I am surprised to see so many negative reviews. We had nothing but good experiences both with the company and our child's trip. Our son just returned from DC and surrounding areas, and says it was one of the best adventures of his life so far. Not only did he enjoy bonding more with his classmates, but met students from two partnering middle schools. After two years of isolation and pandemic, it was great for him--and I imagine for all the other kids, too. More than that though, our son seemed to have really LEARNED (which is the point, right?). He appreciated seeing things firsthand that he had only seen in movies or on the news. Seeing the Capitol for himself gave him an even greater sense of the gravitas of the Jan. 6 insurrection, for example, and the war memorials brought home for him the reality that behind those names etched in stone were people who had lost their lives. And those are just a couple of the lessons he took away. I feel like one trip taught him more about our nation than a year's worth of classroom work. And about the company -- we found that they were very accommodating and willing to work with us on a payment plan. (They were also very clear about what could and could not be refunded, and repeated that multiple times, so I am surprised to see the complaints about refunds.) read more

Do not use WorldStrides, if you have any unforeseen events come up and cancel your registration, they will take and keep your money. We registered a month ago thinking WorldStrides was legit since our child showed up with a flyer from school. We registered for it, but a situation came up a month later where we need to cancel the trip, which the trip is scheduled out 2 years from now. They already charged us over 500 dollars and informed us that they are keeping it with no intentions of giving us a refund. If you are interested in using their services, I would be very cautious about using them and know what you are paying for. Their website is very vague. If you should need to cancel, do not expect a refund. read more

5/18/2021, 10:31 AM Jeff C. "We apologize for the delay, and want to help you with your trip. Please direct message us your contact information, and we will have one of our Senior Customer Experience reps contact you, and get everything squared away. Once again, we apologize, and will do everything we can to make your next experience with us a great one." 5/19/2021, 6:53 AM Above is Jeff C.'s latest reply and below is my last reply to him. This does not help. There is only ONE Senior Customer Experience rep and his name is Jose L. I spoke with him by phone on May 14 before I posted my negative review of WS here on Yelp. You passed us along to someone who was unwilling to remedy our issue, but this is not surprising because every time you reply and ask a customer to "direct message" WS, it's a smokescreen in an attempt to conceal the fact that you are only creating an appearance of actively "making things right," although in actuality, you don't. You prey upon the hopes of customers who have been disenfranchised by your company by offering them a "direct" line of communication, without any intention of resolving issues in their favor. If I hadn't realized that by speaking to CS multiple times, including the most Senior CS rep, Jose L., that WS had no intention of keeping promises, I wouldn't have posted a 1-star review. By posting my review, I had already accepted there is no point in contacting CS anymore or direct messaging you. Mr. C., you should realize your default responses aren't fooling anyone and are futile. read more

SAVE YOUR MONEY!!! BOOK WITH ANOTHER COMPANY!!! i am on a trip right now booked by world strides. totally inept. and a complete rip off. read more

I strongly recommend steering clear of doing business with this company. As a small business owner, I am aware of what it takes to manage a business through the pandemic. This company simply stopped responding to any (mine included) refund requests during the pandemic, declared bankruptcy and re-emerged in October 2020 with direct marketing to it's previous customers. If they had the common decency to communicate any of this to me or other parents, I might not rate them so poorly. But they are a good example of how not to do business. Definitely will never recommend them to anyone and I will also encourage other parents and schools to not use their programs. There are many other options out there. read more

Overcharged by several hundred dollars. They would not refund the correct portion. Horrible customer service - did not follow up.

If I could give zero stars I would. The trip was fine though remarkably expensive. The communication was awful. I had a basic yet important question and spent two months trying to get an answer. I spent hours on hold and sent multiple emails and still have yet to receive a response. read more

Cost is too high! There are ways for the company to trim the fat and make it a better experience. Communication from WS before the trip was unsatisfactory. They have 3 children to one room. Kids have to share a bed with non family members or even someone they don't know. read more

Excellence. My kids enjoyed a safe and great trip to DC and NYC. Thanks WorldStrides

My daughters trip was cancelled due to Covid and are not refunding my money. NEVER BOOK THROUGH THIS COMPANY!

The Educational Travel program was worth the money. My child had a great time learning about history and exploring the different monuments, memorials, and museums. The only complaints my child had was all the walking and some of the meals were not good. My child enjoyed the experience and would like to go back. read more

If you are thinking of using this company DON'T!!!! They are very unethical and will not refund you. I have an email thread that goes on for days. My situation is they claim that they refunded my money except it was to the wrong person and have they actually sent me proof of what they did. several of their employees including this guy Jeff c have asked me to go after the person they supposedly gave my refund to. It's absolutely crazy that they want me to go after someone else that they are claiming to have given my refund to. I read that they are being sued by several different parents and they filed for bankruptcy. I hope they do you go out of business. Bottom line this is a terrible company The employees don't care about what they're doing to people. They've profited so much from parents kids and this pandemic it's disgusting what they have done to people. They're disgusting thieves. read more

I was very disappointed with the way WorldStrides (WS) handled my 7th-graders recent trip to Washington, D.C. and NYC. Prior to leaving, WS, added another group of kids. While we welcomed the opportunity to meet kids from another region, I was disappointed to learn that the staff allowed some of these kids, to make homophobic and race-based comments. For example, in front of WS staff, kids pretended to gag when they saw pride flags, or called others "gay" as an insult. There were also race-based comments (making fun of a Latino boy's name). All kids are asked to sign a code of conduct before going on the trip. WS should update this code to include refraining from comments based on race and sex. Kids tease each other, yes, but remarks based on race and sex are against federal law in the workplace. We are not doing our children any favors by allowing this behavior. Also, WS changed our flight to land in Baltimore instead of DC and kids had to take a long bus ride after a long red-eye. Efforts to work this out were met with deaf ears because you can't reach anyone on the phone. read more

Amazing school and Worldstrides chaperones were the reason our daughter had the perfect trip to Washington D.C. and New York with her 8th grade classmates. I highly recommend this educational and fun experience for every child! read more

Just returning from DC/NY trip. DC was well organized. Drivers, guides and teachers communicated well together. Fast paced that held kids attention. I would not recommend NY for 8th grade. Kids were left to get their own food in a large city. many were not comfortable with the down time the guides gave. our group was given over 1 1/2 hrs to walk alone on 5th Ave. For a trip where they tell parents that kids do not need extra money, I'm not sure why we are allowing for over an hour and a half of shopping on Fifth Ave. Sometimes guides didn't give a meet up time and then seemed annoyed when kids were late. Busses were never waiting but rather our large group would be standing, waiting on transport for over 45 minutes. Our 8th graders were going to be given over an hr to just explore time square after 9pm. It was so busy our staff had to have the kids hold in one area so we didn't lose kids. Many Parents would not have been okay with World Strides time management in NY. There was so much down time that could have been spent guiding kids around, pointing out different sights. read more

I've reached out proactively 6 times in the past 3 months as we had paid for myself and two kids trips. I keep getting the run around via phone and the emails take days to receive canned responses. I am now told that we will get a refund next week (this is the third time they've said this to me in the past month). While all persons I've spoken to have been polite, the dishonesty at the core level for this company have soured our experience and we do NOT recommend using this company. Where's the refunds @Jeff C that you stated in your notice to the parents of our group I should have received last week? Our three trips of investment needs to be resolved read more

World Strides was very well organized. They exposed the children to various activities and places that they would not normally see. I also believe that their communication with the parents to inform of the itinerary and expected times of arrival was extremely helpful. My son had an amazing time. read more

We had to cancel our reservations due to our trip being pushed back because of COVID. We had purchased the travelers insurance and cancelled our reservation in writing on January 27, 2021. We have still not received our refund. They said the check has been issued and it is "in the mail". It has been 4 months! I called customer service after they stopped answering my emails and she told me they can re-issue the checks which would take a week and then to give it another 2-3 weeks in the mail. It is over $4000.00 of money that I paid into them via ACH. It should not take this long to get it back and it should be returned the same way I paid for it! read more

My son just returned from his Worldstrides trip. I've read the prior reviews before signing him up, so knew what to expect. However, the one thing that we did not expect was the quantity of food. My child will eat pretty much everything. However (and this is just one example), when they went to a food court and he was given a voucher. He went to the sushi restaurant and was allotted 6 pieces of sushi. I'm sorry, but you can't give a growing boy - especially one who extremely active in organized sports - 6 pieces of sushi for a primary meal and call it good. After spending over $500 per day on his Worldstrides trip which includes food, he was forced to buy his own food to get enough to eat. From his story, it was like this at every restaurant - oh, we have all these selections - but you can only have this. We were just fortunate enough that he had money available to buy adequate food. I find that wholly unacceptable. read more

Kids had a great time . Was very educational . Was well organized

Fortunately I discovered the negatives to this company before doing business with them. My child's school sent this flyer home for a trip to DC when I had questions about it the rep at the school was EXTREMELY evasive about what the actual final price was for 1 adult plus 1 child to go on the trip. Kept telling me about what it pays for and how much it costs to send 1 child or how much it costs to send 1 adult or how much each additional adult was, but was never clear on 1 adult plus 1 child. It could have been a difference of thousands. So I called the 800 number to talk directly with the company. First time the number just hung up on me before connecting to an agent, 2nd time agent answered I asked my question (he was nice enough) put me on hold for 15 minutes then came back and was like "are you still there" I kept responding that I was there and I could hear him he kept not hearing me, and hung up. I called a 3rd time after the prompts it put me through to a ring and no one ever picked up and it disconnected. I also went to the website to just start the signup process to see what the price was going to quote me there. My problem here was that you have to agree to several agreements before it even brings you to that page. 2 things stood out to me. 1. It sounded like agreeing to this agreed to go on the trip (implying no way to cancel after this page) and 2. Mandatory Arbitration in case of a dispute. (Mandatory Arbitration basically means you can't sue them directly and have to go to an arbitrator). This is always a red-flag when dealing with businesses. After all of these red-flags I went to the internet and found both here (Yelp) and Better Business Bureau had a sea of complaints, recently mostly around covid cancellations, but even before that there were too many. All this adds up to definitely not spending my money here, so thanks internet for preventing this! So, those new comers looking for non-covid related reviews, here you go. read more

My son's trip was cancelled by WorldStrides, and although the terms of service suggested that a full refund was due (because they cancelled the trip, not us), we were initially told no refund would be offered. After more waffling they finally agreed to provide a refund minus a $300 "fee", but only by May 30, 2020 (eight weeks later). May 30, 2020 (8 weeks later) came around, and I received an email that my refund would be process in another 8 to 10 business days. I eventually got my refund promised, which seems a fair outcome all considered. The delays were frustrating, but I don't know how WorldStrides themselves had to deal with delays in refunds from their travel partners. Based on the foregoing, I adjusted my review to 4 stars. read more

Our recent experience was very mediocre and disappointing. Our daughter went on the fourth grade Coloma/Sacramento trip with world strides. Leading up to the trip, we kept getting email communications saying how wonderful the trip itinerary was going to be and how much the company paid attention to the health and safety of the students. We received pdf attachment guidelines about Covid protocols, how masks were required on the bus and indoors during the trip. The morning of the trip, the kids and our teachers all entered the bus wearing masks, the driver (Leo) wasn't wearing one and as part of his safety instructions, he told everyone that they could remover the masks. Their tour guide never wore one either. throughout the trip, Leo kept threatening the students about getting car sick on windy roads. He repeatedly told them that they would be responsible if they got sick and that it would ruin the trip for everyone. He also took illegal turns and drove through areas he wasn't allowed to. Delayed arrival times and was rude to the passengers. paneer chaperones have the bus stories on video As well. Overall the experience was way below what we expected and what was promised to the parents. Also not surprising that more than half the students and adults came back with Covid and some were very I'll for a week to ten days. They were discouraged from wearing masks while sitting on an enclosed bus for hours. This program needs major revamping and improvements. read more

This company's customer service staff are appalling. They made changes to my son's school-associated trip without notifying us directly, changing one of the destinations, and the biggest issue, moving it FORWARD two days. He's now supposed to leave not the day after his high school graduation, but the day BEFORE! He's the only senior on the trip. WorldStrides expects us to have him miss 1-2 of the last days of school, and his actual graduation ceremony. They're saying that if he decides to cancel, we're not entitled to a refund of the almost $4k cost, as we didn't purchase the insurance plan. And that we agreed to the terms and conditions upon sign-up, which said something about the possibility of changes. The teacher who set up the trip did confirm to us that WorldStrides was fully aware of when the group's last day of school was. She had to bow out months ago due to a conflict, but the parent/grandparent who stepped into her place never approved the change, nor did anyone contact the students about the changes. We discovered it when trying to see if we could arrange for our daughter to meet up with him somehow during the trip. We never would have signed up had we known this could happen. Someone didn't do their job here, and they want my family to either forfeit $4k or make an 18 year old miss his high school graduation. Disgusting. And heartless. read more

My son had an amazing time on his easy coast trip!! I am very thankful and pleased with the lifetime memories WorldStrides helped create for my son. Highly recommend! read more

My son said overall this was a fun trip the problems they had to face were terrible bus rides buses kept breaking down no AC on some of the buses that were crowded with people Reckless bus drivers his bus driver hit a truck leaving the Hotel at one point a bus broke down and everyone on the bus was left at the gas station for 4 hours waiting on another bus the second problem was there was not much organization read more

I was very disappointed that during my child's first plane ride, they rode by strangers instead of their classmates or cousin. After reading reviews, I suppose I should be grateful we didn't have to try to get a refund. read more

They are very organized. Our Tour guide Justin was wonderful! He was energetic and funny, perfect fit for the 4th graders. We all had a wonderful time. Justin taught us history through games. He even had almost all our names down by the second day by memory! If you get a choice, he is definitely a wonderful guide for your elementary school kids! The reason for the 4 not 5 stars is the fact that we had 3 bus drivers for four days at Sacramento. The first driver was great, but the bus reeked of cigaret smell. The second driver was good. The third one did not seem to have good control of the bus. The 15 minute drive to the airport had some passengers feeling nauseous. read more

As many have stated below, this company is a sham. Due to COVID, my son's trip to Puerto Rico was pushed back a year. We asked to cancel the trip in March of 2021, 16 months prior to the trip dates. Of the $2000+ we paid them, we received a refund of $925...really? They never give you an outline of what your charges will be when you request your cancellation, or the amount you will be refunded. They like to utilize the terms "non-refundable fees", which you are not told what those are... This is a total sham....they are making a ton of cash off of and taking full advantage of the covid situation. Please report this company to the BBB..... read more

Completely understand the pandemic cancelled my daughter's trip, but getting a refund/partial refund has been a nightmare. Their website says 6-8 weeks, the email they sent says 6-8 weeks, they tell you on the phone 6-8 weeks, well its been 9 and won't be until next week???? They only get 1 star, because 0 is not an option read more

Earn credit for going on a trip to Costa Rica, Florida, New York or DC? I mean .... never in my life did I think I would be earning credit for zip lining through a cloud forest or whitewater rafting through a river while learning about one of the world's largest ecosystems. I never thought I would be able to pay less than 3 grand for an all inclusive trip that includes a 26 million dollar/doctor on call policy and learn so much with such an awesome, friendly company... I def. recommend this organization =) read more

You're better off paying airfare and taking your child yourself. They ripped my daughter's FLAG program scholarship fund out from under her by saying we didn't have the forms in on time, but they use Docusign and we have electronic receipts showing everything was submitted. I never had this issue with my other kids' class trips. Worst program, ever. I'm truly apprehensive about sending her on the trip as the date approaches because if they manage it with the same level of incompetence with which they handle customer service phone calls, this trip will be an absolute disaster. read more

I purchased the insurance for my daughter and I even though it was not needed. Our original flights to DCA were cancelled a day before we were scheduled to leave and that had everything to do with the airlines and airport we departed from. WorldStrides worked closely with our school contact and booked everyone (there were about 90 of us) on flights and we all managed to arrive Saturday evening or early Sunday morning. It was a non-stop itinerary when we started Easter Sunday until we boarded our flight from JFK Friday evening. Our tour guides were knowledgeable and kept to a tight schedule. Diana T. (our guide) and James (our bus driver) were fantastic! James is probably the best bus driver around, he drove us in DC, Virginia, Philadelphia and New Jersey. Yes, the cost of the trip is well over $3k per person, but well worth it considering our flight, the hotel accommodations, entrance fees to museums, ferry, subway, a Broadway play, etc., and breakfast, lunch, and dinner and we didn't have to pay for an uber or parking. It was our first time in the east coast and I was able to see a majority in my bucket list. Yes, there is a lot of walking and yes you feel rushed for time. I'm not a fast walker at all, but I managed to keep up with the group. Many places including the Lincoln Memorial had an elevator. I would only suggest that the students should be given a little more time for lunches. We were given an allowance but usually were eating at the busiest time. The teacher chaperones reminded the students to have their water bottles or flasks daily. There were watering stations at the hotel and if you forgot your flask, you can always ask the hotel's front desk for mini water bottles which were given to us for free. I took advantage of this at the 3 different hotels we stayed at. WorldStrides had staff sitting outside hotel rooms so that none of the students would attempt to sneak out while chaperones were asleep. Our WorldStrides tour guide reminded us of being masked while on the bus and while we were indoors. On our last day, we learned that the luggage were supposed to be loaded on the bus were not taken from one of the other chaperone's room (error by WorldStrides hotel contact or bus driver or hotel staff) so many of the students have not received their baggage as of today. I believe they are going to be shipped to the school. I was happy that almost all of us were able to return on the same direct flight home. There were a few who had to stay back due to testing positive on the last day (sigh). I hope they will be arriving back home soon after their quarantine ends. My oldest daughter and hubby went in 2009 and my other daughter went in 2017 all via WorldStrides and all had a great time when they went. Thanks for the memories! read more

Went on a Washington DC trip with my son through his middle school April of 2023. The AC was broken on the bus and we had over 80 degree temperatures. The windows didn't open. The AC finally got fixed on the last day of the trip. The tour guide took us on a tour of the FDR memorial in the dark and most of the memorial isn't lite. She told us we could go to the Air and Space museum. When we arrived they told us you needed to reserve passes ahead of time. The passes were sold out for the day. We spent 25 minutes walking there. With a limited amount of time we didn't get to see a museum of our choice and we rushed through a different nearby museum. There were no discussions of recent historical events like the January 6th riot. She said she couldn't get political even though she told us twice that her sister worked under the Obama administration in the White House. Never use this tour / travel company. read more

My daughter had a wonderful time on her Science Class Trip. She did and tried things she has never thought about trying before. And enjoyed going back to some places that she has been but made new memories. I never worried about her. It was very well planned out and very organized. read more

They cheat you, be careful, they took 399 from our money and claim it was cancel fee, there was no contract,

My daughter loved this trip and the process was easy with no stress.

My 5th grader and I had a wonderful fall trip to Washington DC! The WorldStrides group was amazing. The bus and hotels were very nice and clean. The guides were so knowledgable about the area and were great at teaching 5th graders and parents alike. The food could be a little better, but they did a great job of feeding us all quickly. I will definitely go on another WorldStrides trip. Thank you for an unforgettable trip! read more

Trip itself was amazing but exhausting! Ira was our tour guide and I think we saw it all! I can't even begin to name all the place we got to experience! The only complaint I have is about the meals and places we were taken to eat. The first meal was at a mall food court which was extremely hectic, crowded, and not great! Our evening dinner the second night was on a roof top and a bus load of kids were crammed into a corner of this roof top bar. We had pizza but is consisted of a basil pesto topped pizza and margarita pizza to which most kids wouldn't touch! They did bring us some cheese and pepperoni pizzas but all the pizzas were small and after all day of walking there should of been a pizza for each kid considering the size of them! They ran out of drinks as well! Not to mention the location was not ideal for a bus load of kids! I feel like they need to find some type of convention room and just cater food in for each meal and time buses at different times kind of how breakfast went each morning, which was good with plenty of room! read more

The best part of the trip was the tour guide Katheryn who was amazing! She was super knowledgeable, caring, organized and watchful of the kids/group and I'd choose her again and again. However the organization, itinerary and food was bad. We wasted so much time traveling back and forth to Dumfries, VA for a hotel. We also did things like drive from the Smithsonian area in DC back to Alexandria in VA where we had been earlier in the day to eat dinner at a grocery store. We then drove back to the Smithsonian area to see monuments. We Wasted hours driving for sub par food that could've been delivered or picked up and brought to the mall area for a picnic or bus eating. What was maddening about it is we only had less that 50 minutes each at the Smithsonian natural history and American history museum. We didn't get to see much of the museums. The kids were entirely too rushed. The food on the trip was low quality and left everyone wanting more. The trip is very heavy on monuments. I think the kids would've enjoyed seeing more of the museums. They were uninterested in monuments by the end of it. Overall I probably won't take my next child on a world strides trip bc the food was so bad and the price of it was too much for what we did, saw and ate. The positive is my kid got to see a city with her school friends and had a blast doing that. read more