Adventure Travel With O.A.T.

I booked a trip with Overseas Adventure Travel and unfortunately had to cancel the very next day, no problem in saying I would get a full refund; but would not confirm by email and was told it would take 45 days to return my 4K deposit.

I booked a 16-day trip to Morocco with OAT and at the time of booking was told in order to take the trip, I was required to also take the 5-day post-trip to Essaouira, only to find while on the trip that only half the people who booked were required to take the post-trip. The trips overlapped at the end, so the 16 day trip was really only 14 days. Though the guide on the first trip was excellent, the second guide was very annoying and did not listen to the group's request to get to Casablanca in a timely manner, as we only had a few hours to explore on our last day. He insisted on sticking to the schedule, getting us to the hotel at 4:45 p.m. With dinner at 7 p.m. we had to time to explore, not that we would have been able to see anything, as the hotel was in a very bad area. The A/C in the hotel in Casablanca did not work (despite a maintenance man checking it and declaring it working), and the yelling, car honking and street noise from the bar next door went on until 4:30 a.m.; 4 of us had a 6:15 a.m. pick-up for the airport, so we got no sleep. I was told on booking that I would get a $100 credit (because I was referred by a friend) that I could use for optional tours on the trip, but once home was told the credit could only be used for a future tour (which will never happen with this company). Repeated phone calls over a three week period asking for a refund for the post-trip tour resulted in only a $100 credit for a future tour.

I have traveled with OAT and its sister Company, Grand Circle Travel (GCT), over 32 times and have been very pleased with their tours. Their flight arrangements used to be problematic, and I actually stopped traveling with them in 2002 for a couple years because of this, but no one else did as good a job with the actual tour so I went back. They have vastly improved their air routing which shows that they listened to my complaints. The OAT tour directors are the VERY best and you get to experience the local cultures in non-touristy ways and have many interactions with locals. OAT is small group - max 16 people where there is occasionally a toxic personality. It is easier to get away from toxic personalities with GCT as the size is usually around 40, but I much prefer 16 person tours. Out of all of my the trips, there was one OAT trip leader and one GCT leader that I did not care for so I think this is an excellent record. I have met many like minded people on OAT tours and have traveled with them again and again. Most of the review complaints I read are people who complain about time on hold - this is common with all tour companies - and people who fail to read the conditions and expect exceptions to be made for them. Heads up - if you think you may need to cancel, buy insurance.