Compare OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel vs. Odysseys Unlimited
 

Both specialize in small group tours. Does one offer better accomodations, meals, etc. or are they both about equal?
I want to book a tour but not sure if one excels in one way over another and I definitely want small group. If someone has experienced both, I would love a comparison. Thank you.

I haven't used either company but you don't have to keep creating new threads. You can respond to your original thread to bring it to the top.

I see you have multiple threads for your Africa trip as well.

If you can't find your posting you can click on your screen name at the top.

We have traveled with Odysseys seven times and have been very pleased. We compared them with OAT for each trip where they had similar itineraries; and while OAT seemed less expensive, the hotels were not as centrally located and many of the options that OAT offered (at an additional price) were included by Odysseys.

I think it comes down to whether you are willing to pay a little more to have your hotel located where you can do independent sightseeing without having to take public transportation and whether you would be paying for the options that are part of the Odysseys price.

The Odyssesy tours director are outstanding! Each one seems better than the last.

Thank you Lilla. You have been most helpful.

We have taken two Odyssey tours.

It all comes down to the tour director. One was outstanding, the other awful. We saw good stuff both times, stayed in nice places, and ate good meals, but one director was intelligent, well-organized, and informative, and the other was not well-informed and had a smarmy. He spent a lot of time sucking up to some of the people on the tour and was useless when things went wrong. Odyssey's local guides, on the other hand, were universally outstanding.

We have decided not to take any more tours because you just can't know in advance what the tour director will be like, and s/he is critical to the trip.

adrienne - No good deed goes unpunished (or appreciated.) ((*))

Jed - LOL You've put my thoughts quite succintly and nicely - I had other words in my mind! :)

Oh well...I'm off to my volunteering job at the library where they DO appreciate me.

In reply to one of the previous posters who stated that OAT's hotels were not well located - one of the things we've always like about OAT was that their hotels were very centrally located and within walking distance to major points of interest in cities. Also, we prefer to have a less expensive trip and then pay extra for optionals. Not all optionals interest us,so this way we're not paying to do something that we don't want to do.

Odysseys Unlimited? Group size?

What we like most about OATs after 4 trips is they are consistent...never more than 12-16 and the optionals are just that...you have a choice. Hotels have been more than adequate and always centrally located.

We just don't like being stuck on a bus with 25-50 travelers; it takes too long for potty stops.

OATs takes you to places large groups cannot go.

Out of curiosity, so I am better informed, I will request one Odysseys Unlimited brochures.

ScarlettO, after all this input you will make the right choice for you.

With the economy, ALL the travel companies are writing to me all the time with 50% off. If you have the money now, it's your ballgame$$$$.

Happy Trails

I've looked at the Odysseys Unlimited brochures, but always have stuck with OAT, since their tours always seem like a better value, and we have loved all of our OAT tours.

We have traveled with OAT to several destinations. We have traveled to Peru, Australia, and Croatia (including Slovenia and Bosnia) with OAT, and will go on Route of the Maya with OAT next month.

We have always been impressed by the tour guides that OAT chooses - who have uniformly been absolutely excellent. We also love the fact that there are no more than 16 participants on any of their land tours. On our first two tours, there were 15 people, and on our third, there were only 11 people.

OAT also includes school visits and home visits (and meals) on their tours. On our last tour, the 11 people were divided into 3 groups, and visited apartments in Sarejevo for dinner. As you can surmise, the conversations over dinner were extremely interesting - a definite highlight of our trip.

If you have any questions about traveling with OAT, please feel free to contact me at: [email protected].

I have taken three OAT trips. The first was excellent and inspired me to sign up for two more later in the same year. Both were ghastly (terrible guides and hotels were not the ones listed but termed "or similar"). If I were given an OAT trip for free, I would not take it. I have taken one Odysseys trip and it was excellent. I'm going on another one next month and keeping my fingers crossed. The bottom line is you get what you pay for.

Our Red Sea OAT tour was terrible. The hotels were in the middle of no where and one was horrible. OAT gave us 500.00 to use toward another trip because so many folks complained. The Red Sea was a new trip that has been redone now. The other trip to Thailand was fantastic. The two Grand Circle River cruises were also fantastic. We have booked a Croatia trip with OAT, hoping that it will be good. Seems to be a crap shoot with tours.

We have now traveled with both OAT and Odysseys, and I would certainly recommend Odysseys over OAT. We took the Egypt/Red Sea trip with OAT last year and had the worst tour director we have experienced in all of our travels. Our hotel in Jordan was not centrally located and there were problems with sewer gas in many of the bathrooms. There was only one hair dryer for everyone on the tour. We also had to pay extra for excursions that should have been part of the tour, and most of the included meals were mediocre at best.

We have never had a bad experience with Odysseys and have taken seven trips with them. Their maximum number of participants is 24, but most of the trips we have taken with them have fewer. They use 44-person buses, so there is lots of room to spread out. The hotels have all been in central locations and the included meals have been excellent.

We have traveled with OAT 6 times. A few of the trips were good because we traveled with friends. Accomodations were fair to poor. Optional side trips are VERY expensive. We went to Morocco Feb. 2010 with Odyssey and the difference in quality was dramatic. We stayed in the finest hotels in every city. The tour manager and local guides were superb. There were no extras tacked on. Choose Odyssey over OAT every time. OAT only appears cheaper, it is not.

We have taken 2 tripsa with OAT-to Machu/Galla and to Panama.

Pluses--small groups, superb leaders and tour guides, visit to school, flexibility, great boats, places we visited

Negatives--quality of hotels; switched us to one that was inhabitable (no windows)--refused to compensate us. Need to upgrade some of their hotels. A few were excellent. Boat accomendations were good. Home visit can be good (Machu trip) or bad (Panama, where the hostess did not speak English AT ALL and we had no interpreter--an interpreter needs to be there if there is a significant language problem. Food fair.

THE WORST--extremely long holds when you call the company--enough of a problem to make us think hard about going with them again.

If the phone problem is corrected and we feel the hotels are 3 to 4 stars, we would go with again.

Is there any difference in the age or mobility of participants in either tour group?

Age Range - 50s to 70's.

Mobility a requirement for these trips. No mobility aids allowed.

OAT trips are very active, with lots of walking and hiking.

Interesting topic since I have been comparing these two companies for years but, so far, have ended up with OAT. Why? 1) So far I have experienced only excellent guides on the 8 trips I have taken with them. 2) Their prices are lower, even with the extra optional tours. 3) They have a more interesting schedule. For example, I just looked at comparable trips to Costa Rica although Odyssey only offers one option. Odyseey is 2681 for 12 days; OAT is 2395 for 13 days. If you took ALL the optionals it would come to an additional 220. OAT includes opportunities for rafting, horsebackriding and hiking. I didn't see any of those with Odyssey. At 67 I still like to get on animals and into boats. We have also enjoying shopping in markets for dinner ingredients, cooking lessons, playing local games in local bars, yes, bars...stopping at local cantinas to dance, meeting with migrant workers on the streets and all of the similar cultural encounters we have had with OAT. Does Odyssey include spontaneous cultural encounters such as these? I would like to hear from Odyseey travelers to see if I would consider traveling with them in the future.

the following relate to Odyssey:

1. friends who went to Costa Rica spent a morning and lunch hour at a school helping children with their English

2. tours in Spain and Scotland included lunches with local families, the former in a mixed income housing project with the family of a mattress salesman, the latter in an Edinburgh New Town Georgian mansion

3. in Croatia, we got to watch high school seniors learning and practicing their national dances, required for graduation.

4. all featured plenty of time on one's own without ever shortchanging expectations for decent dinners. In Croatia, we ate wonderful pizza and ate terrific local fish on evening pub crawls. I am a serious breakfast eater both for medical reasons and out of personal preference. All our meals were good, but all our breakfasts were outstanding. I don't eat bread, pastry, cereal, fruit, or juice, though all were available in profusion to those who do. I always found meat and sausages, cheese, and eggs in various forms, and in Croatia, notably, there was prsut to carve oneself, caviar, and smoked salmon, not just at one hotel but regularly.

I know everyone loves going to the schools and eating in people's home. I find this to be the worst part of a trip. I usually try to pass on these when possible. If I want to work with schools, I would volunteer with elder hostal.