Aleksandra Shebaltseva

The overall trip was great, the stops wonderful, the accommodations were very nice, and for the most part our private transfer was efficient.

The tour of old town Edinburgh was just about right with Chris our tour guide entertaining and informative.

We spent three days with John Patience for a tour of Stirling, Bannockburn, Wallace Monument, Inverness, Loch Ness and Saint Andrew’s. As we are not golfers, Saint Andrew’s was not our favorite but could appreciate the town and local university. John, our guide and driver for this part of the trip was fabulous, informative, funny and a gentleman beyond compare. We actually met a student from Michigan which was a nice touch. Go Green, Go White. Seeing the standing stones and Clava Cairns was an unplanned stop which still might be this reviewer’s favorite.

Newhall Mains was fantastic! The restaurant, coos and the sauna were perhaps our best overall accommodations. We had to skip the Urquhart Castle because of limited time.
Having a local guide ( J P) with this much knowledge made a long day in a van most enjoyable. Talisker Distillery was fantastic and a source of many souvenirs. We said goodbye to our best guide John at the drop off at the Edinbane Inn, a great establishment with local relaxed flavor and great food.

Our vehicle was cramped for the Edinbane to Kilt Rock, old man of Storr, tour and hike but Ian our Driver made it fun.

Caroline picked us up from Inverlochy Castle Hotel ( Beautiful Accommodations) to the Ferry for the whisky tour segment of the trip though we never had time to explore Glencoe.

The ferry was fun and efficient though our Driver from the ferry doc at Port Askaig was slightly late and uncommunicative so that was a bit disconcerting.

The Machrie was a welcome shift to a more relaxed pace, our taxi Driver to Port Ellen was great. ( Arthur, Bodachs Islay taxi) He saved us later in the day as we stumbled back from our three distillery tour.

Loch Lamond and Cameron house was beautiful but we needed more time, only one quick night and a couple of meals there to remember. This needed two to three full days.

Eri our Driver to Glasgow and later to the airport was very nice and informative. Our last night at the Kimpton was good but again felt very hurried. The spa experience however was welcome and helped to relax us.

If you’re looking for a custom travel experience, we highly recommend Kimkim. Our travel agent, Aleksandra was outstanding. She arranged all of our transportation, accommodations, and excursions. Our transportation drivers were professional, prompt and courteous. All vehicles were immaculate and high quality. We had two private tours in the Donegal area, Nicola Garvey with Turas Cartha and Martin Dooney with Northwest Sherpa Tours. Both were 5 star experiences. All of our accommodations were excellent and our requests through Aleksandra were met, such as river views and bath mats. During the planning process and during the trip, Aleksandra answered all of our questions and concerns respectfully and promptly. What a wonderful trip and a fantastic experience with Kimkim.

Hotel Reviews

Castlecourt Hotel, Spa & Leisure

Westport

Central Hotel Donegal

Donegal

Riverside Hotel

Sligo

Hilton Garden Inn Hotel

Dublin

Activity Reviews

Dublin Sightseeing Cruise on River Liffey

Dublin

It was a nice brief excursion down the river.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Tour Slieve League & Glenveagh National Park

Donegal

Martin was fabulous. He was well prepared and accommodating. He customized the trip as we went along to meet our interests.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Half-Day Bespoke Tour: Bundoran and Surrounding Attractions from Donegal

Donegal

Nicola was wonderful. She showed us so many places and tried to accommodate all of our interests.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guinness Storehouse Experience Tour

Dublin

Fun experience!

Quality of Experience

Overall, the trip to Scotland was very successful. It was our first time cruising and we took our 20-something kids. While there were bumps in the road, the most important matters were attended to. It was great to have an agency taking care of all the transport transfers, and obtaining tix for various sightseeing. They also researched and booked the cruise. I'm not sure if our agent had much experience with cruises, and we certainly didn't, so we didn't know what questions to ask.
There was a lot of confusion about the travel insurance that the boat required, and I ended up having coverage from three different sources (admittedly, I was not willing to risk showing up at the boat and being turned away because we didn't have the proper coverage). We didn't know that there was a choice before arriving to the boat of an all inclusive alcohol package, which was more expensive if we obtained in on the boat. We didn't know that there was a lottery on double beds in our cabin level, so my husband and I ended up with single beds, which would not have been an acceptable risk had we known in advance. To their credit, Kim-Kim refunded us 300GBP for this oversight. Also, our cabin reservation and our kids were not linked so we were assigned different dining room tables, which then had to be sorted on the boat. Regarding the choice of Fred Olson cruise line for our group, it wasn't a good fit. The clientele on the ship was 90% UK residents and 90% over 70 years old. Thus, everything from the music, comedy and other entertainment like trivia quizzes were focused on a very different demographic than our crew. Perhaps this is inevitable with a Scotland cruise? Another hiccup was that I had researched the kind of adaptor we needed for Scotland, which we used for our three days in Edinburgh, but we had no idea that the adaptors on the cruise were the different, European kind. Next, I believe our agent made a mistake in not giving us access to our cruise accounts until very close to the cruise date, and many of the onshore tours were sold out by the time we got access. Our agent gave us a referral to a private tour company in Kirkwall--Venture Ashore. We were very disappointed with the tour. We booked a 4 hour private tour for 4 people for $850. Our tour guide was a cabbie, Kevin. We were picked up in a cab, which wouldn’t have been a problem except that Kevin had just moved to Scotland in Nov (it was now August) and didn’t know much except how to get us to the places, where he dropped us off and then sat in his cab until we returned!? He didn’t even have enough knowledge to fill the time while we were driving from place to place, and he often repeated himself. Kevin was a very nice man. I’m just shocked that the tour company considered this to be an $850 level private tour. I will not take a Venture Ashore tour again.
Some comments about the Fred Olson cruise itself (besides the cautions I mentioned above): There was no shampoo and conditioner in cabins--you had to go purchase it in the onboard store if you didn't bring it. There were upsells everywhere you turn. The kids were woken up many days by multiple (hourly!) announcements into their cabin that they didn’t need to know, and this was after the cruise director had said that announcements would only be outside cabins.
Having said all of that, Aleksandra was very responsive, very organized. She seemed to be working weekends. She picked up the phone when we were struggling to connect with one of our transfers. I could tell she was trying very hard and maybe just didn't have the experience yet to foresee all of these subtleties. I would use Kim-Kim again, but I would be more on top of some of these issues, having gotten more experience myself.

Hotel Review

Apex Waterloo Place

Edinburgh

Activity Reviews

Private Transfer from Edinburgh to Edinburgh Airport

Edinburgh

Edinburgh Old Town Tour

Edinburgh

Aleksandra was a wonderful guide, always responsive and flexible. She helped us with everything and was always available during the trip for any last minute changes.