Let me preface this by saying that what Michelle at Explore Tours planned for us may have been just fine, but their lack of human decency left me very sad and disillusioned.
I had been planning my dream trip to Alaska with a friend of mine for over a year. We had four different legs planned for this trip. Two of the legs we planned on our own (Brooks Lodge in Katmai and Wrangell-St. Elias) and some we planned through Explore Tours. As a side note, Brooks Lodge had to be booked over a year in advance.
The two legs that I am reviewing here, and that Explore booked for us, were six days on the Kenai Pennisula and six in Denali National Park. Explore Tours booked all our hotels on the Kenai and in Denali, an all-day Kenai Fjords Tour and the Gold Star train service and bus trips up to and in Denali NP.
The bottom line is that I worked with Michelle over many months to plan the perfect trip and she was perfectly nice. Obviously, this trip was not inexpensive...we booked nice hotels, top of the line train service, top of the line Kenai Fjords tour, etc. Four months before the trip was supposed to take place, my mother got sick. I alerted Michelle to this fact...she told me to keep her informed. I was hoping at that point that my mom would recover and I could still go to Alaska...especially since my mom kept insisting that I go, knowing how much this trip meant to me. Two months before the trip, my mom took a turn for the worse and ended up in the hospital again. I told Michelle then that I may need to cancel parts of the trip...thinking maybe I could still join my friend for part of it. A month before the trip was to take place, I found out my mom had cancer and would not be here long. For obvious reasons, I had to cancel the trip entirely and take care of my mom in her final days. I notified Michelle at Explore Tours what was going on. Since my friend was still planning on going, I was not asking for my money back for the hotels, but I thought I could at least get some of my money back for the train trips, the bus tickets, the Denali Shuttle and the Kenai Fjords Tour. Michelle assured me that she was going to "work on" getting some of my money back from the vendors. My mom passed away a week before the trip, I let Michelle know (since I had still not heard back from her about getting any of my money back)...and I never heard from her again. She never followed through with trying to get any of my money back, nor did she bother to let me know...her final parting words to me were "If you do ever try to come to Alaska, save my email. I will get you a smoking' deal!" Wow, really?
Let me just say, that Katmailand/Brook's Lodge, the place where you have to book over a year in advance, was wonderful and so understanding about what was going on. While they could not refund all of my money, they refunded my plane fare and even some of the lodge room and I so appreciated it.
I guess that is a long enough review. I think the thing to realize is that Explore Tours will not be understanding or helpful if life gets in the way of your trip...so just know that up front. I am now planning a trip to Alaska with three friends for next year...but I will not be calling Michelle at Explore Tours! read more