Our school used WorldStrides for our 8th grade Washington DC tour. we thought they were great! very organized, punctual, knowledgeable, kind, safe...everything good!! our only complaint was to leave more time for lunch. lines were long and the scarfing or food or not being able to eat was frustrating. would use them again! read more

WorldStrides took $4000 from us and then washed their hands of any intentional support through preparing for the trip my son was supposed to take. Despite the fact that we sent his passport information in with his initial application, we were never contacted or flagged for any potential passport concerns. My son's passport was set to expire 3 months after returning from his trip. He was blocked from boarding the plane and due to falling short 1 month on the passport expiration requirement. Although we expressed to WoldStrides that our family was under extreme emotional duress both before the trip (due to a major death in the family) and after due to our son missing the trip and our denied refund of all the money friends and family helped raise, we never got any response from our attempts to talk to anyone directly. We also were denied the refund from the travel insurance we purchased along with paying for the trip. Although the policy that WorldStrides shares says that it will cover for deaths in the family, the insurance agent said that in her end, the only thing the policy shows it will refund for is death or sickness of the traveler. The WorldStrides document is a misrepresentation of what is actually covered. This has been a traumatic experience for our son, on top of an excruciating time for our family and that seems to be of no consequence to WorldStrides. In terms of being a 'dedicated travel agency,' WorldStrides is about as hands off as possible after they get paid. read more

Im going through the same thing that most of you are going through. No refund! This company is the absolute worse company, it's as if they don't care about what our children lost, or the fact that they can lose their life. Im speaking with a attorney and I plan to have a class action suit against them, for everyone going through this hard time. People losing their jobs, kids out of school, people dying, the world in a pandemic and world strides still planning trips. They need to issue EVERYONE refunds. Airports did it! Hotels did it! So Worldstrides lost nothing! Give our children back their money!!! We didn't cancel, YOU did, so you pay us back! read more

My 8th grade daughter's school offered a DC trip with Worldstrides over Thanksgiving break. It felt very overpriced for what was essentially free visits to sights. I especially didn't agree with having to pay up front for the trip even though she was on the waitlist for several months before we knew if she would be able to attend. Her comments include: the vouchers for food were not enough to feed us each meal leaving us hungry and spending our own money on junk food. The schedule especially the first day was too long without enough breaks for fun. They were disappointed they didn't get a closer look at the White House. Overall, she was expecting more "fun" and less intense educational/listening/learning and shorter days with more "down time" as it was over a school break. Setting expectations that it is an educational trip and not a vacation is important as I don't think we prepared her. read more

I began planning a class trip to Washington, D.C., with Mary Kay in October/November of 2020. With the pandemic running rampant, we set a trip date for June 2022. One of the reasons we decided to travel with WorldStrides was the fact that Mary Kay assured me that there was no minimum for our trip and, since we were traveling by air, our per person cost would not change. From the very start, Mary Kay was aware that we were a small group and that, with chaperones, our group would be 20 or smaller. With this information, Mary Kay planned us a lovely, upscale trip that we were so looking forward to. Communication with Mary Kay had been sporadic but given that our trip was over a year away, I expected things would get better the closer we got to our tour but was sorely mistaken. At some point I was transferred to the 'next step' in the process, which was an account representative named Carolyn. As we began to get closer to our trip - now just 3 months out - I began voicing my concerns that we hadn't received an itinerary or flight information, but was assured that this information would be shared in time. That was until last week - roughly 2 months out from our trip - when I received an email from Mary Kay saying that our group was too small and could we change our dates - the same dates that had been set for over a year - to travel with another group. When I called Mary Kay to see what was going on and inform her that we could not change our dates as our dates coincided with the school year calendar and parent chaperones had taken the time off work to join us, Mary Kay stated that I was "difficult" and a "liar" and hung up on me. Please note that the "liar" comment was in regards to her promising us that our small group would be just fine (this was part of an email exchange, which I have). I reached out to Carolyn and Mary Kay via email to inform them that I found Mary Kay's behavior unacceptable and was assured that supervisors were aware of the situation and would be reaching out. That was my last communication with WorldStrides until this morning, when Mary Kay emailed apologizing for being "frustrated" and "short" with me and to inform me that our only option was to change our dates and travel with another group or cancel. We opted to cancel and will not work again with WorldStrides, and I recommend that you think twice before you do. TL;DR Our account representative called me names and hung up on me after trying to change our dates/trip literally 2 months before our trip. read more

Cancellation policy is a scam. Check out the Better Business Bureau reviews before you book with this company. They will process your payment within seconds but you will wait 8 weeks minimum for a refund. From what I see on BBB, your reward for waiting so patiently for said refund is... waiting some more. One person reports still waiting and it's been over a year! Because I canceled 89 days before the trip, they only said they'd refund half. For the remainder, I was instructed to file a claim with the insurance company they use (I'd puchased the 'cancel for any reason' insurance policy for an additional $72 when I booked.) Well, the travel insurance company they use is just as lacking. I put in my claim over a month ago and, to date, they have only acknowledged its receipt. No other communication and, when I click on 'check status' more often than not I get a 504 error. Email is answered by a bot. The phone number dumped me into voice mail hell and then, when I persisted, finally to a customer service rep that read (literally) the auto email that had been sent to me earlier. I obviously cannot speak for the trip itself, but the itinerary (NYC) was way too ambitious and, for a supposed educational experience, I couldn't imagine how there would be any instruction at all. There is just enough time provided at each stop to take a photo and move on. The flights weren't booked - even by the time I canceled 3 months in advance - and so we had no sense of what airline, what time, how many stops, etc. - further making that 'first day' (of 3) look even more unrealistic. I'll wager they see half of what's planned and it's a disorganized mess. Just don't. read more

My daughter and other school kids went to Washington DC. All flight arrangements, busses, and hotels were excellently arranged. The trip was absolutely packed with things to do. It was a little overwhelming. Walked about 10+ miles per day so a lot of walking. The worst part was the food - absolutely terrible. Undercooked or just not enough. Luckily, I sent my daughter with snacks in her day bag and the kids used Door Dash to get food at the hotel after curfew. Regardless, it was the experience of a lifetime. read more

Never got refunded the amount they promised to send back after I cancelled more than 2 months in advance.

the tour guide was so rude and seems to forget that we paid a lot of money for this trip. Spent so much time talking we had no time to see the memorials or sites. Didn't plan the travel time well and then yelled at us when we were behind and wanted to actually see the exhibits we paid for. We paid thousands of dollars to to basically walk by a bunch of free sites in DC while a guy barked inaccurate historical facts at us. read more

Way too much crammed into a day. Our bus driver didn't know her way around DC and we spent so much time waiting for her that we didn't get to go to some of the places on our itinerary. If it weren't for one of the parent chaperones, using their phone to guide her, we wouldn't have gone very far at all. The guides got very testy by the second day and the one in DC didn't give us much information About what we were seeing. Learned more from one of the other teachers that were on our trip. Paid to get into theater where Lincoln was shot and they were practicing for a play and would not let us in. all in all feel like we need some of our money back due to places we weren't able to visit and all the time standing around waiting for our darn bus driver. read more

Trip started off rocky because Worldstrides did not have our hotel rooms booked for the first night. Thankfully the hotel had enough available rooms, but our group had to be spread out over different floors. The rest of the trip was great. The only other complaint was tour of Mt Vernon was booked at 3:40 and they closed at 4. Due to traffic we got there and it was closed. The tour was definitely booked too close to their closing time, so that was a major disappointment to end our trip. The rest of the trip was fabulous though. read more

Had to cancel because of my daughter's medical issues. World Strides refused to pay back one cent of completely paid trip even after given ample time. Complete rip-off. Horrible customer service. read more

Horrible experience with worldstrides. I booked a trip a year ago and paid extra to have my granddaughter and her mom stay in the same room. 9 days before the trip we found out they neglected to make the appropriate accommodations for my family. They don't return calls as promised. It will take 12 weeks to get my refund. Also, they tried to say I'd get everything but the trip insurance. I don't think it's fair for me to pay 600 for them screwing up. Be careful who you trust your children to. They can't even make a hotel reservation let alone teach young kids about science. I see your comment Jeff C, but have no idea how to send you a direct message? read more

I would give this company 0 stars if I could...still no refund! I cancelled in December...and it's March. This company is absolutely criminal! The owner says to message them...how about I've emailed 3 times with nothing! How about interest on the $1,200 you still owe me! Crooks!! read more

The bus ride was terrible. We had to smell pee the entire time, the floors were never cleaned and so sticky our shoes came off as we walked, and the driver was constantly running into things like stop signs, curbs, and construction barrels. He ran red lights and stop signs. Slammed on the brakes so hard because he was going to run into another stop sign that an elderly gentleman fell out of his seat. The roof leaked water in the bathroom while we were on the bus for 10+ hours and the driver didn't care. And that was a safety hazard for the students if they slipped and fell. The bus overall was dirty, it had some brown stuff oozing down the window and the curtains were stained. I have pictures. The bus company was EZ Bus Tours - DO NOT USE THEM! Even the final driver we had told us they were the worst bus company in the country. The tour guide interjected his personal opinions in everything that we did. We were rushed through every stop we made and didn't get to fully experience the places we went to. Which I believe was due to improper planning. They had us driving from one side of D.C. to the other instead of planning our day with the stops side by side so we could spend more time at the monuments instead of driving around so much. The hotel was mediocre at best. The breakfast served wasn't that good and didn't have a lot of options other than eggs that weren't cooked all the way and they didn't have coffee available on site when it was advertised on their website. The lady from World strides who met us at the hotel was extremely rude not only to the parents but the kids. After sitting on the bus for 17 hours (more than it should've taken us to get there) she kept us on the bus to give us the rules when we could've gotten off and had that discussion where the entire bus could hear her. The microphone didn't work and those in the back of the bus had no idea what she was saying. There were so many things on this trip that could've been prevented with better planning and a little more compassion from the World Strides staff. read more

I can't believe my school is partnering with these guys. We had a webinar describing how great the program is, how there's no cancellation fee if canceled within a short period of time before the trip (something like 3 months), and that the payment plan was a great deal. I signed up for the payment plan but after 4 months of payments, I had to transfer out of state so my kids wouldn't be in the school. They told me I didn't get a refund because the cancellation fee was over $700 plus the $49 registration fee! I told them it's because we have to move and they said tough luck. What a racket! It cost them absolutely nothing given I canceled over a year in advance. It's outrageous that they should treat families this way. read more

BEWARE!!!! NOT A HAPPY PARENT!!!! I sent my 14 year old daughter on the Washington DC trip in June 2022, and she and her friends were stranded on the side of the road TWICE!!! The first time the bus broke down in a Wal-Mart parking lot for 2+ hrs. The second time the kids were stranded on the side of the road with no food or water near the Washington Monument for 3+ hours. After contacting Worldstrides I was told this was "within situations might happen". read more

very disappointed with the organization of the trip. they had these kids going from 7am until 9pm everyday including the first day with a 3 hour time change to deal with. They did not provide coolers with waters on the bus and little time to find water during the day. Yes, they saw some amazing places in DC and Philly but they could have allotted some down time for the kids or a movie night. They all came home exhausted, 10+ had Covid and are now missing a week of school. Fast food not a great option for all meals for a week. Love the concept of an 8th grade trip but need to manage schedule better and nutrition. read more

So dissatisfied with World Strides. My son and I were thrilled to attend Washington D.C. with his middle school. We paid over $7,000 for the trip which also included a full refund package (smoking deal of $299 per traveler). Unfortunately, we cancelled. Given the current state of our country and all the vaccine/mask mandates, we do not feel comfortable traveling. Another concern was that World Strides modified our itinerary (which is understandable) but they lacked in communication. I had no idea what the new plan was and that concerned me. Now I have World Strides telling me I have to wait 12 weeks for my refund?! I also asked for a written confirmation of my cancellation and refund amount, but haven't gotten that either. I only cancelled two weeks ago, but after reading other reviews, I'm started to get worried that I'll never get my $7000 back. I don't recommend this company and I am sad that my son's middle school has elected to work with World Strides. Parents and travelers beware!!!! read more

Absolutely horrible experience. Your schedule is complete crap. I don't get how you wait in line for 30 minutes to see the constitution at the national archives and then get five minutes to see it. Then you rush to Fords Theatre to walk around the gift shop for an hour. Our guide was a complete ass. She was rude to the kids and parents alike. The food selection was horrible, absolutely horrible! You took us to a French restaurant to eat meatballs and a piece of chicken breast. Every day was early to rise just to show up early to a monument or museum early. You should note that all of these are "free" to get in to!! FREE!! Why is it so expensive for this trip? I would encourage every parent and student to make your own plans to see our nations capital. You will save money and actually enjoy it. If possible I would like to get my money and time back. I don't have time to tell you how much this trip disappointed me and my son. WorldStrides is garbage! read more

June 2022 was my daughters trip after the 8th grade. She absolutely loved her trip to Washington DC & NYC! She got to see so many places and get some much needed independence from her parents! I would highly recommend it! read more

I received reasonable refund in June 2020. Thank you for refunding the trip cost. It was something positive in this pandemic. I am very sorry this was happened for both of us. Wish good luck for your business! read more

Terrible. Non responsive. Expensive. Uncooperative. At best disorganized/incompetent - but likely fraudulent.

I am quite disappointed with the quality of food provided to vegetarian students during the Washington D.C. trip. The meals were consistently bad or inedible, and on many days, my daughter literally survived on junk food and candies. I have attached an image of a sandwich that was the lunch on one of the days - basically thick slices of carrot and bell-pepper put in-between a loaf of bread! Other than the food, the trip was well-organized and safely executed. read more

WorldStrides - Travel Services Near Me - Charlottesville, Virginia

I spent over $2000 for my son and mother to go on an 8th grade trip to D.C. my son and mother stated that it was the worst time of their life and they were ready to come home. The issue was they were not feed properly. They only ate fast food, or had the same food (tacos) two and three days in a roll. The tour guides were rude. My son is lactose intolerant and the breakfast was bad and my son said he had two options eat cereal with milk or not eat at all. He choose to eat the cereal and by time the group got to the park he needed to use the restroom and the tour guide yelled at him. Thank God my mother was there to stand up for my son. read more

Worldstrides issued me $150 refund for myself and $150 refund for my daughter, This resolution was a joke. The amount refunded was less than the $200 insurance Policy that they sold me for the trip. I still wouldn't recommend this company, and I do not believe my issue has been resolved. Someone from this company left a message above to contact them, in which I did; but I never received a call back. Instead they issued a $150 refund to everyone on our trip who paid full price for the trip. Again I paid over $3500 and I was compensated $300. read more

WorldStrides - Travel Services Near Me - Charlottesville, Virginia

I would give no stars if I could. They said they would refund my trip money when I cancelled it. They then sent me an email confirming the refund of $340.40. When I called to check the status of my refund they stated I would be getting no refund due to the $99 deposit being non refundable and that the $280 fee to return the trip money has to be paid even if I had only made one payment. They did not honor the email or the phone call where they stated there would be a refund. Terrible customer service. Stay away from this company. read more

Worst customer service ever. I paid for the ultimate insurance and it did not show up in the transactions even though the price matched. Then even though i was getting a partial refund they said it would take 10-12 weeks to get a refund. I would not suggest using this company to book any trips ever again. read more

My daughter's school did a WorldStrides trip to DC and she loved every minute of it. Well planned/organized. Thank you!

All schools should stay far away from this company! I registered for myself and two children to go on a trip that kept getting postponed and then never happened. I received a refund minus $95 each for myself and one child but only got $182 back out of over $500 for the other child. I'm having to pay over $300 to them for a trip that she never got to do! I have emails stating I should've received more back from them but when I call, they say they won't do it and I'm screwed. The absolute worst customer service ever! I'm considering small claims court against them since I have email proof that they're refusing to give me the money I deserve back. read more

Awesome holistic trip experience for my child and the classes eighth grade trip. Would highly recommend them.

Horrible company to deal with regarding refunds. Was sold a product that could be refunded if a student becomes ill or no able to participate for any reason. Well, I have to cancel my daughter trip the day of and cancelled the reservation on the website right away and send a generic email that a refund is pending, still nothing. The worst part is the customer service, there is none. I can never get through on the phone, I just wait on hold. I lost $3,800 on for this "trip" and I'm seriously question the judgement of my daughter's school for encouraging us to sign up for this scam of a company. STAY AWAY for World Strides! With the money, take your child on a wonderful trip you both will remember and not some chezzy tourist trap scam aimed as "educational." read more

Trip was April 2022. Seems our tour guide was off her game. Incorrect facts on very well know information. Said if you wanted to know about the Vietnam War "just watch Forest Gump" (our bus driver even said later that was a wrong thing to say and he WAS a Vietnam Vet :( . At most sites, just sat at another table or bench with the other tour guide while we were left to wander around by ourselves. Too much time allotted for Mount Vernon we could have slept in a little or gone to see something else. We had to switch buses once we got to DC which was also a pain. (Not sure if that is world strides or our school). Meals are handled well, impressive to be able to accommodate so many at 1 time. I have been on this trip 2 x now with my kids...the tour guide is an important part. If you get a good one, you are lucky. I am 0/2. read more

I was the chaperone of my daughters trip to Washington DC recently and it was one of the worst trips I have been on in quite awhile. We stayed an hour outside of the city and the schedule had these kids going from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm everyday. It was clear they had a deal with the hotel that we had to be out of the hotel a certain number of hours a day. Our tour guide was kind one minute and mean the next, allowing very few water and bathroom breaks and getting annoyed if someone needed a bathroom outside of her very few breaks. She would tell the kids she would do her lecture en route to a place so they could explore on their own once there but then would continue her talking once we arrived getting super frustrated with the kids if they weren't perfect. The itinerary was full of monuments and only one museum where they gave the kids one hour. And then they dropped the kids off at a ridiculous souvenir shop /1/2 weird Trump stuff for 30 minutes where they are clearly getting a kick back. And don't get me started on the meals. The kids had to stand in hour long lines to get into a food court that had equally long wait times to use a voucher that gave them tiny amounts of food that they then had to eat in 10 minutes. Or they would be marched single file into a restaurant and told to sit and shut up and eat. And these trips are expensive. Definitely look elsewhere! read more

My daughter recently came back from a trip to DC and NY with 60 8th graders and had a wonderful time with World Strides. Everything was very well organized. Both hotels were very nice and in a good location. Tour guides were very informative with their stories, made it fun for the kids. Bus in DC was air-conditioned. There were vegetarian options always and dessert too! Never ran out of food. Some locations provided free time to explore on own, like museums. Time for souvenir shopping too. Airport buses for pickup and dropoff was worth it for parents. Loved the musical Dear Evan Hansen (she has been listening to the soundtrack nonstop since). One nit: schedule provided was not accurate. Visited listed places in a different order. Made it hard to plan what to wear in advance. read more

The good: my son had a very fun experience. He learned a lot of new things and really enjoyed the trip. The not so good: its way to expensive for 4 days trip. But overall i think my son had a memorable experience that he will never forget. read more

Just finished a 5-day trip with this company with my 8th grader and some of his classmates. We had a red eye from San Francisco to Baltimore and were taken sightseeing right away till they took us to our hotel at 9:30pm. Everyone in our party was exhausted. Everyday since then our days were extremely long without any rest to go back to the hotel during the day. We were up every morning by 6:30am and returned to our hotel by at least 9:30pm. After our party had committed to go and paid for a lot of the trip, Worldstrides announces that another group from Texas would be joining our group. This news was not well received by the parents and after we complained about it, Worldstrides did not do anything about it. Our school had made this trip in 2019 and our group was small and intimate. This year the bus was packed with people no one knew. The company's hope was that the kids would make long lasting relationships with the other group, but that did not happen at all. The Texas group was a very conservative group from a rural town and our group is from San Francisco! as you can imagine these two groups had way different political views and even the kids were aware of it. On the third day of the trip, some of the Texas group students were wearing pro-Trump hats they had bought outside of the DC museums. This gesture set the tone for the remaining of the trip which made it not enjoyable. WorldStrides are way over priced for the services we got. The meals provided were very cheap and the sleeping arrangement was awful. They had two kids share a full size bed. I would not recommend this travel company! read more

If I could give this company less than one star I would. This company runs an extortion ring luring families into tour experiences for your children however everything is extremely cheap! We paid this company $3,200 to take our child to DC, mind you DC is the cheapest city to visit because everything is FREE! They had our group stay 30 minutes outside of DC in Alexandria Virginia at a disgusting 2 star Holiday Inn that had horrible customer reviews that consisted of cockroaches, fleas in the rooms, weed smoking and the list goes on. My daughter said the rooms were so filthy, she wouldn't walk barefoot in the room. She said the wall paper/paint was coming off the walls and the rooms smelled like must. I priced out the rooms during their stay and they came out to $120 per night during their stay. They had 4 kids per room so if you do the math that's $30 per child per night. They also put our kids on the worst flights- which were most likely because they were cheap. They had them on Alaska and United flights which none of them had any in flight entertainment- I.e. cheapest flights they could find. Lastly, every meal they set up for the kids was either a food court or pizza place. They didn't take them to any decent restaurants and everything about the trip was cheap cheap cheap! We could have went to DC and stayed at the Four Seasons for less than the price of this trip! I would love to see an itemized breakdown of where the $3,200 went...... it definitely didn't go into the hotel, food, or flights. On another note, they have terrible reviews from other families on every website you visit so beware before you use this company as you will shell out lots of $$$ and get cheap cheap cheap! read more

Update! It's been 12 weeks and the refund hasn't been processed yet. This company is the absolute worst.

I've been quoted a 12 week timeframe for receiving a refund. The only way to initiate the refund was to write an email asking for it. No website integration or account visibility regarding this refund. I paid for full trip insurance at the outset, pre-COVID. Giving a 12 week timeline for refund gives the consumer the impression that your money is being used to stem the bleeding or being tied up in investment schemes and that my money is not liquid. As a company, surely you have insurance. If you're self insured, then issue the refund. If I had to cancel for any other reason than COVID, I would still give a 1 star review based on this refund policy alone. Be advised, after receiving my refund, I will update my review accordingly. read more