I wanted to provide some feedback on my recent experience with EF Education First Tours following…read morethe tour. Take note that I did express my concerns to the tour director while on tour, but was advised to wait until the tour was completed to provide my feedback and make further inquiries about the tour itself. Overall, I must say that I am thoroughly dissatisfied. My primary concerns are related to the accommodations, food, flights, and extreme conditions as it relates to the individual day trips.
First and foremost, when I signed up for this trip, I was assured that my grandson and I would be assigned a "family room;" however, the rooms we have been assigned each night, although only having myself and grandson sharing them, have been more similar to a hostel than a hotel that was represented when we signed up for the tour. The rooms we have been assigned are more appropriate for small children whereas the beds are singles and jammed together in a small space in what I consider to be substandard hotels quite a distance from the tour areas. It seems the least expensive hotels were chosen as opposed to those that would be relative to the prices paid for the tour. Many of the amenities that should be expected from all hotels, to include working showers, air conditioning, pools, etc. have been either non-existent or less than satisfactory. Two of the nights I stayed in one hotel - in Barcelona, the air conditioner would not keep the room cool. With temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Farenheit, the temperature in the room remained at approximately 85 degrees. I asked for another room and was told that our rooms had been blocked off for the tour and nothing else was available. Traveling with children, one would expect the hotels to have pools for them to relax in, but only one hotel had a pool, and it was closed in the evening, not allowing us to access it.
Additionally, while other hotel guests had been afforded decent breakfast meals, we were given minimal choices of food. I have specifically seen the meals others had been given and we have definitely been short-changed. Stale bread and cheese is not what I consider to be a good breakfast meal.
The dinner meals that have been provided each day have also been less than satisfactory. They have been repetitive and of low quality. Again, it is my impression that the least expensive restaurants, similar to the hotels, have been chosen, and again were misrepresented. One would expect a great cultural experience when it comes to meals, but we have been given terrible food, and the same thing two days in a row on two different occasions.
The flights that we have been assigned to-date have us packed in small seats in the worst areas of the plane, and we have been required to pay for checked bags, that was not represented when we signed up for the tour. Again, why we would we not be provided with decent seats in flights considering what was paid for the tour? Additionally, when I initially booked the trip, I expressed that I wanted to sit next to my grandson on all of the flights as this was his first time flying and he was quite anxious. I had to practically beg others to switch seats so we could sit next to each other.
Perhaps one of the worst experiences on the tour were the conditions we were exposed to, having to walk for extreme distances in extreme heat when we should have been provided a shuttle or something. Additionally, we expected more tour time, and less free time in areas that provided very minimal tourist experiences. Instead of acquiring hotels near where our activities were planned, we were an hour or more from those areas, which further lessened our time in the areas we toured.
On a good note, the tour director, Allan Matthes, was fantastic! He was very accommodating and extremely helpful in all regards. The tour guide in Rome was also great.
Overall, I cannot recommend this tour due to the things I mentioned above. I can tell you there are many others who attended this tour that feel the exact same way, but may never report it. I reached out to this company several times following the tour asking for at least a partial refund, but NEVER received a response AT ALL! I don't think I got what I paid for as described above and am tired of being the victim when it comes to companies like this that take advantage of people by portraying the company as something it is not, while at the same time aligning with schools, giving the appearance of being reputable. I would love to be able to spread this message across the internet so those who are considering a trip with this terrible company can read about the horrible experience that I had and understand what one has to pay for the same.
$13,000.00 and I couldn't even get decent accommodations, meals, or experiences. If it weren't for the fact that I decided to go out on my own to explore and get decent meals, the tour would have been intolerable. Good luck to anyone choosing this scam
