gbs

Has anyone ever taken an OAT trip to China? Any advice on this, suggestions, or info to share? Am thinking about taking this in April. Is that a good time to travel to China? Would appreciate any input. Thanks

ekscrunchy

I was in China last April..the early part of the month. It was a very good time to be in Beijing and Shanghai, the two cities I visited. Nice weather and not too many crowds at tourist sites..

DonTopaz

At least one Fodorite on the Africa forum has had a particularly poor experience with OAT: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35087243

geribrum

Did the OAT tour to China some years ago--had an inexperienced tour guide, otherwise was good. Just returned from India with OAT and had an absolutely superb guide.

jules39

You may want to look at this post which has been on the Africa board.
Just for information.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35087243

J

jackandann

We took the Grand Circle version of this trip last April 7 - 27. It was an outstanding trip. The time of year was excellent with comfortable temperatures throughout, from Beijing in the North to Hong Kong in the South. I assume that Tibet will be cooler, but, if you get much later in the year, it will be too hot in many of the cities. Much of the itinerary is similar, so our post 'Grand Circle "China and the Yangtze" Trip Report' would probably be worth reading. The logistics of the trip were he smoothest of any trip we have taken, both with Grand Circle and the Chinese tourism industry, with very smooth airport handling. Our program director also does the OAT trip. In fact, his next trip after ours was for OAT. This was 1 of 8 Grand Circle trips that we have taken, and he was one of the best we've had. His name was Feng Chou, "Andy". We are taking our first OAT trip, to Israel, at the end of February.

Jack and Ann

jackandann

The link to that post is http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35011108.

PIPERPAT

We took the OAT trip to China and Tibet last year and think it was the best trip we've even taken. Can't think of one thing to complain about except the air pollution. The itinerary, guides, accommodations, etc. were all excellent. It's a very interesting country to visit, and OAT did a great job.

thursdaysd

I've posted elsewhere on this board about my bad experience with OAT in Thailand. I swore I'd never travel with them again. An acquaintance recently took the same trip (she didn't talk to me beforehand!) and was just as dissatisfied. Plus others have posted that GCT has been dropped by the Better Business Bureau.

You can do China, especially the Beijing-Xi'an-Shanghai circuit, on your own (see ekscrunchy's trip report). Or there are plenty of other tour groups with good reputations.

Girlspytravel

I've heard nothing but bad things about OAT, so wouldn't travel with them, but as far as going to China in April, it's fantastic-a couple of years ago, it was 80 degrees at night in Beijing the middle of April-loved it-trees were blooming at the Summer Palace-an ideal time to go.

Luisah

<<I've heard nothing but bad things about OAT, so wouldn't travel with them>>

I don't understand this comment. Of eight posts in this thread, three reported having good experiences on their OAT/GCT trips.

sandys

I'll add my praise to OAT and GCT. We have traveled with both companies, and intend to keep traveling with them, since we have only had excellent experiences on their tours. We have recently booked our 5th trip with them - an OAT trip to Croatia. We have traveled with many other tour companies - before we discovered GCT and OAT - and none of the others compare to our GCT and OAT tours. We have had fantastic tour guides on all of our OAT and GCT tours. The company offers excellent value for the money - usually including extras that are not even mentioned in the brochure.

The people on our OAT and GCT tours have been very experienced travelers who have taken many other OAT and GCT tours.

I keep seeing negative comments about these two companies on this site - usually by the same people who seem to have a grudge against them.

thursdaysd

"I keep seeing negative comments about these two companies on this site - usually by the same people who seem to have a grudge against them. "

So it's OK for you to keep posting about your good experiences, but those of us who had bad experiences should keep quiet? When someone asks a direct question? I don't think so.

southeastern

I am interested in hearing what a "bad experience" is....please, someone give specific examples. Thanks!

thursdaysd

This is a cut and paste from my post on a previous thread:

"I went to Thailand with them in 1997, and swore I'd never use them again (on the positive side it was an incentive to move to independent travel!). The guide was uninterested (and uninteresting) and spoke poor English. The trip was badly planned, with AC coach travel in the cooler mornings and outdoor sightseeing in the hotter afternoons. The hotels were out of town. The food was dumbed down for westerners until some of us complained, and not great thereafter. The paid-for business-class upgrades for the return flight only came through as we were actually boarding the flight".

NLspirit

A year ago I was also pretty frustrated with OAT. We had booked with them to Peru and from the beginning our experience with their customer service was less than desirable. This was partly because we didn't have a US address ... they won't book you unless you do. Our attempts to get answers were often frustrating ... we were getting contradictory responses and on occasion it seemed that they were trying to avoid giving us an answer at all. At several points we thought we had made a mistake as, being independant travellers, we had been reluctant to book a tour in the first place. However .... once we arrived in Peru we had one of the best holidays we have ever had. Our guides were amazing, the itinerary great, and the accommodations and food were fine. Our favourite part was the rainforest ... something we'll never forget. Most of the people on the tour with us were also experienced travellers and most had travelled with OAT several times. They all had had wonderful experiences with them and we received great recommendations for other places to travel. Our next trip will be Turkey ... with OAT.

thursdaysd

NL - glad your trip worked out well, but why put up with lousy customer service when there are plenty of other small group tour outfits?

gbs

Thanks for all the responses. I just travelled to Russia with Grand Circle and was a bit apprehensive, given the negative reviews I had seen. However, I had nothing but positive experiences with the company beforehand and absolutely loved the trip and the guides. Will definitely travel with them again, and am trying OAT to China.

peter_wendy

We have now completed three trips with OAT and are scheduled for our fourth (China and Tibet) in October 2008 -- all three trips were excellent - outstanding guides, activities were well planned and opportunities to meet and interact with locals were excellent.

I too have seen the postings about a bad Africa experience (across many of these Forums) and the Better Business Bureau thing pops up occassionally - also Thursdaysd had a bad experience - but it was 11 years ago-- In our experience and in reading many of the reviews obver the past 2 to 3 years it seems they have improved.

They aren't for everyone; it is a group tour - but they have been great for us!

USNR

We depart in April on our ninth GCT and OAT travel tour, this time to China (a return trip). Satisfied? You bet. Value for money? Tops. Have we had problems at times? Yes, but that is travel in today's world -- and GCT/OAT squared all beefs and answered all questions. Responsive? The best travel company in that regard that we have ever done business with. They do their best to keep every promise they make. Our recent trip to Italy with them was simply great.