Need some feedback on KLM and hotels... (1 Viewer)

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Maestro

Master Sergeant
Greetings ladies and gentlemen.

I've started looking around to find a good travel agency for my trip to Prague... I think I found a good deal : 9 days in Prague-Budapest (5 days in Prague, 4 in Budapest) for $1,695 CND.

Tour include a French-speaking guide, the plane tickets, hotels (Lunik in Prague and Sissi in Budapest), etc... (Although they say if I add $100, I can get a room at Cloister Inn in Prague and Erzsebet in Budapest instead.)

The main problem is that my flight Montréal-Prague is on Air France (no real problem there) but my flight Cracovie-Montréal is on KLM... I never heard of them. I think they are the Nederlands' national flight company, right ? How is their reputation ? Are their planes well taken care of ? Is their crew well-trained ? I don't wanna fly on a crappy company like Air-Transat.

I only flew on British Airways before, I know (from a study published in a magazine) they have some of the best crew with some of the best planes. Too bad I no longer have that study on hand... I could see how the rest is ranked.

Also, should I cough up the extra $100 or are all the hotels listed of about the same quality ?

**EDIT** I would go to Prague on my own like I did for London, but (as I stated in an other thread) the fact that I don't speak a single word of Czech kinda freaks me out.
 
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As for KLM no prob at all. Never flew with them but they have a good reputation here. I believe our Dutch forum members can calm you down as well.

As for being lost in Prague no problem. Just sent me an e-mail to roman dot susil at gmail dot com and I´ll give you my phone Nr. Only hope I´ll be able to understand your English and you my Czenglish...:rolleyes:
Then in case of problems you can call me.

Prague is a beautiful town with an old history and you need at least 3 days too see what you should see. A forum member, a friend of mine, Kelly Meyrick (KMeyrick) spent few days in Prague with her family last September. You might want to get in touch with her to give you some advices.

And futhermore, I´m sure you know a forum member Pisis. If am I not wrong his wife works as a tourist guide in Prague so try to get in touch with him as well. Either via PM or you can find him on Skype (Pisis).

When are you gonna go to Prague?
 
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If you believe British Airways to be okay, then KLM will give you no problem and if you want to read for yourself, check out the link. I have flown with them on a couple of occasions and had no worries. As for Prague, a program on our local radio yesterday talking to a well travelled person, rated Prague as the ne Paris of Europe. Now in my book, that's a great complement to Prague.

:hotsun: :hotsun:

KLM Reviews and KLM passenger Opinions about KLM product and service standards
 
If you believe British Airways to be okay, then KLM will give you no problem and if you want to read for yourself, check out the link. I have flown with them on a couple of occasions and had no worries. As for Prague, a program on our local radio yesterday talking to a well travelled person, rated Prague as the ne Paris of Europe. Now in my book, that's a great complement to Prague.

:hotsun: :hotsun:

KLM Reviews and KLM passenger Opinions about KLM product and service standards

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about Prague.

However, your link isn't very kind with KLM... Comments are about 50-50. I think the following quote sums up the situation pretty well...

The KLM/Air France conglomerate should be outlawed.

Ugh...
 
As for KLM no prob at all. Never flew with them but they have a good reputation here. I believe our Dutch forum members can calm you down as well.

As for being lost in Prague no problem. Just sent me an e-mail to roman dot susil at gmail dot com and I´ll give you my phone Nr. Only hope I´ll be able to understand your English and you my Czenglish...:rolleyes:
Then in case of problems you can call me.

Prague is a beautiful town with an old history and you need at least 3 days too see what you should see. A forum member, a friend of mine, Kelly Meyrick (KMeyrick) spent few days in Prague with her family last September. You might want to get in touch with her to give you some advices.

And futhermore, I´m sure you know a forum member Pisis. If am I not wrong his wife works as a tourist guide in Prague so try to get in touch with him as well. Either via PM or you can find him on Skype (Pisis).

Thanks, I may contact you to get your phone number... Just in case I would be in trouble. And don't worry about your accent... I heard some East-Europeans speak English and their accent isn't that bad. Pretty understandable. I would worry more about my Frenglish... Londoner never had any problem understanding me, but I recently called in the US and had a hard time to make the guy at the phone understand what I wanted. I guess it depends on the other person I am talking to...

As for Pisis, I haven't seen him around here for months... I doubt he is still hanging around.

And thanks for the "places to see" list... I already had bought a guidebook for Prague, but a few more suggestions are always welcome. ;)

When are you gonna go to Prague?

I think I'll go there in September... I need to wait until March to know when I can book my annual vacation time. But it will most likely be in September as winds over the Atlantic seems to be lighter. I almost had no turbulances at all when I went to London and back in September 2008.
 
Take the beginning of September. You should find nice weather here, better (lower) prices, less tourists everywhere and girls on the streets of Prague wearing just the mimimum clothes they have to (because of weather) 8)... I´m really suffering now having the winter temperatures here...:twisted:

As for beer and food in Prague- never drink and eat in the center- few streets away you´ll find beer and food for normal prices. I mean light beer for 20- 25 Czech crowns and Pilsener Urquel for 30- 35 Czech crowns and lunch (without sup) for some 130-150 Czech crowns. Actual rate is, if am I not wrong 1 US dollar=16 Czech crowns.

As for Pisis- I don´t know about his activity here but I saw him several times online on Skype this week. You can catch him there or just let me know and I´ll ask him for his e-mail address...

Don´t worry about KLM. 4 years ago I flew to JFK and back with Alitalia during their worst financial situation. I was lucky I´ve found it out just after I got back:lol: I´m still here as you can see.
 
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I think you'll find Roman is right about the beer! As for KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines), they are one of the oldest airlines in the World, if not the oldest, with a good reputation all around. I've flown with them a number of times without problem. Their 'City Hopper' services (short-haul, eg London to Paris) compare with the average international airline, and any adverse comments I would think would be aimed in that direction. They are not a 'cram 'em in, cheap flights', here today gone tomorrow organisation, and their long-haul international service, such as Canada to Europe, is second to none. I'm quite surprised you's never heard of them !
 
never heard of KLM:shock:

The Royal Aeronautical Society (usual English translation: KLM) is the national airline of the Netherlands. Its main base is Schiphol Airport. KLM is a global airline. It forms the core of KLM Group, which includes KLM Cityhopper Martinair and transavia.com part. KLM merged with Air France in 2004 to Air France-KLM holding company. Under the holding company KLM and Air France both operate as a network society.
 
Take the beginning of September. You should find nice weather here, better (lower) prices, less tourists everywhere and girls on the streets of Prague wearing just the mimimum clothes they have to (because of weather) 8)... I´m really suffering now having the winter temperatures here...:twisted:

Cool... Cute girls wearing minimal clothes... I'll speak up to my commanding officer as soon as I get my vacation papers for this year. ;)

As for beer and food in Prague- never drink and eat in the center- few streets away you´ll find beer and food for normal prices. I mean light beer for 20- 25 Czech crowns and Pilsener Urquel for 30- 35 Czech crowns and lunch (without sup) for some 130-150 Czech crowns. Actual rate is, if am I not wrong 1 US dollar=16 Czech crowns.

You must not be that wrong... Last time I checked it was 1 CND dollar for 16.9 Crowns.

So... I can get beer for less than $1.50 ? And a meal for less than $9.00 ??? Cool... My trip is gonna be relatively cheap !

Guess I'm gonna buy myself some traveler's checks and some cash in Euros, then find a change office when I hit the streets of Prague to get some Crowns. Because I'm sure that if I present a $100 CND bill to a change office, the poor lady is gonna look at me with a "WTF ?" look on her face. :lol:
 

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No chance to get Czech crowns in Canada? It´s always better to change just once (dollar/crown) than twice (dollar/euro/crown).

No... In my area, they only keep the most used kinds of money. (US dollars and Euro). You can get less common kinds of money in Québec City, but their choice is still pretty basic... (US dollars, Euro, UK Pounds, plus Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, Turk and Russian money.)
 
KLM- Great airline!

No problem changing money whe you get there- even a $100 CND. Change before you get to the tourist section though. You're rate goes down the closer you are to the tourist sites (Old Town, Charles Bridge, etc.) We actually found it better to change only a small amount for things like a pretzel while walking, or a soda.... then just use our bank cards for all the other purchases. That left the conversion to the bank, and we ended up getting a better rate- even with a small conversion fee. Check with your bank before you go, but that was the best deal for us.

Eat in the smaller cafe restraunts off the beaten path. Beer's cheaper, it's quieter, and pretty as well.

Take a trip to Terezin Concentration Camp if you have time. It's an hour drive out, about 3 hrs there, and an hour back. A very moving experience.

What are your interests? We saw an opera- highly recommend seeing one. We saw DonGiovanni... Mozart wrote it in Prague and performed it there first... so what better place to see it- right?!

I'm on facebook, or you can message me here if you want more ideas or suggestions. I have photos from our trip to Prague, Terezin and Rudice on facebook. We had an absolutely amazing time there and are even hoping to be able to move there in the near future.
 
KLM- Great airline!

No problem changing money whe you get there- even a $100 CND. Change before you get to the tourist section though. You're rate goes down the closer you are to the tourist sites (Old Town, Charles Bridge, etc.) We actually found it better to change only a small amount for things like a pretzel while walking, or a soda.... then just use our bank cards for all the other purchases. That left the conversion to the bank, and we ended up getting a better rate- even with a small conversion fee. Check with your bank before you go, but that was the best deal for us.

Eat in the smaller cafe restraunts off the beaten path. Beer's cheaper, it's quieter, and pretty as well.

Take a trip to Terezin Concentration Camp if you have time. It's an hour drive out, about 3 hrs there, and an hour back. A very moving experience.

What are your interests? We saw an opera- highly recommend seeing one. We saw DonGiovanni... Mozart wrote it in Prague and performed it there first... so what better place to see it- right?!

I'm on facebook, or you can message me here if you want more ideas or suggestions. I have photos from our trip to Prague, Terezin and Rudice on facebook. We had an absolutely amazing time there and are even hoping to be able to move there in the near future.

Thanks for the advice... I'll surely go see something at the National Theatre (not sure about the name, would have to check in my book). My guidebook says it is a great piece of architecture... The show will be a bonus. ;)

Terezin, eh ? Well, may be if I got time. However, the first thing "out of town" that I wanna see is the castle of Karlstein. Although I'm not sure I'll have time to get there. There is a lot of things I want to see in town.
 

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