Cosmos Review

Overall Rating

OK

Long winded

Firstly - note that this is based on the experiences of a few years ago, so hopefully the details have improved. Ask when booking!!!!

We have travelled by coach on the continent with Cosmos 3 times. Links are provided from local pick up and connect at Dover with the main tour. So far so good?
Cosmos have the earliest starts of any operator we have used and the latest crossing. Whilst acknowledging that some additional pick ups are made on the way, Cosmos seem to be trying for double figures and still end up killing time. Once we left the North West at 5am, Birmingham at 9am and Northampton at 11. (the same journey),
Another occasion saw us wait at Luton for half an hour before the driver 'realised' he had turned to the wrong page on his itinerary. We took the 'correct' route to Harrow, left via the M4 westbound, joined the M25 CLOCKWISE, crossed the M1 (towards Harrow area) 1 1/2 hours after the previous visit, and still had time for an hours break at South Mimms.

The return journey was little better, eventually leaving Dover at 6pm and stopping at Toddington at 10pm.
The feeder coaches are contracted out, and on three journeys out of three they showed up to be past their sell by date.

At Dover we have been sent over the Channel as foot passengers, joining the main coach at the Quayside at Calais. Luckily on the last trip the Spanish courier and driver had something about them and they sorted things out, but the previous trip was chaos.

I cannot comment fully on the coaches over the water, as the first two trips (3 years apart) used the same vehicle! Leg room was poor. The third trip, with the Spanish crew, was on a new Spanish owned coach. It showed.

The resorts were generally well chosen, but like the coach, the staff often made the difference. Beware! On the return journey nobody seemed bothered about the incoming coach being delayed. Crews had to have a rest period. We left four hours late after a very long day. We got the impression that was the normal time of departure.

The 'Spanish' trip was a tour, so we did not have to suffer this. It was a good holiday, but it was marred by the circuitous route in UK.

A final warning. On the Friday before departure we were told there was no local feeder to home, and that we would be dropped off at the M6 services 30 miles away. A minuscule refund was offered, which as it was 8.30am and I was about to leave for work, was taken without thinking. Totally useless. At 3.30 in the morning taxis are rare on the M6. Our booking was made on the basis of a local feeder coach. To be fair, when we complained Cosmos did refund without query, but it makes you wonder how often they pull that one?

As I outlined, this is based on the happenings of a few years ago. If Cosmos are still running coach trips things may have improved. They needed to. Considerably!