Riviera Travel Reviews 

No waiting on hold, spoke to Nicky C who was really user-friendly, had answers to all the questions and willingly put a reservation on until I could confirm later in the day. The whole booking process was seamless. I'm delighted with our trip, the itinerary looks great, the boat looks good and although I was too late in booking to get my preferred cabin, the standard suites look fine too. We've got friends who have travelled with Riviera before and no-one has a bad word to say about them.

I have so far been on the phone for 62 minutes trying to speak to an agent on an urgent matter.

I cannot resolve this matter online so therefore need to speak to an agent.

Very frustrating.

Riviera travel have been exceptional in every way. Organisation superb, lovely people on every trip and information abundant. Our tour manager Ozbeck Dedekorkut has looked after us so very well, catering for our every need. A pleasure to be led by him.

Thankyou Riviera especially Nicky who was extremely helpful in helping us book our holiday to Rockie Mountains & Alaska Cruise in July 2028. She sorted all our requests for this holiday with success.
We have 3 upcoming holidays booked with this company & have no complaints with the bookings. Everyone has been outstanding.

Hats off to Riviera Travel. When we first learned of the falling water levels in the Rhine and elsewhere we feared the worst, that our river cruise would be cancelled or at least turn into a coach trip. But Riviera took the bull by the horns and decided if we can't go up the Rhine we'll go down it. So we spent a week on a magical mystery cruise, visiting places we'd never thought of visiting (Utrecht, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Arnhem) on an amazing ship (The Resplendence). The compensation offered by Riviera was generous, and we've already booked the original cruise itinerary for next year! This was our 4th holiday with Riviera and I can't speak highly enough of them.

Extremely helpful advisor when I telephoned after confusion online , held options for me while I checked with friend then booked holidays for me .
Friendly and found previous details of old booking 2023 quickly . Gave up to date advice on the ETIAS and on expiration of friends passport .

Very friendly representative with good knowledge of our tour.
Quick and efficient
Thanks

Have travelled many times with Riviera and have always sat together on the plane. Going to Spain in two weeks time via Jet2 and have been allocated seats apart....despite the fact that two seats next to one of us are available to book. Yes, I know we could pay extra to get the seats that we want....and it seems that's what Jet2 and Riviera want.

Having undertaken similar cruises, we knew exactly what we wanted, so one phone call was all that was needed. Amanda made it very easy.

Our 8th Riviera tour, so we are not novices.
Always been very easy to book online, but not this time and we are not sure why.
We thought we had booked it, we had a booking reference and a note to say it may take up to 4 days to sort the flights, this has never happened before.
Then nothing. After a week as the phone was busy I messaged and 3 days later got a message back.
The response said our holiday was on hold as the price of the flights had gone up. No attempt from Riviera to inform us of this.
I rang to clarify and as the lines were busy again I asked for a call back which did not happen.
The day after I rang again and agreed to book with an increased price.
Amanda was very helpful, but could give no explanation for the above.
Normally the booking is instantaneous with no unexplained extra cost.
If we hadn't have used Riviera before we would probably have gone elsewhere.

I spoke with Laurie about a holiday booking which I couldn’t make online. He was so helpful and courteous. He followed up with an email to answer my questions and confirm my booking. He was a great ambassador for the company. This is my first time booking with Riviera Travel and I have been very impressed.

Riviera Travel - cruise
My parents and their friends booked the cruise many months ago to spend their 50th wedding anniversaries and celebrate a birthday this year. Prior to the trip they were watching updates regarding low water levels close to Switzerland.

Various cruises were cancelled however the company did not cancel their trip and stated a bus would take them to their final destinations including Switzerland this being their main goal.

5 days into the tour they have now been told they will not be heading to Switzerland and the train up in the mountains but in fact will be turning around and heading back.

Two parties now affected and their personal goals not met. If the water levels are low I would avoid continuing with your trips, reschedule if you can or get your money back.

Disappointing, disheartening and poor customer experience

Avoid at all costs with the lack of rain I’m sure more customers will be upset

Faced with low river levels on the Rhine, they emailed, “Should you choose to travel on the revised itinerary, we are pleased to offer either a 15% refund and 30% discount for a new European river cruise of seven nights or more departing later in 2026 or during 2027. Or 75% discount for a new European river cruise of seven nights or more departing later in 2026 or during 2027 As these changes are significant, you also have the right to cancel or transfer your holiday should you no longer wish to travel on this date. Thank you for your understanding and patience. We very much hope to welcome you aboard the MS Riviera Resplendence.”

This was the Wednesday before the Saturday we were to begin the cruise. In short, if I booked a cruise priced at £8,000, I’d pay only £2,000 (75% discount). On the following Monday, they added a qualification: they meant a 75% credit on the initial booking price, to be spendable on a new cruise, so if I’d spent £4,000 on that booking, I’d deduct £3,000 from an £8,000 booking: the second would be £5,000, not £2,000.

Either way, a generous offer, but my decision was based on their prior word. (The adjusted cruise also duplicated a fair bit of a cruise I had this spring.) I raised that point with them. They have doubled down on this breaking of their word, changing their rules mid-game. That’s not on. Hence my minimal rating.

Addenda: Riviera has contacted me and we are at one. Fair resolution has taken time and angst, but has come. I move my rating from 1 to 3 stars.

Booking was straightforward, each step clearly explained.

Very easy to book, as someone who doesn't book a holiday very often!

The agent was very informative and helpful and went out of his way to gain additional information for me. The booking process following this was straightforward.

The booking process was straightforward and fairly easy.

I telephoned to make my booking for our next holiday as I much prefer to talk through the details with a person rather than do it online. I spoke to Laurie who was friendly and helpful and arranged all the details. My booking was completed quickly and efficiently.

We booked the Switzerland, the Matterhorn and the Glacier Express trip and the service that we received and witnessed from this company was nothing short of dreadful.

We got a flight from Manchester but two other couples flew from Bristol and yet when they arrived at Zurich airport there was nobody to create them. They were walking around the airport for two hours waiting, eventually riviera sent a driver but this driver didn't speak English and they were forced to go searching with a car reg to locate the vehicle and driver themselves. They expected to receive a cooked meal that night as per the itinerary but instead when they arrived to the Hotel they were given sandwiches in their room, (not what they paid for).

We were due to depart on the 28th August from Zurich Airport to fly back to Manchester Airport. The tour guide said goodbye to us and we were left queuing. When we got to the front of the queue we were told that our flight had been cancelled. We were then forced to queue for the booking office and were stood in a queue for several hours with the other people from the coach.
We didn't receive any communication from the company and still to this day I can say that we have not had a single text message, phone call or email from them. I tried to call them on different numbers and trying to get through to speak to someone is very difficult.
On several occasions I have been provided with false and misleading information.

After waiting in the queue for hours eventually the tour guide came back but we were at the back of the queue and he never came and spoke to us to clarify what was happening. It is not for other people on the coach to relay information to others. On several occasions I approached Nicholas to ask what was happening and he either walked away or avoided my questions. At one stage I was told that we were getting a flight to Berlin, on another occasion I was told that we were getting a flight to London and then a flight to Manchester.

We were shoved into a coach and driven to Milan and didn't arrive at a Hotel until well after midnight and it wasn't until 1am that we made it to the Hotel room. We were then told that we needed to be down for breakfast at 6am. Yet it emerged that we didn't need to be down for 6am since we had been booked onto a later flight to Birmingham so could have stayed in bed for longer. Instead we were left shattered and confused as to what was happening. I was also told that a shuttle had been arranged to transfer us to an airport at Bergamo which was a one hours drive by the tour guide. After numerous phone calls it emerged that this was not the case and that we had to arrange our own transport plus pay the cost, that being 200 euros. Once we arrived at the airport we were told at the counter that we also had to pay 10 euros for the booking fee again Rivieras fault and this resulted in more queuing. We didn't arrive on British soil until after 8pm and this was in Birmingham when our car was parked in Manchester and we don't live anywhere near Birmingham.
I was also made aware that some members of the coach lived near Birmingham and yet they had been put on the earlier flight to London which makes no sense.

Also, I believe that the tour guide created more problems due to lack of communication and poor organisation. Three taxis were taking people to the airport in Milan and he took the first one. An elderly lady in her 80s was sat in the lounge of the Hotel very confused and didn't know where she was going or what she was meant to be doing. If it wasn't for a family explaining things to her then she would not have got the taxi to the airport and would have missed her flight!

The holiday was very expensive, there's other tour operators such as Titan travel that I have heard of that provide a much better service. I strongly advise against booking a holiday with this company based on everything that I have seen and witnessed.

My introduction to the RT booking experience was through Amanda. She was friendly, knowledgeable, understood what I wanted from the holiday and was very efficient. After thinking about the holiday, I went back to RT to make my booking. Laurie dealt with my booking very efficiently.
The whole booking experience with RT was excellent.