"We reached out to Go Ahead about which Junior Suite we wanted on our tour and gave them a wide range of rooms. The tour itself was fabulous but they put us in a suite on a boat that rocked all night and we could hear the anchor land several times in the early am waking us up. One of us gets motion sickness easily and so we asked for mid ship suite and paid extra and they put us in the front of the boat. To go to the bathroom in the night because of the rocking in the front of the boat, we had to crawl. And one of us had to use a pillow to not fall off the bed. This is ridiculous for how much they charged. We reached out to the company to explain, and they basically said too bad, no compensation for your misery. So we're done with this company."
"I made a reservation last Thursday (11/16/2023) for a trip to Iceland from 12/02/2023-12/07/2023 and then I was told that I can’t have my refund back.
When I called on last Thursday (11/16/2023) to place my reservation, the agent (Kathy) I talked to stressed about she "cannot" guarantee that I will be able to go on the trip. Before I provided the payment information, I specifically asked if I will be able to get the refund because the trip is coming up so soon. The agent ensured that I will be able to get a full refund back within 60 days if I decided to cancel the trip. I was also told that I am basically on a wait list and someone will contact me once I can go on the trip. No one called me about whether the agency was able to process my information at all, so I've been left in the dark about this trip since the beginning.
I called the help line this morning (11/20/2023) around 9:00 Eastern Standard Time to cancel my reservation. I was informed by the agent that I will not be able to get my full refund back since it's too close to the trip date. Basically I was told that Kathy gave me the wrong information, so I will have to pay the cancellation fee. The only reason I provided my payment information is because Kathy specifically stated that I will be able to cancel the trip and receive a full refund.
I've never been so frustrated with a traveling agency. I made sure to ask this agent regarding the refund policy twice before giving her my payment information, and she still couldn't provide me with the correct information. It's unbelievable that such a big traveling agency cannot uniformly train their employees with the correct set of information."
"Do not travel Go Ahead Tours or enroll for travel insurance with Seven Corners. If you happen to experience any sort of interruption on your trip, you will not be reimbursed a cancellation fee by Seven Corners. I just got my appeal denied because I’m pregnant. They told me I had to have complications while traveling on my due date in order to be reimbursed. I booked my trip prior to Covid-19 and they used the restrictions to make money off travelers. Go Ahead Tours and Seven Corners are both fraudulent companies. They delete comments and hide the horrible reviews they get to cover up their wrongful doings. "
"Where do I begin. We paid in full over $10k 15 months before our trip to Switzerland.we were told in November 2021 that any Covid requirements were due to the visiting country. Not true. Switzerland does not require a test nor does it ask for vaccination. This company feels that getting tested within 24 hours of leaving for the trip is necessary. When I told them it makes no sense that I could catch it at the airport or on the plane before I even arrive. They said it was for everyone’s safety yet they won’t test you while you’re there so what is the point. I cancelled my trip and now they are holding back $600. Their service is terrible. If you have any doubt visit BBB for reviews and number of complaints, as well as trip advisor and help. How they are still in business is beyond me. "
"First, they are impossible to reach. When you do reach them.......look out!
THEY cancelled a tour for which we had paid in full. Refused to refund our money, instead offering a voucher for a "future tour". When I cancelled, they tried to charge us $1,000 per person. When challenged, that became $450. What a rip-off company......I would avoid at all costs!"
"Go Ahead Tours is essentially a "bait and switch" company when it come to solo travelers. I received numerous emails from them about how they "encouraged and understood" solo, single travelers such as myself. Finally an operator that does not penalize me for wanting to travel alone. I looked over their tours and was ready to book when I was shocked to see a "singles" fee not any different that other tour operators (many of whom have lower single surcharges). Huh? What about being geared to singles? Oh, that is only for a very few tours.
There are better tour operators than EF Go Ahead. Once I was forced to investigate their services because of a typical singles surcharge, it turns out they are pretty much more expensive than similar travel operators that charge extra for singles with very little difference in the quality of their tours. Don't believe their marketing....lol"
" They will have you book your trip and list there are several spots available, no communication or updates on the status of your booking and when after weeks of no email , hours on phone call hold AND already paid deposits, the trip was cancelled 5 days before. Only reason I found out was because I called myself. Company has a standard refund policy and made it seem as if they are doing me a favor of refunding me the trip. All they say is sorry and that is all. The website will show there are several spots available but it is not true. "
“Hello soleilobrien, we are very sorry to hear of your frustration! It sounds like you were booked on a tour pending confirmation. We try our best to get all of our travelers on the tours that they want, but do have to make sure certain boxes are checked before we officially add you to a tour.. We are glad you were able to get a full refund and hope to have you on tour in the future!”
"I've been on go ahead tours in past with very good opinion of them Currently Im trying to add required info for a trip that was delayed from last year due to covid. Their website isnt working properly, including a non-helpful chat option. I've been on the phone now while I work on other non-related items. It says you cant leave a call back number "due to high call volumes"?? It says I've been on the line going on 2 hours!!! Something has definitelty gone downhill if you cant afford a help line or a functioning site."
“Hello, we are so sorry to hear this! With travel getting back to normal, we have so many of our travelers eager to get back on the road and we have been experiencing higher than normal call volumes. We have ramped up new team members to help us and appreciate your patience as we prioritize travelers who are departing soon. Please send us a direct message and we will get you connected with our Traveler Support team as soon as possible.
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"Communication has not been great. I've been fumbling through this on my own. I tried asking questions on chat, but no matter when I try, it says no one is available and that someone will contact me (they never do). I finally got someone, and she just told me to call support. After waiting for 45 minutes for someone to answer, I found out that there was some webinar about my trip I was supposed to be invited to, but wasn't. They didn't have the time or interest to look into what happened or if there's a problem, they just sent me a link to view the recording of the meeting I missed. I tried to reach out with questions regarding my flight, but couldn't get a hold of anyone so I just worked with the airline directly. Turns out, EF Go Ahead Tours neglected to pass along my known traveler information and if I wouldn't have double checked, I wouldn't have been able to use TSA precheck.
Hopefully the vacation will be nice, but support in getting there has been non existent and quite stressful (a lot of mistakes and things falling between the cracks). Doesn't give me confidence if anything goes wrong during the trip."
“Hello Samantha, we are so sorry to hear this! That does not sound like the Go Ahead Tours standard. We appreciate the feedback and are going to have our team look into why these mistakes were made. We do hope you enjoy your time on tour, however! ”
"THIS WAS MY THIRD TOUR WITH GO AHEAD. WHEN I SAW THE ALPS FOR THE FIRST TIME I THOUGHT I WOULD CRY. THE HOTELS CHOSEN WERE LOVELY, CLEAN WITH PERSONNEL READY TO HELP. THE BREAKFASTS (INCLUDED EVERY MORNING) PROVIDED EVERYTHING YOU COULD WANT OR NEED. TOUR GUIDES PICKED BECAUSE OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR CITY WERE GREAT. BEAUTIFUL ARCHITECTURE, COMFORTABLE COACHES (BUS) WITH AN ATTENTIVE DRIVER TO LEND A HAND TO SENIORS ENTERING AND EXITING (WOJTEK). MOUNT PELATUS (PEE LA TUS) WAS AWESOME AND LUNCH WAS DELICIOUS. OUR GUIDE, ALEX, HAS BEEN WORKING IN THIS FIELD FOR 26 YEARS. WHEN YOU ATTEND THE TYPICAL HOURIGAN DINNER MAKE SURE AND ASK THE VIOLINIST TO PLAY A COUPLE SONGS FROM SOUND OF MUSIC. WATCH ALEX SUFFER! IT WAS MY FAVORITE NIGHT ON OUR VISIT. THANK YOU, GO AHEAD."
"Awesome trip. Weather plays havoc with all plans however our tour guide quickly adapted plans and we carried on
Spectacular scenery and lots of time to view at each stop.
Our driver was outstanding always on time and highly skilled.
You have to be there to get the full effect, pictures do not do Iceland justice. "
"My sister and I had an incredible week long tour in March 2022! This was our fifth attempt of scheduling this since April 2020. Many thanks to Ciaran Carraher for leading this trip! His knowledge, wealth of travel experience and wit made for an amazing and awesome time in Dublin, Cork and Galway!! Ireland is always stunningly beautiful and the weather treated us well for nearly every activity. The snow storm while driving by Cashel was unexpected and very pretty. Kudos to our driver Martin for getting us safely through that and the entire week of travels. This is our family’s third trip hosted by GoAhead and so far, they don’t disappoint. From scheduling to having you on the ground, they think of everything. We have a fourth trip to Italy scheduled for July 2022 and can’t wait. Thank you GoAhead!!!"
“Thank you, Paige! We are so happy to hear of you and your family's wonderful trip, especially your tour director and driver. We are so lucky to have loyal travelers like you. We cannot wait to have you back on tour in July!”
"Tour guide was knowledgeable and concerned about everyone in the group. He was careful to accommodate everyone’s interest. I would definitely do it again, but there are so many other places to explore. "
“Hello Constance, thank you so much for your kind review! We are so glad that you enjoyed your tour and would love to have you back. Don't forget about your welcome home credit that you can use towards your next tour! ”
"Dreamed many years about. Trip to Egypt. It was more than I imagined!!"
“Hi Janice, thank you so much for the review! We are so glad that your tour was everything you wanted and more. We look forward to having you back on tour soon!”
"This was an amazing experience. Great guides and planning. It was wonderful to experience stress free travel. "
“Thank you so much for your review! We really appreciate the kind words!”
A rep from Go Ahead Tours, Erin_GoAheadTours, has responded:
“Hi Joe, we are very sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction! We never want to miscommunicate with our travelers, and apologize if that happened here. We are very proud of our solo portfolio, but as it is newer, we only have so many solo tours we offer. However, our solo-exclusive tours do not have an extra fee added to the cost post-booking. We are sorry to hear that you feel the price is out of your budget. We know that cost is a major factor when it comes to planning a trip, but we want world travel to be accessible to as many people as possible. That's why our prices include accommodations, all on-tour transportation, sightseeing, a full-time Tour Director, breakfast everyday, select lunches and dinners, and entrance tickets to major attractions—which means you're getting great value for your tour! We also offer deposits as low as $99 and interest-free payment plans that help you pay for your trip over time, and set a schedule that fits your budget. We always have travel deals going on, too! We hope that in the future you may change your mind and give us a chance to experience our on-tour experience.”