EF Tour Company

[Teacher Terry]

I am wondering if anyone has used this travel company and what your experiences were. I am going to Ireland and looking at tours. Thanks!

[Katiek]

I haven't toured with them, but I'm a fan of the cycling team they sponsor. One of the reasons I read they wanted to support cycling was because the sport really reflects the culture and history of the towns they race in all over the world.

[SecretlyFI]

My son’s high school was arranging an Ireland & England tour through EF. We went to the information session at the school, presented by the teachers who were the group leaders for the trip. It all sounded great until he read the fine print on rooms & accommodations and I read the cancellation policy.

The room arrangements for students were 2 same-sex students sharing a double bed. I couldn’t believe it when he showed that to me. It did not seem at all reasonable to expect 18 year old guys to share a double bed. I’m sure the adult tours are different, but I just offer this so you make sure to read all the details before signing up, because….

I found their cancellation policy rather severe. Like 5 months out you’re still hit with a non-refundable deposit and several hundred in cancellation fees. I think 4 months out was 50% cancellation fee. Maybe this is normal for organized tours and I’d also normally be getting trip insurance - but would be looking for “cancel for any reason” in this case, since my teenager could have changed his mind.

But, it didn’t even get that far because the accommodations were a no-goer for him. YMMV, of course, but I’d advise a close read of the T&C and comprehensive trip insurance.

[Teacher Terry]

Secretly, I will get my own room. It’s cheaper if you want them to match you with a roommate. I have read the fine print but will review again. I also intend to buy travel insurance. It’s a expensive trip. Thanks for your input!

[Teacher Terry]

I just realized that the company is called EF Go Ahead Tours.

[sweetana3]

The BBB complaints seem to be mainly about cancellation fees and after reading their replies, I would not choose this company. Then there is the Mass. class action suit and this is pretty much about the same thing. https://www.nbcboston.com/investigat...demic/2128762/

[ShadowBloom]

I've traveled with Go Ahead several times. They aren't my favorite tour co, but they generally deliver the tour as promised.

[Teacher Terry]

A good friend of mine decided to go with me and we booked the trip. Shadow bloom, whose your favorite tour company?

[whatnot]

Enjoy your trip. Half the fun is researching your location and anticipating the trip.
I’m not Shadowbloom, but I have enjoyed 2 Rick Steves tours. Curious also as to other favorite Tour companies used by ER members.

[MBAustin]

Went to Peru (Lima, Machu Picchu, Amazon) with EF Go Ahead in 2017. Excellent guides, nice hotels, good food for the included meals. Not super luxurious but I think a good value.

[OldShooter]

Not directly answering your question, but what we would do is to base such a trip on hiring private guides and with an intinerary developed in consulation with a local Irish tour company. It's an English (sort of) speaking country and the road signs are in the Roman alphabet. Even in pre-GPS days, that is a recipe for getting around easily. Actually, in a country like Ireland, we might consider a DIY itinerary based on AirBnBs and a lot of reading.

Having a private guide/driver accompany us for the whole trip is our typical preference, but in Europe that can be expensive. Plan B is to arrange for guides in each major destination. Maybe with the guide on the first day or half day and get help planning your next day(s) sans guide. Hop-on, Hop-off buses are also good tools for reconnoitering.

What you miss: Forced shopping. Insipid tourist buffet food on someone else's schedule, the people who need a bathroom break just as the bus is leaving, the people who are late to the bus. Crowded buses. Getting up on someone else's schedule. Stopping for long periods at places you aren't interested in. You get it. We will do groups sometimes where we can't read the road signs (Arabic, for example), where there are no road signs (Ethiopia, Tanzania), or where a group is the only option (Galapagos). Definitely not our first choice, though.

There is an Eyewitness travel guide to Ireland. (https://www.amazon.com/DK-Eyewitness...dp_ob_title_bk) Where available we buy those automatically for study and planning. You can look at the Amazon preview to see why. I see there is also a "Eyewitness Back Roads Ireland" book. I have never seen one of those before but I would buy it too based on the excellence of the maybe 20 Eyewitness travel books we have bought previously.

[pdxgal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldShooter It's an English (sort of) speaking country and the road signs are in the Roman alphabet. Even in pre-GPS days, that is a recipe for getting around easily.

True that, but one has to drive on the left side of the road and the rental cars have driver's seat on the right. Your brain can adapt pretty quickly (mine did when driving in Ireland 15 years ago), but not everyone would feel comfortable driving there. Sometimes it can be hard to find an automatic rental car if you don't know how to drive a manual transmission. And many places one would want to visit aren't readily accessible by local buses or trains. Hence some rationale for going with a tour even in anglophone Ireland.

TeacherTerry, very cool you found a friend to go with you. You will no doubt have a great time, the Irish are a very welcoming and fun bunch!

[OldShooter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdxgal True that, but one has to drive on the left side of the road and the rental cars have driver's seat on the right. Your brain can adapt pretty quickly (mine did when driving in Ireland 15 years ago), but not everyone would feel comfortable driving there. Sometimes it can be hard to find an automatic rental car if you don't know how to drive a manual transmission. And many places one would want to visit aren't readily accessible by local buses or trains. Hence some rationale for going with a tour even in anglophone Ireland. ...

Fair points. DW and I have done enough RHD roads and have on and off owned manual transmissions that we really don't think about it any more. She has a funny story, though, one time in France where she and her girlfriends couldn't figure out how to back a rental away from a post at the rental location.

Re automatic, an advance reservation will probably solve that problem. The RHD is IMO not to be feared but respected. But many others may not feel that way.

[Souschef]

Terry,
We went with Brendan Vacations. You saw our trip story.

[bobneardc]

Dear members,


As the title suggests I am a loyal OAT traveler. Five days ago I returned from a twenty day OAT trip to northern Italy. I liked everything about it. Another OAT trip is in my future.

Take care gang.


Bob

[braumeister]

We used OAT for our Ireland trip in 2019 and it was excellent. Small group, excellent guide. Some "off the beaten path" attractions we would never have found on our own. My only objection is that I don't like OAT's policy of including a lot of "controversial topics" on their tours (some were very depressing), but you can sometimes skip those parts.

We supplemented it with an extra week on each end of the group travel to explore other parts of the country on our own, and enjoyed those days at least as much. We also made use of a private guide for a day trip to the Boyne Valley near Dublin and can't recommend that highly enough.

[Chuckanut]

In my mind the best test of a tour company is what they did in 2020 when travel was not possible. Did they refund the deposits and fees 100%? Or did they only offer credit for a future trip you may or may not be able to take? Or did they retroactively change their refund policy and keep the customer's money? Or maybe they folded up never to be seen again?

I would search the internet for 2020 trip cancellation complaints and find out what your potential trip company did.

We are not yet done with Covid. It's rising again in Europe. While I hope it will not raise it's ugly head again (at least not very high), I don't think anybody knows that for certain what will happen.

FWIW, I have used Rick Steves tours quite a bit and been happy. I also have booked my own travel overseas and been happy. It all depends on how I feel and what the destination is. In 2023 RS Tours refunded 100% with no problems.

[sweetana3]

Wanted to pop in and say I have been extremely happy with the 19 Road Scholar trips I have taken since 2007. Just got back from Charleston, SC. We have done a 3 week France and an in depth Oxford for mystery buffs. The type of person who takes a RS trip is generally in education, business or other well educated people. Shopping is NOT done unless it is passing thru the gift shop at the end of a tour to get out of the building. I would generally say they under promise and over deliver. We like the conversation at meals and our groups have always been on time and ready to go.