student tour ef tours
 

My son returned from a trip in Europe on EF Tours. My son said this was the worst tour company he's ever gone with. He's been 4 times. Here are the reasons:
1. Hotels were (based on adult and student opinions) horrible. No one showered for 2 days because of the filthy conditions in the motel in Italy.
2. Air travel was changed during the last week before travel. They had to endure long layovers and 3 plane changes.
3. Food was barely edible except for 4 days in Germany.
4. Too many walking tours. To many walking or riding tours to see things that no one cared about.
5. The day of departure the group split - some did an extension. My son's group waited for the bus to take them to the airport. The tour company messed up and didn't send it. They had to PAY for taxis for all the kids and almost missed their flight. EF Tours won't respond to the situation.
6. There are much better tour companies than EF Tours.

So sorry to hear about your son's trip. I have never traveled with EF, but I have heard numerous stories of nightmare trips with them. I am a teacher, so many of my colleagues have used EF, but NONE has ever had a good thing to say. It's a shame because for many Americans, a school trip like your son's may be the only trip they ever take to Europe. I would continue to pursue EF for compensation and ask as many other participants as you can to do the same. If that doesn't accomplish anything, I would contact the Better Business Bureau and, depending on the details of your contract, possibly even an attorney. Good luck!

Thanks for posting. Sorry your son had such a bad tour experience. I agree - pursue them for compensation.

You can read some more about people's experience with EF tours here (and a search for ef tours brings up some more!). It's really a pity that schools keep booking with them.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34780804

Funny, my son had an excellent experience with the same company, though some years ago. Maybe things have changed at the company or maybe your son's expectations were different. What is one person's "tours to see things that no one cared about" might be the highlight of someone else's trip. Similarly, food that is barely edible for one person -- say, say eel -- is a gourmet delicacy to another. If the company already paid for everyone to take a taxi to the airport, how should EF Tours "respond to the situation?"

This is not to defend the company for poor performance (dirty hotels), just a reminder that people see things differently.

I helped lead a group on an EF tour last June and I'm leaving on Monday on my second EF trip. I was pleased with our EF experience; it ISN't a luxury tour by any means but I think the hotels are reasonable based on the price you pay and the number of KIDS the tour company must place. Few of the hotels most folks on this board would choose wouldn't accept a group of 40+ students (and we are glad they don't!). That said, my hotels were certainly clean (and I'll let you know if they aren't this time). EF also asks for and responds to feedback from trip participants on hotels and other aspects of the trip.

It's true there are parts of the tour that aren't what most of us would like to be doing but again, when traveling with a large group one must roll with the punches. I found there was actually more "free" time than I'd thought there would be.

I would also agree that the food wasn't the greatest; again, there is the difficulty of finding a place that will seat and serve 40+ students quickly and cheaply. I advise my group to seek out "good" meals for lunch.

I would encourage you to contact EF about the problems your son encountered. My experience has been that they try to make things right whenever possible.

Good hotels with a large number of rooms are happy to accept groups as long as they have the money to pay for the rooms.

EF in Canada has a relatively good reputation. There is a wide range of expectations when students travel. As noted by Ackislander everyone has a different wishlist while travelling. This is true of summer camps too. There is no excuse for unsanitary hotel rooms or accommodations that are not secure or safe. I think everyone knows that EF provides a for-profit travel service at about the lowest cost available and there are many satisfied customers. I too have heard stories of groups being split and too many connections at various airports (all in the name of a cheaper ticket cost). By the way, I have never travelled with EF. We use their promotional materials for good travel ideas and combined with experiences gleaned from colleagues and fellow travellers, put together an itinerary that serves our needs and balances the educational and entertainment components for our students.

As far as the screw-ups that happen when travelling - unless there is a catastrophic consequence - all experienced travellers know that nothing ever goes according to "the plan". Busses get flat tires, museums are closed, strikes block your passage, students get sick, guides don't show up due to a mix-up in communication -- depending on your outlook, these events can either ruin your day or provide a new opportunity.

Travelmomtx - I hope your son will give travel another chance. Best wishes to him.

Yes, good hotels do take large groups. My point was that those hotels tend not to be as central (I would guess) because it is more difficult to find one that will take a large group of STUDENTS especially in the high season when there are plenty of paying adults. My experience has been that the hotels were nice (not luxury but clean); they were just some distance from the city center. Not where I would stay when traveling on my own but doable as part of a tour. I'll let you know if I find otherwise on my trip next week.

I've posted often against EF often. One of the hotels we stayed in was so bad, EF's tour director wouldn't stay there. She called a relative in the city to come get her.

A friend's son went of an EF tour aabout 10 years ago and his mom gave him quite a bit of spending money. When he got home, he told her none of the tours were included and he had to pay extra for everything so he didn't have any money left. The reality was he spent his mom out partying and drinking everynight which is the reason many kids love the EF tours.

EF will never reimburse you even if you are told they will. I've been waiting on my groups money for 6 years.

I always suggest ACIS or CHA for student tours. Which companies has your son traveled with before?

I have a friend who does youth tours with EF.

I have decided the BIG difference is that she does NOT book the stadard EF tours. In other words, her groups are customized and she gets LOTS of details guaranteed by EF prior to signing the contract.

That gives her a couple of things. There are NOT other groups mixed in with hers. (She takes Girl Scouts, she wants only girls on the bus) There are generally only about 20 to 30 on the bus so there is LOTS of room. And I think overall the tour quality is better.

If you plan to use EF I highly recommend the "custom" tour only option based on everything I have read.

I did one of these custom Girl Scout tours and while I didn't love it I had no real complaints...

I am leaving Monday for my second EF tour and was thoroughly pleased with my first. This is a standard tour but one of their longer ones. Some things happen while traveling and as far as the food goes what we had was probably too teenager oriented but good overall. I will let you guys know how it all went when I get back.

Baldworth

I think CarolA is right about the custom tours getting better treatment and hotels, but they also pay more.

If you have the largest group on a tour, they will cater to your needs more than the smaller groups.

Yes, the tours do cost more if you do custom, but... having read the brochures it wasn't dramatically more...

Baldworth - what tour are you leaving for Monday? I am also leaving Monday for the Grand Tour of Italy.

This is a bit of speculation on my part, but for a company that targets budget-minded customers, it makes sense that the lower the price, the more customers who sign up. So keeping prices rock-bottom keeps these customers coming in, even if the tours aren't terribly good. Ultimately the customers choose with their wallets and forget the quality of the tour (or lack thereof). They get what they pay for.

Logically also, the custom tours would be much better, because then the customer would specify what she wants and she'd know exactly what she's getting for the money. But that requires more sophistication on the part of the customer, and a low-end market might not provide too many customers like that.

I have never taken an EF tour, but when I was doing my year abroad in high school the tour from my US high school went to Spain and I went and met up with them for a day. Not only were they eating horrible food, but they were just being herded around and at night had little or no supervision, meaning that most of the kids got trashed and the chaperones had a really hard time with them in the mornings.

This Spring I will be joining a customized EF tour with one of my former teachers. She says they are really good as long as you customize them. Also, yes, there are meals included, but she oftentimes opts to eat in other restaurants, and sometimes the students go with her. It ends up costing them a few more euros per day, but many are willing to pay more at least a few times during the trip.

I am doing the European Capitals tour Carolinabelle. We will be in Italy on the 27th through the 2nd of July, Venice, Rome, then Florence. Maybe we'll cross paths.

Baldworth

Travelmomtx:
While I don't doubt that the people on the tour had some genuine complaints, I would say to remember that European hotels are not like American hotels, unless you are staying at a high end place. And with a student tour - especially one that is known for trying to keep the costs down - you will likely find modest accommodations. I haven't been to Italy so I can speak to the hotels. I have been to London on tour and on personal travel and will say it is challenging to find a hotel in London that meets what Americans are used to in a Days Inn or budget accommodation.

I think Americans are very spoiled - all of us, not just the kids - and so often they complain about the food and accommodations overseas. It sounds like perhaps whoever was leading the tour didn't set proper expectations for the students.

As for the walking tours - that is what student tours do! If your son didn't have an interest in learning about anything, he probably should have just gone on a leisurely vacation as opposed to an educational tour.

I would encourage you to register your complainst with the company, but also keep in mind that travel is an adventure!

I'm back and will post a lengthier tour report in a few days or so. For now just suffice it to say that I have completed my second long EF tour and have been happy with both of them. With all of the things that the EF tour director put up with from some of the kids it was amazing that he didn't go crazy. travelmomtx, your son's complaints sound like sour grapes along with other complaints from posters. I witnessed our TD taking kids to the hospital at midnight, spending hours on the telephone trying to reconcile a lost passport, (that happened before the kid left the country!)and paying people back in cash while still on the tour for optional excursions that didn't make ($). Every attempt was made to insure a safe educational tour through Europe even though most of the kids slept through the regional history information. If the kids went out at night it was the responsibility of the group leaders to control their activities, not the tour director, and this is as it should be. The tour director even stayed behind to make sure every group and student got on the bus to the airport and we were delivered correctly to a different terminal even though we had made the flight arrangements ourselves for the extension. I just have not seen any of the lack of responsiveness that you or others have stated and I will use them to travel again the next time I organize a student tour.

Baldworth

Baldworth, I'm glad you and the students had a good trip. You are absolutely right that most of the discipline problems are the fault of the teachers and chaparones.

My wife and I have organized around a dozen student trips over the past 30 years.

I've posted about EF on some other threads, and if they were the only company available, I WOULD use them. They do (just barely) meet my minimum standards, but there is so much better out there. Do yourself and the kids a favor and at least talk to another company or two next time in addition to EF and have them price it out for you the way you want it. The price difference may be slight.

Went on a school EF trip when in High school to England, Scotland and Ireland. We had a fabulous time abroad - at the time we were so thrilled to be there (especially with friends!) we didnt care about anything else! But looking back on it, the hotels were pretty disgusting. The first hotel in london had what looked like a bag worth of smashed up potato chips beside the bed on the floor, and an unidentifiable booger-like object on the wall. The cot one of us had To sleep on was broken. For breakfast we got canned fruit cocktail.

The rest of the trip was alright - except our bus got in a head-on collision with a car. (We were all fine). The hotels weren't great, but at 16 I wasn't very picky. While at the airport back to the states, we were saying goodbye to our tour leader (a vaguely Hugh Grant looking man of about 25) and he made out with one of the students! It was scandalous.

I haven't checked in for a while.
My son's tour obviously wasn't "sour grapes" nor did it involve cultural food (unless you call hamburger or sandhiches and chips cultural in Italy). We were compensated after an attorney representing the group contacted the tour company.

My son took another tour in August with another group and it was fabulous. Not 5-star by any means but we (and he) never expected such out of the first tour. I highly reccomend ACIS. There were the expected problems when traveling with a big group. The hotels/motels were all clean and the food was acceptable. The amazing thing - they didn't have a director abandon them when the group split twice. Again, look at the company before you book your kids on there.

" it makes sense that the lower the price, the more customers who sign up. So keeping prices rock-bottom keeps these customers coming in, even if the tours aren't terribly good. Ultimately the customers choose with their wallets and forget the quality of the tour (or lack thereof). They get what they pay for."

I am a budget traveller. I don't travel with groups, but disagree entirely that the :customers choose with their wallets and forget the quality of the tour" Budget hotels are just as clean as the 5* variety. It is a matter of choosing correctly.

Yes, I "choose with my wallet" - but I most certainly do not forget the quality of the hotel/hostel I am staying at.

There is no reason to presume that because one pays less, one is unable to judge.

Perhaps because I am not an American, I am fully prepared to share a bathroom for instance, but I do expect it to be clean. I accept small rooms - but then that is all I need. Food? That is a matter of taste and each individual must decide for him/her own self.

Please remember that spending less does not equate with being less.

We've taken 12 EF Tours in the past 8 years and have NEVER had a bad experience. Of course, I'm used to staying in mid-range hotels and can pretty much enjoy eating anything they put in front of me. Some of the kids on our trip have compalined about the hotels and meals but in my experience some kids complain about anything. We've had plenty of kids go on return trips with us.

Some of the stuff OP's kid complained about is rather petty - "Too many walking tours. To many walking or riding tours to see things that no one cared about." God, I'm almost a senior citizen and I had no trouble keeping up. Hard to believe a teenager can't keep with the old farts.

Sure there are better tour companies than EF, but Cosmos, Globus and Perillo are out of most kids' price range. EF's hotels sure beat the snot out of the hovels and train stations I stayed in 30 years ago when I was backpacking through Europe.

Methinks someone be a tad spoiled by luxury.

Well put Zeus!

I was checking this forum to find more suggestions for our Greece Easter vacation and happened to see these message about EF Tours. I AM WORRIED NOW!
My sons, 16, and 17 are both going through their high school for two weeks (group of 30 kids on A European Advanture) We didn't have a choice about the tour company and I am assuming the school used this tour co. before. I always check things in details and research, however, this time I just wrote the checks and assumed their school has made a right choice.

Thats horrible! Given the number of student travelers these days its really important that good travel companies are given notice and bad ones pointed out in order to ensure the most for your money. I had a much better experience on my vacation to Europe. I did so because I booked with Contiki Vacations. The company is set to directly serve 18-35 yr olds.
1. the hotels were comfort inn level. All clean and with various amenities.
2. Air travel is booked by the student seperate from the tour
3. Food is up to the student. All food is very edible ( includes breakfast and some dinners) . no complaints
4. There are some walking tours but most of them are optional. Personally i participated in all of them but one. They focused on the key sites and were mostly to give us information on the best way to approach the city we were in
5. Made it to the airport on time. No hassels.
6. Contiki rocks !! im going on another one in May to New Zealand

i'm sorry but your son is really spoiled. you get what you payed for.. i'm going to italy in march and i'm not expect 5 star hotels.... omg it's just a taxi ride it's part of the cult.. i thgink he was there for all the wrong reason. too many walking tours. that what you going there for. to see the county...

I've organized 4 EF student tours, one was a brochure trip, and 3 were customized. IMO the only time I would travel with EF would be on a customized tour. Even though I only took one brochure trip, it was a disaster in most every aspect. As a previous poster said, a custom tour gives you control. My #1 priority is a direct flight. If you change planes it kills most of the 2nd day. Also limit the group, I try to keep around 25 or under. And I limit ADULTS- they've been more of a pain than students. With EF, customized is the only way to go.

I'm concerned now, too, as my son's taking an EF trip through his high school this spring, to Costa Rica. I suppose it's customized, but I'm not sure. :)>-

Maureen- I think the majority of EF's trips are out of the brochure, where the object is to fill the bus. You may travel with 3 or 4 other schools, unless your son's school has around 40 people going. I would definitely do some checking on the tour organizers, specifically their rules and experience!

I've taken a number of EF Tours with students and continue to use them because their low prices allow many to travel who otherwise could not. I should add that I travel with college students who live in dorms and eat cafeteria food, so modest hotels and basic meals are no problem for them.

The biggest challenge I have faced is occasional bad behavior from some high schoolers with which we have been combined. Their chaperones often have no control over them and refuse to send them home even when they become totally obnoxious and break so many EF rules that others are miserable. I'm not talking about minor misbehavior, but about smoking pot on a canal cruise, repeatedly throwing up (after a night of drinking) on the bus, picking up hookers etc. Tour Directors are reluctant to overrule the group leaders because bad evaluations will result.

I am working on a couple of ideas to manage this problem should it occur on an upcoming tour; however, I would really appreciate hearing from others who have encountered similar problems and solved them successfully.

Perhaps this link will help as EF tours have been discussed here before. I hope I pasted it correctly. You may also want to search this forum EF tours.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34495633

Another thread about EF tours:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34852888

Im always interested to see other people experiences with tours they have been with and how they have perceived their experiences. I have travelled two times with EF Tours to Mexico with groups of my students and this March I will be going to Rome, Florence, Nice, Barcelona, and Madrid. I have also travelled with students using Explorica (to Madrid and Andulucia) and have travelled independently with students on an 18 days trip through Mexico.

Briefly stated - all of my trips have been very good. I think it is very important that students and particularly adults who accompany tours with EF Tours and Explorica understand clearly that these are specifically geared to budget travellers. If you expect the Holiday Inn, The Hilton or something similar their trips will likely disappoint. If, however, your objective is to get an overview of an area with reasonably comfortable accomodations, fairly busy itineraries, acceptable food (and sometimes actually good food), generally good buses and good guides - I think these companies are more than adequate and their value frankly can't be matched. Face it, on the trip I am taking this Easter week for 12 days the kids are paying less than $2,000. Other student travel companies come nowhere near this price and trust me I have looked into MANY of them. My kids can't afford upscale companies (I work in a small rural school in an area where the average family income is not real high). None of my students has ever been to Europe. For almost all of my travellers this will be their first trip out of the US and for many of them it will be their first flight. They are used to camping and sometimes even sleeping in ice houses during fishing season, and frankly they have seldom complained about the quality of accomodations we have had (except if the location was in a scary part of a big city). If I were to choose one of the more expensive options, frankly some of my students wouldn't be going.

As to the experience - in travel I have found that the more money people spend the more the experiences they have tend to isolate them from meaningful encounters with the country they are visiting. For instance, if you choose to stay in a hotel like a Holiday Inn in Europe, very likely you will find it to be similar to(albeit not identical to) a Holiday Inn in the USA and perhaps even catering to travellers from the US. If you stay in a less expensive locally owned and managed hotel, then more likely you will have insight into the area you are visiting that you might otherwise have missed.

As for complaints about too many walking tours to things nobody cared about - I say tough. Teenagers can be bored even at incredible places - So a kid finds the art at the Lourve or the Prado boring - does that mean we should skip it - I dont think so! I had kids complain that we saw too many pyramids in Mexico (and granted we did go to Teotihuacan, Palenque, Chichen Itza, Uxmal and Tulum) but ultimately I think almost all are happy they saw them even if they did have to walk more than they wanted to and sometimes had to spend a lot of time in hot sun to get around. Im 46 and never have found the tours to have too much walking - in fact on free time I usually do a lot more walking on my own. That's how Europeans get from place to place and perhaps it explains why they are a lot skinnier than we are.

I've never had bad flight arrangements either with EF or with Explorica. With Explorica we flew MSP - MAD via Newark on Continental, and home from AMS - MSP also via Newark. I have also flown from MSP - CDG via Atlanta and back from CDG - MSP via Cincinati via Delta. To Mexico EF sent us one year from MSP - GDL via Dallas and we returned from Cancun - MSP via Atlanta (On American) and one year from MSP - MEX (via Houston on Continental) returning from PVR - MSP via Houston. These are all normal routings for people from the Midwest although there may some direct flights from Minneapolis - Mexican destinations.
Next month we will be flying from MSP - Rome via Chicago Ohare and London Heathrow and we will be returning from Madrid to Minneapolis via Munich and Chicago. These flights are on United. While it is sometimes possible to do these flights with only one change - its not that much quicker and it really limits the airlines that can be used.

As for food on tours - sometimes the kids liked it, sometimes they didn't. Some guides are better at choosing good restaurants than others. I find they sometimes have some flexibility in choosing restaurants. In any case, none of my students ever starved and I always make sure they get chances to seek out markets and convenience stores to look for snacks and supplements.

Now as for things going wrong during travel - It can and does happen whether you travel with a group or alone. My wife and I were travelling through Italy this summer and had the bus break down in the middle of nowhere. It provided a good bonding opportunity. Another time when we were travelling our whole plane got stranded in Paris - Some of the Americans on the plane were outraged - most of the French people on the flight simply made the best of it and that night we had a wonderful evening in the hotel they put the whole plane full of people in. Its a matter of perspective. It's a part of travel and a group leaders reactions can go an awful long way to helping a group cope with delays and glitches.

On another note - two years ago my daughter travelled with EF Tours on their Central European Quartet. She loved it and said she would go on another of their tours any chance she gets. She didnt love all of the meals and some of the planned excursions didnt work out due to delays and the likes, but it didn't stop her from having a great time. Part of what makes travel so great is that it is not always predictable

I know I've rambled, but what I really want to say is that whatever it takes to get abroad to Europe or elsewhere, if you have to use group travel be open minded and make the best of it. It's a great opportunity and anyone who can partake is truly fortunate.

Well said, hejsan. EF tours are for students. I've accompanied several groups of high school students to Europe through EF and had positive experiences every time.

Most complaints came from other adults on the tours, not the students. The accomodations and meals are geared towards kids.

As in your case, many of the students had never flown, nor will most of them ever travel to Europe again.

It's unfortunate that the many people who criticize these tours don't understand student tours.

My days of traveling with students may be over, but the experiences I had with them were wonderful.

2 very excellent and well written comments about student travel. Thanks for being realistic. Sometimes the things that you are not expecting turn out to be the things you remember the most after you return. We went off on our own one night in Rome during the World Cup and due to some bad directions from the hotel manager and the underground being shut down we got lost. We ended up meeting Italians in a Roman suburb at a gelato shop who did everything in their power to help us out and eventually took us back to our hotel. It was one of the best experiences of my life and wouldn't have happened without some adversity. Thanks again lucy d and hejsan.

Baldworth

It's ironic that this topic just popped up again today. Yesterday while we were out shopping we ran into an ex-student who is now a senior in college. She spent most of the conversation reminiscing about an EF trip she took with us to Mexico back in 2000. She brought up the names of a number of kids on that trip that she still keeps in touch with. She still keeps a group photo with her in her wallet. Memories really do last a lifetime.

And now she's contemplating going with us again after she graduates.

My son leaves soon on an EF tour with his high school. The hotels where they will stay look more like motels, but that's fine for the price and for the teenage group. I think the entire trip to Costa Rica from Colorado cost about $2000, including hotels, airfare, a canopy tour, meals, and other extras. I think that's a pretty decent price for an eight-night stay. There are about 50 students and 10 teachers going. (I don't know if the price we families paid also accomodated the teachers' expenses.) I'll report back if there's anything special to say about his experience.
:)>-

Goodness- Some of you people seem to really take any criticism of EF personally.

When you go with EF, you choose a Chevette instead of a Cadillac. That is an OK choice when it is the kids money at stake, but sometimes a Honda Civic might cost the same and be a better deal.

Of course kids can have a great time on an EF tour. Our Rome hotel was 20 miles outside of the city and our wing had no air conditioning in 100 degree weather. Other EF tours might have better hotels, but you never know. Did out kids complain? Heck no, they had a great time. We were experienced and knew better, but didn't spoil their trip by complaining.

Some of the complaints here center on EF's marketing to small groups and inexperienced teachers who are combined on a bus with no central authority and poor discipline. Just a few out of control kids or adults on a trip can ruin it for everyone. This can be traced back to EF's method of marketing, but if a group is all from one school or head teacher, things can go much better. In that case, it is a matter of Chevette vs Civic.

I would never tell a parent to keep their child home from an EF tour, but would suggest to an organizing teacher that they might do better with another company. At least get several competing bids next time.