Land Tour & Cruise - South America

7 nights in Peru followed by 2 nights in Santiago and 14 nights on Crown Princess to Beunos Aires.

I have used Iglu in the past, but only for Cruise-Only holidays, they were fine. However, I had read reviews on this type of holiday, and they weren't good ones.

I was reserving 4 cabins, as there were 3 sets of friends joining us on holiday. The agent was suggesting that I should be the leader of the group, which would make the inputting of all traveller data very easy for her. I was not prepared to do this and asked for all details to be inputted individually, which takes more time, but agreeing to be group leader would indicate that I would be responsible for all payments, which is why I declined.

Eventually, when all data was entered for the 8 people on the trip, confirmation was received by all parties - with different partners in our cabins [not our husbands/wives] - this was eventually sorted out, all deposits paid.

In November we had a call from Iglu to inform us that our flight home from Beunos Aires had changed to a late evening flight [22.45] each couple agreed to the change as we would get an extra day in the city.

when flight details were received in the form of a schedule [including everyones details] one passenger was missing. Copious amounts of phone calls ensued, and the passenger was assured there would not be any problems at LHR. Wrong - it took nearly 2hrs to convince check-in that he was on the same flights as the rest of the party. It took a further phone call to Iglu to ensure they would allow him to board. The passengers details were not listed on the flight itinerary, luckily there was a spare seat, albeit not next to his partner.

No forward ticketing was available either, so when changing at Madrid we had to find someone to verify our onward flights and print the boarding cards. As the flights were a code share between BA and Iberia, nobody really wanted to take responsibility, but eventually an Iberia employee on the departure gate was very helpful and printed everybodies boarding pass. We were not alone - nobody had onward tickets.

When in Peru, Iglu were contacted and the situation explained. When you rely on a company to book everthing for you, your enjoyment is totally in their hands, nobody needs stress when going on holiday, after all this is what Iglu and many other companies do for a living . . . . it should be seamless! Iglu assured us that our return journey seats would all be pre-booked for us. It was a good ending, but the start of the holiday could have resulted in none of us going, because one passenger had not been allocated seating and that would have been a very difficult decision.

It is unfortunate, but the original reviews I read are indeed true. If booking anything other than a 'cruise only' holiday, you will more than likely encounter difficulties.