OAT Overseas Adventure Travel

[Cruise Withdrawal]

We booked The Undiscovered Adriatic cruise in February, 2022, on OAT. We travel with them on this ship a few years ago from Athens. We had a great time and the best food. So we did it again. We got our documents about three weeks before the trip. It was a personalized book with a list of the 49 passengers on this 50 passenger ship. Our names were on it. A few days later we got a call saying that the ship was operbooked and they kicked us out. Offered a trip in July, but we already had Canada plans in July. They then offered us the same exact trip for next year for the exact same price and gave us a $6,000 credit that they would refund to us immediately if we chose this option. They were supposed to followup with this in writing. They did not. I called them and they said to check my new invoice. I pulled it up and it was not right. It had the $6,000 credit on the bottom but did not have the pre-day and business class airfare. The agent said that is why they gave us the $6,000 credit. That was NOT the deal. I then did not trust them and asked for a full refund. I do believe for a minute that the ship was overbooked. I think that a VIP at OAT decided that they would like our cabin. After complaining to the Better Business Bureau in Boston, I got my money back. There are a LOT of complaints about them

[jimdee3636]

@Cruise Withdrawal

This does not inspire confidence, but maybe it's not surprising. As I understand it, OAT is a sister company to Vantage, which has also had a lot of bad publicity for their shady business practices.  Personally, I wouldn't touch either company with a ten-foot pole.

 

Jim

[NancyIL]

On 7/9/2022 at 9:51 AM, jimdee3636 said:

@Cruise Withdrawal

This does not inspire confidence, but maybe it's not surprising. As I understand it, OAT is a sister company to Vantage, which has also had a lot of bad publicity for their shady business practices.  Personally, I wouldn't touch either company with a ten-foot pole.

 

Jim

 OAT and Grand Circle are sister companies. OAT/Grand Circle and Vantage are run by brothers - but they are rival companies. (Allen Lewis, the president of OAT/Grand Circle, died in Nov. 2022.) I have taken 6 land tours with OAT and 1 with Grand Circle - and they were excellent. I also have 2 trips booked with them for 2023. However, I was booked on OAT's Turkey's Magical Hideaways for October 2019 - and they called me 6 months prior to say my tour was cancelled for lack of participants. I knew that wasn't true, as my tour date had been full. I speculated that someone wanted my single spot,  but I couldn't prove it. I was issued an immediate  refund without any problems, and I was able to book a Rick Steves' Best of Turkey tour for similar dates. The main reason I booked with OAT for 2022 was because they had really great prices after post-Covid travel resumed. I did have my August 2022 tour date to the Baltic Capitals cancelled 2 months out due to lack of participants (and I did believe them this time!), but they were able to put us on the same tour departing 1 day earlier.

Edited December 15, 2022 by NancyIL

[NancyIL]

On 12/16/2022 at 9:22 AM, Rv6flyer said:

We have done many land trips with OAT and several cruises with Grand Circle cruise lines . Never a compaint, sorry to hear' about Allen Lewis. Is his wife going to continue?

Yes, Harriett Lewis and her 2 adult children are continuing to operate the company.

[BAYA]

I am a past Grand Circle cruiser in 2007 and I had an excellent experience. They used the Celebrity Constellation for a Scandinavia and Russia trip. I am concerned to hear mixed things about OAT, since I am considering using them for my first ever solo trip. I hope the land trip, if I eventually book it, doesn't get cancelled or kick me off because someone wants my slot. Horrible business practice if they do that.