Grand Circle Travel

The ships, tours, and sights are stellar, but the crew and staff are truly what makes every trip perfectly special. I have pictures of them, too, but respect their privacy. There is no comparison to the other river cruise lines because the shiny marble and crystal on the fancier ships themselves are not what we value. I’m always surprised at how impressive each trip is with GCT!

I just returned from my first Grand Circle River Cruise, and it was WOW! We were on the Romantic Blue Danube Cruise, and I cannot think of one thing to complain about. Grand Circle thought of everything: the itinerary was filled with on-board speakers and cultural demonstrations, interesting tours at each stop, great staff and crew, and the most excellent Program Directors. I highly, highly recommend Grand Circle.

My mom and I did the Ireland In Depth tour this summer, and it was fantastic! Our program director, Denis Greene, was amazing-- so kind, fun and extremely knowledgeable. I loved the daily activities and found the mix of planned and unplanned time to be just right. Ireland was beautiful and everyone we met there was so friendly. Back in January 2023, when we were making our reservation, the hold time for calls was very long. This was off-putting, but I think it’s improved now. Once we had our reservation, everything was organized and easy. We had a wonderful time, and I’m really glad we chose GCT!

We were lucky to travel on the River Harmony from Antwerpen to Basel. This ship was fabulous. The MS Harmony was a well-run, beautiful ship that provided first class comfortable accommodations. The crew were very professional in manner and appearance. The culinary staff provided amazing and delicious meals. Everything was so well organized. The crew could not do enough to make our trip memorable. The captain was one of the most personable we have met. The waiters, bartenders, hotel staff, front desk staff were very friendly and helpful and made our trip enjoyable. The food was excellent! Each day GCCL kept us busy with either a tour or an optional tour which is what we came to see. Excellent Itinerary for visiting this area of the Mosel and Rhine Rivers. GCCL should definitely hold on to Rebecca, Janka and Johannes who were the program directors. They were very knowledgeable and a lot of fun to know. These three people worked non-stop to meet our every needs. Our program director, Rebecca, was the best we have ever had. We thank very much Liudmyla, Sandi, Stefan, Aleksandr who worked with us every day nonstop. This was our third trip with GCCL and we must say it was one of our favorites. The highlights were the walking tours, learning about the towns, castles, ruins, customs and cultures of the various towns and countries we spent time in. Meeting locals, tasting wines, beers and cuisines of the regions. The entire river cruise was a dream come true with lots of organized activities and friendly people. Already thinking of booking next one.

Grand Circle Travel looks like it has some great trips and good deals; however, beware! Your first call to discuss and book a trip will be great but talking to anyone after that to ask any questions or review anything is next to impossible (they use your phone number and put you on hold for hours). So just call from a different number, right? You will get someone but when they find out you are calling about an existing reservation you are transferred to the same black hole. I booked a trip and needed to cancel it the next day, 6 months before the trip. I called numerous times with no success. Finally I talked to someone and they promised to refund my deposit. Guess what, they didn’t. I finally got a refund 6 weeks later from my credit card company. We travel the world and have been on numerous tours and cruises. I have never worked with a more dishonest/scam company than Grand Circle Travel. I will never try them again and would recommend you find a more honest company, it will save a lot of frustration. I was looking forward to adding another tour company to our list of options but this scam company will not make the list.