Grand Circle Travel Reviews

I have traveled with Grand Circle Travel several times. I really love their customer service. The hotels they picked, are great. Their guides go out of their way to make you comfortable. I have been on their river cruises. They are wonderful.

Incredible crew! The staff was so thoughtful and extremely well trained. The food was delicious and presented beautifully. All the excursions were well planned and have an insightful look at French culture and history.

This was our first Grand Circle experience. We cruised the Rhone for Toulouse Lyon. It was fantastic. The "CHANSON" was beautiful and intimate without any feeling of being small. The staff and guests quickly became a family enjoying each other's company - and I mean all the staff from the Captain to the people doing our rooms. Corrinna, the Ship's social director, was a sweet bundle of energy. Vincent, the tour director for our group, and Louise, director for the other, were a team when together. Vincent was knowledgeable, patient and like having a friend taking you around when visiting.

Paris was our gathering place to begin the Lyon to Toulouse Rhone River cruise. We were only there for 2 nights, one of which was spent trying to acclimate to the new time zone. Next time, I will take advantage of the "arrive early" option. I had never been to Paris and was really hoping we might have a quick drive through Paris to see a few of the highlights, such as the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Louvre, etc. I spoke to our Trip Leader, Armelle, and she very kindly told me that if a few others cared to go, she would take us by Metro after our Welcome Dinner to a place where we could see the Eiffel Tower. It was amazing!! I was so impressed with her willingness to do that! I must say, she was one of the very best TLs ever!! Thanks, Armelle for a wonderful trip.

My trip to Sicily & Malta was fantastic from start to finish. Learning about ancient to present cultures is fascinating and humbling. There are many, many UNESCO World Heritage sites in both Sicily and Malta, such as Villa Romana del Casale, Agrigento, Valletta and Hagar Qim Temple. To be able to travel to them and see these sites with an experienced guide is life-changing. I also appreciated the controversial conversations with experts provided in both locations. It is always good to have "both sides of the story." The "Learning and Discovery" experiences were varied, including local food and drink, dinner with a local musician and a Sicilian Puppet discussion with a local family.

This was my first river cruise and first time in France. What a great introduction to river cruising and France! Our first stop was Toulouse, where we enjoyed a great tour of the city and got over jet lag. We then went by comfortable bus to Arles, where we boarded our ship. It was Easter weekend and our guide made sure that we got a flavor of the city during this important holiday for the residents. We sailed on the MS Chanson on the Rhone River. The ship was spotless, the crew members were attentive and pleasant, the food was excellent, our program guide, Lionel, was fantastic and our excursions were interesting and varied.

Grand Circle Cruise Line takes care of their customers from before the journey begins to the very end as evidenced by Simone **. The food served by Executive Chef Marion was excellent on M/S River Harmony throughout and the variety of activities combined with enrichment talks was great. Staff and crew are keenly attuned to their passengers on a well-appointed ship that is both well-maintained and extremely clean. We were taken care of by our cabin steward, Marian, and dining room staff, Nelina and Astor very well. I can not speak highly enough of GCCL’s staff and crew on M/S River Harmony, they are exemplary people.

I had a fabulous time on the MS River Aria on the Holland & Belgium in Spring time cruise the first week of April 2025. The staff was amazing and so attentive. Our Program Director, Bob, was a wealth of knowledge and fun. The accommodations were very nice, and the food was very good as well. I had an wonderful trip, and look forward to future GCCL river cruises!

This is a great cruise company. We have been on 11 cruises through Grand Circle Travel and enjoy the care by the staff who take care of the passengers throughout the cruise. There are some glitches once in a while but they are human. The most recent cruise was timed so that we were at the famous tulip plus flower garden park in the Netherlands. It was full of people so much that it was not enjoyable. We haven been on two other trips to this park with Grand Circle that were during the week and there were just the right number of people to be able to enjoy the gardens. The ports of call were very good (Enkhuizen, Kinderdijk, Dordchecht, Zeeland, Ghent, & Antwerp) and the program directors are informative. They gave a guided tour or a tour by a local at each port all of which were included in the price. I highly recommend Grand Circle Travel River cruises.

Recently we took a river cruise from Paris to Normandy, spending time in Paris and other quaint villages. A representative from Grand Circle met us at the airport upon landing and was with us until we returned home. We had a fabulous time! All of the personnel on the ship and our program directors were absolutely first class. They were so attentive to everything we needed. We were so impressed. I hope to use Grand Circle again in the future. The program directors were so knowledgeable and added so much to our trip. The food was fantastic. It was just a wonderful experience.

Yes, this is Roger ** and Andrea **. We were on the tour in March. Great rivers of Europe, our tour guide was Julie. We think she did a fantastic job. I would say excellent excellent excellent we would go and recommend and we’ve been on 10 trips already. I just hope this finds This with you in the right hands. I didn’t know if we were making it out to the right people, but Julie is an excellent tour guide. Thank you Roger ** and Andrea **.

I cruised on the Seine River in March, 2025. It was superb in every way. My Program Director Heloise was excellent—she worked so hard to make the cruise perfect. The food was excellent and the service was also terrific.

We are excited to have just booked our first tour through Grand Circle. After confirming cost figures over the phone, with our very personable and efficient rep., we found the price on the printed invoice we received the next day to be significantly higher. Obviously, not good! I am very impressed and appreciate of the extensive, time intensive, polite follow up by three different agents and supervisors to resolve this issue. They went above and beyond to understand how the difference occurred (which was created by some complications in airfare) and to resolve the problem. I have never experienced such personable and extensive customer service! I am impressed and comfortable knowing they did all they could to make me a happy customer. We look forward to our trip!

We had been on 9 OAT land tours, but had never done a Grand Circle river cruise due to my fears. I do not swim and get seasick so I was hesitant to try the river cruise, but I wanted to see southern France and Paris so we signed up. I was very surprised to find that I was not sick or scared on the boat as the sailing was very smooth. The pace was slower than our land tours and we loved it! The tour guide, Melodie, was one of the best we have had and the boat staff was wonderful. I felt very pampered the whole trip and will go on another river cruise in the future.

Grand Circle Aria was beautiful. The staff were amazing. We had a wonderful tour manager, Nicole. She was extremely knowledgeable, very personable and took excellent care for all those in our group.

I have been to different parts of Italy three other times with other groups and on my own. This trip far surpassed all the others! I love history, yet thought I had had enough antiquities. The historian blew my mind away in his form of presentation. I would love more! Our guide, Georgia, knew everyone and surprised us time after time with high quality adventures of the personal and group kind. Her humor and seriousness are well-balanced. She won our hearts and our respect.

This was my first experience with Grand Circle and unfortunately I was very disappointed. Our tour in Mexico had close to 40 people in it. The impact on the quality of the tour was immense. First, with this number of participants a very large bus is required which resulted in difficulty navigating busy streets in Mexico and near impossible navigation in smaller towns with narrow streets. The result was missed opportunities to go inside some major venues, ongoing schedule changes which did not always match opening hours of some venues. The bus was not the only issue. Try following the group leader on narrow, busy sidewalks. It was easy to get separated from the tour. Imagine a group of 40 in a local restaurant.

99% of the time travel goes smoothly and is wonderful. I just had the other 1%, when I was hospitalized for influenza and complications while on a long-dreamed trip to Australia. The Grand Circle staff went way, way out of their way to make everything as good for me as they possibly could. A+++. When I'm able to travel again, this is the first source I will check. In the real world you have to be able to deal with the bad as well as the good, and they've proven they can do it.

The trip was well planned and organized very well! The staff of the ship were so friendly and helpful. Meetings were held and schedules were printed daily as well as the history of the places that we visited! The food was excellent and the service was top notch! Fun events on ship were planned as well as informative lectures! The Christmas markets were amazing!

When people ask me what I liked best about my recent Danube river trip ("Christmas Markets"), I say, "The entire staff for the tour—friendly, professional, knowledgeable, funny, energetic, warm, and helpful." The ship was spotless, food was varied and really good, special attention was given to people with specific needs (e.g., physical restrictions or dietary preferences), tours and presentations were rich with historical, cultural, and aesthetic information. Treated like a princess, I felt transported to a different world of beautiful countryside, charming towns, amazing architecture, and—of course—Christmas shopping. Thank you so much. I'll be back.

Amazing trip! We were spoiled by the amazing sites, food, accommodations and all GCT employees, as well as their choice of the local guides. This was a vacation adventure with much learning and discovery, and a great balance of personal exploration. Already looking at new places to explore with Grand Circle.

We just completed the river boat cruise from Vienna to Nuremberg on the Danube. The Christmas Markets were a bucket list trip and GCT did not disappoint. From the airport transfer to the ship and back, the trip was great! Our Program Manager, Simone, was delightful and very attentive as well as informative. Activities are for your choosing so no one is left out due to disabilities or limitations. We joined some sidebar excursions (Salzburg) which was enjoyable. Dollar for dollar or euro for euro, this was money well spent.

Just returned from a 3-week tour of Australia and New Zealand with guide, Heather **. She was one of the best tour guides I have ever had. And the tour was wonderful. We saw a lot of the countries and Heather gave us a lot of information about the sites and the people.

This was a wonderful trip. Great itinerary & superb food and lovely people to spend time with. Joanna was one of the most informative and helpful tour guides. Southern France is just so peaceful & beautiful.

A amazing trip from start to finish! Our tour director, Teresa, was exceptional in every way. She completely fulfilled all expectations of the tour as well as continually adding her special activities. She was extremely organized, knowledgeable, and very personable. We loved every second of our trip and I completely fell in love with southern France!

This was my first trip with Grand Circle. My experience was very pleasant. The staff was professional and ready to serve. Our guides were top notch: knowledgeable, considerate of the needs of the guests, respectful and good communicators. Since it was my first trip with Grand Circle I spent a lot of time talking with the other travelers and interested to hear their feedback and experiences over the years. Great customer service was a common theme. The feedback was always positive and all said they would book with Grand Circle again. I found that Grand Circle offers a very good value and I would not hesitate to rebook with them again in the future.

Due to a major weather incident in France our itinerary changed. Severe flooding was expected and it was not safe for the boat to travel on the river. This was disappointing but no one's fault. Our tour guide, LOLO was amazing. With the help of GCT central office we were bused around Southern France, staying in lovely hotels and having our meals in great restaurants.

I recently returned from the "Romance of the Rhine & Mosel" cruise on the MS River Harmony with GCCL. This was my second trip with this cruise line and I must say, I enjoyed both experiences tremendously. On this trip, my grandmother and I traveled together, with the cruise's itinerary allowing us to easily make new friends with fellow passengers, Program Directors, and the crew. The ship was quite comfortable, accommodating, and always exquisitely cleaned. The wifi did not always function to its best ability, however, this was a minor, occasional difficulty that was overwhelming diminished by the wonderful excursions and engaging conversations I had with others throughout this trip.

We have just returned from a Great RIVERS OF EUROPE river cruise, and it was one of our best vacations ever. Although I had travelled to Europe many times, the historical knowledge gained, the extremely helpful daily port excursions, and personal friendship shown by our Program Director made this trip an outstanding one, and changed my perspective and appreciation for EuropeService was excellent both in terms of meals and room service was outstanding, and the catering was excellent, with multiple choices for every meal. The itinerary was well planned, absolutely on time, and very professional in its administration. This river cruise represented great value for money, and we look forward to seeking another river cruise with Grand Circle in the near future.

We have been on 2 Grand Circle tours and 1 OAT tour. I love this company for the personal experiences they give such as the home hosted meals. I think this company offers unique experiences you don't get elsewhere. Our guides have all been very knowledgeable and helpful. I also have food allergies and the guides and hotels were extremely helpful in making sure I was accommodated appropriately.