Ronnie | Ireland | August, 2023

Name

Ronnie Squires

How would you rate your trip?

Who was your travel expert?

Sean McCay

How were your accommodations?

Great. All of the lodging properties selected by Sean were great. Our three favorites were:

Heatons Guesthouse (Dingle)
Brooks Hotel (Dublin)
Granville Hotel (Waterford)

Special commendation for the Heatons Guesthouse. Super property. Lovely rooms. Great location. Excellent staff. Not sure why anyone going to Dingle would stay at any other property! We told Sean we wanted to stay at hotels that were located within easy walking distance of the downtown areas (pubs and restaurants). Sean did an excellent job in selecting the properties to meet our request.

Did everything go smoothly with your transportation?

Yes! The private transfer from the airport to our hotel in Dublin was outstanding! The driver was very helpful, informative, and friendly. The same company provided a private transfer back to the airport after our 3 days in Dublin to pick up the rental car. Again – exceptional service! I would not hesitate to use them again or recommend them to anyone needing transportation in Dublin.

The rental car arranged by Sean was also outstanding. The car was available on time and the pick up process was very easy. We decided to turn in the car one day early at the end of the trip and just take a cab to the airport and the turn in process was equally easy. Sean arranged the car through Hertz Ireland – great job!

The Shannon River ferry tickets Sean arranged were perfect!

What tours, attractions, or activities did you particularly enjoy?

Although we absolutely enjoyed every tour and every attraction that Sean scheduled as pat of our trip – we especially enjoyed the Merry Ploughboy Pub Irish Music and Dance dinner show. It was a lot of fun and the dinner was very good. The shuttle picked us up at a downtown Dublin location and dropped us off at our hotel for the ride back. We had lots of fun at the Blarney Castle and absolutely enjoyed the Waterford Crystal Tour. Pre-booking the various distillery and brewery tours was Sean’s recommendation and that worked very well for us. The Jameson Distillery Tour in Middleton was exceptional!

What was your favorite part of the trip?

Just seeing as much of Ireland as we could in the short 12-day trip! We tried to stay off the motorways as much as possible and take “scenic” routes Sean recommended which added a great deal to our trip! We also really enjoyed “pub hunting” for meals and we were able to not only experience a lot of traditional Irish music – we also met a lot of great people. The folks from Ireland were very kind, friendly, and quick with suggestions on local sights to see and places to visit. If we had been on a traditional bus tour we never would have had the chance to visit Shillelagh or Kong Ireland – two of our favorite little towns!

Would you travel with us again?

Yes. Make sure we get Sean as our travel expert for our next trip – probably a similar self-drive visit to Scotland in 2025!

Any other questions or comments?

I consider ourselves seasoned travelers (both couples who made this trip). Either in our travels as part of the US military or our business travels – we’ve visited many different countries. We’ve been on a number of organized trips such as bus tours and river cruises, but this was the first self-drive trip we’ve done. We did a great deal of research prior to the trip and had a list of priority places and experience we wanted to enjoy. It became clear, however, that what we needed was an expert who knew Ireland and could take our preliminary itinerary and turn it into an exceptional experience! The success and enjoyment of our trip could not have happened without the hard work and exceptional service provided by Sean! He put together a tour that was perfect in every way possible. His proposed itinerary allowed us to see all of our desired attractions and locations. He made sure we were in locations that met our desires and expectations as well as met our objective to “wander the backroads” as much as we wanted! Sean’s knowledge of the country was so helpful and just want we needed to turn a great vacation idea into an unforgettable experience! He was always available via email of a phone call to answer any questions we had – to make recommendations – and to make specific suggestions to ensure our trip was a total success! We would – with no hesitation – recommend Crystal Travel and Tours to anyone and would specifically recommend Sean to assist in the planning of their Ireland/Scotland trip.