Booked this tour by Five Stars at a promotional price of $2418 with 3 nights Dubai free by Emirates at the Travel Fair in October 2010. However, for this cheaper price (Universal Travel charged $3,000 for the package), there were some optional tours and visa application for Tunisia was charged at S$150 (Chan Bros only charged $80).
Counter and operation service at Five Stars Travel was also less than satisfactory. There was no confirmation and their stafff do not bother to call to ask for payment or to attend a briefing. You had to call them for updates. Worst of all, they held on to our passports for nearly a month to process the Tunisia visa which takes 3 to 4 weeks. In the end, when we got hold of our passports at the airport (had to call repeatedly to remind them to bring our passports to airport), no visa stamp appeared in our passports!
When we arrived at Tunis airport, we had to wait for 3 hours for our visa to be processed. After more than 20 hours of flight time including waiting time in Dubai and time difference, we were dead tired.
Fortunately for us, the local tour guide, Ali was efficient and knowledgeable. Our tour in Tunisia went on well and on time with his firm leadership. We managed to see most of the important highlights such as Great Colosseum, Sahara camel ride, Chebika & Tamerza oasis and Salt lake Chott el Djerid. However, we missed the Red Lizard train at Metlaoui (optional tour) because we booked too late.
Overall, Tunisia is different from any other countries I visited. It has a little bit of Turkey, Egypt, Italy, Greece and Middle Eastern flavour.
The most unforgetable and outrageous scenario for this whole trip was spending the New Year 2011 at Dhow Palace Hotel lobby in Dubai waiting for our hotel rooms! Apparently, there was a miscommunication between Five Stars, the local agent and the hotel management. Our bookings were cancelled and the hotel was fully booked that night. We had to wait for over 3 hours at the lobby from 1 am - 4.30 am for the hotel staff to find alternative accommodation. In the end, we were sent to a hotel at the suburb of Dubai. All this happened with our tour leader (freelance) not keeping us informed or given us any explanation of the situation. Some tour members had to approach her to find out why we were kept waiting at the hotel lobby. This tour leader failed to do her duty and was "hiding" at one corner of the hotel. She even had the cheek to collect tips for herself while doing so for the local Tunisia tour guide and driver. I think she needs to improve her skills and service before she can lead a tour group. Sad to say, our travel agencies need to improve and upgrade their service otherwise there will not be any repeat customers. Many of our tour members have indicated that this is their first and perhaps the last time they will be joining Five Stars Tours! As the Chinese saying goes 一分钱一分货, "yi fen qian, yi fen huo" , maybe this is what you get for cheap tour!
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