"Scammy"

Scammy. We signed our daughter up for a trip this June. Turns out her college start date might overlap with the trip, so we cancelled within their window. They kept the $399 deposit and $176 "travel protection" fee and owe us almost $1200. They confirmed cancellation on 12/31/24 and supposedly processed the refund on January 22. Except they didn't. I emailed them today (after not getting a reply to my email 10 days ago) to ask to confirm that it had been mailed. I had to file a complaint with the BBB just to get a response saying their payment system had broken and it would be 2 weeks. I went online to check reviews and this sounds very familiar! Don't sign up with them, it's a mess. We are on week 6 of waiting for our refund, they say it will be 8 weeks now, but there are other reviewers who are 10 weeks or more waiting for their refund.

"Our trip got cancelled - No refund in site"

Our trip got cancelled, and I was told I would be refunded since this was out of my control, however it as been 2 1/2 months of run around from them of promises of the check in the mail and on the way, wish I had used my CC to book the trip so I could have reversed the charge for fraud. I have no idea how there trips are as we didn't get to go.

"Trip was canceled in November and…"

Trip was canceled in November and company said check to be issued at end of December and still not received. Customer service gives excuses and says will have someone call back which they don’t. When asked to speak with a supervisor they say no one is available. My daughter cancelled her trip 2 days after cut off for full refund and they denied her appeal for full refund a loss of $600

"THE WORST EVER "

I want to express our frustration with the flights that have been chosen for the 10 day trip to school trip to Japan.

A non-stop flight is 15 hours from Dallas to Tokyo. The return is can be about the same.

Instead, for this trip our kids will travel 4-6 hours to Houston (IAH) via bus and then take a 21.5hr flight. This total unacceptable travel time is almost 30 hours once the bus leaves the school.

This is an unacceptable travel experience. This journey would be exhausting for experienced travelers. The option selected by the tour operator is clearly a cost-saving measure with no consideration for those making the trip.

Additionally, the return is equally, if not more so, problematic with travel BACK TO Houston instead of Dallas which will include an over 6 hour layover in Taipei. The flight will arrive at 10pm into Houston and the kids will go through customs there in Houston. Then they will be BUSSED back to Dallas to arrive in the middle of the night. Ridiculous! Again, a trip which could be as short as 18 hours, will be 27 hours including 4 hours on the bus. There are many non-stop flights with availability to return back to DFW, a major international HUB.To make this more palatable, the tour operator could have at least sent our kids back to our home, international airport.

A last comment, as the tour ends in Hiroshima and the group will travel by train, we will need to leave to make certain to depart on a 12:55pm flight and miss this part of the tour.

In short, to save money, this company will have the students spend four of the nine days in transit. The health and well-being of our kids and chaperones is at risk with so many extra hours, both on the road and in air.

"Our tour guides were great (Alison had…"

Our tour guides were great (Alison had to leave early and Andrew took her place) and helpful. We ran into a couple of small issues. The first day we didn't have a bus until hours later, so we took multiple Ubers into the city so we wouldn't have to sit at JFK. We were issued debit cards to use at a mall for dinner and none of those worked. I really did appreciate the fact that when the inauguration was moved indoors how you were able to create the watch party with lunch.

"Italy and Greece"

It was easy to know the exact date we would travel and the minimum number of students require.

As for the tour, it was fast paced and we saw so many places we read about in our history books. Beautiful at, incredible architecture, breathtaking scenery, and more. Thumbs up to our tour guide Mario and the team at Explorica who helped organize this experience for my students.

"Worst experience ever!"

If I had to rate this company 0 .
Horrible customer service . Trip was cancelled first week of December and they took money out of my account after this was cancelled. A month after still dealing with this company for my refund. 👎👎👎👎👎👎👎

"Great Experience"

We had an amazing tour. The hotels, meals and tour director that Explorica selected for this tour were incredible for our group of 47 between the Christmas and NY holidays. Ireland and Scotland did not disappoint.

"Unethical company - Use a credit card not bank account"

Unethical company. Our son's trip was cancelled by the tour organizer within 14 days of the initial registration. Explorica kept $449 of our money due to the cancelation of the trip, which was completely out of our control. The trip was cancelled by the organizer due to lack of enrollment.

If we used a credit card instead of a bank account for the payment, we may have had more recourse options.

"Amazing Experience! "

The company was very organized and worked on everything in a timely manner. We were very impressed with the various tour options and how easy it was to customize the itinerary a little. Everyone who was involved was very nice (tour director, tour guide, driver, etc) and the hotels that were chosen were great!