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Vatican Tour - be careful when booking w Walks Tours

Posted by on

I booked a tour with Walks Tours for early entrance into the Vatican and Sistine Chapel. The tour was literally called Pristine Sistine Early Entrance Small Group Vatican Tour. The time I selected was 7:45 (the Vatican opens to the public at 9am).

I was SO disappointed. From the title of the tour and the description on the website, I expected to be led inside at 7:45, but our tour guide talked to our group outside the Vatican for 45 min before he began to lead us inside. That talk was informative and well done, and I believe he was doing what he was supposed to do, but it was confusing to me that we were held outside while the other groups that had collected at the same meeting site were led inside. Maybe they had booked earlier times?

When I bought the tickets, the website led me to believe we would have time in the Sistine Chapel before the crowds arrived. I figured this would be the only time in my life I would make it to the Sistine Chapel, so I decided to spend the extra money for that privileged time slot. Unfortunately, by the time we made it into the Chapel, it was absolutely packed.

Later, I looked again at the website thinking I must have missed something. Looking at it this time, I noticed this blurb about time selections: "6:45 AM, 6:30 PM, or 7:30 PM tours only: Experience what it's like to be alone in the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel with exclusive early or after-hours access, seeing these sites like only few people can."

So it was my fault. I simply did not notice that blurb and selected 7:45am. I tried to leave a review on their website to alert other users about that, but there was no way to do that, even though they have over 13,000 reviews! (How?) I called to ask how I could leave a review and the agent was unable to figure it out. I explained my situation and she tried to help me get a partial refund, but ultimately she was told to give me an email address so I could send my complaint in writing. I did that, but the email bounced, address unknown.

So I thought I would at least leave the information here. Read the fine print when booking your tours. :)

Posted by
9496 posts

I think that early admission to the Vatican has changed dramatically due to their rules and ticketing procedures. I’m not sure anyone can promise anything in the Vatican Museums without crowds and be honest in their descriptions.

My experience with walks was poor on two other tours (one cancelled last minute, one no refund given although tour was advertised as refundable ) and I would not recommend them based on those experiences. Others have had more positive results.

Posted by
768 posts

I found the website you are referring too.

https://www.takewalks.com/rome-tours/pristine-sistine-chapel-tour/

The name of the company is Walks Tours or TakeWalks.com

What does Devour food tours have to do with your issue?

Devour Food tours does FOOD tours. Not sure how you would eat your way through the Vatican?

I have taken several Food tours with Devour and all of them have been excellent and well worth the money. I wouldn't hesitate to take another food tour with Devour.

Posted by
3 posts

Hi Derek,

I used the name "Walks & Devour Tours" because the confirmation email they sent to me is titled as such - "Your Vatican Tour with Walks & Devour Tours!"

It is also how they answer their phones. I know this because I have called them three times while trying to get answers to my questions.

As I didn't consider or explore food tours, I had no idea "Devour" was a separate arm of the business.

I'm not sure why you felt the need to be sarcastic in your message to me, but your point is taken. I will edit my post to remove the word Devour since I don't have personal experience of that arm of this business and don't want to be discouraging about it. You might note, however, that my post was not negative about the quality of the TOUR. It was negative about this company's business practices and customer service which, one might assume, would be the same for both operations.

Tammy

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