Have just returned home on 19 April, mid night 2.30am on a 5days package tour to Shenzhen+Guangdong+Macau
(04CAD5).
We book it at the Natas fair which the 2nd px go free if we settle via OCBC credit card(per px@499+185x2for airport tax).It was truly an enjoyable and money worth tour to us.
Prior before this trip,the comment we saw from this website did put us off but since we have already book the tour,we might as well give it a try as not all tour guide or the service staff is that bad as at time it is just our luck to have met a rude and unfriendly staff.
Which I did till at first when we call CTC to check on our ticket and tour briefing which the service staff sounded very annoyed till I told her off. She sequence apologies and got another staff to contact me and apologies and clearly explain the tour briefing to us which we did not pursue further.
Anyway we didn't wanted this matter to affect our mood but to be honest,we really enjoy our trip. Another comfort we had was our group consist of only 15 people in this trip(idea number of people and not a big group) and while we had to do our own checking at the airport, but CTC did arrange a staff to be at the airport @10.30pm to see to our need before we take off.Upon reaching Shenzhen, we were met up by their local tour guide, Ms Sally Ng fr Century Holiday, CTC co-parters in Shenzhen whom really change my opinion on how China is. She clearly explain their culture and make us understand how China has change for the better. She also encourage us to look at China with an open mindset and see for ourselves how China has improve over the years.Sally not only share the good of their culture, she was also honest to share some of their bad habits.
To be honest,our first thought of China was not so impress as we would assume the places will be dirty, toilet without door and people going round spitting but after joining this trip and seeing for ourselves, China indeed have improved but not enough or maybe we were just lucky that we did not experience what others have commented .
They are also more advance in the technology as compared to us which was an eye opener to us. Most of the meals we had during this trip was not too bad.
We even got our request of eating fresh seafood on the last day which was not covered in the package but our tour guide manage to bring us.We had live lobster,baby abalone,prawn and other live seas food which cost us Remibi277 for two.
We also had a day in Macau and since our China tour guide couldn't bring us across due to their regulation we had a Macau tour guide to meet us between the cross migration counter who is suppose to take care of us but did not.
We did had a bad experience with our Macau tour guide but at the end of the day, we did not let his bad attitude to affect us.
Overall we did enjoy ourselves with a lot of shopping eating and buying.
Everyone in our group were very friendly, fun and kind as we learn to take care and on a lookout for each other.
Will look forward in joining more tours with CTC again.

Joined the 14-day Switzerland & Italy in Dec 09. Terrible trip - Lousy guide, unsafe / substandard hotels & horrible meals/ restaurants.

Wrote an email to CTC and their reply was that they needed to wait for the guide, who is currently overseas, to return before they can respond.

Here you have, 8 extremely dissatisfied customers who are upset enough to write a complaint letter and you need to wait almost 4 weeks for the guide to return back to singapore before you can respond to a complaint letter? That is simply bad customer service! Is there really no means of communication possible between CTC and the guide when the guide is overseas? Wonder if CTC ever heard of the invention of mobile phones and/ or emails?

1st and last time that our family will ever travel with CTC!

My family and I just came back from Egypt tour on 24 Dec 09.
Was among the best yearly tours that we\'ve been. Thanks to tour leader Mr Wymen Lee and Egyptian tour guide Mr Yasser. Would definitely recommend others to join CTC tours.

I am writing to commend on the excellent service rendered by one of your tour leaders, Ms Alice Low.
Being a staunch supporter/customer with CTC for the past 15 years, Alice is the best Free-lance female
Tour Leader I've encountered. She is very professional in the course of her duties. Having such a big
group of passengers (abt 80 plus) Alice had proven to be very steady, calm and patient.


Alice is also very responsible tour leader. Throughout the 8 days, she would check and ensured that all our luggages do
not go missing. She worked till late night at the hotel lobby just to ensure that everything runs smoothly. I was deeply
impressed by her conscienciousness and efficiency. Apart from being warm and courteous, Alice is also very informative and
experienced. Her briefing session was impressive - loud and clear and she really provided us with the important informations
and precautions to be taken before our departure.


In view of her dedication and competence, I have no doubt that Alice is an asset to CTC.
May I take this opportunity to also congratulate you for having Ms Alice Low, such an outstanding staff in your
organisation.

When CTC was at Chinatown Point a few years ago, my wife and I make enquiry about some tours. I saw a counter girl do not have a coustomer, and talked to her, instead she direct us to get a Q number from another location.
Last month I book a Genting tour with them. They told me to call them to see when vouchers are ready. Ther main line and and free and eazy line, seems no one pick up. Goes to auto answer, and message is (press 1,or press 2)and when no one answer, goes back to main line again, than back to auto answer machine

I'm from Jakarta, traveled few times w/ ctc to china, last time we went to Tibet, tks to aloysius, the journey was very tiring,very hard, any problem occurs, we solved it together at the same time, and hi.. edmund, he was very helpful, tks anyway..

Hey Desmond, check out the package on the 14 Jan instead! KWS8, if you read carefully, its better and to what I understand from previous travellers, its wonderful! Currently 4 pax confirmed, 6 more to go...

I am interested in going to Korea Winter package tour on the 15th Feb 2010(Code:KWS7). According to CTC, there are currently 2 pax who have booked this package. My friend and I will make up to another 2 pax, which is now 4 pax. As this package requires 10 pax to form the tour, I would like to know if there are any interested parties to materialise this tour. Many thanks!

Everybody has been talking about how nice Jasmine's service is... But let me tell all of you, this information is not true. I talked to her on the phone and what was mentioned by other travellers about her experience and service was good... But I seriously don't think so, she answered the questions wrongly when i ask about it from the package. So I am wondering if those reviews are written by herself or her friends...

I agree that they don't pick up their phone calls at all. So I sent in an email enquiry yesterday to their website.. To my surprise, I received a reply on the same day! I sent in my email at 10am++, and received a very detailed email reply around 1pm! So I will recommend you guys to email in instead of calling in! The person who replied me was Jasmine and her subsequent email replies to my never-ending questions (weather,hotels,shopping,etc) takes only 5-15mins to reach me. I am shocked by her efficiency and speed! I booked a tour with her to Korea immediately. :) The only bad thing was they don't have an online payment where they can deduct the amount from my credit card immediately.. i had to print out the forms, fill them up and scan them to send back to Jasmine for the payment. A bit tedious.. so i hope they will change and upgrade their payment system the next time i book with them.

I just signed up with CTC for the 10 days Turkey Wonderland departing in Nov. The counter staff which assisted me was Eve, her service was very excellent. On the phone, she can answer me on the places in Turkey, how's the weather, very familiar with Turkey herself. Nothing beats speaking to a consultant who knows the country herself.
She was patient in quoting me the prices too. Really hope she'll be the sg guide for the tour, and not the Jack mentioned below.

Been calling in to both their mainline, free 'n' easy line, international line.. but no one picked up the phones at all!

when i went down to the office at mosque st, i was like a football.. got kicked here and there. the receptionist went to the staff and ask "are u free now?" and he actually said NO! it's so embarrassing as a company as big as CTC has no system at all!

what's the use of so many good reviews, or whatever and they don't have enough staff or staff who actually picks up phone calls or serve walk-in customers? i read that they do not practice commission based system, that's why the staff has a bochup attitude.

well, bochup me, and i went to another big agency to book for my family of 12 to America.

0/5 stars!

Found this web by chance and it's very useful! Been reading all the comments for CTC as I have booked a tour with them during the NATAS... and I must agree with some of the previous feedbacks about Jasmine! She is a very very friendly and sweet young girl. Even when I keep calling her almost everyday to ask her for information and updates on my Hokkaido tour that i've booked in December, she never lose her patience with me. I was recommended to her by my sister-in-law who booked a Korea tour with her last December. She handled their booking very well and was very responsible and meticulous. I WANT HER AS MY TOURLEADER!! :)

By the way, anyone wanna go their 10days Best of Turkey with me in December? I am looking for a female partner as my sister can't travel in December and I need a roommate. Email me! pat_jazz@hotmail.com

CTC free and easy department sucks. The only good staff they have is Jerry Brown, but I heard he is quitting soon. The rest are not knowledgeable, do things really slowly and NEVER answer the phone calls.

I went for a group package Gold Coast with Jacky before and he put a lot of emphasis on the optional tours. Not that tourleader should be deprived of the chance to earn some extra cash.. but sometimes they do cross the line.

I also went to Japan with Wong Chye Huat and he is very good. Took care of my family very well.

Basically how you enjoy the tour depends largely on the tourleader and the itinerary.

I am surprised to see there's so many bad comments about the tourleaders, as I had very good experiences with CTC!

I went to West America last year with Gideon and this year to Central Europe with Dennis. Both of them are very professional and knowledgeable. I believe they are full time staff.

My children enjoyed Gideon's commentary a lot as he is very humorous and has a very sharp mind. We went for the optional tours to Grand Canyon and the shows in Las Vegas and had loads of fun!

I prefer booking free n easy tours myself as it is quite difficult to get through their hotline, and i enjoy the freedom of controlling the different aspect of my fne tours. Places like HK, Thailand is easy to walk around.. you don't really need a group tour.

I prefer full time staff as tourleaders and not those part time tourleaders, as full timers are usually more experienced and more responsible (since they have a full time job in CTC, so they won't really give slipslop service). My colleague went to their Korea tour last year and had a part time tourleader who only cared about herself and treated the tour as a shopping trip. I think they will have more part time tourleader during their peak season, as they will have more groups.

I will recommend CTC to anyone if they want to join their America & Europe tour! Especially the 10days Central Europe that I went for.. we only paid less than $1800 before taxes!

5/5 * for CTC!

I went to Hokkaido this year, and our tourleader was Michael and he is the best guide ever! He can speak all sorts of languages including Japanese! My mother loved him, my son loved him, everyone loved him! Very caring and patient man. He took very good care of us, and all of us enjoyed very very much! Food was good, hotel was great with hot spring facilities, and it's a beautiful beautiful place! Thumbs up to CTC for planning this fantastic 9days itineary! :)

I went to Hokkaido this year, and our tourleader was Michael and he is the best guide ever! He can speak all sorts of languages including Japanese! My mother loved him, my son loved him, everyone loved him! Very caring and patient man. He took very good care of us, and all of us enjoyed very very much! Food was good, hotel was great with hot spring facilities, and it's a beautiful beautiful place! Thumbs up to CTC for planning this fantastic 9days itineary! :)

Joined CTC tour to America, Australia and Hokkaido before. Very well planned itinerary and esp for Hokkaido, very good food and accomodation! I can't remember my tourleaders' names.. but I remember the young man whom I booked the Hokkaido tour with. His name was Zhicong and he is at their mosque st outlet. very nice guy, no underhand sales tactic to force u to join and is very detailed in explaining the package details. I have the ctc club card, and the good thing is they will email or mail me advance notices of their travel fair.. which is good as I seldom have time to read the newspapers. As for the phone ringings, well.. maybe they don't have enough manpower, or it can be the case where no one bothers since they do not have commission based system? If it's a commission based on per customer, i bet the phones will not ring more than 2 ring tones. That's human nature. Anyway I don't think the tourleaders are thaaaat bad. If so,they will be fired long ago.

Anyway, to rate the company;
Location 2/5 -- why all in chinatown?!
Booking staff(zhicong) 5/5
Other booking staff 2/5 average
Package 4/5
Prices 4/5

I think we should give our feedback in a non-bias way. Put yourselves in the person's shoes.. how would you feel if your full name is broadcast on a public website shaming and putting you down? I believe a tourleader who has worked for a few years has not only led one tour, but many tours in their careers, and out of the hundreds or thousands of customers, there is bound to be a small minority which dislike their service for whatever reason -- bad grasp of language, nationality, race, whatever.

If you are dissatisfied with his service, you should address the issue during the tour, not after the tour. What good can comes out of it? This will only hurt and demoralize a good person, and spoil his reputation in the company. Focus on the matter and problem and not the person.

No one is perfect, before flaming a person online behind a annoynomous front, be a man or brave enough to tackle the issue and come down to the office and speak to the person in charge or talk to the tourleader during the tour about your unhappiness.

Many big issues stem from one small little misunderstanding.

To all the others who are browsing and leaving comments here, please do so objectively. Do not flame and please be nice. People have feelings. I can't imagine being that poor bloke Jacky right now, where everyone is flaming him here and his bosses can see and marking him out just becos on some unsupported comments.

If you really "suffered" during the tour, i bet you will complain about it through the proper channel instead of coming to an unregulated website to make comments right?

Be an educated web user. Think about it.

**Btw, i have not joined CTC tours before, nor know the persons being discussed personally. I just feel like putting my 2cents worth in as I know the feeling of being flamed online on my personal blog by anonymous cowards. They just have an inferiority complex and want to bring others down to make themselves happy. Sick sick sick people.

I have joined the tour to Turkey last year with Jacky and I found that he is a very hardworking guy. He always make sures the group is seated comfortably for their meals and ensure that we are eating half-way before he goes for his own meals. He also works well with the local guides there to make our trip enjoyable. I think he is a Malaysian that's why his English is not that fantastic, but I don't think we should judge him based on that alone. Give others a chance and don't discriminated. Different people have differnt working styles, so you should try it to see for yourself. Don't listen to what others have to say blindly. That's all I want to say.

It is not fair to judge someone because of their conversation with local guide or with driver. I have been touring with jackie and some of my other tour leaders from ctc travel couple of times and so far it is first time i am hearing this kind of bad complaining. If the customer are so curious about the conversation of guide and tour leader this is customer problem, there are a lot of subject to discuss during tour about food, itinerary, time schedules and etc. Plus i know their service especially in exotic destination is wonderful. I believe that customer will not consider unfair bad comments about tour leader.

I joined a tour lead by Jacky Chow few months ago. Same thing, to Turkey. His english was really bad. Also, he is always chatting to the guide instead of entertaining us most of the time.

At that time, i was very disatisfied with the trip. That's one time, i was curious on why there are so much chatting between the tour guide and Jacky Chow. Hence, i went over to listen to their conversation at one end. They are actually discussing about our likes and dislikes and also itinary. I come to realise that he is actually taking care of us from the back end.

I started to notice what he is doing. During my trip, he always the first one to reach the eating place and ensure that we get our food. After we check out of the hotel, he always ensure that all our lugguage is in the coach before we start our day.

Anyone who have been to Turkey before will know that the distance is very long and the road is bumpy. I forgot to bring my medication and feel very sick during the whole trip. he can see that i do not feel good and ask me what happen to me. I told him my condition and he open his 'first aid' box. he has all sorts of medication and one of them is motion sickness. he give me one and after a while, i feel more comfortable. Luckily, with Jacky around, i'm able to enjoy my whole turkey trip.

Optional might be very expensive, but since we have already paid so much for the tour package, i feel that is something we should go for. Optional is something that we consider for ourselves and not whether the tour agent or the guide or tour leader is earning from us. If we do not take the optional, they only earn less from us but is a regret for us that we did not go to a specify place where is so famous there. I do not think that most of us will visit the same country the second time. I have even check out the pricing at other travel agent before i start my trip. The price is almost the same.

During tour, Guide should be the one explaining the tourist attraction. If Tour Leader do the same thing as guide, we will not need to have a Tour Guide and pay him tipping. Just a Tour Leader will do. I believe that Tour Leader main concern is to ensure that we taken our meals, sleep well and enjoy the trip. Thats why Tour Leader is only required if the group is big.

He is not very good but not that bad as the rest describe. Is not worth to cancel a tour because of comments. Once you book a tour, maintain a postive attitude and you will get to enjoy the trip. Why let a tour leader affect your mood.

ohmy.. I haf alrdy booked a tour with them to Egypt for December 09! What if my tourleader is tat Jacky Chow guy? Should I write in to their manager insist tat I do not wan him as my tourleader??? wait.. i think he is like protected or something right? since he is so lousy but still considered senior and given tours to lead?? So confirmed the manager will ignore our rq la! die die die. Maybe i should consider cnxl the tour.

Their membership club damn lame la. I go SA Tours website register my email can get free gift. CTC club is useless. Basically you only get like $30 discount per person.. which is like not even 5% of the tour fare. bit lame. I have given up trying to call into the company for enquiry. Especially the free and easy department. Maybe they closed the department down.

Anyway, it's no point screaming and raving and complaining about the company. Their big boss don't bother, why should we care if the company is going down the drain? It will fail like other giants who has closed down.. with lousy staff and stupid company policies and useless gimmicks and promotions. Just take our business somewhere else!

let's just all stop complaining since it is pointless, save our energy and money, and boycott CTC once and for all!

wow.. so many bad comments.

I was browsing through various travel agents websites and looking at their itineraries as I want to book a tour to Egypt for December. Seems like CTC is the only company that have not updated their new season packages and dates onto the website yet. Very inefficient, as most of the other companies have already done so. I have to call in many times to find out about the packages and the dates avaliable.. and as usual, unable to get through to a "human" to speak to me. After a few rings, they will direct me to their answering machine, and NOBODY will get back. I know. I have been calling since yesterday morning.

Anyway, i begin searching for CTC Egypt packages on google, and stumbled onto this website... wow. So many bad comments about their tour packages. Makes me worried about putting my money inside to book. What if I get that Jacky Chow guy? omg.

Can others please share more of their personal experiences with all of us?

no way will i patronise dis agency again. althou i have their mbership card!!

got a irresponsible tour leader during my taiwan trip. her name is ai-mi. instead of looking after e grp esp e elderly, she is usually e first one to complain tat she is tired. other than doin e headcounts in e bus & askin for tips, she does noting n behaves as if she is part of the tour grp. our itinerary includes trip to fengjia nite mkt (@ taichung), due to e likelihood of encountering jam enroute to tat nite mkt, she suggested tat we head straight back to e htl despite all of us have not had dinner (dinner was planned to be on own exp at nite mkt). she insisted tat e jam is v bad, there's noting to see at e nite mkt & tat e bus driver is tired. to be honest, i tink its all an excuse becos she seemed so irritated when some of us insisted tat we wanna walk from htl to e nite mkt (meaning, bus driver can rest, she cannot). luckily, e tour guide said tat she can manage alone. after arriving at e nite mkt, we realise tat wad ai mi said was all bull-shit. fengjia nite mkt is so vibrant n bustling wif activities (in my opinion, its even more interseting than shi-lin)
becos dis trip involves 2 nite mkts (fengjia & shi-lin). she made us take cabs twice (back to htl from nite mkt), becos she is too tired n din wan to wait for us. wads e pt of having dis kind of tour leader. damn pissed off.

Did join their tour to both Hokkaido 2006 and Korea 2008 no doubt ctc's price is higher then some other agent in the market but accommodation is good beside Hotel Naruta and Mt Sorak which is quite badly furnish

Hokkaido is worth traveling w em
food and accommodation is good.......

Agree that Korea guide have too much sales talk on coach instead of history & other information

The phone is annoying all phone ring at the same time with different tone can't even hear the person talking


rating: 2.5* out of 5

What happen to the CTC??????

Why staff there no pick up the phone?????!!!!!!

No matter, when, which department i call....damnnn...no either of department to answer the call!!!!!!

Can CTC explain WHY THIS HAPPEN?????????

I booked my Hokkaido package last year with a young chap who sits at the back in their Mosque Street outlet. I believe his name was Nat-something. Very special name. He spent 1hr explaining to us about the itinerary and telling us which places to go to buy special stuff which is not stated in the itinerary. We were very impressed with his good service and thoroughness. He speaks very good english as well. I went down last week to look for him to book a tour to America, but unfortunately he wasn't working there anymore.. A good employee gone is a huge lost to the company. In the end we didn't book with CTC cos the guy who spoke to us didn't really know the itinerary well and was very abrupt. We went to SA tours in the end.

Was browsing the web about \"honest reviews of travel agents in Singapore\" and came across this page.. I think this is a fantastic website!

Alright. Now to share my personal experiences with CTC.

I have joined their tours several times in the past 10 years.

----------------------------------

CHINA:
I read a lot of bad comments about their China tour packages, but I don\'t believe that it is that bad... Their tour packages are very affordable. I have joined almost 5 or 6 or their China tours so far, and other than a few minor hiccups here and there.. all is ok. Recently we only paid around $600++ flying by Singapore Airlines SQ and staying in good hotels for our 8days tour. Yes, they did bring us to those shopping stops but for seasoned travellers like us we know the drill and as long as you are firm and don\'t want to buy anything.. nobody will bring out a gun to force you to buy. Just say no and walk away. Simple. HELLO? 8days fly SQ including hotels, sightseeing and food plus taxes = $600++ is a darn good deal! Definitely they have to cover up their losses by bringing us to shopping stops to earn commission. Just accept that or go and join some $2000 deluxe tour!

***********************

EUROPE
I went to their Spain & Portugal trip few years back and our tourleader was Mei. First impression is some tanned botak (sorry!) tomboy, but after you give her a chance to interact with you, you realized that she is a very kind and helpful person. We sent in compliment letters to the company to commend her! My wife loved her Hongkie accent. :)

My wife and I also joined their Italy & Switzerland tour before and our tourleader was also great! His name is Jeff, and he is so knowledgeable, both of us were very impressed.

****************************

TURKEY
Ok. This was my worst trip so far with CTC. I went to Turkey in few months ago and the tourleader was Jacky. Previous two comments had very harsh things to say about this man, but it is TRUE! He claims that he is a senior in the company but when we asked him about more in detailed about the country, he just went \"aah, aah, i get back to you\". He has to go and ask the guide and come back to us. After a few questions, we gave up and went to ask the guide ourselves and basically ignored him throughout the whole tour. His knowledge of the country does not extend beyond what is stated in the itinerary, which obviously we can read it by ourselves. His command of the language - both English and Chinese are so bad, we wondered how he passed the interview and be hired by a fairly large company like CTC. And the only time he is nice is when he is talking about optional tours and collecting tippings.. most of the time he just do nothing and chat with the guide. During the long distance drive where the guide has talked for 2 hours non-stop (bless him) and needed a rest, our tourleader did not fill in the gap by chatting with us or telling us more about the country that we are visiting. He just sat there like one of us and did nothing. In Istanbul, my wife and I took a taxi to the Spice Bazaar and walked beside the Bosphorous River which they wanted to overcharge us by collecting US60 per person. How can they mark-up the price by so much? I found out that the cruise is only less than US5, and overall our cab fare did not exceed US30 including return to the hotel. Thankfully we did not pay US120 for a lousy boat ride. Ridiculous. We do not expect him to do EVERYTHING, but basically I thinks that he fails as a tourleader because his main objective is to earn money and not to \"lead\" the tour.

A good tourleader should be like Mei or Jeff where they LEAD and bonds the group together so we can have fun and get to know more new friends. A tourleader needs to know how to have people skills and not focus on making money (even though they are there to make a living), but focusing on making the group cohesive and allowing travellers to enjoy themselves. Once everyone feels happy, we will definately \"support\" the tourleader by going for optional tours AND/OR give more tippings on top of the recommended guidelines.

On all our tours, we will give the tourleaders and guide extra money for good service rendered, but during my Turkey trip I did not join a single optional tour nor give the tourleader extra as I did not feel that he has done his job properly or well enough.

My friend joined their Turkey tour this month and unfortunately their tourleader is him. They heard me complained before about this guy, and they were actually contemplating to cancel the tour, but decided against it as they don\'t see the point of being penalized for the company\'s mistake of hiring him. So they are going ahead with the tour but they will not join the optional tours nor bother with him much as I mentioned before, he is just basically useless.

Instead of blaming the staff, I think the managers should be blamed for hiring such incompetent staff that ruin the reputation of the company. They don\'t understand that it\'s not only the brand of the company nor the prices nor the itineraries that compel us to book the tour with them.. it\'s also the quality of their tourleaders! I have encouraged many of my relatives and friends to join their Europe tours as I have good experience with Mei & Jeff, but I will caution them against joining CTC Turkey/Egypt tours as they may have a high chance of encountering Jacky -- for some strange reason, lousy as he is, he seems to be able to lead many tours and to be a \"senior\" in these two destinations. But thankfully for one thing that he is so called \"in charge\" of these two destinations.. so we all know which tour to avoid when we go CTC to make a booking.

As for myself, if I know that the tourleader of my next tour is Jacky Chow.. i will go for the briefing, hand out letters to the rest of the group to inform them what a lousy tourleader he is and to boycott him and change tourleader.. if the company chooses to protect him, I will cancel tour immediately, walk out and never ever book another package with CTC ever again.

Jacky Chow! This name is like a disease! I went with him to Egypt some years back and all he is interested in in $$$!! He has no knowledge what-so-ever about the country and yet dare to claim that he is 1 of the senior staff at CTC. I believe the managers must have been born blind. Jacky has very poor command of english and chinese and seems more interested in making us go for optional tours and collect our tippings!

If you have join this company's tour, pray that Jacky is not your tour leader. If he is, well....good luck!

CTC standard dropped a lot. Compared to 5 or 10 years ago.. they may have expanded, but they are employing too many inefficient and useless employees. The worst tourleader in my life I ever had was Jacky Chow who led our tour to Turkey. Previously he was our tourleader to Korea and we had the most rotten luck to encounter him AGAIN on our 2nd trip with CTC to Turkey! Talk about unlucky!!!!!!!!!!! He is super duper MONEYFACED. All he cares is about optional tours, shopping stops and money money money. He treats the people who go for his optionals better!! My wife is afriad of heights thus we did not join the Hot air balloon ride which cost USD220. We can afford it, but my wife really didn't dare to try cos the balloon had no strings to hold it to the ground and it's free flying and controlled only by the wind conditions and the captain. After that day, we could really see the difference in treatment between those who "supported" his earnings by going for the Hot air balloon rides & the boring whirling dance shit, and those who opt out of the optional tours. We understand that he has to earn money from the group, but this is riddiculous, cos we also give him TIPPINGS! And we paid for the tour! So why are there preferential treatment????? I have sent in a complaint to their feedback unit but till today no reply. I can't be bothered anymore. I will just go to other agencies to book my tour, and perhaps I may consider coming back to CTC when this idiot is finally sacked or he quits the company.

Good itineraries, good prices, LOUSY tourleader.

I wanted to updated my passport details by faxing in as instructed by the tour consultant. I faxed in on Monday last week and till yesterday, no one replied or called me back to say they received. I called in from Tuesday till Saturday for an average of 30 times a day but NO ANSWERS at all!! In the end I was so fedup that I took a cab down to Mosque Street to see if the company has closed down or the staff are simply too lazy to answer phone calls.. I found out the most of them are either standing outside smoking (in their uniform) or chatting away while the phone was ringing non-stop in the background. I did an experiment by calling in to their direct line using my handphone and heard the phones ring but no one bothered to pick up even though there were no customers inside. I walked in and no one bothered to ask me or stand up to assist me.. they just ignored me and continued to chat amongst themselves.. Thankfully a girl with long hair and sitting at the corner ( i didn't get her name, but her desk had many little decorations & soft toys)came over and asked what I needed and she managed to trace out my booking with my full name. Unfortunately she said that my passport details were not updated and there was no indication in the booking, but luckily I brought my passports along so she can update my particulars in the system immediately. I wanted to send in a complaint letter to the company regarding the staff bad attitude, but found it more appropriate to share my experience with everyone as companies are known to side their staff and "coverup" any complaint cases. But in the pile of shitty staff they have in CTC, at least there is one shiny gem.

Dear all,

I agreed with few of the comments that CTC phone call always no pick up. I did tried call to CTC Mosque Street last weekend 5th & 6th Sept, but no one is answering the call. I called more than 20 times for the 2 days. Then we just make a trip to CTC on Sunday noon, and saw there is staffs less customer, not sure why they not answering the call.

WHAT'S THE POINT OF SPENDING THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ON ADVERTISEMENTS IN THE NEWSPAPERS IF NO ONE BOTHERS TO PICK UP THE PHONE CALLS! I TRIED CALLING FROM 12PM TILL 2.30PM ALMOST 100TIMES BUT NO ANSWERS!

ok. you may think i am over-reacting, but i just want to check the avaliability before making my way down to their office in Chinatown. I stay in Woodlands! If they don't have what I want, than i need not waste a trip to go down! Moreover the last time i went down, i waited for 1hr before i was served! I HATE THE MOSQUE STREET OUTLET! Their free & easy department sucks to the max!! So little staff, no.. i must say.. so little inexperienced and can't be bothered attitude. WTF! They should just shut down the free & easy dep and spare customers the agony!

You know what you will get when you had a horrible tour experience when you join their tour? .......
A $50 voucher that is valid for 6 months. Who the hell wants a $50 voucher for compensation when you had a bad experience with their company?? Expect me to pay more money to relive the experience all over again? No thank you very much. Bullshit.

You know what you will get when you had a horrible tour experience when you join their tour? .......
A $50 voucher that is valid for 6 months. Who the hell wants a $50 voucher for compensation when you had a bad experience with their company?? Expect me to pay more money to relive the experience all over again? No thank you very much. Bullshit.

You know what you will get when you had a horrible tour experience when you join their tour? .......
A $50 voucher that is valid for 6 months. Who the hell wants a $50 voucher for compensation when you had a bad experience with their company?? Expect me to pay more money to relive the experience all over again? No thank you very much. Bullshit.

I think most companies have a mixture of good and bad staff. It depends largely on the culture of the company. My relative used to work in CTC, so I understand the insides of the company. The system is really unfair. It penalizes hardworking staff by expecting them to contribute more, and shows blatant favoritism shown to a few privileged ones who are mostly lazy and piggybacking on the effort of the poor exploited few. The managers are the ones encouraging this trend, and the big boss is unaware/turning a blind eye to the situation. A lot of good staff are leaving or have left the company to other agencies who appreciate their talents. People like my relative.

I have also joined 2 of their tours before, and was led by freelance guides who are there just to enjoy a free holiday and to collect tips and earn money. No commitment, no responsibility..

If you understand the inner workings of a company, than you will understand why things are the way it is. Why the phones are not being picked up, why you are treated as invisible when you go to the office, why you have to "write the price yourself", why you have to go through so many channels and frustrations before your feedback is acknowledged - however grudgingly by the company. It's all being condoned by their superiors.

I am not sure about other companies, as my relative has moved on to another trade... but from what I've heard about CTC, it seems that the staff turnover is very high and they can never ever keep good and hardworking staff around -- instead they choose to keep lazy bums who are just leeches.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best.. I rate:
Itinerary: 7/10
Counter Staff: 3/10
Prices: 6/10
Tourleaders (Freelance): 1/10

I think most companies have a mixture of good and bad staff. It depends largely on the culture of the company. My relative used to work in CTC, so I understand the insides of the company. The system is really unfair. It penalizes hardworking staff by expecting them to contribute more, and shows blatant favoritism shown to a few privileged ones who are mostly lazy and piggybacking on the effort of the poor exploited few. The managers are the ones encouraging this trend, and the big boss is unaware/turning a blind eye to the situation. A lot of good staff are leaving or have left the company to other agencies who appreciate their talents. People like my relative.

I have also joined 2 of their tours before, and was led by freelance guides who are there just to enjoy a free holiday and to collect tips and earn money. No commitment, no responsibility..

If you understand the inner workings of a company, than you will understand why things are the way it is. Why the phones are not being picked up, why you are treated as invisible when you go to the office, why you have to "write the price yourself", why you have to go through so many channels and frustrations before your feedback is acknowledged - however grudgingly by the company. It's all being condoned by their superiors.

I am not sure about other companies, as my relative has moved on to another trade... but from what I've heard about CTC, it seems that the staff turnover is very high and they can never ever keep good and hardworking staff around -- instead they choose to keep lazy bums who are just leeches.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best.. I rate:
Itinerary: 7/10
Counter Staff: 3/10
Prices: 6/10
Tourleaders (Freelance): 1/10

It seems like a mixture of good and bad reviews. People! Plese be specific and constructive about your comments. Good experiences are good to hear but bad ones need to be properly heard. So, People, is CTC good? rating from 1 to 10(for excellent). describe the encounters as well.

I have called the free&easy department for the past 3 days but no answer! LOUSY! When I went to the head office to personally make an enquiry, there was only ONE staff working and there are 6 people in front of me waiting to be served! The group tour department had 5 staff working but NONE is able to assist us cos "we only do group tours, not f&e".

we left and went to Super travel at chinatown point to make a booking. the staff there were eager to serve and very pleasant. Unlike CTC.

Surfing around and found out about this website! Very informative and good for travellers who want to know the truth about travel agents in Singapore.

Lemme share my personal experience with CTC! I joined their Hokkaido in June last year and my tourleader was Jasmine. I believe she is working in the mosque st outlet. She is very young, but very personable and helpful. I remembered her buying a bday cake for one of the group members out from her own pocket! The food was fantastic! 100% Jap meals with Hokkaido crab buffet! My family ate till we nearly drop! The hotels were also very good. We stayed in those traditional hot spring hotels and even though most of us were shy to strip naked for the hot spring bath, our tourleader bravely led and pulled many of the ladies in the group along to the hot spring. I am glad she does that, as the ladies became closer (who doesn't when you soak naked together? haha) and we had a very enjoyable time!

I have since booked two more tours with her, one to South Africa in December and one more to Turkey departing this month. I will highly recommend this company to anyone who wants to join a group tour.

As for their FIT department, there's a lot of room for improvement. I went down on several occasions and I have given up on their FIT staff. They don't pick up phone calls, don't reply emails and their attitude sucks. "What you want??" is their standard greeting.

Look for Jeffery Hoh! Good service and very patient!

I always travel with him/book my tours through him.

I agree with Chan that the Free & Easy department sucks. They should either hire more people to help pick up phone calls, or invest more money to upgrade their web services.

I went down to the Mosque street office to enquire, and can you imagine they are still using Windows 97 system?? The poor girl had to run to all the other computer terminals to help me check the prices for my Korea tour package.

I tried calling in before and they take a long time to answer my enquiries about the prices. Now than I now is because the system is old and outdated.. not because the staff are lazy and inefficient.

HELLO? CTC \\\"MANAGEMENT\\\"! UPGRADE THE SYSTEM ALREADY! Oh my god. I bet the bosses are using Vista or something.

So bloody long just to check one stupid price.

I agree with Chan that the Free & Easy department sucks. They should either hire more people to help pick up phone calls, or invest more money to upgrade their web services.

I went down to the Mosque street office to enquire, and can you imagine they are still using Windows 97 system?? The poor girl had to run to all the other computer terminals to help me check the prices for my Korea tour package.

I tried calling in before and they take a long time to answer my enquiries about the prices. Now than I now is because the system is old and outdated.. not because the staff are lazy and inefficient.

HELLO? CTC \\\"MANAGEMENT\\\"! UPGRADE THE SYSTEM ALREADY! Oh my god. I bet the bosses are using Vista or something.

So bloody long just to check one stupid price.

Free & Easy Department is seriously screwed up. No one picks up the phones, and when you come down to the office personally, all of the staff treat you as invisible!! They don\'t even acknowledge your presence!

We went down to NATAS Fair on Friday.. and the queues for the Free and easy were so long!! In the end we went to ask for Hokkaido tour, and was served by a staff called Elson and he was very abrupt and speaks with a weird accent, like he is some high class aristocratic gentlemen.

After going to other agents, we decided that we liked CTC itinerary cos there is 1 nite at Rusutsu Ski.. so we came back to CTC to try our luck with another staff other than that guy.. and in the end, we booked with a girl called Jasmine in the end cos she is very friendly and humourous. Very informative and non-pushy as well.

Now we are going to their 7days Hokkaido Winter in December! I really hope she can be our tourleader cos our children love her too! She told us their company don\'t allow special request for tourleaders.. which we think is either riddiculous, or they are afraid less competent people do not get to go. In any case, I hope she can be with us for our holiday!

THUMBS UP!

One advice from her which i find is very useful. Book the tour early as their prices are on early bird basis. So you actually pay different prices from the people in the same group. I got a $600 discount per person! Very good deal!

Good luck everyone!

i\'m quite suprise to see so many bad reviews for CTC. join their taiwan tour in 2008 and korea+jeju tour in 2007. everything turn out well and we enjoied ourselves. the hotels and food was good. the tour guides are very helpful too. i\'m thinking of joining their hokkaido tour end of this year.

travelled wif ctc on taiwan tour in jan 09. i tink its goin to be my first n last time wif them.

when i signed up e tour, one of the main highlights was a nite's stay at master bear resort with fun-filled activities. the resort was oso e main reason y i chose this package over the hong thai's package.

it was only while we were there tat we were informed by our guide tat we will not be staying at e resort as it has been fully booked by locals more than 3 mths ago. thus, we were brot to a less than desirable hotel to stay overnite.

dis travel agency continued to sell the package - citing e resort as a one of e highlites when e resort rooms were fully booked 3 mths b4. its simply a case of mis-selling

To All,

DO NOT BOOK YOUR TRAVEL PACKAGE AT CTC! If all goes well during your trip, fine and good. However, if you decide to come back and file a complaint to CTC, it seems that they are either (1) cannot be bothered to reply your letter. (2) dun value your feedback and (3) they are too busy replying to other complaints. I went on their tour group to Korea in Feb this year and i immediately wrote a long letter to them upin my return but till now, i have not even received any reply from them! This just shows how much customer service they do value from their customers! I WILL NEVER EVER AGAIN BOOK ANY PACKAGES FROM THEM AGAIN. Book at your own risk, people!

To michelle,
nobody will force u to buy the things if u feel that u are no extra money to paid or no interested...no need to ask other people to verify this problem...
i feel that is too much dee...

I have read the reviews of this CTC and other travel agents, looks like there are more complains than praises. I do realise that there are many people who have happy experiences on tours, however I think majority rather just forget about unpleasant experiences and not bother to complain. In my opinion, being a seasoned traveller (done group tours and tours on my own), where possible do go on holidays on your own. Nowadays it is not difficult to do it on your own, book airtickets, hotels, car rentals online; check information, maps etc etc on numerous websites. If you are not confident doing everything on your own, at least join local tours when you reach the city. So many local tours conducted everyday in all the major cities. "Big Bus tours", "Trolley Tours" etc.....just check online. I bet you your family (especially with children) will enjoy much more doing it on your own. So much more adventure, flexibility, no unneccessary 'factory tours', 'special shopping trips' etc etc.

Me and my wife just came back from a 7-day Japan trip. It was a wonderful one as our group size is small - 17 inclusive of a baby. The accommodations were good (with some last-min free upgrade). The Japanese tour guide Ms Ivy Fang (MoMo san) was very good and really cater to our local style.

Only non-pleasant comments; it is actually just a \"6-day\" trip, and the pre-trip briefing has much room for improvement..

Just came back from a 10 day Europe tour on 16 May. My group consist of ten adults. All of us really enjoyed the trip.
The package was worth every penny that was paid for, but what made the tour amazing was our tour guide Jeffery Hoh.
Initially I was quite worried on how the tour would be conducted upon knowing that he a local Singaporean will be our one and only guide throughout the trip. But as the tour progressed, my worries were proved to be irrelevant.
Although the tour consist of some inter-countries coach rides which commonly last 2 to 3 hours between destinations, they are not at least boring thanks to Jeffery.
Armed with 20 years of experience, he entertained the rides with history, legends, culture shocks for the next destination/countries, and he was not stingy to share his rare and interesting encounters during his 20 years of service.
He was able to provide immediate direction when requests for direction to nearest Chinese restaurant, Washroom, Shops at various locations were made, be it we are at the hotels, Tourist attractions, or an unplanned stop.
Throughout the trip, he was able to single out and encourage trying of local gourmets at different places we visited. Most of which were actually small local stalls including fast food restaurants which he was not likely to gain any economical benefits from.
And not forgetting our coach driver Joseph (short alternative, since I can't remember his full Italian name) who is one of the designated drivers for the Pope, had demonstrated safe and professional attitude even in the chaotic situation in Paris.

Thanks Jeffery.

I went on a CTC 7D package tour with my sister to Beijing, Chengde & Tianjin in 2005. Overall, the tour was quite ok but I would have 2nd thoughts joining package tours again! Our tour guide was very informative. However, I found out that there was differential pricing for the same tour. Several others on the trip paid much lesser as they signe dup during NATAS fair. I signed up closer to the trip and had to pay more even though I helped to fill the last 2 places for that trip. The tour guide also suggested to bring us to a Chinese acrobatics performance (Red something) on the 1st night which was not in the itinerary, which meant we had to pay extra. A few nights later, she brought us to the acrobatics performance included in our itinerary which was not as good. Come on, why did the tour agency allow this? I would have wanted to go to Tianjin but the tour guide suggested that we stay in Beijing and not go to Tianjin to eat some semi-cooked gou-bu-li-bao-zi. Sigh. The tour guide also brought us to several places for shopping which I found too touristy and a rip-off - Pixiu shop, jade shop, pearl shop, silkworm factory, chinese blue porcelain type factory. She has some of these items like the pixiu, jade bangle, and says she uses the pearl cream etc. We gave her feedback that we would not like these but she said these are part of the requirements set by the Chinese authorities. Can someone please verify this?

This is one of the worst travel agent i gave came aross.....Bad experience totally in their Taiwan tour...Horrible.Never never join their tour.At your own risk

Went with my gf on China Tour. Please dun join their China Tours. Its a total rip-off. Not only are the places that we visit is not really interesting but they will confirm bring you to places where they tell you that you are a valuable customer and they give you special prices. Specially EXPENSIVE prices. A fren of mine went on a local tour and for the exact same thing, WE SINGAPOREANS were charged 10 times more!!! So dun buy anything when u are in the tour.

Traveled with CTC to Taiwan for 8 days with my Mum & 2 aunts in Feb 2009. Met Tour Guide & Tour Leader who needs loads of re-training:
1)When we were resting on the bus, tour guide commented that we should pay the fare & go back to SIN to sleep instead. Kept making rude remarks.
2) Always shorten our itineary to bring us to places like PiXiu centre, Mao\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Hse, Pearl Centre, Tea Hse, etc which are not included in the Sales itineary. 3)Once he even brought us to a pineapple tart shop & commented that we will not buy, told the sales assistance not to serve us but the rest who will buy instead. When we told the tour leader that we were insulted by the tour guide, she just say she does not know anything. Not even apologetic at all.
4) When we got up the bus, the tour guide shouted that he was innocent & that we have wronged him, he even threw the mic onto the flight of stairs on the bus & the tour leader just kept quiet.
5)Whenever we asked the tour leader anything, she just said she does not know: 1 example, once we were alighting the bus to go to the night mkt, then my aunt went back to the bus to get her jacket, bus nearly drove off & my aunt nearly rolled down the flight of stairs. Luckily I saw & shouted for the bus driver to stop immediately. Tour leader was missing. She went ahead with the group in front instead of waiting & taking head counts. When confronted, she just say she does not know that my aunt is still on the bus. Not doing her job, redundant.

When we came back to SIN, I wrote a long email to complaint.
6) Staff did not inform us the list of hotels we were supposed to be staying at right at the beginning of the trip.
7) We were told at briefing that tips will only be paid to both driver & tour leader only as our group only consists of 10pax, there will be no tour guide. However, that wasn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t the case when we arrived at the meeting point at Changi airport. Tour leader didn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t bother to inform as well.
8)One place of interest was not visited during trip & additional places were brought to were not listed in the original itineary. All these additional places were mainly shops that sells expensive things & that the tour guide & leader gets their commision from.
9) Our holiday was totally wrecked; we were even insulted by tour guide & tour leader was not helpful at all.
10) We requested a meeting with their higher management to resolve the complaint but no action was taken.
All CTC could offer was a $50 voucher as goodwill to our \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"feedback\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" as they claimed.
It was a COMPLAINT letter yet they wrote back as feedback.
Replies were full of spelling mistakes & grammar errors.
The fact that they used someone with such \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"ability\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" to reply us shows how sincere they are.
Their answers to my complaints were all patronizing. Probably one of those that is in their template meant for all customers who complaint.
This truly shows that once you have paid up & went for their tour, it is non of their concern anymore.
I even had to chase for their reply.
CS skills needs more fine-tuning.
Managers & higher management team was not informed or maybe refused to get themselves involved.
I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'ll definitely not join CTC to anywhere in the world nor recommend them to anyone looking for a good holiday.

Days are bad, i never really have the tots of travelling till i saw the advertiment and write up on destinations. Kind of trigger me to book for a trip, maybe just a short one.

I try calling the numbers, seems that no one is picking up the phone. Tot of giving up the idea, but then i went down to the office, and then i relise why no one is picking up the calls, all the sale counters is so packed with people. And i dun like to queue, so i leave. Though the prices is good, but too little staffs to handle the cilents. Sad..

Seem like shirely(bukit timah )who wrote on 13 September 2008 & Tammy who wrote on 31 December 2008 are the same person . Both reviews are from the same writer. Definitely don’t sound genuine!! who are you kidding!!

Joined their 8 days Shanghai Jiangnan
Tour in mid Dec 08. Was impressed by
the service provided by the Tour guides
and bus driver (China).

I have travelled with CTC twice to Turkey. Once for the 8 day tour in 2007 and once for a 8 day tour to egypt this year. I noticed there have been pretty bad reviews about CTC, but so far my experience has been very pleasant.Thanks

My family of 4 bought Club Med packages to Bintan, the counter staff was kind to explain in details and sharing information about Club Med. Thumb Up!

The Free & Easy department of CTC has to be improved. Very slow in service

Thanks to a product planner, my wife and i are able to understand philipines better, he shares and teaches us how to move around in Cebu and Manila. Advices us on different places of interests. I can't rem his name, but he is good. Thanks.

According to my brother who just went to Bintan with CTC, he claimed that the counter staff have been very helpful. I will be trying them this Dec.

Good understanding and knowledge of tour details, they have provided me with very important information of philippines and the follow up was good. Thumbs up!Thanks

I had a very very bad encounters with CTC.
I went for my 7 days Japan trip last Dec 07 with my Family, These are the thing that we encounter.

1. There was no tour guide from
Singapore that following us, there was only one uncle who was waiting for us in Changi Airport to take our attendance, upon arrival the whole trip was very rush, we were there for 7 days and changed five hotel in totel.
2.The food was very bad, one of the night we were having Buffet Japanese BBQ, it sound good right but when we reached there, we were told that we are not allow to order any other drinks except plain water this is due to the price that they paid and we are only have 40 mins for this dinner. So can you imagine that I have two young kids and have to swallow the hot BBQ foods do you think that we enjoyed this meal. One more night we had Thai food in Japan, it sound funny right.
3. This is the worst thing that I faced, when we went for the Briefing in Singapore I was told by the staff the one of my child (who is 3 year old) I don't have paid tip for him, I was being told twice on this matter. But on the sec last day in Japan is time for the local tour guide to collect tip from us then I know the total amount the I need to paid which had included my younger son share so when I told her Singapore side told me that I don't have to paid for his share but she said she was not being inform on this issue. Lucky that I still had extra yen to cover this (it cost more S$50). Anyway the local tour guide is kind enough to said that she will check with her office but NO NEWS. When I came back from Japan, I call CTC, from one department to another department with promises to call me back but NEVER EVER CALL BACK, it take me more that one month and finally I found the right person who is taking care of this complain. He just told me that he can't log my case through phone call and insisted that I have to write it to them so that they can follow up no other advise. After one month of phone call and he just tell me to write in.
My husband told to forget about this and take this as a lesson learn. We will NEVER EVER follow CTC tour again.

I had bad encounters with CTC as well....
1) CTC had adverd for a tokyo/Nikko tour in Oct 07 for departures all the way to Feb 08. However, their staff were actually not aware that they had this package until I showed them the newspaper clipping (althou they did a system search). On numerous occassions, I called them to ask if the tour is confirmed, however diff staff will throw up diff ans - 1 said min is 10 to go, currently 6 names. 1 would say min is 15 to go, currently only 4 names. another would say 15 to go, wif oni 2 on namelist..... in short, diff staff give diff stories.... 2 weeks leading to e departure date, staff could actually tell me they are not pushing for the tour as they have not secured the air tics & secondly they felt that 6/7 days tour to japan would not be popular over the CNY period. 2 issues - 1st : why did they continue to adverd for the package even thou they have not secured e air tics? 2nd : did they conduct any studies to show that 6/7 day japan tour is not popular during cny period. In fact, other agencies had their packages fully booked way back in Dec.

2) I believe CTC staff can be better trained in customer service & etiquette. I was at one of their branch (2nd level, People's Park Centre) late last year when I overheard one of the staff talking to her customer. Apparently, the customer had asked whether it is important to buy travel insurance. The staff replied : "Ya, better buy, in case you die there or lost things there."

3) I went to Korea last Dec. Apparently, there was also a CTC that travelled on the same day. The CTC tour leader is simply rude. He doesnt smile & practically yells at his tour group.

On another note, I noticed that CTC has rather different itineraries which may attract, however if their service continues to slacken.... then its a sad story....

have joined CTC's china trips a few times. Not bad will consider CTC on next trip to china. but the counter staff are rude n impatient during enquiry n booking.

Your review VERY POOR SERVICE THEY JUST HANG UP THE PHONE WHEN THEY KNOW IS FREE & EASY TO HONGKONG CALLED 4 TIMES AND THEY JUST HANG UP

I have travelled with CTC twice to Europe. Once for the 16 day tour in 2004 and once for a 14 day tour to Spain this year. I noticed there have been pretty bad reviews about CTC, but so far my experience has been very pleasant.

I have travelled with CTC twice to Europe. Once for the 16 day tour in 2004 and once for a 14 day tour to Spain this year. I noticed there have been pretty bad reviews about CTC, but so far my experience has been very pleasant.

I used to travel with CTC some 9 years ago to Europe and with my mum being the most loyal customer, travelling with them to China a couple of time. While i believe over the years their service kinda of drop....so i wonder is their service really that bad now ??

Really poor service!!I called them and they refer to another no for free and easy.So I called them again with another no.Just as somebody answering,he cut off my lines!!Not once but as many as 4 times!!Try calling again half an hour later,guess what,somebody shouted at me,"Going Where??!!"without introducing his/her name or company name.What kind of travel agency is this??IS it safe to travel with them??Not me at least.I'm speaking the truth here and my wife can vouch for me as I on the speaker on the phone.My wife request me to write here for others to share our experience

I were asking on Tour to Beijing on 22 March 08 at Chinatown people park complex. I encounter with this girl, I don't know her name. She were at the China tour counter so I asked if there tour to beijing. So she show me and I took myself, I asked her again if there is longer tour, she took the 10/12 days tour list for me. (Please note, I were standing) Then I asked if she can tell me the departure date and price. To my own surprise, I need to write myself while I am standing and she is sitting there just to tell me. I asked her, can she write for me, She answer me, WHY CAN'T I WRITE MYSELF? oh my god! ok, nvm. then I asked again and pass her the itinery to write, she asked me "WHY I PASS THE PAPER FOR HER?" rudely! I tell her, "FOR YOU TO WRITE AR", she answer me "YOU WRITE YOURSELF, I WILL JUST TELL YOU" my god!,then I write myself and got confused and asked her to write, She told me what? She said "YOU WRITE YOURSELF ALSO CONFUSED, I WRITE THEN YOU MORE CONFUSED!) After I asked all I needed to know, I really had enough of her rude attitude. I immedicately call my sister in front of her and scream to my sister on phone that his sales person so rude!!!!!! (I were still standing until I finish asked)
I can't imagine, if your sales person so rude, how am I dare to send my parent to China tour using CTC. Ask few question is already like that...! I wonder if CTC recruit these China people for service or to scold customer away?

Have join CTC's Japan trip this Jan 2007. Is good. Hope to travel with them again.

Tour with CTC is not as good as SAtour. Food and lging not as nice (~3 stars). However, the price is half of SAtour.