness. Nowhere were we hassled. The cuisine was nowhere as boring as we had been led to believe by the guidebooks and the music everywhere seemed to be for the locals' enjoyment rather than put on for the tourists. A knowledge of Spanish is essential outside La Habana.

JLA is a specialist company arranging tours in central and south america. They have unlimited experience and knowledge and could not have been more helpful and supportive.

Fabulous tour of Patagonia regions of Chile and Argentina

Very experienced and helpful - this is my third trip with them

Got to know Cuba and the cubanos in some depth. Drove over 1000 km without incident. Few dining Moments of note as expected. Had a really great time By getting off the beaten track away from tourist places.

Have used them before and performed as expected

We took a 10 day tour of Colombia ( 2 nights Bogota; 3 nights San Agustin; 2 nights Montenegro; 3 nights Cartagena)

JLA are professional and we like the fact they will adapt their standard tours to fit our needs eg leaving out places we do not want to visit and adding extensions at a beach resort following a tour. We have travelled with them on 3 occasions and each time all arrangements went smoothly.

Excellent guides, hotels (apart from Las Clementinas in Panama City) and we saw such a lot. very well organised by JLA

We have used JLA 8 or 9 times since 2000 and have always had a fantastic time with well planned itineraries and the company always listens to our requests

The description of the hotels used as 'mid-range and well-equipped' was well wide of the mark, half of them were very poor. Panama City hotel was disgusting. I opened my room to find blood stained mattress protector and no sheets, no towels, bins full including the used toilet paper bin ie the room hadn't been prepared at all. A great start to the holiday. The safety deposit box didn't work either and lucky if you got hot water, which turned out to be common factors at most hotels. Hotel in San Jose was also particularly appalling with no direct room ventilation to the outside and a disgusting breakfast of a fried egg and 2 small slices of bread. At the Copan hotel we were kept awake til the early hours by (we discovered the next day)local drug dealers who had occupied the hotel foyer.The extent of the additional costs involved – optional excursions, border taxes, tipping etc - wasn't mentioned until I received the final documents or even on the bus, had I known them before I booked I may have booked elsewhere where these were included in the price. The buses used rarely had seat belts and little leg room for long journeys especially if you had to sit over a wheel.

1.Though others had the same problem as me of a lack of hot water, having paid a single room supplement of £663 I didn't expect to be given any lesser a room than couples who had booked together but this was overtly the case in the way rooms were allocated in most of the hotels, couples were given the most spacious rooms in the best locations. Having viewed the rates at the hotels stayed at I also consider the amount of the single supplement I was charged excessive and fail to see how the figure could be justified. 2. No indigenous tour leader and few indigenous guides 3. Tour details changed to omit Managua where I expected to be able to take some photos at least. 4. Significant 'hidden' costs not informed about until receipt of itinerary or later.