APT

Absolutely miserable company. Booked a cruise from Venice to Istanbul and less than 5 months out thy cancelled the cruise and only offered 3 tour options to compensate...two not anywhere in the times we booked and the third was a bus tour to Britain and Ireland. Refused to even discuss airfare compensation or to help in a realistic and humane… Read more

fashion. Customer service was so...oooooh so sorry but basically now viewed us a nuisance because they stuffed us up. They should have their license reviewed.. this affected hundreds. They refuse to be held to account. Hope karma repays them in the same way..they caused maximum distress and disruption and five months out left with virtually no options. This was meant to be a cruise of a lifetime instead we are out of pocket and out of options. I repeat miserable., ruthless, unfeeling business.NEVER AGAIN

We went on a Christmas Cruise last December from Budapest to Amsterdam. Definitely not luxury, worn out furnishings and food monotonously average- even at the “Captains Table, the food came up from the everyday kitchen…. Waste of time. Not even a Christmas Cracker to mark Christmas Day. We had a problem with Watar Airlines giving us a broken seat- but APT refused to assist us. We recommend you travel with another River Cruise company. Show details

Europe River Cruise – We did a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam from 1 Sept for 15 days. We traveled on a boat called Amastella. A thoroughly enjoyable experience - the boat and the cabins were very good and very comfortable. Food and meals and the drinks provided were excellent. The staff and services were really superb - hard to fault them for their… Read more

customer commitment, attention detail and willingness to assist. The tours and paces where we stopped each day were well chosen and ideally suited to the pace of the cruise and the locations visited. Top marks to APT.

Cairns to Darwin September 2023 – Our original trip in May was cancelled due to floodwaters in the Gulf and we took the September 2nd trip in lieu. This was our 3rd attempt to take this trip. APT at least paid for our flight home and an extra hotel night. Top applause to our driver and guide, Grant and Natasha, nothing short of brilliant service. Always had a smile on their faces… Read more

and even respectfully laughed at my dreadful jokes. The crew can make or break a trip and we certainly appreciated their efforts. Also thumbs up to the other passengers, a cheery, friendly mob who always helped with the luggage and setting up the lunches. Accommodation was very good (you can't expect the Marina Mirage in the Australian Outback) and no complaints about the food except no need to eat barramundi again for awhile. Only downside was mechanical. Bus air-conditioning broke down just 2 hours into the trip. A replacement bus was sent but it was a smaller and older version with no overhead racks. Then blew a tyre - these things happened but not having the correct equipment to remove the spare and replace was not what you would expect from a company that does a lot of overland trips. Fortunately we had a few blokes on board who had mechanical expertise and eventually they assisted in getting the job done. All in all, a wonderful trip made so by having a top class crew. Jennie and Geoff, Brisbane.

Exceeded expectations – After 3 years waiting we finally embarked on APT’s Magnificent Europe river cruise with a pre-tour in Prague. In Prague Simona & Nick looked after us so well, and they were extremely knowledgeable. We then boarded in Budapest with the first day including a train journey on The Grand Empress (a highlight). We then worked our way through Austria… Read more

& Germany with stops at beautiful cities and towns. In Vienna we went for a night of classical music at the City Palace in Vienna (another highlight). There is a special section of the Rhine nearer the end of the tour where you go past. dozens of castles (the last highlight I will mention). The ship was only at half capacity and so we had roughly a 1:1 passenger to staff ratio (normally just over 2:1) so service was excellent, as was the food (my only real complain as I put on 3kg) and they were generous with the free bar. My wife has dementia so I did go for the Royal Suite with a large bathroom including a double shower and lots of storage, but I heard that standard rooms were good.

APT promote themselves as the luxury brand for tour groups. Not so for their 19 day Rockies Inside Passage Tour. Very few 5 star hotel experiences and many 2 star. Some great views along the way, but not long enough in the best places. The Holland America cruise at the end was OK, but a very old ship with very average rooms and bedding and not… Read more

enough time in Glacier Bay. Our complete trip cost around A$65k for two people, but we could have booked better hotel rooms and stayed longer in places and chosen a better cruise line for much less.

Our Switzerland by rail trip was good and bad! Switzerland was fantastic! Colin, the APT Guide was a shocker! Very arrogant, not caring, collapsed several times and we had to lift him up and help him walk. Whether it was his apparently dodgy knee, alcohol on his breath, or his shaking hand??? Imagine being in a foreign country on day 2 and your… Read more

Tour guide had collapsed twice and had to be picked up and frog marched to the hotel. He refused a wheelchair medical examination, etc. We thought our tour was over at that stage!!!

Some of our group were in there 80's, some had walking sticks and 1 had a Walker. It was advertised as a train journey, but we had to walk several kilometres from train to hotel, hotel to train, train to ferry, etc. Lots of walking! There was no mention of the walking! It was like a 20 year old planned the trip! One of the Hotels was substituted for another beautiful hotel, but it was an extra kilometre walk!

One of our group organised a golf cart through APT at the airport, but they still didn't mention the amount of walking involved!

The Hotels were great quality, but we had the least expensive rooms in every hotel. The hotels had Michellin star restaurants, but the included dinners we had to walk 2km to a crappy restaurant. One had a tough, chewy casserole for dinner that you'd be embarrassed to serve to friends at home. The other the food and service were good, but walking 2km in summer heat in dressy clothes! There was no choice of meals. Our APT trips in Canada, the included dinners were in the Fairmont Hotels we were staying in, and anything off the menu, including seafood platter, lobster, etc.

Trains weren't reserved, so some were in 1st Class and others 2nd Class. Restaurants weren't booked, and the restaurant on top of Harder Klum overlooking Jungfraujoch for sunset views and cable car rides were substituted for a 2km walk in the heat in our good clothes for the chewy casserole! The Glacier Express wasn't booked so my Travel Agent paid for my trip separately.

Colin said that he isn't paid to be a Carer, so he raced ahead of the Group and didn't worry about the feeble. He didn't point out elevators or escalators and just pointed everyone to flights of stairs. He also told me he couldn't please everyone, so he doesn't bother trying!!!

I mentioned all of this to APT, but it didn't bother them. Colin was taking their next tour around 2 weeks later!

The second part of our trip was an Amsterdam to Budapest River cruise. Ten minutes out from the airport I received a message that our flight was cancelled due to the Global IT Glitch. Colin was headed to England, so he didn't contact APT, he didn't give us the details of the local APT Agent, he just left us in limbo. APT should have been aware of the problems Globally with all of their tours. There was no-one from APT to help us. 3 of us had to organise the Group of 22 to get new flights. 3 got to Amsterdam at 10.30pm - we were supposed to be there around noon. The rest of us had to go via Paris, then our connecting flight was cancelled. 19 of us were told we would be put up in a hotel overnight, but when we arrived at 10.30pm everything was shut and they said there were no hotel rooms available. We had to sleep in the airport on the floor, chairs, and 2 hours later stretchers.

We ended up on 3 different flights missing Amsterdam altogether as the ship had already sailed. We met with the ship around lunchtime but others didn't arrive until 5pm. 4 people's bags were lost. The last was found 4 days into the river cruise.

APT should have managed this, but they were nowhere to be found! If it wasn't for me and 2 other passengers the 22 of us wouldn't have made it to the cruise!!!

When we complained, APT fobbed us off!!! Even though we missed a day of the 14 day cruise, eventually they were shamed into a $500 credit off a future APT Tour!

APT were fantastic for our 2 Canadian trips pre Covid in 2019. This trip was penny pinching, compared to our 5 star tours of Canada 2019 with APT!

This trip was sold to us with a lot of hype at a travel expo organized within our community in February 2024. The APT rep went on about these two new ships that were being built, the APT Solara and APT Ostara, both due to make their maiden voyages in the 2025 season. She went on about the incredible facilities, the food to die for, all the… Read more

inclusions that other tour operators didn’t come close to delivering etc etc. She convinced us, so we put our deposit down for the APT Solara’s second voyage, that being from Budapest to Amsterdam departing 6th June 2025. It was not a cheap trip, costing close to 30k. In April 2025 we started to hear rumours of low water levels in the canal connecting the Danube and Main Rivers. I started monitoring the levels and they were low, with it being evident that the situation was not likely to improve through the European summer ahead. My university qualifications are such that I have the knowledge to obtain the data and to analyze the information, and thus make these predictions. I contacted APT expressing my concerns and was pretty much fobbed off. I was told that they were doing all they could, and they would let us know what was happening in due course. At this point the APT Ostara was still in the shipyard in Holland. However, in mid-May the Ostara left the shipyard and was docked, sitting idle on a canal in Holland about 80 kms from where she was built. The water levels were still showing no sign of any improvement. However, as APT now had two operational ships I thought, ‘No problem. They can send the Ostara towards Budapest, the Solara upstream on the Danube from Budapest, and do a land transfer between the two where the canal was unnavigable’. I was therefore still confident that the trip would still go ahead as planned despite the lack of water. I was therefore somewhat surprised to receive an email from APT Head Office at 9.01pm, less than forty-eight hours before we were due to fly out of Brisbane for Budapest, informing us that due to low water levels the cruise would not go ahead as planned and that the itinerary was to be altered to basically be a trip down the Danube into Serbia and Romania and back, followed by a flight from Linz to Amsterdam. We were given two options: either accept the modified itinerary or cancel the booking and receive a refund for the cruise and cruise associated -airfare components of the trip. All other monies paid in relation to the trip would not be refunded. Our immediate thoughts were that we would have to accept the offer of the butchered itinerary as it was too late to alter things to fit in with the flights as booked. We also were very annoyed with APT who had obviously delayed notification to the last minute probably in the hope that we would come to this same conclusion, and they would not lose the booking. I also concluded that the email was deliberately sent at this late hour in the hope that it would probably not be viewed until the following day, further complicating any reorganization by us, the client. I do not believe that the people at APT were at their desks in Melbourne at that hour of the night when the email was sent. I immediately emailed them (and CC’d the email to our travel agent), stating that there was a third option, that being the solution suggested above, sending the Ostara towards Budapest and a land transfer between the two ships. APT did not ever respond to my email. Luckily, our travel agent at Travel Associates, Mountain Creek moved into top gear the next day. Within 8 hours she had got a refund of the cruise component, organized accommodation in Budapest and Zurich, booked air and rail transfers Budapest to Zurich to Basel and got us onto another cruise with Viking travelling Basel to Amsterdam. The big question is why didn’t APT exercise option 3, the one I suggested. They had two operational ships. It is how they are handling the situation at present. I would guess that money was placed ahead of customer relations, and they did not want to run an empty ship up the Rhine River. Sure, APT has no control over water levels but we feel that their whole attitude towards their customers needs some revision. It was evident throughout May 2025 that the water levels were insufficient and therefore notification should have been issued earlier, and liaison with those who had bookings should have been more comprehensive during May 2025. APT are an Australian company and we love to support our own, but after the casual (perhaps conniving) manner in which we were treated, we will never trust APT or be tempted to book one of their tours ever again. Our conclusion is they are not forthcoming and they can’t be trusted. My comment: Ok, it's now over three weeks since I wrote this review. Apparently APT monitors this review site, so presumably they have read it. And guess what! There has not been so much as a whisper from them, no apologies, no attempt to rectify the situation, no attempt to restore their reputation. That tells you a lot about their attitude and contempt towards their customers.

July 2022 APT Cruise Budapest to Amsterdam was the most disappointing trip to Europe we have taken. We paid extra for a cabin on the Violin Deck, which APT advertised would include butler service. There wasn’t any such service. There’s no difference in service between the lower decks for the extra cost we paid. The onboard food was possibly the… Read more

most disappointing feature of our cruise. Cottage pie on a 5 star cruise!! The standard of meals & menu choices was far below what we had experienced on previous cruises. The only red wine available during the entire 15 night cruise was Merlot. Therefore, no choice whatsoever. Eventually my husband & I decided that we would eat at local restaurants at each port. As all meals form part of the cost of the cruise, we shouldn’t have experienced this extra expense. On our return our travel agent contacted APT outlining our disappointment, only to receive a less than acceptable reply to a customer’s feedback.

Did a land and boat tour in Europe in 2024. For a company that says they deliver luxury, the boat and bus used were far from. Cleaning was sub-standard where the cleaners and the bar staff were the same people on the boat. Boat rooms had stains on the ceiling and floor whilst facilities in the rooms were broken. No mention of there being no… Read more

laundry facilities until you arrive on the boat unlike other luxury cruises which actually have these cleaning services offered. The food was ok but no menu to choose what you would like to eat, just a set menu for everyone unlike other luxury cruises where they have menus for you to select meals everyday. Aircon in the rooms hardly cooled the room due to the position of the vents being behind the curtains in the rooms making it very hot to sleep at night. The onboard tour representative would disappear and would only turn up if there was something scheduled or an emergency. In regard’s to the itinerary, the first meeting point was not stated as they expect you to stay in their choice of hotel which is severely outdated and not modern at all. If you are expecting luxury, be prepared to be let down as you will have to chase APT to do something. Also no mini bars in the room to keep a cold drink and the tap to fill your water bottle is locked in the dinning room from around 10-11pm until breakfast. I think the funniest part of the tour was APT expects you to bring your own water bottle for a luxurious trip. If this was luxurious, couldn’t APT provide us a reusable water bottle upon arrival instead of the passengers having to drag one from overseas? The trip was not relaxing at all. Hardly worth the price they charge as the cruise and onboard accommodation was not luxury. I should have looked at these reviews before I booked and I fully regret booking with APT.

Just completed our 15 day tour of Vietnam 1 March 2025 to 23 March 2025 from Hanoi/ Ho Chi Ming/ Siem Reap and unfortunately found that what we were told when booking and what we actually received was not the same. We were told when booking it was an all inclusive and we would only need money for what we would spend ourselves this is totally … Read more

incorrect - Land Motel Breakfast & Dinner part of bookings made my APT - with dinner was one drink of house wine / beer or soft drink, one organised dinner By Apt dinner we had was only beer or soft drink no wine included so we had to pay for wine or spirits. Our 3 day 2 night Ho Long a Bay Cruise was 1 glass of wine/ Beer/ soft drink dinner only also had to pay for own for own spirits/drinks and would you believe it also had to pay for coffee if we wanted one from the bar. Tea and coffee a only available at breakfast - so once again not all inclusive. Very disappointed with APT were told we would have our own personal consultant when signing up for the trip at the APT event - told when you book your trip sit back relax and we APT will look after everything you else this again is not quite correct . Won’t even go into the trouble had getting visa and the problems we had at the airport in Brisbane before we started our trip. We also had to deal with many consultants and of course got different answers from them all, only when we insisted speaking with our supposed Personal consultant (and this at times was frustrating as had to make a few call as messages not passed on)- did we get the what we assumed were the correct a answers eventually but as she had not done this trip so was only summarising what she thought. Maybe APT should have consultants who have actually been on the actual APT trips when speaking with their clients before they make comment. The most disappointing part our our 15 day trip was that due an APT Group from Ho Chi Ming City joining our group who were sick with flu/or diarrhoea - passed on to our group, who were all In good health until then. Their was no mention by tour directors to ask people if not feeling well etc to please wear masks and wash hands or take any precautions as to spreading to others etc ( we’ve all been through covid 19 so their is no excuse) even asked if their was any disinfectant spray available for rooms NO was the answer - once again we er all been through covid 19. We upgraded our cabin choice when booking so we would have free laundry that was a joke . First night on board the Captain announced that all passengers would get free laundry. I could keep going on the negative but we would never travel with APT again. Thought it would be a wonderful experience but they did not deliver as promised. APT is certainly not all inclusive.

On a positive note - we enjoyed meeting the people in Vietnam, they have been through a lot and we have a better perspective on what they have and still enduring, they are a proud humble happy polite people.

Disappointing tour from a respected name – My wife and I recently completed an APT tour (land and cruise) to the Xmas markets of Europe. Overall, we were generally happy with the tour especially the land component (Berlin to Budapest) but felt disappointed with the cruise section. The land content went without a hitch - our Guide [Name Removed] was extremely efficient, welcoming, well… Read more

organised and a delight to have leading our group of 29. Wish that I could say the same for the Cruise component - no issues with Cruise Director, the amazing staff (always helpful and happy) nor the food and drink on board - more with communications from APT, as a minimum. Our issues started 3 weeks prior to departure when we "found out' (not informed) that the day trip to Salzburg had been cancelled and replaced with either a 4km hike along the river (singing Xmas carols), finishing with a lunch cooked by locals, or a 'culinary' walking tour of Passau - culinary turning out to be a gluhwein, some gingerbread, a schnapps and some chocolates all while doing a tour of the old town. Our young guide was FABULOUS but, a 'culinary' tour?? Seems like it was a last minute option. Having contacted APT before leaving Australia, their reply was "...holiday season, ...Xmas Day...limited availability of coaches and guides, etc etc." As this tour option was advertised well over 12 months in advance (and monies taken for the complete trip paid 10 months before leaving), I find it hard to fathom that plans were not in place for at least 1 coach to be booked (for a boat carrying 150 passengers!) over a year before the scheduled date! Such instances are covered by the Generic T&C's, so what can you do?? A case of misleading advertising - probably not!! The AmaVenita was on her last trip before going into dry dock for a complete refit ... it was looking "tired" (headboard in the bedroom peeling in parts, torn curtain) and certainly did not have the 'polish' of other companies we have traveled with. Also, they ran out of most beers on board (except 1) on the last few days of the cruise - fortunately not before NYE! - and the occasional spirit! No major issue but not the standards you expect from such cruise lines. Entertainment was adequate - [Name Removed] and [Name Removed] provided appropriate music each and (almost) every evening. Yet, on the entire length of the cruise, we only ever had 1 'local' entertainer come on board - an 'oom pah pah' musician with his daughter (who initially seemed to suggest she really did not want to be there - she also played the bass guitar?? in an 'oom pah pah' band?? Generally well receievd but why were more local artists/artisans not booked to give displays on board, along the canal section?? Whilst we enjoyed the company of the other guests and the staff, we felt that the level of the cruise failed to match our expectations from APT nor meet the same standards of a company such as Avalon, who we have used before on the exact same stretch of water, and their entertainment, excursions and timings were of a more polished standard than APT.

Beware of which travel company you use – One of the guides was confronting me several days in a row because she didn’t want me to do a walk. She made our trip difficult from that point on. Unfortunately APT disregarded our complaint. It appears that the guide involved made up a few stories about what occurred. We heard from people who did other trips about how great their guides were, how knowledgeable and helpful. That was not our experience.

APT review on an 18 Day Best of South America tour – The trip had a mix of highs and lows. We experienced luxury in terms of the accommodations and the quality of service from the guides. On the other hand, the location of rooms, lack of privacy, underwhelming views, and some logistical hiccups like the long wait at the airport and missed opportunities (such as the really short stop at Confeitaria… Read more

Colombo) took away from the experience.

In general, whilst most of the rooms were luxurious, the views were not. For example, at the Copacabana Palace hotel in Rio De Janeiro, the room was at the back of the hotel and overlooked other apartments, and they could equally see us. The curtains were drawn all the time.

At the Belmond Hotel in Iguazu Falls, our room was so far back it took us a while to find our way to the front. Our views were a false wall with planters hanging off it.

At the Sumaq Macchu Picchu, we had a ground floor room that facing the main road. We could not keep the curtains open as everyone could look in including the buses that rumbled by starting at 7 in the morning.

Our room at the Country Club Lima was small and overlook the ducts on the roof.

On our last days in S America in Cusco, I begged JW Mariott for a better view room and was given a room overlooking the courtyard. My original room faced another block.

Most of the times, we hardly opened the curtains as we had no privacy in many of the rooms.

Bottled water was provided on most excursions. At the Sugar Loaf Mountain excursion in Rio, the explanation was that it cost money and were asked to purchase from the local vendors. We did not have local currencies, so we went without.

On day 0, I was kept waiting at the airport for 2 hours whilst waiting for other APT arrivals. As a holiday that is deemed “luxurious”, it was quite unacceptable to make us wait that long for other people.

On Day 11, the itinerary stated, “lunch at the Confeitaria Colombo, an ornate coffeehouse considered one of the most beautiful cafes in the world”. We were given 10 minutes to look around and moved on. Disappointing.

On two mornings where we had to leave very early, box breakfasts were provided. Considering the calibre of the hotels, both boxes were disappointing.

APT says on their website “We limit each tour group to a maximum of 24 guests. This lets you get off the beaten path and explore each region more authentically, with other like-minded travellers who are interested in the same experiences as you are.” The group size, consisting of 36-38 people, made logistics challenging. Getting on and off buses and lining up for tours took much longer than expected, detracting from the overall experience.

In addition, APT says “In selecting the finest luxury hotels and resorts, we've scoped out the views, checked the pillow menus and sampled the restaurants to ensure each is simply exceptional.” Unfortunately, this did not reflect my experience. Our main guide and local guides were exceptional. They provided outstanding service, kept us on time and updated on a daily basis. They provided good recommendations on dining places, shopping and assisted in finding laundries.

We thoroughly enjoyed the meals and most of the excursions. However, for a trip that was meant to be luxurious (and expensive), the small but significant details like privacy, views, equality of rooms and thoughtful provisioning (like water at excursions) made a big difference.

I travelled with APT and Travel Marvel a few times. Loyalty isn’t rewarded; new travellers often get room upgrades while loyal customers do not. The 2 star review is based on my experiences dealing with APT.

Terrible food – Staff were very nice, I presume unlike other cruises APT pay well for the staff so staff genuinely take time to look in your needs. Nice boat. Very Good cruise director. Well organised activities and events. However my feedback rating was mainly due to the state of the food they serve in the boat. All the food were so tasteless, they server pizza… Read more

with zero herbs. Not a single meat is seasoned. First time I found a kitchen that does not have chilli flakes. Fish they server was so bad quality. Fruits were limited to melon, apple and orange, and occasionally kiwi or banana.

For the money you pay for this , this is nowhere near value for money.

An unfortunate experience – In August my husband and I took a 15 day coach trip from Perth to Broome with APT. On arriving at the first stop out of Perth , my husband’s suitcase was missing as the driver admitted he hadn’t locked the luggage compartment. The next day, in Geraldton, we were given 40 minutes to buy replacement clothes, toiletries and medication. There was… Read more

nowhere in the next 12 days and 3000km to buy anything else. Clearly this impacted significantly on our enjoyment of the tour. It took four days before we were contacted by someone from the company's Customer Care Department. They offered no apology, sympathy or support. Over the remainder of the tour, the company’s administration argued over insurance, Terms and Conditions and refund policy. Eventually two weeks after we returned home, we received a letter of apology, a refund for for the replacement of items stolen and a token compensation. Six years ago we did a wonderful tour of the Kimberly with APT and assumed we would have had a similar experience on this tour. Wrong. Had we received timely and sympathetic support from the APT Customer Care representative, we might have viewed this unfortunate experience differently. Had we booked through a travel agent, perhaps our situation may have been taken more seriously. Whatever. Our experience certainly does not reconcile with APT’s statement of values of ‘unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction”

Commercialism before compassion – We have travelled a few times with APT but loyalty appears to account for nothing even though we left our money with them during Covid. This year we booked for a Vietnam Cambodian trip in November. We had to cancel approx 70 days out and as we cancelled within the 100 days specified we lost half of the money of the trip. The reason for the… Read more

cancellation was unexpected as my wife needed a hip replacement which was followed by a diagnosis of cancer. She is now undergoing chemo. To get the rest of the money back we paid for the trip we had to apply to our travel insurance company which were very good and paid the shortfall. I'm sure Apt would have endeavoured to sell the two spots left vacant by our cancellation. No compassion at all we will not travel with APT again after the way we were treated. There are a lot of companies out there that do the same trips so shop around.

Not so good – My husband and I took an APT cruise in April from Amsterdam to Bucharest. We have done a lot of cruising but this trip was the first with APT. I don't have much good to say about it other than the kitchen, bar, and housekeeping staff were excellent. Both of the cruise directors we had were disorganised and generally disinterested in the… Read more

passengers. We were put on the wrong bus (along with 4 fellow passengers) for a "gentle walking" tour of a palace where our ship was docked. We ended up going to Rothenburg which was about an hour away and the bus had to park outside the town. It took 20 minutes over cobblestones and through heavy rain to get into the center and the same returning to the bus. I asked if I could just stay on the bus and the local tour guide wouldn't allow it. She was very unconcerned that I have a problem with one knee and that walking in those conditions was going to be a problem. It was. My knee got so swollen that I missed the rest of the excursions on the way to Bucharest.  Everything onboard seemed to be done on the cheap. Even the bus APT put us on to the airport at the end of the cruise was really dilapidated and VERY uncomfortable. It took just over 2 hours to get there and there was NO ventilation. There was a ventilation system installed but it didn't work. There were a lot of people coughing and so we weren't surprised that we got quite sick. Another passenger had to be hospitalized when she got home. I will NEVER travel with APT again and don't advise it for anyone else. Barbara Elliott

Terrible experience – APT cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest was terrible. APT had the cruise money for 2 years and promised a great cruise. On arrival in Amsterdam the paid pick up left as the plane was late. Transfer to the ship was a disaaster. On ship the cabin was terrible. We were not able to use the lift. We were not able to sit at the same table for meals. The… Read more

dining room chairs were uncomfortable. The food was terrible. On board entertainment was not suitable for our age Group. The off shore excursions were not suitable for the majority of the guests. On one excursion we were left behind. A life time and costly experience was terrible and disappointing. Shame on APT. We will not be recommending APT to anyone.

Competent staff but fellow-passengers chose to travel, infected with covid – RE: APT New Zealand tour..APT NCA Highlighter 24. I am an active 71 year old and couldn't fault the tour leader Ferdinando or driver Andrew; however government relaxation of covid 19 requirements for tours had a negative effect on my health. I picked up the tour from Auckland after a 3 weeks expedition cruise to the Antarctica. I had no health… Read more

problems on the first trip; however on the APT bus tour, there were plenty of people coughing, without wearing masks. Some of them blatantly refused to wear them, even after being directed by our tour leader. After a week, I started to feel unwell: very weak , sore throat, blocked head and runny nose and could not attend the excursion to the winery near Queenstown. I had to withdraw from the tour after testing positive tested for covid. After a phone knock-back from the Queenstown Medical Centre, telling me to go to the pharmacy instead and to get a covid testing kit, which I did and unfortunately it was positive; I found out from the requirement of my travel insurance provider Covermore that I needed a Doctor's written diagnosis. I then went to the Medical Centre in person, and contrary to what the receptionist had said to me, the doctor wrote me a certificate confirming my Covid for several days after giving me another covid test that also turned out positive. Obviously there were people on the bus who chose to come on the tour, even though they had covid. According to the covid laws, the tour company has no authority to refuse them bus entry. This is a terrible state of affairs for their fellow-passengers. Not impressed! Barbara By the way, the tour was very informative with an extremely competent and knowledgeable tour leader and informative driver; but there was far too much distance to travel in one day, with very early starts, in order to cover the tight schedule.

Don't be deceived! – I want to warn anyone not to pay up-front for your trip, even if offered an incentive to do so. I booked, and paid in full, back to back tours in Europe, one trip was cancelled and the other padded out by a few days, leaving one week missing. Despite what APT's website says, they did not contact me or offer any compensation. I found out when I… Read more

received the altered itinerary...too late to change flights. As a platinum member, I was entitled to a night's accommodation ...this did not occur. When I contacted APT on return, they didn't want to know me. After 8 months, and a legal demand, it was Flight centre that offered a fraction of what I asked for..."in good faith"!

Booking was terrible, trip was OK, received worthless voucher for our trouble – We booked a Mekong River cruise and between the booking and starting the trip, there were nine (9) changes, three (3) hotels, three (3) river boats, and three (3) dates. In view of that booking mess we received a 50% voucher of a Europe river cruise up to December 2025. All good, or so I thought. On trying to book a Europe river cruise advertised… Read more

at $8,195 including air fares, ( I knew the voucher did not include air fares), I asked for the cost without air fares. Guess what, $11,790 pp. So with discount, cost is $11,790 for two (2) persons plus air fares of about $5,000, total of $16,790. Use the advertised web price with air fares, $16,390. I think the facts speak for themselves.

NEVER BOOK WITH APT AGAIN!!! – We have previously travelled with APT and it was a wonderful ALL INCLUSIVE cruise. This year we did the 14 day Croatia on Lady Eleganza. The boat was wonderful and there it ends. Food disgusting, wine like vinegar, set menu with little choice, very few organised activities or entertainment. All 32 passengers had the same view, what a rip-off. NEVER EVER AGAIN APT. Show details

Some surprises! – We have recently been on an APT River Cruise , A Taste of Bordeaux. The biggest surprise to us was that it wasn't an APT tour at all when we got on board. We were aware that the ship we were to be sailing on was an Amawaterways vessel. We assumed it must be a lease arrangement. It turned out only 2 couples amongst all the passengers were APT… Read more

clients. The rest had booked with Amawaterways. Had we known we would have done the same. A number paid far less than we did. We were very well treated and had a most enjoyable cruise all thanks to Amawaterways. Correspondence prior to the cruise was almost non existent and in fact not received until we were in Europe. Gratuities were supposed to be paid to the ship on our behalf. We had to battle to have this arranged while on the cruise. EMBARRASSING.

Disenchanted – My wife and I have travelled with APT on four occasions including two tours in Canada, a European river cruise and a Vietnamese- Cambodian tour. On all of these tours we could not find fault and recommended them to others. We then booked a South American tour costing in excess of $60000. This was cancelled a week before our due departure because… Read more

of Covid-19. Because of our age and uncertainty of the future we chose to seek a refund rather than accept an offer of future travel in lieu. APT kept $22000 of our hard earned money because of undisclosed costs incurred by them. Surely there should be some sort of transparency if this is an honest claim.

APT... not luxury and dishonest – This company advertises first class everything.... not so on our tour of the North and South Island of NZ. We paid to stay at the Copthorne Resort, Waitangi, Bay of Islands and was advised during trip that they had staff shortages so we were bused 80km away to Distinction hotel Whangarie ( a 2 star hotel ) and back to Waitangi next day. Copthorne… Read more

advised they did not have staff shortages. Paid to see the Te Anau Worm Caves which never happened. Lots of changes to itinery

APT appalling customer service once they have you $$$ – We have booked Amsterdam to Budapest cruise and Croatia Coast cruise but cannot get basic information from APT or Agent regarding airport transfers or post cruise. Brochure is vague. Tried calling APT - still waiting for call back after two weeks. I went to APT office told by arrogant disinterested staff member they could not help me and that a… Read more

I should ring the inquiry line. Tried to explain I had tried the info line and messaging to no avail - my concerns were dismissed with a flutter of eyebrows. Why support Australian companies when they treat you so poorly. APT never again.

Hours on the bus due to cancelled hotels – The two hotels we were most looking forward to - Cradle Mountain and Freycinet - were both cancelled with short notice to us. However, reviews show that these cancellations have been happening since 2022. The excuse we were given was that those hotels no longer take tour groups. The hotels themselves tell a different story. Cradle Mountain… Read more

Wilderness Village had a very bad experience with an APT group comprising people who couldn't walk from the cabins to reception. Rather than take up the offer of sharing with the more accessible nearby Cradle Mountain Hotel, APT just walked away. So it's ONLY APT no longer using those hotels, and it was insulting to be told it was the fault of NRMA the new owner. Our group was quite able to walk, indeed we were furious that the time restrictions didn't allow us to do walks such as Dove Lake. APT are just saving money and making us spend hours and hours on a bus back tracking for a 2 hour visit to Cradle Mountain. Similarly hours and hours on the bus going south to visit Freycinet then back up north again. To say nothing of the 5.30am starts to make these ridiculous bus journeys possible. It was a pity this penny pinching spoiled what was otherwise a great holiday.

Great trip – We like Tasmania with APT travel, the host and bus driver were great. Ian and Kim Evans. Show details ·  1