Overseas Adventure Travel

I have been on 2 tours with OAT and have a 3rd booked. I have found them to be a very good tour company. The have a maximum of 16 travelers per tour (except cruises), have very good guides and good itineraries. Similar to RS tours your have some afternoons, lunches and dinners on your own. The only draw back is that they still do the tour guide tipping thing. All other tips are included.

Like you, I check for reviews before booking, but I like to read several of them before I make my decision.

I have never taken a tour with OAT, but know others that have been happy with their tours.

OAT has reasonable prices and should be considered before booking a tour.

Also, consider Gate 1 Travel. We have done two tours with them in the past year and love the high quality for low prices.

Both OAT and Gate 1 has some negative (still a minority) reviews, but I notices that some were complaining about tour cancellations.
That is a bit complicated of a subject, since COVID. Still, I would suggest considering OAT and Gate 1 prior to making a decision.

We compared Gate 1 to others for our Egypt 14 day tour and found it was almost half the price of a similar tour from Viking.

Hi, I recently booked an Egypt tour with Jordan extension on OAT for January of 2025. Before I booked it, I researched it throughly and have found many good reviews about it. In fact, if you do a search on this forum, you will find reviews from members who say their guides are the best they've ever had.

As Bob pointed out, they have very small groups, which was important to me (mine is maxed at 16), no single supplement, and I love that the Egypt tour uses the smaller Dahabeah boats on the Nile, rather than the bigger cruise ships. I found this article on Fodors that rated some of the top tour companies, and found their article reassuring. https://www.fodors.com/world/africa-and-middle-east/egypt/experiences/news/photos/11-tour-companies-to-make-your-trip-to-egypt-more-successful

I've not toured with OAT BUT I'd wonder what kind of negative things you are seeing and are they for the Egypt tour or OAT in general?

I also post on the Senior Forum on Trip Advisor. I went back and looked and the majority of the complaints I see are from early in the Pandemic when OAT would only issue vouchers not refunds for trips they cancelled. I've seen where people have also been unhappy with OAT insurance. I don't usually use company sponsored insurance but will insure on my own so I can pick and choose what coverage I want. Road Scholar is a company that sells trip insurance and when I've taken their trips I've gone with another company.

BTW, there were the same complaints about Gate 1 during the pandemic who also refused to refund payments for cancelled trips.

Thanks, all. I booked with OAT after reading glowing reviews about it on the travel forum. As one person has pointed out, the negative reviews...and there are a lot of them...really are centered around people who had to cancel their trips and needed a refund.

I have quite a few friends who travel with OAT a ton and are very happy with them. I've had reports of at least 7 OAT trips with those friends - all since COVID - and all reviews were glowing. None of the trips was an Egypt trip, though.

I'm trying them out next week for a Baltics trip. I'll come back here and report at some point. The itinerary looks great, hotels have good reviews. We are a group of 14 total for the departure, which is a nice size group.

"As one person has pointed out, the negative reviews...and there are a lot of them...really are centered around people who had to cancel their trips and needed a refund."

Thanks so much for adding more information to this. Hopefully we'll not have another pandemic which will cause mass tour cancellations but you may be able to mitigate any possible issues by being cautious about your choice in trip insurance providers. There are also others who cancel for various reasons and in some cases it was apparent they did not read the cancellation policies fully before booking. I think you have probably been more cautious than that especially since you asked the question here!

Valerie! Can't wait for your TR! Bon voyage!!

Thanks so much! I appreciate the feedback!

Sorry for the late response but I've been traveling. I took the OAT Egypt (with 5 days on the Nile by private Yacht) including the pre trip to Jordan trip during March, 2023 and it was excellent! It was our 8th and one of our most favorite of all our OAT trips. Our guides (one for Egypt and a different one for Jordan) were nothing short of excellent. We felt like we got our Phd in the history and culture of both countries. We were safely exposed to all aspects of these amazing countries in a fun and engaging way. I'm a vegetarian and my dietary needs were well attended to effortlessly We had a great group of travel companions---a small group of 16 travelers. Don't hesitate to private message me for details/questions. You will love the experience.

I went to Egypt with OAT in 2021 and it was really good, as have been my other two trips with them since to other places. And if (as reported by others) the primary complaint about a tour company is that they aren't great about refunds for cancelled trips, then logically, the worst thing you could do is cancel your trip with them because of those complaints, thus voluntarily putting yourself in exactly that situation.

pollocktoni, this review of an OAT tour to the Baltics was recently posted on this forum by Valerie, a long time member (actually, she posted something upthread earlier). You might find it helpfull. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/report-review-of-my-first-trip-with-overseas-adventure-travel-the-baltics

No personal experience but my dear friend who is in her mid 70's has been on three tours with OAT and can not stop saying good things about them as a tour company. In February she did a trip with them to Sicily, Her only negative statement was that they didn't eat enough pasta.

I just got home from an OAT South Africa trip, my first with them. I would recommend them and will certainly travel with them again. We had 15 people, accommodations were all very good, included meals were tasty and the tour guide knowledgeable and fun. Price point was excellent and getting a single room for free is amazing.

Thanks all. I’m surprised this
Post has resurfaced. Unfortunately, given the situation in the Middle East, we have cancelled this trip.

I just came back from Jordan and Egypt using OAT and the trip was absolutely fabulous. My neighbors went a month ago and also had a wonderful time. I felt very safe and had an outstanding tour guide named Helmy. He has his bachelor and master's degrees in Egyptology. Great news for travellers, there are few crowds (note: bad for the Egyptian economy). I highly recommend going.

"And if (as reported by others) the primary complaint about a tour company is that they aren't great about refunds for cancelled trips, then logically, the worst thing you could do is cancel your trip with them because of those complaints, thus voluntarily putting yourself in exactly that situation."

My problem with OAT was not with a trip I had cancelled , but rather a trip OAT had cancelled. Massachusetts (where OAT is headquartered) requires that any tour company in that state offer a refund if the tour company cancels a tour. I got my refund only after writing to the state AG. Note, since then I have taken two additional tours with them as they do conduct a very good tour.

We took the OAT tour to Egypt in 2008 and enjoyed it a lot! Our group was 16 but they had two groups of 16 on the cruise portion.
There have been many bad reviews, even before Covid.

We’re going on a Jordan/Egypt/Cyprus trip with OAT. The Cyprus part was added as a replacement for the original Israel itinerary, and OAT received a lot of recent cancellations due to the current conflict there. While they apparently don’t (willingly) provide refunds, they do give a credit to people who cancel to use on a future trip. They also really stress that clients should get trip insurance, and provide a travel insurance company if you don’t want to shop around. Perhaps insurance would compensate people who would otherwise complain about OAT in those situations.

OAT also gives returning clients a discount on future trip bookings. We had an outstanding safari with OAT last year in Botswana/South Africa/Zambia/Zimbabwe. I’d highly recommend they be considered for any trip they offer. We’ve looked at Road Scholar, too, but OAT fit our budget better. We’re looking forward to our trip … with an Athens post-trip extension!

Hi all and thank you for your responses. Out of an abundance of caution, we canceled our trip to Egypt. Too much going on in that part of the world for us.

I have had the WORST experience in decades of travel with OAT. I booked a trip for 2024 and had to cancel. I'm due a refund of the amount paid over the deposit/insurance. It has been two full months since cancelling and no refund has been made. I have called OAT customer service twice - one month after cancellation then today, two months after. Both times, they CS reps gave the same story with a slight twist: first call after one month - my refund should've been processed within 30 calendar days, but it was "in process" and would be paid in the next 15 calendar days at most. Today, after two months, my refund should've been processed within 45 calendar days, but it was "in process" and would be paid "whenever finance got around to it." I am going to have to contact my bank for a fraud claim because, at this point, I don't believe that OAT will refund my money and "whenever" is not an acceptable timeframe. They seem to be unable to process refunds, which does not speak well of their financial health. I am an independent traveler and read high recommendations for OAT - not my experience at all.

OAT is great. Until you have a problem.

My long trip last fall (our second with OAT) was ruined by one traveler who singled me out from day one to the end, for icy hostility, cruel sarcasm, and insults -- this conduct conspicuously contrasting with this person's engagement with all other tour members. The leader and members agreed that I had done nothing to offend this person, and that they were completely out of line. A frequent traveler with OAT, they were allowed to continue the unacceptable behavior towards me throughout the trip. Because I was stuck with all the daily activities and many meals with this person in a small group, I could not get away.

My complaint to OAT afterward was ignored. Not even a basic "sorry for your experience" email.

As much as you might enjoy your OAT experience for good reasons, consider carefully the problems others like me have had with their poor customer service, ranging being left without contact in quarantine, to the failure to provide promised refunds or flights or fares, to my experience of serious wrongdoing by another group member that was not addressed.

OAT does offer price incentives to frequent customers (who obviously sustain their business, just like frequent flyers on airlines), and recognizes them for loyalty up to the point of awarding them “Sir Edmund Hillary explorer” status, but condoning or allowing nastiness is unreasonable for a business that wants to maintain a business relationship with their customers. The conflict should be brought to the attention of upper management … at the very least, a “Sorry for your experience” reply should be offered by them, but they should provide more. I hope that lively2c can still get a better response from OAT. That toxic person needs to be acknowledged, but there should’ve been some remediation during the trip, not after the fact. I hope some satisfaction can be obtained.

We had some less-pleasant people, too, but they weren’t as hostile as it sounds like the nasty person was who was so bad to lively2c. For both my husband and me, it’s becoming clearer that group travel isn’t our preference, but for some destinations (Wild Africa, perhaps Antarctica, and places where language or culture differences will be much greater than Europe has been), group travel is more tolerable- maybe even necessary.

I appreciate the response of Cyn to my negative review about OAT's allowing a fellow traveler to get away with her hostile treatment of me throughout a long trip, with no remediation, and no reply after I filed my complaint afterward, not even "sorry for your experience."

The "customer service" problems OAT has are NOT merely a result of Covid, i.e. loss of money resulting in slow reimbursements.

I am currently on an OAT trip in Central America, this is my second with them. The guide on this tour, called Route of the Maya is excellent and our city guide in San Salvador was one of the best I have had anywhere. Hotels and food have all been good so far and the fellow participants have been pleasant. Many people on this tour have traveled with OAT dozens of times and report very good support when there have been medical issues or emergencies on previous tours. I guess it is luck of the draw somewhat but did want to report what a current tour experience is like.

i have traveled many times with OAT. Since covid, they are not as reliable. Their trips are great, unless something goes wrong. They regularly cancel trips, especially pre and post trips. If you are due a refund, even if they canceled a trip, they will put off paying you as long as possible. I have been waiting over 6 weeks for a refund for a trip they canceled 3 days before it was supposed to leave (yes, you read that right, 3 days). They change their story every time you talk to an agent. For example, they owed my friend $20,000 for a trip they canceled, and she had it in writing. The agent insisted she would only get back $10,000. She had to go to a supervisor to get that fixed. They told me and I had it in writing that I would get a $500 credit and then tried to tell me it was only $250. Since I loved their trips pre-covid, I've tried to travel with them lately, but it is too stressful trying to deal with their office (you can't book online). I sadly can no longer recommend them and am moving on to other tour providers.

Well, I’ve got to change my review, and based on my experience today, I’d say OAT has lost a loyal customer. They are thieves and crooks. I mentioned earlier that we’d signed up for a trip that was supposed to have happened last month - Jordan/Egypt/Cyprus, a replacement for a trip that was originally Israel/Egypt/Jordan. We also added the Athens post trip that was created just for this main trip.

When OAT cancelled the main trip, we were told that we could get a full refund on the spot, or reschedule the trip, price protected, to December 2024. The rescheduled trip would be reverting to the original itinerary, Israel/Egypt/Jordan. The trip we’d scheduled was an incredible bargain, with a big discount, so even with the restored itinerary, it was a deal, and we decided to go with the December 2024 trip. The conflict in Israel makes it increasingly unlikely that that trip will happen, either, so we’ll see what happens, and if OAT waits until the last minute before canceling it, and what resolution, if any, is offered to paying

Here’s the conflict: we signed up for, and paid for, an Athens post trip after the main trip. That cost over $2,000. When OAT cancelled both the pre and post trips, we were told we could reschedule the main trip, price protected, for what we’d paid for it. We were told that since the Athens post trip no longer existed, we’d be getting a refund for it, but it would take 30-45 days. I called OAT twice more, assured each time that we’d receive the refund for the post trip portion that had become unavailable. Day 45 was today, February 2, and no refund received.

I called OAT, and was on the phone for over an hour, talking to two people, and mostly listening to hold music on the call. The first person, after putting me on hold over and over again, finally said that the refund had somehow failed to have been processed, but that it would be done today, and we could expect the money in 30 to 45 days. Right. I asked to speak with a supervisor. After much additional time, hold music, and discussion, he ultimately stated that we were due no refund. We didn’t want the post trip for the replacement of our replacement trip (West Bank of Israel), so we weren’t going to be reimbursed for the Athens post trip for which we’d paid. And, having now paid over $2,000 for a post trip that wasn’t available, we couldn’t go on the West Bank post trip, either, because we’d initially said we weren’t interested when our trip got canceled.

So he says that we basically donated $2,000+ to OAT. Bait and Switch. Forget about the refund we’d been assured; the supervisor will ensure that all employees are retrained to not tell customers they will receive a refund, when OAT has no intention of issuing one.

DO NOT sign up with OAT. Their prices indicate incredible bargains…too good to be true. And so they are - if you don’t get screwed over by OAT at first, you will be eventually.

Fool me once, shame on you … but never again. OAT are thieves and liars.

Cyn, thanks for your post and thanks to all of the others who posted their reviews of OAT. I am scheduled to take an OAT tour to Egypt in January of 2025 (with a Jordan extension), and am thinking very seriously of cancelling it based on these reviews. Luckily I haven't paid anything above the initial deposit yet, and have until October to pay the balance, but it's looking more and more like a no-go for me.

Oh Cyn!! That makes me so sick for you all.

If you have email documentation of them promising a refund of the extension, I might contact Elliott.org and see if they will take this on. I think they have trouble interceding when it's all been phone promises - harder for them, not that they don't believe you.

You can also try filing a complaint with the Massachusetts Attorney General's office. I see OAT is based in Boston. I'm not sure if you can file a complaint on your CC after this amount of time but you might try that as well.

Cyn,
Massachusetts (where OAT is based) state law requires any tour operator to provide a refund for any trip/activity that the tour company cancels. Several years ago (COVID) I had a trip canceled by OAT and they refused to refund my money and instead said they would provide a credit. I contacted the Massachusetts State Attorney General (Google search) and within a day of their contacting OAT I had my refund.

My experience with canceled OAT tours has been very different.

I was on the OAT tour in Egypt on October 7. The next day I got a call and email from OAT saying that my Israel tour, which I was scheduled to go on immediately after the Egypt tour, was canceled. The refund showed up on my credit card account dated November 10.

I am scheduled on an OAT trip to New Zealand in April. I was booked on the pre-trip extension in Australia, but I got notice from OAT that the extension was canceled because not enough people signed up for it. They said I'd get a refund within 45 days. Today is the 35th day. I just checked my invoice for the trip, and it shows a negative balance equal to the cost of the pre-trip extension, so I expect I'll receive that refund in the next week. I guess we'll see.

I'm sorry about the experiences some of you have described. I'm not going to defend OAT, but neither am I going to quit traveling with them. The simple fact is you can't search for reviews of any tour company without finding some 5-star and some 1-star and everything in between. This is true of OAT and Rick Steves tours and every other tour company. I'd venture to guess that every tour companies fails to resolve 100% of customer issues satisfactorily. I'd also guess that many customers who complain have unreasonable expectations of how their issue should be resolved.

I'll report back if/when I receive my refund for the Australia extension on my New Zealand trip.

I do appreciate the mentions of contacting the Massachusetts Attorney General, and hadn’t posted that here, nor contacted the A.G., as I wanted to try another time with OAT, and had some other priorities. Thank you, everyone.

Well, OAT cancelled the trip outright yesterday. I now could get a full refund, or get a $500 discount on taking any 2024 trip. The refund, this time, will take 45 business days, so they said it will be issued April 16. I appreciate that they didn’t wait until the last moment to cancel the December trip. The continuing dangers in that part of the Middle East made the trip unworkable. I hope that situation can be solved soon, for everyone’s sake. I do want to see Petra.

I recently had a trip cancelled by OAT (no reason given). and they offered me a transfer to the next trip to that destination with no additional charges even for the airfare.. The only problem was that there were no single spaces available on the next trip. After pushing it a bit, I am known to do that, and sending the decision up the ladder to higher management (which I understand the person answering the phone did not have that authority) and a wait of a few days, including a weekend, the exception was approved. So sometimes OATs customer service does work.

I did receive my refund within the 45-day period for the pre-trip cancellation I mentioned above in this thread.

Cyn, I'm glad things got resolved. I'm lucky I was able to get to Petra in October. This was supposed to be part of the Jordan pre-trip extension of my Israel tour. After the Israel tour got canceled, I made plans to go to Jordan on my own.

I see on the OAT website that they are not selling any Israel/Jordan tours until 2025. Their Egypt and the Eternal Nile tour is still being offered this year and next.

I have another OAT story: I was scheduled to go on their tour to Bulgaria and Romania this fall. This was a new tour they just started offering in the last few months. In January I got a call and email from them to tell me they decided not to offer this tour because reports from travelers suggested it did not meet their standard of excellence. They gave me a number of options, including cancellation for a full refund or switching to a different tour. Either option came with a credit toward future travel. I switched to this tour of Greece, Albania, and North Macedonia.

It's true that many of the negative reviews of OAT are related to refunds during Covid. I cancelled an OAT trip to Africa in the very early days of COVID; the cancellation was months before the trip departure and fell within their standard cancellation policies. I was told that I would receive a refund within 30 days, which stretched on and on and on. Then I was told that OAT was no longer offering refunds only credits for future travel. I eventually got a refund by filing a complaint with the helpful and efficient Massachusetts State Attorney General's Office. I had previously taken three trips with OAT. I felt generally positive about these trips but had grown a bit tired of the OAT formula. But I would never travel with them again. They consistently dissembled during the protracted refund process. I am not in the habit of giving thousands of dollars to companies that have previously tried to cheat me.

We hope to see our big refund within the next month, a the end of the 45-business-day refund timeframe. Meanwhile, OAT sends frequent mailers announcing discounts on upcoming trips.

The prices look enticing, especially when there’s a sizeable discount. Be aware what the trip includes, and of your options.

We recently booked our first tour with overseas adventure, travel. This is a long story, but we are canceling our reservation because the agent who sold us the tour misrepresented the accommodations on the cruise part of our trip to Norway. We thought we were getting an inside double cabin for zero up charge. When we got the invoice, I saw that it said inside twin cabin for no upcharge. II made several calls and found out there were no doubles available so we decided we could live with the twins. One week later I have received a call asking us if we realized that the twin accommodation wasn’t really twin. It was bunkbeds, we are in our 70s and this was not acceptable. When I called I found out after much time on hold that all of the inside cabins had bunkbeds. There was no twin no double even though those were listed on the website for the trip. To upgrade to an outside cabin would be thousands of dollars so we are going to be canceling this trip. Be very careful if you book any tour with a cruise to find out specifically what you are getting .

Just a follow-up on our awaited refund for the trip that OAT cancelled: we’ve gotten the refund, put back onto the credit card originally used to pay for the trip. That took a long time. The credit card bill was paid some time ago, so now there’s a big credit balance. Could’ve been worse, but could’ve been better.

I’m not certain whether we’d sign up for another OAT trip, but for the right destination and the right price, it might happen.

We have done 3 trips with OAT, two small ship cruises and one land tour. The tours themselves have been excellent - fantastic guides, good accommodations, small groups, nice mix of touring and free time, etc. We have signed up for another tour, this one their Ultimate Africa tour, which was highly recommended by fellow travelers on the previous tours.

That said, their administrative office is awful once you have booked a trip, especially if you need a change or something happens like a cancellation, etc. We had a trip canceled during COVID, and even making allowances for the situation, their customer service was abysmal. Promised a refund in 45 days, fine print promised a refund, but OAT changed their policy after the fact (!) and simply rebooked us on the same trip the following year - without even asking if that's what we wanted. Tried to invoice us for the rebooked trip - even though we should have had a sizeable credit. Then refunded some in our group but not others. It was such a mess, of their own making, and many of us filed complaints with the Massachusetts Attorney office. I also filed on the Better Business Bureau, and disputed the charge on my credit card.

So - great if you don't have any problems. Our current approach is to book with OAT knowing we might have to be OK with getting a credit if something goes wrong. And to wait for the massively discounted deals.

Cyn, since you have a large balance on your credit card, I believe you may request a check sent to you.

Right, marsh. Actually, our crust card assured me they would forward a direct deposit to our checking account, rather than having to wait for a check to deposit myself. Now I’m told they no longer do that, but am in Europe for three more weeks. So the refund is inaccessible, and the refund is effectively further delayed. That’s not appreciated at all, and makes me even less likely to sign up for another OAT experience.