AFC Vacations

Love my trips with AFC. Their single supplements are amazing. Loved my trips to Atlanta, Mackinac Island and the Grand Hotel, and Tuscany. Looking forward to my two river cruises down the Seine and the Danube and my trip to Halifax and the Matritimes with a Stay on Prince Edward Island.

Been on many tours with AFC and they have all been great. I highly recommend them if you want everything planned for you.All you have to do is sit back and enjoy!

Fantastic travel agency! Everyone is knowledgable, helpful and friendly. We have taken several vacations with them and will agsin!

We booked a Mystery Tour with AFC in June 2019. The trip started with a major delay at the SD Airport. 7 1/2 hours after orginal departure time, we were on our way to our destination airport. There were 12 travelers in the San Diego group. We were supposed to be met at the airport by our tour manager. Did not happen. We had no idea where we were going. We finally received a text stating that AFC had arranged transportation , but we had to pay an additional fee for the ride. As I see it, the twelve people from SD had already paid for that bus ride and didn't get it. I don't know about the rest of the world, I like to get what I pay for. I won't recommend this tour company.

My husband and I took part in the Canadian Rockies & Glacier National Park tour which departed July 19, 2023, returning to San Diego July 25, 2023. One of the reason’s we chose this trip, being first time AFC tour travelers, was the second nights’ stay in Glacier Park. On June 26, 2023, AFC sent an email to me with our air transportation information, I was terribly disappointed when I read down the body of the email to find out there was an itinerary note that we would NOT be staying in the one location I had my heart set on staying, Glacier Park, due to a booking miscommunication. I wonder who dropped that ball on this, disappointing all 40+ travelers on the bus. They substituted the Glacier Park stay for a 2nd night at subpar Red Lion Hotel.

Bright and early, we ate breakfast and got on the bus looking forward to our first stop at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. I knew nothing of the history of the UNESCO site prior to this trip. The visitor center, our guide and the detailed information she provided us explained why this happened and how orchestrated it was – in order to provide food for themselves.

Back on the bus, next stop Waterton Lakes National Park and Prince of Wales Hotel. There were plenty of choices of restaurants for lunch and we had time to stretch our legs and walk around before heading out again.

Here is where the bus trip got very long and uncomfortable, as we passed right on by Glacier Park – not even a peek. We stopped long enough for a bathroom break at a casino along the way to Kalispell and that was it…..just a quick stop and back on the bus.

My question to whoever caused the snafu with our overnight lodging in Glacier: Did you consider how long we all were on the bus? Did you realize the length of travel time it takes to get from Waterton Lakes National Park to Kalispell is more hours than we should have had to endure? And to make matters worse we got to the hotel at nearly 7 pm.

Our meal. On the menu was spinach salad with cranberries and dressing, overcooked frozen vegetable and the stickiest spaghetti I have ever seen. When I put the serving fork in the pasta to serve myself, the spaghetti was stuck together since it was cooked and let sit, even though we were late arriving, they didn’t have the common sense to keep it in some liquid to keep it from sticking and getting gummy. Or perhaps they could have contacted our tour guide.

All the wine or beer or other beverages we wanted was no consolation to being hungry and having to eat very sub-par food for what we were expecting to be a trip of a higher quality and level – Affordable First-Class Vacations. My recommendation is to eliminate Red Lion as an overnight stay. Although Kalispell is small there must be a better hotel in town.

On our next day, with being inconvenienced because we could not stay inside the park at Glacier, we had to backtrack another 2-1/2 hours to Glacier for the Red Jammer. The driver and guide were very good and added a bit of humor to the experience. Then back in the bus for another 2 hour drive back to Kalispell with a short stop at Lake MacDonald. We had dinner on our own this night.

After experiencing these 2 days of travel from Canada to Montana, my recommendation would be to eliminate the Glacier National Park section completely – unless you can GUARANTEE lodging at the park. The next day we rode all day to Banff with a stop for lunch before the border.

In closing, let me say that our tour guide, Tom St. Clair was amazing. He has so much knowledge to share with us about the areas we visited and he was such a personable gentleman. We also had a bit of comic relief between Tom and the bus driver John Heavens. In my opinion, those 2 gentleman worked very well together to escort on our adventure. We thoroughly enjoyed all the lakes, the icefields and the Banff Gondola

If there is a next time for an AFC/Premier vacation, I will consider more than the sights and experiences we will enjoy. What matters most is not spending so much time on the bus. It was dreadful.

The fall foliage was wonderful to see. Stopping at Burger King as a dinner on your own was a disaster as they were not prepared to serve 48 people. The Holiday Inn staff were not told that 48 people would be dining in. There was only one waitress.