EF Educational Tours review: Abandoned at train station 35

Karen --

I am very sorry for the unfortunate situation that you and your daughter experienced on tour. The safety and security of our travelers is our top priority, and we take situations like these very seriously, so I appreciate your comments.

This should never have happened, and we are taking steps to address this with your tour director and all tour directors. At the very least, he should have made sure that everyone had his phone number and the hotel information.

I'm glad that you had the opportunity to speak directly with our Director of Customer Service so that we could fully understand what happened and how we can ensure that something like this doesn't happen again.

Thank you again for your feedback.

Eric from EF

That seems to be the common answer for anything that happens in this company-gee, sorry-blah blah blah-that company takes nothing seriously. No supervision, no security, no explanations. Nothing

Im so sorry to hear that, so glad that your daughter did not get seperated from you. We just got the info to go to Italy, doesn't sound like a good company would like to reserch company to bring in front of our group in Orlando, Florida any and all info would be great!

I have led 11 groups of students all over Europe (Italy, Greece, France, Spain, Ireland, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Portugal, U.K., etc.) using EF Tours, and they do an amazing job. The only people who ever got separated from any of MY groups were people who weren't paying attention to where we were going, our meeting point, or folks who were just generally irresponsible (not having my phone number, the hotel info, etc). As a teacher, I make sure my students have this info, and if they do not, it's on me. On the rare occasion anyone was temporarily misplaced, I feel like it's my responsibility. When you're traveling with a group, it can be fast-paced, and if the group is large and you're navigating through crowded urban areas like Paris, Rome or Barcelona, people sometimes find themselves temporarily lost or misplaced. That's just the nature of the beast. The times when that's happened on my tours (only a few times), it was the fault of the person who got lost for not paying attention, for straying down the street to take a picture or buy a postcard while the group was moving in the opposite direction.

Anyway, point is, EF has done a fantastic job for me and my students over the past 5 years. I'm traveling again this spring to Costa Rica and this summer to Italy and Spain. I feel 100% safe and secure knowing that EF is handling all the planning and logistics. They are professionals, and they're experts at what they do. No trip is perfect, and mishaps can happen no matter how meticulous and well-prepared your tour planner and tour guides may be. But EF has a system in place that, in my opinion, ensures that your trip will be as close to perfect as possible. And when problems or confusion arose in the past, the people at EF Tours took steps immediately to resolve the issues.

Amazing company. I rate them an A+.

Do not hesitate for one second if you have the opportunity to send your son or daughter on an EF Tour. You will be thrilled with the product and your son/daughter will have the trip of a lifetime.

-Chris

Karen,
Thank you for sharing this. I have a daughter that is going with EF tours this summer. Do you have thing else to share with me as a parent? What do you think of EF tours now? Did they put you at ease?

Thanks!

Karen's complaint is simply not typical of what students experience on an EF Tour. It's bizarre. I've been on trains multiple times, sometimes with groups as large as 40 students, and none of my students ever got lost or left behind. I've brought more than 200 students all over Europe, and nothing like this has ever happened. It makes no sense that a mother would allow herself and her daughter to get separated from a group. That doesn't even happen to my 15 and 16 year old students who AREN'T accompanied by a parent.

Thank you for following up with this. I really want my daughter to have a nice and safe trip when she goes with EF tours! What good experiences can you share about EF tours?

All I have are good experiences. Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Morocco, Greek Islands cruise, Prague, Budapest, London, Dublin, Rome, Florence, Venice, French Riviera, Provence, Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Costa Rica ... I can't begin to relay to you all the amazing, memorable, life-changing experiences for my students over the last 5 years.

@BethOcomplaints I understand your concerns and can assure you that we take our travelers safety very seriously. Cseymore is correct in that this is not a typical experience and you can feel comfortable sending your children abroad with EF Education. If you have any other questions, feel free to give us a ring at [protected]. Cseymore, thanks for sharing your positive experience! -Katie from EF

I really don't agree with your decison at all. If you put on your website that you will get $150 off if you sign up before Feb 28th which I clearly did. I should get that $150 off. Any good company stands by what they have on their website. What other things do you have for other people that are stated when you read an offer? You are misleading and wrong and a bad example for a company that takes high schoolers from Del Norte in San Diego on a tour that the parents are paying much money for!

I've been to New York, London, Edinburgh, Rome, Paris, Florence, and other sites around England with EF--no worries about safety or the quality of the tours, especially in recent years (the food used to be kind of crappy, but has improved tenfold since 2002).

I'm about to go to Italy and Greece, and two of my travelers are on their fourth and second EF trips respectively. I can promise you that they wouldn't keep going back (neither has had a child on tour with me since 2008) if the company was shady or unreliable. And, in full disclosure, they do not get to go for free because they are not acting as chaperones--they pay the full adult fare, willingly. It is an incredible bargain for the amount of time and the trip details.

I am on an EF tour right now with my son. I am so thankful I am here with him. Kids are "let loose" inside and outside hotels at night and during free time in cities. I wish we had never done this tour because it is very clear that cheap is the only thing EF Tours cares about. We have spent more time traveling than sightseeing. We have averaged 7 hours of bus riding and/or waiting for the bus time each day. My son wanted to go because his classmates were going. I believe that's the case for most kids. The tour has not been very educational. This is the McDonald's tour - fast, insubstantial and, in the end, not good for you at all.
If you do send your child on an EF Tour, please go with him or her. They need someone with their best interests at heart to look out for them.

Did you start off on EF tours with him or go later? Which EF tour did you go on and is it a high school tour?

I am on the Greece, Italy and Spain tour. I have been with him from the beginning. This is a 7th and 8 th grade trip (12, 13 and 14 year olds). After being on this trip, I am convinced a parent should go on the trip with their child. Too much can go wrong. There have been many "close calls" on this trip. Teachers/chaperones and other parents have done their best to watch over all of the kids but a parent will run through fire to protect their child and that makes all the difference on a trip like this.

I have brought more than 250 students on tour (all high schoolers) and not one student has gotten injured, left behind, or harmed in any way. And the expericnes my students have had in places like Rome, Venice, Paris, Athens, Barcelona, Munich, Prague, Budapest, London, Dublin, etc. have been nothing short of life-changing. These tours inspire kids. I have never brought a single parent on tour. If the teacher leading the group and the additional teacher-chaperones are responsible and look after the students, there won't be any problems. EF Tours has a great structure in place, and the daily itineraries are effectively organized and well thought out. Things can "go wrong" in your hometown, and you can always prevent it by locking your kid in the basement. But traveling abroad is an incredible growth experience for young people. A bunch of parents have sent students on multiple tours with me. In fact, I'm on tour in Costa Rica right now with a group of 12 students ... 5 of them have traveled with me to Europe in the past. And a number of parents have sent all of their children on EF Tours with me. EF does a great job overall, and if you send your child with teachers who care about the students and make their safety a priority then you have nothing to worry about.

Dear cseymore,
It sounds as though you are a truly dedicated and responsible tour leader. That's wonderful. Perhaps if you had been one of our tour leaders on our EF Tour to Greece, Italy and Spain, I would have a better opinion of EF Tours.
Our trip is over and I'm still processing all that we experienced. I agree with you that kids should be allowed to have adventures and I do not advocate "locking your kid in a basement." I backpacked around Europe with a friend when I was 21 and grew considerably from the experience. I hope my kids will someday do the same.
Our particular EF Tour was for 7th and 8th graders (12, 13 and 14 year olds). They are a good bunch of kids and "responsible for their age." As responsible as they are, I did not like that they were dropped off in the middle of Barcelona last Saturday afternoon on St. George's Day. The city was packed for the holiday. It was the equivalent of dropping them off in Times Square in NY City. They were told to get off the bus (crossing a lane of traffic because the bus driver didn't want to look for safer parking) and meet back at that same spot in 2 hours. Some kids were nervous but had no choice. "Get off the bus." No choice. I also didn't like when the kids were taken on a biking tour right through the middle of Barcelona. Some kids ran into pedestrians with their bikes (St. George's Day - the sidewalks are packed!) and one was very nearly hit by a car (honking horns, screeching tires, etc...).
There were other "close calls" on this trip. The scariest was when we tried to board a midnight ferry (midnight because EF is cheap) from Greece to Italy and dozens of young, desperate men swarmed our group to try to get into our bus and/or suitcases to get on board the ferry. If several male parents had not been with our group, I don't know what our fate would have been. The 2 EF Tour guides would not have been able to protect the students from this desperate and scary group. It was the parents who surrounded the students and their belongings for the 2 hours we waited to board the ferry. I assure you, I am not exaggerating.
I could write much more. If you need me to, I will. Again, I say to all parents, if your child wants to go on an EF Tour because their friends are and you decide to let them go, please go with him or her. They need someone to look out for THEM. The guides we had looked out for themselves and EF Tours. The teachers/chaperones did their best to protect the kids but not one stepped up to say Barcelona was too busy to bike in or "drop" kids in on St. George's Day. I heard one chaperone joke, "Kiss the kids goodbye. We may not see all of them again" but he didn't make any formal objection to it.
I assure you I want adventures for my children but, at this young age, I want them to be reasonable adventures. I think it's miraculous that EF Tours has not lost a kid yet. It will not surprise me when they do if this is the way they continue.

Also, I didn't find the daily itineraries to be effectively organized and well thought out. We skipped touring the Parthenon in Athens (can you imagine?!) and never went to Siena, Italy at all because the back office did not "think through" the schedule. We cut short our time in Cinque Terre, Italy to drive 7 extra hours to take a ferry across to Spain instead of taking one less than an hour from the city we were visiting because the back office, according to our guides, "didn't think about the distance between places." Isn't that what they're paid to do?
Again, parents, if you send your child on an EF Tour, please go with them. You will not regret knowing exactly how these tours are run. It's eye opening, for sure.

Just read on CNN.com about the slain 16 year old on a Spanish Club trip to Costa Rica. Did a little digging. Sure enough, the trip was arranged by EF Tours where safety is NOT a priority. Looked up the hotel the kids were staying in. Most travelers rated it as a disgusting and unsafe place to stay. Please, parents, if you must let your children go on these trips GO WITH THEM and KEEP THEM SAFE because EF Tours will not make safety a priority. I look back on the Greece, Italy, Spain trip I went on with my son just over a month ago and am absolutely amazed all students returned safely despite all the times we were put in harms way by EF Tours.

If you read further, you would find out 2 things: (1) the students involved snuck out at night, violating the rules of the trip, and (2) the student was shot by an overzealous security guard at a different property where the students were trying to climb a fence and get in. Concerned mom of 2, your post makes it sound like EF brought students to a dangerous neighborhood in a not so safe city.

It's the responsibility of the TEACHERS bringing the students abroad to keep them safe. I'm a teacher, and I explain to parents that the primary job of me and my chaperones is to keep their kids safe. But sometimes students are known to do things like sneak out of their hotel rooms at 3:00 AM. Parents need to explain to students that they need to follow the rules and expectations set forth by the teachers in charge.

I have brought more than 270 students on 12 tours all over Europe (France, Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Hungary, England, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, and Czech Republic) and twice to Costa Rica. Not one single student was every hurt or been a victim of a single crime. I have never once felt that EF put my students "in harm's way", and safety has always been a priority on my trips with EF Tours.

Further, Concerned Mom of 2, even if the slain student had his mom on the trip, unless she was sleeping outside his hotel room, he could have just as easily broken the rules and left his room at 3:00 in the morning with his friends. The fault here lies with the trigger-happy security guard, not with EF Tours. Fact is, students aren't supposed to be out of their rooms by themselves at 3:00 in the morning. This is a sad story, but it's hopefully a lesson for kids and parents. Kids need to follow the rules, because the rules are there to keep them safe. Had the students in question followed the rules, everyone would have come home safe and sound.

I believe you are the EF Tours exception, not the rule. Unfortunately, when on an EF Tour, students are at the mercy of those who planned the trip and those guides assigned to the trip. My husband, more than once, stepped up to protect kids in our group when teachers and guides were not making safety a priority.
You are absolutely right that this kid and others on the trip broke the rules and endangered themselves when they broke curfew. Our guide on our trip would warn against "weird people" but would not elaborate further because he "didn't want to scare them.". As a result, girls walked alone outside hotels at night and boys antagonized local youths they came across. We were not good guests in the countries we visited and we were very fortunate to have lost only things to pick pockets and received only a few cuts and bruises from kids being where they never should have been in the first place. Our trip had the potential for being as tragic as the one we're discussing simply because we were constantly put in unsafe circumstances beyond our control.
Again, my advice to any parent who can't say no to their child going on an EF Tour is GO WITH THEM. You will not regret being close enough to keep them safe. EF Tours, with the exception of perhaps a few guides, will not look out for them the way you would.

Concerned Mom - I have been on 12 tours with 10 different Tour Directors (the tour guide who remains with the group through the entire tour) and I can tell you that none of my tours sound anything REMOTELY like what ou describe. Personally, I would never bring middle schoolers. But it sounds like the teachers that brought your son and his classmates were the problem, rather than EF. And maybe your Tour Director made some questionable decisions considering you had a
Middle school group.

But it seems to me that YOUR experience was, in fact, the exception. 12 tours, 10 different tour directors over 6 years an I never had any of the issues you describe. Sounds like your trip was the anomaly. I have anhuge sample of a large number of trips to more than 15 countries, and we were always safe and never once placed in harm's way. My EF Tour Directors were always professional and conscientious, and placed the safety of my students as the top priority. Again, 270 students over 12 tours an never an injury or a single student pickpocketed or harmed in any way. Pretty pod safety record for EF.

That should have read "Pretty good safety record for EF."

I had the worst experience of my life by going on one of these ef tours...my 13 yr old daughter and I went with a group of people. The director was not helpful at all, buses were late, visit times were very short to places of interest (drive by as to complete contract), left behind many many times and we found our way back to hotel, food was horrible, transition time on a lay over was not long and almost missed my flight back to US. No supervision and I would never Never trust any student alone on one of these trips. Parents beware! complete fraud!

Just google "costa rica 16 year old boy shot by guard EF Tours". Mskes me shudder! I'm thankful we didn't lose anyone on our tour. We easily could have. We were put in obviously unsafe hotels and then told by out guides that we were very safe. It's miraculous more students haven't been hurt and/or killed on their trips.

Concerned Mom - Again, your experiences are not even REMOTELY typical of what happens on an EF Tour. I am currently taking my 13th group of students on tour ... we are in Sicily now. Google 'Hotel Solemar' in Sicily. Absolutely beautiful, right on the beach, completely safe small Sicilian town. All 45 of my students went out and had gelato tonight a few blocks down.

I have brought more than 320 students on tour throughout Europe and also to Costa Rica. What happened in Costa Rica that you are referencing above was, by all accounts, a freak accident that never should have happened. Every single one of my kids has come home safely. Not one student has been harmed, been the victim of crime .. not even one student has been pick-pocketed (and we have been all over France, Spain, Italy, England, Greece, Gremany, etc.)

In my experience over the cours of 6 years and 13 tours, EF has never placed any of my students in an unsafe area or unsafe hotel, and non of my students have been in any dangerous situations. For me, EF Tours gets a grade of A+ for the high degree of professionalism and concern for the education, safety and well-being of my students.

You're the only one I ever hear positive reviews from about EF Tours. They're lucky to have you working for them. I hope you're appreciated. Good luck.

Concerned Mom, I do not WORK for EF Tours. I am a high school teacher. There are actually many positive comments on this site, even though it is a website devoted to 'complaints.' My point is that you experienced ONE tour with EF, whereas I have used them for 13 tours. So I have a much clearer picture of the typical EF Tour. I am telling you, your isolated experience on the one tour you did was not at all typical, and is not what a teacher would expect on an EF Tour. 13 tours. More than 300 students. More than 20 countries. Never a problem. Never in danger. Every student came home happy, healthy, and more aware of the world around them, and the different languages, history and culture in Europe and elsewhere. Mission accomplished ... 13 times and counting.

For every 6 students you convince to travel and pay full price for an EF Tour, you travel for free. In effect, you do work for EF Tours. EF Tours is smart in how they've structured their business. This structure allows them to insulate themselves from most, if not all, liability. You do seem to be a person who cares. I do hope you're able to keep all of your students safe. It's a lot of responsibility to shoulder yourself. I do wish you good luck because you do seem to have the best intentions for your students.

By the way, the other complaints on this site not signed by me are not mine. I am certainly not the only one to have bad experiences with EF Tours.

I live in Bangkok, Thailand, I've never heard about EF tour in Thailand. Could you tell me how I can join EF Tour to Europe . I can join that tour in April because it is my vacation.
Looking foword to your answering.
Beebee

I am a high school teacher who has taken 14 tours with EF Tours since 1987. I continue to work with EF because they are the leading student tour company with overseas offices in every country we visit. We have never had a safety issue with my students. As with any time you are traveling in Europe, you may be exposed to typical travel issues, for example, crowds, train strikes, weather, or such, but groups who are well prepared for travel and teachers and participants who follow rules and have appropriate expectations have no problems and enjoy their tours. It is essential that travelers have meetings and know how to travel beforehand. In my experience, the people who are the worst travelers are those who either expect everything to be like home, or those who are more accustomed to Disney type experiences rather than real world travel. And, as been stated before, I only take high school students and not middle school students.

I am heading to Europe in 2014 reading the negative comments I am debating if I want to go or not, I will be traveling as a group with my school but not with my parent.. Should I go?

You should definitely go. I've brought more than 350 students abroad over the last 8 years (13 Europe tours, and 3 to Costa Rica), all with EF Tours.

A quote from one of my students: "You should definitely go! It opens your eyes to other cultures. And it's SO much fun. Best thing I did during high school. You'd be crazy not to go."

WOW, INTERESTING COMMENTS. I'M SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR SCARY EXPERIENCE WITH YOUR DAUGHTER. I WOULD HAVE BEEN FREAKING OUT FOR SURE. MY SON IS ON A EF 10 DAY TOUR RIGHT NOW IN COSTA RICA WITH 2 SPANISH TEACHERS, 8 PARENTS AND 14 STUDENTS. I AM NOT WITH MY CHILD. I WAS VERY SKEPTICAL ABOUT HIM GOING. I COULD NOT GO WITH HIM AND MY HUSBAND IS WORKING IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY. HOWEVER, WE LET HIM GO, AND I HAVE BEEN WORRYING MYSELF NUTS, UNTIL I GET A TEXT OR PHONE CALL FROM HIM DAILY TO SAY HELLO, AND LET ME KNOW IF HE IS OK LEARNING AND HAVING FUN, SIGHTSEEING, WHATEVER IS GOING ON. THREE MORE DAYS LEFT BEFORE THEY COME BACK TO THE US. I HAVE TO SAY THAT MY SON HAS HAD THE TIME OF THE LIFE. HE HAS LEARNED SO MUCH ABOUT THE CULTURE IN COSTA RICA. FIRST 5 DAYS THEY HAD SPANISH CLASSES AND THEN OUT TO EAT, SIGHT SEEING, VOLCANO TOUR, HORSEBACK RIDING, THEY ENJOYED SWIMING IN SEVERAL SPRINGS, BEACHES, KAYAKING, PADDLE BOARDING, BIKE RIDING AROUND GORGEOUS SCENERY. TOO MANY ACTIVITES TO LIST. SOME OF THE FAMALIES THAT LIVE THERE PREPARED MEALS FOR THEM A FEW NIGHTS, SO THEY WERE ABLE TO SEE WHERE THEY LIVE, AND HOW THEY LIVE, WHAT TYPES OF FOODS THEY EAT, AND HOW THEY PREPARED, AND SOCIALIZED WITH THEM, AND SO ON. GREAT CULTURAL LEARING EXPERIENCE. SO FAR, SO GOOD. OF COURSE I'M A NERVOUS, WORRYING TYPE OF PERSON, SO THIS HAS BEEN A BIG EXPERIENCE FOR ME AS WELL, BECAUSE MY SON IS 14 AND HE HAS RARELY BEEN AWAY FROM ME NO MORE THAN A NIGHT OR TWO HIS WHOLE LIFE WITH VERY CLOSE RELATIVES. SO THIS IS DRASTIC FOR ME AND HIM.

I HAVE ONLY HEARD EXCELLENT THINGS ABOUT EF TOURS, UNTI I PULLED UP THIS WEBSITE. I KNOW THAT MY SON'S TEACHER'S ARE VERY GOOD AT KEEPING UP WITH THEIR GROUPS. WE HAD TO ATTEND WITH OUR KIDS CLASSES AT THE SCHOOL ONE NIGHT PER WEEK FOR 8 WEEKS. WE MET WITH THE TEACHERS AND OTHER PARENTS OF TRAVELING STUDENTS FOR 2.5 HRS TO DISCUSS RULES, PASSPORTS, HOW TO MAKE 10 OUTFITS AND MORE FIT IN A CARRY ON SUITCASE, ATTITUDES, MONEY/DEBIT CARD TO BRING, CELL PHONES, NAME & NUMBERS FOR TOUR GUIDE (WERE PRINTED ON CARDS FOR EACH STUDENT ALONG WITH TEACHERS NAMES AND THEIR NUMBERS) THEY WERE TOLD TO KEEP THEM INSIDE THEIR PASSPORT CARRIERS THAT THEY CARRY AROUND THEIR NECKS AT ALL TIMES IN CASE FOR SOME REASON THEY GOT LOST. PROBABLY ANY AND EVERYTHING YOU COULD POSSIBLY THINK OF WAS DISCUSSED IN EACH MEETING TO PREPARE FOR THIS OUT OF THE COUNTRY TOUR. EACH WEEK A FEW STUDENTS WOULD DO A REPORT ON DIFFERENT IMPORTANT THINGS IN COSTA RICA. VERY INTERESTING AND INFORMATIVE TO KNOW ABOUT THE PLACE YOUR GOING TO BE VISITING FOR 10 DAYS.

THE TEACHERS WERE TELLING US, THAT THEY HAVE BEEN ON EF TOURS WITH MANY GROUPS OF STUDENTS YEAR AFTER YEAR. THEY HAVE BEEN ALL OVER DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. AND ONLY PROBLEM THAT HAPPENED WAS LAST YEAR WHEN THEY TOOK A GROUP OF 7 TH GRADERS TO SPAIN, THE AIRLINE LOST THEIR LUGGAGE AND THEY WERE UNABLE TO GET IT BACK FOR 2 DAYS. SO FOR TWO DAYS, THE KIDS DIDN'T HAVE THEIR TOOTH BRUSHES, THEIR TOILETRIES, MEDICINES, CLEAN CLOTHES, ETC. FROM EACH EXPERIENCE YOU LEARN SOMETHING, AND FROM THAT INCIDENT WITH THE AIRLINE, THEY TELL STUDENTS NOWDAYS TO PACK LIGHT. MAKE IT ALL FIT IN ONE CARRY ON SUIT CASE. AND THIS WAY THEY WILL NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH SOMETHING LIKE THAT AGAIN ON FUTURE EF TOURS.

I HOPE EVERYONE'S FUTURE EXPERIENCE'S WITH EF TOURS IS A GREAT ONE. AND I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST. LIKE I SAID BEFORE, MY SON IS HAVING THE TIME OF HIS LIFE. HE IS ADVANCING HIS HORIZONS, LEARNING NEW THINGS AND GETTING BETTER AND BETTER AT SPEAKING SPANISH EVERYDAY. THE MORE LANGUAGES YOU CAN SPEAK FLUENTLY, CAN OPEN MORE DOORS FOR YOU IN THE JOB MARKET.

@cseymore Could you explain to me how you get compensated for these trips? It's my understanding that for every 6 students you sign, there is a free trip or cash commission paid?

@RS1028 EF Tours guarantees one free chaperone spot for every 6 students enrolled. That means the chaperones are essentially "free spots, " though chaperones do still have to have their own spending money and contribute to the tips provided to the tour guides, your 24/7 Tour Director, and bus driver. Contact EF Tours at [protected] to speak with a Tour Consultant about the specifics and to plan an upcoming educational tour.