Name: Aurora Nights
Address: Office 2 Empingham House, 1e Uppingham Gate, Ayston Road, Uppingham, Rutland
Rating: 4.88

“Best holiday of our life. Big thanks to Kevin who planned and organised every detail perfectly”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Wonderful people, great food. Thoroughly enjoyed it all.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“I have nothing but praise for the way this holiday was handled from the first contact to the successful completion of the holiday. Abigail Collins ensured every detail was explained and looked after this booking VERY well. She advised booking early for the Blue Lagoon which we did with great success. The self drive car was excellent, the accommodation was everything promised, the evening at the Perlan, the organisation, food, tour, music, was a wonderful way to bring in the New Year and enjoyed by all 5 of us. The suggested tours were wonderful. I have recommended this tour and any other tour organised by your company as I feel it was so very well managed. Thank you so much.”

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Posted 9 years ago

Thank you so much for taking the time to feedback and I am delighted you had such a wonderful New Years Eve break in Iceland. It was a shame you did not get to see the Northern Lights but as you said there is so much more to Iceland which you clearly really enjoyed and made the most of. Thank you again for your lovely words

Posted 9 years ago

“Great weekend! Everything perfectly organized! We enjoyed every minute of this trip.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“We want to thank you for wonderful vacation! FLIGHTS -were perfect and on time. Appreciated the extra room in exit aisle on our return flight. SNEALAND TRANSFER DRIVER-was great. He arrived at airport 1 hour ahead of our arrival and waited while Icelandic Air tried to locate a missing bag. I asked if I could go out and let him know of the delay but I couldn't. He was the last transfer agent at Terminal . He also was early to pick us up at Ion then onto Ranga . Very knowable on Icelandic life. Would recommend to use of him again! ION HOTEL - checked us in as soon as arrived at about 10AM!. The deluxe room definitely worth the upgrade. Excellent accommodations and food. I just wrote a write up on Trip Advisor and will send you. AMAZING TOURS- They were excellent . Enjoyed the 4wH Golden Circle tour very much. The driver was very experienced and made every effort to assist every traveler out of the Super Ford vehicle safely with a hand a small step ladder. We booked them again on the same day for a Northern Lights because high activity. We were not disappointed. They found the perfect spot for viewing. Our guide was professional photographer and took and posted photos of us and others on the tour (3) and the lights on Facebook that we could download. A big bonus! Definitely recommend both tours! But when we asked front desk at Ion for a Northern Lights tour and they gave us price $1898 for two people for a private tour. We were skeptical so we looked online and booked the same trip for $330 for both of us with AmazingTours. Not sure what Ion was trying to do but it was not customer service. Incidentally a single gentleman traveler had exactly the same $1000 trip offer from Ions front desk, which he told them was completely absurd. He booked online like we did. HOTEL RANGA. - when we arrived our room was ready . I asked if any suites available during our stay and the Peruvian suite was $100 a night. We took it. Very spacious and comfortable even with a beautiful river view for sunrises and sunsets across the hall a balcony with chairs Northern Lights view. Food and service outstanding . I'll send you my review on Trip Advisor SOUTH COAST ADVENTURES Since we were there at noon we inquired private tour with South Coast Adventures. A young man , in his early 20's picked us up in Lincoln Navigator and we visited a small town, Icelandic horses ,and the seaside. Really wasn't that much to see but got to see a different part Iceland. We should have just enjoyed our suite and taken a walk along the river trail behind the hotel vs spending the additional money . THE NORTHERN LiGHTS Super Jeep Hunt with Bonefire we would NOT RECOMMEND We had the same guide. He didn't use the step stool. We drove a hour to cave and walked in the dark with my husbands headlamp and wore our own Yak Traks to keep from falling on ice. He lead us to a cave, built a fire, made tea and hot chocolate and checked his smartphone again for activity which still showed active. No stories on superstitions, NL Phenomenon ,and folklore Then went out and we didn't see any activity until got back to the Hotel Ranga. Lights were very weak but we might have seen more if didn't go to Highlands for an hour going and returning and walking 10minutes to/ from. Cave sounds better than was. Would have preferred riding to river or lake view. He deflated his tires to climb the mountain and then on the way back we stopped while it took 20 minutes to reinflate. Very loud and noisy ,especially at 11:30 PM. Other tours were inflation instant and almost silent. DRIVE TO GLACIERS AND EYJAFJALLAJOKULL VOLCANO- Would recommend. In fact we emailed his boss Saeli how much we enjoyed that evening. He had crampons for us to use and we saw beautiful vistas . Great day . He did great job driving and getting us near the top. When it came time to reinflate for 20 minutes he showed us where we could walk and see waterfall vs hearing the compressor mounted in the back of the truck . We were happy with the opportunity to escape the noise. DRIVING THORSMORK and WATERFALLS-would NOT RECOMMEND The last tour was suppose to be 4-5 hours and but it ended up being 8 hours! It did not follow your write up. It was a beautiful drive in the Valley. Our guide wanted to make more exciting and another tour guide with 2 guests had to tow him out after he tried rocking out 10-20 minutes. Then went to Volcano Village. He gave us the Crampons again. We had to climb between boulder, ice and snow to reach a "fairy cave" or ice mound .At our age 74 we always evaluate risk / reward . The reward was small and the risk much greater. Once we reached the site we were able to walk back almost level. Why not level to/from? Then watery froze vegetable soup and bread and we were anxious for return drive to see waterfall and Hotel Ranga. However, another stop in a canyon where we got out and stood for 20 minutes while a German TV photographer (he was picked up Volcano Huts) assemble his drone ,fly it photos, then box it . We were accommodating ,but we were anxious to see the waterfalls and return to our Suite and enjoy the sunset . Then another unscheduled stop for an hour to visit an "ice cave" He said that we could stay in the Super Jeep for the hour. It was very old and windy ,but we put on our crampons and hiked to ice cave. However, there was a riverbed steam that we had to cross on rocks with ice and saw 2 persons fall and decided risk vs reward so walked back and sat in Super Jeep until they returned. It was dark when we arrived to see the last 2 waterfalls that were highlights of trip. He left us out and we held onto ropes and slide on frozen icy walkway while he inflated his tires. We saw one waterfall that was lighted but dangerous to get to. Then we dropped off the German drone operator and the other couple and us at 6PM. He wasn't into putting the steps up to ascend or decend like our other tour guides that do for everyone regardless of age. We kept wondering if this was how he'd treat his grandparents who were younger than us. Hope not. Transfer to airport was fine. Lincoln Navigator and he was a good driver. We liked the young man ,but not as a tour guide. Wouldn't recommend except Glacier Tour and Transfer agent. Thanks for planning almost perfect trip. His boss (10 years his senior) called a few times checking in on him (and us) and Helmar said he treats me as a kid. In reality, Helmar is a kid and will be hopefully be an excellent guide in 10 years. His boss was just being a good manager. Best Regards Mardelle & Patrick”

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Posted 9 years ago

Thank you for your very detailed feedback which we always take very seriously, and for your 5 star rating. I wanted to just respond to the 2 areas of concern which we have investigated with both Hotel Ion and South Coast Adventures. From what I can gather there has been a misunderstanding/miscommunication on the pricing of the Northern Lights Tour from Hotel Ion as there is no tour at the price you are quoting, and they did not understand the price you mentioned. However as a result of the conversation I have had with them I am sure that the hotel will be checking that the staff are very clear about how to communicate in future to ensure this does not happen again. Thankyou for raising this and I am delighted that you managed to find a much cheaper and such a successful Northern Lights Tour I have spoken at length to Saeli at SouthCoast Adventures and he is surprised by your feedback on the Porsmork Tour, especially taking account other feedback he has received from people on the same tour on the same day, and also the feedback you gave for the previous day on the same guide. He has spoken to the guide in question and asked in future that the guide checks more often how people are and if there are any issues as a learning going forwards. I am sorry that you did not enjoy it as much as you had hoped to. Obviously on the Northern Lights Tour in the South you were unlucky and did not see the lights until your return. Sadly we cannot guarantee them, but I am pleased you got to see them on the tour from Hotel Ion. In terms of the Tour you booked direct with SouthCoast Adventures it would not be appropriate for me to comment on as it was booked directly by yourself and so I do not know what was suggested you would visit and what you did visit. Thank you again for your feedback which helps us to continuously tweak and ensure everything goes to plan. Thanks and Regards Abigail

Posted 9 years ago

“Great knowledgeable service from the start. We had a fabulous holiday. The accommodation was clean,cosy and relaxed. staff were all so friendly and did everything to make our stay enjoyable. The trips were great and the guides really did make them very special, we felt they took care to ensure we had the best possible experience. The food was amazing, never thought I would be raving about eating moose and reindeer ! We would go back tomorrow if we could.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“We both really enjoyed the trip. The hotel was welcoming and the staff really friendly and the food was good. The room was a little small but we managed. Unfortunately we didn't see an aurora but we enjoyed the activities.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“kevin helped arrange the holiday and he was very helpful. I can say it was the best holiday ever. The lodge was lovely and food was fab. All activities were brilliant. Highly recommend weekend a la carte.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Thank you for a fantastic new year trip in Abisko. Mina and her staff could not have been more welcoming - and the food at the lodge was out of this world. It was an adventure, the aurora even decided to come out every evening - with the best show waiting for the middle of dinner on New Years eve! All activities went brilliantly and the guides were very friendly and helpful. Unfortunately we didn't make it to the Sky Station as the chair lift had been broken a few days previously due to bad weather, we did go to the STF Abisko Mountain Station instead on that night and we managed to see the aurora. The Ice Hotel was fascinating and the food there was good. The husky trip was excellent - travelling over the frozen lake and through the woods - magical. Thank you so much for the wonderful trip, and please pass our thanks on to Mina and everyone involved as it exceeded our expectations.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Thank you for another great trip there was a theme however with the a la carte guests in that we all had confusions with pick ups/bookings For us we expected from our pre trip details to be met at the airport from our plane, we in fact had to wait an hour for the next flight to land..this would have been absolutely fine if we had known. Our booking for dinner at the skystation was on our itinery but we were not expected with the transfer driver or at the meal..they had to lay to extra places The trips were great particularly the huskies and photo night! Many thanks Helen Drage”

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Posted 9 years ago

“An excellent holiday that surpassed our hopes and dreams! We had the most amazing experiences with passionate guides and fabulous settings. Fellow guests who also travelled with Weekend a la Carte added to the wonderful holiday. Our viewing of the Northern Lights was spectacular and we were so fortunate to have spent the best viewing of the four nights with the photographer Chad from 'Lights Over Lapland' and therefore we have been able to capture our memories in stunning visual form. Chad was excellent! Tommy (apologies for incorrect spellings!) started off the holiday in style with fun packed dog sledding. Bjorn was patient and excellent in inspiring confidence in having a go on the skidoos. The memory of moving swiftly over a frozen lake at -50 degrees (taking account of wind chill) in the pitch black will remain with us forever! Jim was enthusiastic and his explanation of the Northern Lights was really clear and helpful...and although we couldn't experience the chairlift to the Sky Station due to it being broken and in any event too cold... the food and the aurora viewing were excellent. All drivers were competent and informative and we felt completely safe in their care (Per, Ludwig and Ingrid). The trip to Narvik, although beautiful with some thoughtful photographic opportunities, could have been improved in terms of the historic aspect. Perhaps the choice could be given to attend the museum as opposed to the viewing from the 16th floor of the hotel? More in depth information about the role in the war would have been appreciated. There was limited information provided overall. The food at the Mountain Lodge was fabulous. Slow Cooking at its very best. The team were very helpful in handling a nut allergy and made changes so I could eat everything on the menu. We loved the experiences. We knew the accommodation would be basic - and it was clear that some people needed to be prepared more for a youth hostel like setting (unless you were in the superior rooms - which were lovely!). We were aware that the holiday agenda could change due to weather and group sizes. There were indeed many changes of dates from the original agenda received from Kevin and his team. The changes, however, did sometimes appear to be down to a lack of organisation as opposed to weather or group sizes e.g. transfers not turning up or being organised late with a colleague who was travelling in that direction, being told an event was one evening and then having to change quickly as the guide was expecting us on another (this seemed to happen to a few of us during that week). That said - everything turned out well and we were treated very well by staff who offered a bottle of wine and a free book in terms of an apology! Stockholm was beautiful in the snow and the Rival hotel was fantastic. Staff were organised, extremely knowledgable and helpful in ensuring we made the best out of the two days we were with them. The room upgrade was very much appreciated! Justin who was serving at the Bistro in the hotel was really great and ensured a nut allergy was well catered for. Overall - a stunning experience with amazing memories for life. Thank you!”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Very enjoyable holiday with excellent food and well arranged excursions. My only criitcism is that perhaps one or two more extra nights would have been better - especially with the photographic assistance of the northern lights.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“A great trip to Iceland over New Year and almost everything went to plan. The Super Jeep trip was good fun and a thrilling experience but the highlight was the dinner at The Perlan on New Year's Eve with all the fireworks across Reykjavik.”

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Posted 9 years ago

Thank you for your kind review and I am so pleased you enjoyed the New Years Eve dinner so much. I am assuming that by the comment "almost everything went to plan" you are referring to the fact that the Volcano tour had to be substituted by the Porsmork Tour. Sadly the weather was not good enough to take you so high up but I do hope you had a great time on the alternative. Regards Abigail

Posted 9 years ago

“We had a trip of a lifetime! Everything went according to plan, apart from a change to a transfer pick up venue which led to a short delay whilst the driver located us at a different hotel. Also, the chair lifts at Abisko Sky Station were closed and the substitute evening was a bit of a disappointment, especially as the aurora was not visible to the naked eye that evening. Abisko mountain lodge was fantastic, definitely worth upgrading to the superior rooms - very cozy & stylish. The snowmobile and husky sled trips were excellent but highlight of holiday was Sarah from Lights over Lapland who's enthusiasm was infectious and we were treated to a fabulous aurora display on our last evening ( the only night out of 5 when we saw the lights). Only other thing would be to have direct flights to Kiruna, rather than via Stockholm. We loved our trip, however, would recommend it to any able bodied friends and want to go back ASAP!”

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Posted 9 years ago

“What an amazing holiday. We had a fantastic time in Iceland. Everything was perfect. Well organised in every detail. Can't wait to return! Brilliant way to celebrate the New Year.”

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Posted 9 years ago

What lovely feedback. Thank you so much ! It is always so nice to hear from people on their return and delighted that it all went so well. Regards Abigail

Posted 9 years ago

“The timing of the flights, car hire and bookings were all spot on. The hotel rooms were a little on the small side at the Foss and Renga but this is not a deal breaker. The Perlan was fantastic and the organisation and professionalism of all the staff we encountered was excellent. We would have liked to stay another night each side of the booking so leaving the 29th and returning on the 5th as there is a lot to pack in and the Blue Lagoon was a bit rushed on the way back. Fab break and would highly recommend to anyone, even if we didn't get to see the Aurora.”

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Posted 9 years ago

Thank you for such lovely feedback and I am delighted you had such a wonderful time. I really appreciate you taking the time to let us know. Regards Abigail

Posted 9 years ago

“We would like to say we had a fantastic holiday, the activities were perfect & all of the guides were exceptional. We were amazingly lucky to see the Aurora every night of our four day stay & have come home with fantastic photographs & memories... So glad to have stayed in a deluxe room, so warm & cosy, my only comment would be that it would have been nice to have the rooms made over everyday & not every other day... The food was excellent, great attention to detail on the freshness & flavour, they catered to our specific requirements perfectly, all I would add is please serve the food on warm or hot plates in future... I would highly recommend this trip to all.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Well organised, great, comfortable accommodation. Activities great fun, safe and well organised. Trip to Narvik not as we expected - would have liked more information en route. Thank you”

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Posted 9 years ago

“The trip was absolutely wonderful! Iceland is such a beautiful place, and the people are so nice. We were lucky enough to see the northern lights on the boat trip which was the icing on the cake! Weekend A La Carte were great - they kept in constant contact and arranged the quickest refunds I've ever seen when several excursions had to be cancelled due to the weather. I highly recommend this company.”

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Posted 9 years ago

Dear Amelia Thank you so much for your kind review. It is always lovely to hear how people got on and I am so delighted that you were so pleased with our service. Regards Abigail

Posted 9 years ago

“The few days I spent up at the matarrakha lodge were fantastic! The owners and staff were all so friendly, accommodating and wonderful! The only downside was that I was the only guest for two of the three nights - which was a bit daunting at night time - it's a big place to be by yourself. But it meant I got the guides / instructors to myself in the daytime, so that was great! everything was very well organised, the food was tasty and it really was a taste of regional traditional dishes. I'd definitely go back but maybe when it's busier next time! Oh - and I saw the northern lights on two of the nights so that was fab! Katie”

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Posted 9 years ago

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Postal Service
On-time Delivery	Greater than 94%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Email, Telephone
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour
Customer Service	4.9 out of 5

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