点评:We did a one-day private tour to Glencoe, just my husband and me. Discreet Scotland promotes itself as a luxury tour operator, but unfortunately I don't think it lives up to that. Their website has a page dedicated to “our vehicles” where they promote that their tours are either in Land Rovers or Mercedes class vehicles. They actually show pictures! To our surprise, our guide/drivers showed up at our hotel with an old VW van. The school bus I rode during elementary school had more comfortable seats than this. It was 8 hours of driving in very uncomfortable conditions. The van had no cup holders, so we had to hold our coffee/drinks until the next stop to throw them out. No place to charge our phones. And also no apology from our guide/drivers for the car other than “this is what they gave me”.
We have done private day tours in countries around the world, and this is the first time we were not offered so much water. None was on the trip. No snacks either. Just an old VW van for hours on end where we felt every movement. Our backs and behinds were killing us by the end of the day.
There were also a few other small things that didn’t scream luxury. There was no confirmation email a week, or even a few days, ahead. No mention of who I was looking out for, or what the license plate was. I had to reach out to confirm the booking and only got a simple “yes, your driver/guide will meet you at the hotel at 8 am.” No “what to expect” email. Nothing.
As for our guide, while he was super friendly, most of his commentary was about his own life and not really about Scotland or the areas we were seeing. When we got to Glencoe, we got out at one lookout to take pictures, but it was raining so hard the pictures were worthless. The second stop was also raining and after that we just went to lunch. Then we suggested we go back south to the Doune Castle since we were GoT fans; we much appreciated him making this stop for us. But I feel we didn’t really get to see Glencoe as much as we wanted. Even once the rain stopped and the sun came out, we didn’t stop on the way back.
For how professional their website is, and all the 5-star reviews, I expected more. The car portion really annoyed me but overall it just doesn’t seem like a luxury operation.
翻译:我们夫妻俩单独参加了一次前往格伦科的一日私人游。Discreet Scotland自称是一家高端豪华旅游运营商,但遗憾的是,我觉得它并未达到这一水准。他们的网站上有一个专门介绍“我们的车辆”的页面,声称所提供的旅游服务均使用路虎或奔驰级别的车辆,甚至还附上了照片!令我们惊讶的是,接待我们的导游兼司机开着一辆老旧的大众面包车来到了酒店。我小学时乘坐的校车,座椅都比这个舒服得多。这次整整8个小时的行程中,我们的乘坐环境极其不舒服。面包车上没有杯架,所以我们只能一直拿着咖啡或饮料,直到下一站才能扔掉。也没有可以给手机充电的地方。至于我们的导游兼司机,除了说“车就是他们给我安排的”之外,对这种糟糕的乘车条件连一句道歉都没有。
我们曾在世界各地的国家参加过私人一日游,但这次还是第一次遇到提供的饮用水如此之少的情况。这次旅行中一个人都没遇到。也没有任何零食。我们就坐在一辆老旧的大众面包车里,一坐就是好几个小时,车的每一个动作我们都能感觉到。到了一天结束时,我们的背和屁股都疼得要命。
此外,还有其他一些细节也完全称不上“豪华”。事前一周甚至几天都收不到确认邮件。也没有提到我需要接的人是谁,或者对方的车牌号是多少。我不得不主动联系他们以确认预订情况,得到的回复也只是简单的“是的,您的司机兼导游会在早上8点在酒店与您见面。”没有任何“行程预告”之类的邮件。什么都没有。
至于导游,虽然他非常友善,但他的大部分讲解都是关于他自己的生活,而并非关于苏格兰或我们沿途所见的景点。到了格伦科后,我们在一处观景台下车拍照,但雨下得太大,拍出来的照片根本没法用。第二站也是阴雨天气,之后我们就直接去吃午饭了。由于我们是《权力的游戏》的粉丝,我们提议返回南方去参观杜恩城堡;我们非常感激他为我们安排了这一站。不过我觉得我们没能如愿好好游览格伦科。即便雨停了、太阳也出来了,我们在返程途中也并没有停下来。
虽然他们的网站做得很专业,而且有那么多五星评价,但我原本期待能有更好的体验。开车这段经历真的让我很不愉快,总体来看,这家服务似乎算不上什么高端奢华的服务呢。