I have used three student travel companies over the past fifteen years, and I have found that Explorica is my favorite for traveling in Europe. They offer a great value and the best tour directors. You do not get the top-of-the-line hotels like you might get with Passports, but the price is thousands less. EF does a better job in China, but I was not as pleased with the European tour directors or hotel locations.

Explorica Educational Travel is a terrible company. They don't care about the children/students, only making money. We booked our daughter on the optional stay behind which is offered - at a hefty extra fee of about $300 - and now they have booked her to fly by herself to start the tour. So she is 16 and will be flying through two major international airports on her own, landing an hour after her group does and Explorica says "someone" will be there to meet here. This is not safe and not ethical. They won't return our calls and now want more money to book her to fly with her group. They should never offer the optional stay behind if it really means "fly alone and good luck" Terrible company with terrible customer service. The hotel in Paris they booked is 30 minutes from the city centre. Would never recommend this company to any parent, student or teacher.

This is the biggest fly by night company ever. My daughter went to Scotland with this group and if the name Explorica is EVER mentioned again I would say not in this lifetime. The customer service is terrible, we were charged late fees because their website wouldn't take our payments. Even after I called and talked them about it it took over a month to get back the late fee, when they could have just credited back to my bank account. It took a day and a half for the kids to get there....Exploricas excuse no seats on the plane for a direct flight. The day I heard that I looked on the Air Canada website which shows how many seats there is on the plane if there are only 20 left...so what they said was untrue. The accommodations were all far away from what they were doing at any given time. I imagine my daughter will have a good time but I would never recommend Explorica to anyone, and I wish the schools would just stop using them, they are all about the money and not about anything else. $3000 to Scotland in February? I could have taken my whole family for that much...........

My daughter attends a small high school, and we were assured through explorica that the school could be integrated with another group for the trip to WA/NYC/Boston. This did not happen. Explorica cancelled our original trip, enrolled us in a trip no one desired, and then has been really SLOW at refunding the money we paid toward the original trip. MANY promises made regarding the refund...but we have yet to see any refund whatsoever. I am thinking of contacting the BBB? Really frustrating. If anyone has insight into our situation, please let us know.

I have worked with many different student travel companies over a 35 year career in teaching Foreign Languages. Explorica is BY FAR the best of them all......The key to any travel with kids is the rapport between the teacher and the students and holding regular meetings prior to travel. Educating the kids what travel IS and what it is NOT is key to the best possible experience. Explorica personel at every level are beyond helpful, competent and professional. It seems to me that if students (and teacher chaperones) travel with the idea of expecting "America and/or flawless travel they are fully missing the opportunity to experience diverse cultures and the chance to develop flexibility and patience. This is GOOD for all Americans and especially for our "instant gratification" youth culture. Explorica, with whom I have booked 10+ tours has NEVER disappointed and my students have memories of a lifetime. Thank you, explorica for all that you do to promote good will and education to our youth AND the traveling adults with them. The role model that adults display dramatically affects the students' experience.

Don't travel with Explorica if you want an authentic travel experience.

This tour group travels on a budget at their own convenience. Among the meals I was given included a Cici's type restaurant, many pizza bars, tapas with American style cuisine and on paella night we didn't even get seafood. I used all of my spending money on local cuisine because explorica was too cheap to do it themselves. It was nice to have priority in lines when visiting museums and other tour sites, but you can do this with any other tour group.

Save yourself the trouble and don't use explorica.

I wish there was a negative number I could give Explorica for customer service. My son's trip was cancelled because of the volcano eruption in Iceland. The customer rep hung up the phone when I asked questions about flight reimbursement. Air France was stating they would either rebook or rufund the money. I guess they don't like an educated consumer. I emailed the public relations person and still haven't received a response.
I didn't purchase the travel protection plan so we stand to lose $2300. The people who purchased the policy might not even be covered.
If they don't give us our money or a trip, I will file a complain with the BBB.

My daughter's school worked through Explorica for a spring break foreign language trip to Spain and France. The positives - my daughter describes the trip as 'Awesome' and loved the tour guide. However, working with Explorica was a nightmare. We were initially going to use another company but the teacher planning the trip thought this company would provide better customer service. Far from it. Explorica has NO CUSTOMER SERVICE. First, a month after signing up, they 'strongly encouraged' us to change our requested tour because it wasn't a guaranteed tour. When we did this, the public price of the new tour was less than they were quoting us but they said we weren't new customers so wouldn't give the better price. There were many issues with this company but the biggest was that they sold an itinerary with activities on day 2 but booked flights with a 6 hour layover that got the group to our destination at the end of day 2 meaning we missed all day 2 activities in Madrid (including the Prado museum). No cost adjustment or even a acknowledgement that they effectively charged us for a day of touring that we didn't receive. I know there were better flight options that should have been within their budget but they booked the cheapest possible flights. I e-mailed and wrote separate letters of concern to our rep plus VPs and the President of Explorica and no one got back to me. Unless you're lucky enough to get a good tour guide (ours was changed 3 times - the last 2 wks before the trip), don't expect anything from this company. They do not value customer service at all. If you've already working with the company, book your own flights. Per their website, the flights are approx 35% of the tour fee. If you combine that with the airfare taxes & fee that they separately charge and the weekend surcharges, the amount available to buy your own flights should be more than enough for good flights with minimal connections plus transfers.

Just got home from a tour with Explorica to 5 different countries...Germany, Paris, Italy, Austria and Switzerland. What a great time by all. Our tour guide Andrea could not have been more educated in all of the five countries we visited. The hotels were ok. Liked the first few but the last one in Paris was too far out. Food was great for the first few countries. Last supper in Paris was poor. We were all hungry when we got back to the hotel. Could have done either the bus tour in Paris or the boat tour..no need for both. Our local guides were excellent and spoke good english. Had a bit of problem with a payment just before we left. A little short notice 7 days before you leave that your supervisors were not 100 % covered. Had to come up with an additioanl $900.00. Apparently it was an accounting mistake. Over all we will travel with Explorica again and will request Andrea as our tour guide.
Roberta Hunt
Kinuso Alberta Cananda

We just registered 20 participants for a Paris/Rome trip in 2011. Our 2009 Paris-Rome was fantastic, so we are repeating the itinerary in 2011. Customer service is prompt, knowledgeable, and extremely helpful. We selected the customized tour process which allows us to have a private, full-time guide, and upgraded meals/hotels. We LOVE the customized option...for example, it allows a group to have its own private tour...no other schools, students, or teachers to deal with. I have chaperoned student tours to Europe for nearly 30 years, and I have traveled with just about every company out there. By the way, Explorica is not the most $$ (NETC, ACIS) or the least $$(EF), but right in the middle. Keep in mind that a successful high school tour is based on preparation and planning of students. It takes me about a year to fully prepare my students for the culture shock of traveling to a foreign country. If students/teachers complain about these trips, then they usually don't have realistic expectations. If you want a "perfect vacation", then go to DisneyWorld. If you want to see the grand, the old, and the historic, then "do your homework" and visit the real deal in Europe.After all, isn't that why we travel to distant lands in the first place...to experience their authentic culture. Bon Voyage!

AWFUL! Do not use this company under any circumstances. Horrible food (no choices for the kids, not getting enough food), accomodations VERY far away from attractions, they mixed my group of 16 kids with a group of 6 older and inacctive women (NOT STUDENTS - ADULTS) when they are supposed to be a student travel agent, kids don't get enough sleep because of VERY early wake up calls (numerous before 5 am)...I can go on and on...just don't do it.

Save yourself the time, trouble and money and book with the other educational student tour company.

We booked our trip 2 years ago to lock in the price, and now, 8 days before it all has to be finalized, they've cancelled our trip. Sent out new itineraries to choose from, we finally settle on one, and a day later, it's not available as sent to us. Cannot have the extension. NOt only that, but will not give us options at 2yrs ago prices, when we locked in and paid for our first tour, but are charging us for the new tour at todays prices.

The other e* educational travel company is offering us very good deals, right on top of things with info via emails and phone calls and we will be jumping ship from explorica to eftours. Yes, we will loose some money by cancelling, but quite frankly, they can't even get our tour off the ground even though we've had it booked for 2 years. Very frightening to think what would happen if we did go through and stay with them and something happened when we were away. Lord knows they can't even organize it from home. What would they do for us once we were in a different country half way across the world??

Explorica, Inc delivers what it promises and more. Our guide was very knowledgeable; she established an outstanding rapport with every member of our group and she made sure all details were taken care of expeditiously. The wide variety of first-class buffet style meals and the various menu options for set menus guaranteed a delicious fare for all. Explorica is, by far, the best--low prices, the best service, and a tremendous experience.

I've traveled with this company two times and they have delivered more than expected. You always run into last minute changes, but it always worked out. Their tour directors were very knowledgeable and worked very hard to meet our demanding last minute additions to our daily scheduled. Every evening we added activities and not only did they make the calls, but accompanied us. All hotels were clean and within walking distance or on a bus/metro line. The meals were varied and local guides were wonderful.

I went on a trip with Explorica to Italy and Greece this year. It was amazing! We had the best tour guide. She gave us great insight into the history of the places we visited (Rome, Pompeii, Athens) as well as a great deal of information on the culture of the people in each place. We had plenty of time to visit each of the sites with time on our own to explore each location. We had a ton of fun at the Colosseum imagining we were gladiators! I know a lot of kids complain about the flights but I had my ipod and some games so it was cool. We had a blast in the airports looking at the different products and trying to guess what they were (the whole foreign language thing). I'm hoping to be able to go again this year!

From the student's point of view, it was a very negative experience being accommodated in hotels which were (in all but one place) far from the centre of the town or city, making exploration of these historic places impossible. Instead of stepping out the door to get a coffee and being in the middle of vibrant Munich, for example, they were stuck in distant suburbs. Our daughter suggested that staying in better located, though more moderate hotels (or hostels) would have been preferable.

From the parental point of view, the most striking negative was the fact that the price we finally had to pay was nearly $500 higher than the original figure we had been quoted! When they said the amount due is 'subject to change', they really meant it!

To add insult to injury, it was difficult to address concerns over the increased cost with a company which prefers to deal with clients through their company website. If the answer to the question was not listed on their website, it became awkward to get information.When we tried to get a reasonable explanation from the Explorica people in Boston as to why the cost kept creeping higher and higher , we were fed platitudes which had no substance, incorrect information, conflicting rationales from different staff members, and generally very evasive answers. It was not a trust-engendering experience.

I was not impressed with the company's cavalier approach to the increased cost for the parents - and hardworking students - who had to come up with the additional $500 which had not been part of the original quote.

I understand teachers may like using a company that provides them with free trips, cash back, or other incentives. However, the cost to the parents for these benefits is sometimes too high. Our daughter travelled on an Explorica trip to Europe. She enjoyed both the experience of travelling with school friends, and also of visiting a country she had never been to before.

Poorly planned trip to Madrid/Mallorca and Barcelona. Many last minute changes making it difficult to plan for "free time". Hotels okay but locations were horrible - not exaggerating - horrible! Limited bus transportation which presented problem due to poor hotel locations. 8hour ferry ride from Mallorca to Barcelona (there is a more expensive 4 hour ferry). Not told about long ferry ride until day before departure. At last minute I purchased $150 one way plane ticket for a 30 minute flight, allowing me to have the "free time" in Barcelona that was listed on itinerary. My travel companions got into port seasick and at 8:30pm. Most tour dinners were poor. Walked around Sagrada Familia but no tour of inside - Explorica tour directors comment: "line is too long". I thought when you are with a tour you can have an appointment to enter, so this seemed like the brush off - we walked into the Prado after itclosed, so I know SF was just not part of the tour. We had 15 minutes to "roam" parK Guell. Unless you are familiar with your destination and can hit the ground running when given unexpected free time - you will spend much of your time just walking around for hours waiting to meet back up with the group.