[center][/center]DON'T BE FOOLED, THIS IS A COSMOS TOUR. If we had known this when choosing our holiday we would never have considered it after having had 2 previous bad experiences with Cosmos.

On arrival at Rome airport where we expected an Archers Rep to be meet us, we could only spot a Cosmos Rep and she was waiting for us and took us to our transfer taxi. We arrived at the hotel at approx 6pm where the Receptionist asked if we were with Cosmos, we said 'no Archers' and handed over our passports - we were with Cosmos apparently. He pointed us to the tour operators notice board where there was a note stating that the Welcome Meeting was at 4pm (our inclusive flight booked by Archers, which was early, landed at 4.15pm) and that they had departed for the ‘Optional Excursion' to see Rome by night and dinner - obviously we were too late for that - not good planning on Archers part. The notice also informed us of the departure time for the next morning. The hotel is outside the centre of Rome and, after a walk around, we found somewhere to eat. After breakfast we hung around outside the hotel hoping to spot our Rep, who arrived and without introduction herded everyone onto the Cosmos coach, so we followed like sheep. We were not best pleased, no introduction/welcome and we were not the only ones to arrive later on the Sunday afternoon.

After having said all the above the Tour Director did a remarkable job throughout the tour, she was well organised and gave a virtually non-stop commentary - not read off notes - very helpful and very knowledgeable about Italy even though she was Slovenian and not native Italian. The driver was brilliant and we all felt very safe in his hands - but that doesn't alter the fact that this was not an ARCHERS tour but a COSMOS tour.

The majority of the included excursions were very good and we had more than enough free-time. Most places required the coach to drop us off and we then had to walk mainly uphill - not an easy task for the less-abled older passengers. Our major disappointment was Pompeii where we only had a 2hr tour, which was very crowded, much queuing. We could have spent a whole day there to see it properly - maybe we will return on our own one day. We didn't partake in one of the Rome excursions which included an evening meal, instead we decided to risk taking a bus and metro into the centre, along with another couple. We had a fantastic time seeing all the major sights from the outside - without crowds of people. We found a restaurant to eat at and had a lovely meal before returning (footsore) to the hotel via the metro and bus - I would recommend this to anyone.

We booked this particular tour as it took in all the sights we wanted to see, it was not the cheapest of tours and in the end much more expensive than we had anticipated. We managed to spend a whopping extra 650 Euros taking the ‘Optional Excursions'. If you didn't go on the majority of these you would be left at a hotel in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do all day. A number of the Excursions included an evening meal so if you didn't go you had the task of hunting down somewhere else to eat. Of the Excursions we did take one of them - ‘Island Tour of Capri' was a complete waste of money, we would have done far better to have explored the island by ourselves (ferry crossing was included). The only enjoyable part of it was the ride in the chair lift and the magnificent view from the top. The rest of the time was spent squashed into 2 small buses and queuing to shuffle around a house and a visit to a garden. The local tour guide was not very good at all. This tour was mis-sold to us, we were advised there was nothing at the drop-off point but a small pebbly beach. Wrong, plenty of little shops and cafes to pass the time plus public transport we could have used to explore the island.

The hotels on the tour were not the best, some were very tired looking, but they were all in convenient places for touring and clean. The Poggibonsi hotel was our favourite, the staff were lovely, the breakfast plentiful, dinners good and the rooms comfortable, just as well as we had 4 nights there. Free wi-fi was available in all rooms, you just had to ask for a card with a password and work out how to use it!

The Venice hotel was OK, we didn't go on the excursion which included an evening meal but found a very nice Pizzeria in the town which had quite an extensive menu at reasonable prices. Breakfast at this hotel was very disorganised and offered poor choice.

We were very disappointed to be told that we would not be staying at The Grand Hotel, San Marino as per itinerary but would have to stay at a hotel in Rimini and travel to San Marino for a visit and evening meal. We gathered this was because there were 2 Cosmos coaches doing the same tour and not enough rooms in the hotel to accommodate us all.

The Holiday Inn Express in Foligno presented us with a particularly stinky room (very stale tobacco) but as it was for one night only we put up with it, opening the window to let in fresh air. Only problem with that was the air conditioning switched off automatically when windows were opened.

When presented with yet another stinking bedroom at the Pineta Palace, Rome, we complained and were immediately moved to another room. Breakfast there was plentiful and staff helpful.

Naples was a very dirty place, the hotel (Best Western San Germano) was rather tired looking and in need of a revamp. Free wi-fi was available in all rooms, a password from Reception was required. The breakfast was very poor, coffee undrinkable and the evening meals not that brilliant.

To sum up: This worked out to be a very expensive trip. We were with a very good international crowd of people which really ‘made' the holiday. We saw all the major sights we wanted to see, the countryside is beautiful. Hotels were nothing special. On the food side, vegetarians in our group were offered a very poor deal, either pasta, omelette or salad, once a plate of cold green beans and cold spinach as a starter, and quite often chicken or fish! All agreed there was Too Much Soggy Spinach in all hotels!!!

Archers Direct must make it clear when booking if Cosmos or another company will be running the tour.