Connor Dempsey

This was a celebration trip – celebration of 25 years of friendship and we - Gail and Aru - picked the land of Fire & Ice! Both of us having experienced Kimkim earlier, decided to go with Kimkim.

Our trip to Iceland was planned by Veronika from the Unforgettable Nordic. The initial part of nailing down a broad itinerary was a smooth process. Where it got tedious for us was when it came to planning the details. For example – we were specific in mentioning that we wanted a hotel with an elevator and a room of a particular size. All these details and more were overlooked. Veronika’s attention to detail and responsiveness was poor, at best, and it required a considerable amount of our time to ensure that all details were attended to. Further, we noticed a few planning glitches, information gaps, a general quality of oversight and a lack of regard for our collective & individual budget. She needed to have a far more in-depth knowledge of us, our abilities, our needs and what we want to do before she could fulfill what Kimkim actually promises – a customized trip. The amount of time it took for us to push her to get things done, we would have spent it better if we planned this on our own given that almost all the trips she chose are online anyway for people to make their own choices.

Thankfully, about a month prior to the start of our vacation, we were informed that Veronika is no longer with Unforgettable Nordic and we were assigned to Connor. Connor was an absolute delight to work with. He was informative, responsive, on-the-ball, quick to handle itinerary changes/ requests, clear in his communications, offered an opinion when needed and has a wicked and lively sense of humour! It was an absolute pleasure to have Connor partner us on this critical phase of our vacation and we enjoyed interacting with him. We were both relieved to have ‘on the ball’ Connor, especially since many of our activities were cancelled and needed rescheduling and reshuffling and he handled all these changes efficiently.

In terms of ratings, we would divide it:
For the portion with Veronika, my rating would be 1.5/5
For the portion with Connor, my rating would be 4/5

Some feedback for Unforgettable Nordic & KimKim:
1. Creativity of the itinerary: The portion of the itinerary from Unforgettable Nordic (Veronika) was standard tourist fare. Many of the interesting activities added to the itinerary were a result of our own research. All the tours were available through Viator, Tripadvisor or other such online spaces. We being seasoned travelers know this. Kimkim loses significant for us since it provides nothing new. So to actually have us as customers again Kimkim will need to up their game.
2. An escalation process/request a change of primary contact: Despite our initial discomfort, we had no way to escalate or discuss our issues - we (the customers) had to endure the poor levels of service with no place to complaint. This by any service standard is just poor customer management. Unless Kimkim does some quality control customers will dwindle.
3. More transparency: For a few of the experiences, we were booked for the premium level. We certainly did not mind. But it would have been appropriate to check if we’d prefer a standard or premium ticket for our experiences. The point is we weren’t aware that we had a choice.
4. Our experiences with service on Kimkim for Japan and Vietnam (separate vendors) were awesome. That experience led us to book Iceland with Kimkim. But the standards of service were much, much lower.

Overall, we had a beautiful trip. But it was seamless, primarily due to the level of attention and follow-up we did to the itinerary. If it wasn’t for us being on top of the itinerary, we would have experienced many glitches on our travel. As also, Connor’s contribution at the end – his on-ground coordination really helped us.

Hotel Reviews

Eyja Guldsmeden Hotel

Reykjavik

Great stay and service. Very friendly staff. Small rooms, but beautifully done up.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Superb

Cleanliness & Comfort

Gerði Guesthouse

Höfn

Basic. But good. Tiny rooms - ok for a night.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Dogsledding Mosfellsdalur

Iceland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Ultimate Icelandic Night—Northern Lights Hunt, Cozy Blankets & Local Treats in Reykjavik

Reykjavík

We did not see this properly

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

2-Day South Coast Tour: Waterfalls, Ice Caves and Glacier Lagoon (Day 1)

Iceland

Reykjavík Food Walk

Iceland

Icelandic Lava Show Reykjavik

Iceland

Golden Circle Super Jeep and Snowmobile Tour

Iceland