Africa Tour & Trip Reviews

I’ve had the pleasure of traveling with ACIS both as a trip leader and a chaperone. The experiences, opportunities, and accommodations provided by ACIS are unparalleled. I’ve traveled to half a dozen countries with them, and they have never ceased to impress. We even had our tour manager make a mid-trip schedule adjustment to visit a 13th century castle that wasn’t even a part of our itinerary. ACIS recognizes the significance of international travel and makes sure that everyone, from students to chaperones, has a life changing experience they will never forget.

Last year my daughter traveled with ACIS and, from a parent’s perspective, I could not have been happier with the process. She had a wonderful time-saw so many things as they made their way from England to France to Germany and made some tremendous friends along the way. What impressed me the most was how easy and comfortable ACIS made us through the whole process. We always knew what to expect, had all of our questions answered in a prompt manner, and never for a moment felt uncertain as we sent our daughter away to another continent. I was also impressed with how all of the hotels were in the city centers of their destinations. For example, her hotel in Paris was just a couple blocks from the Arc de Triompfe-that allowed them to see so much more.

Great hotels, restaurants and tour managers.
Hotels are centrally located, restaurants served local food and TM Jo was amazing.
Fantastic support throughout the trip, before departure and during travel.

Students really enjoyed the cultural connections of cheese tasting in Normandy and Cezanne workshop in Aix-en-Provence.

Liz Rees is great to work with, extremely helpful and very responsive! She thoroughly helped me create a fantastic custom itinerary!

ACIS is the best! I have traveled with them on multiple occasions and they take care of everything start to finish. Whether it’s meal planning for travelers with allergies, or hotel requests, they always go out of their way to make sure travelers’ needs are met. One of the many benefits of traveling with ACIS is that they put you up in high quality hotels right near the city center. As opposed to being on the outskirts of town in a potentially risky area, you are always placed in an urban center within walking distance of cultural destinations and places to eat. If you are thinking of traveling by yourself or with a group, ACIS is definitely the right choice. There is something for nearly everyone, and you know what you’re getting from the very beginning. You’ll never get surprised by an additional charge for something that should be included in the first place, it’s all laid out for you in the itinerary. I can’t wait to travel with them again soon!

I just returned two weeks ago from our absolutely amazing trip with ACIS to Greece and Rome. It was the "Greeks & Romans" tour. Tom, in Boston was great with all of the planning for the trip and answering questions during the planning and recruiting process. From the moment that we arrived in Athens, our Tour Manager, Anna, took great care of our group. She went above and beyond for us. She took the time to explain everything that we would be doing and always talked to me and my Assistant Group Leaders about any decisions that needed to be made.
I have taken several other trips with other tour companies, and ACIS has been the best experience I've had. I will never go back to another tour company. I brought 35 students, 5 parents, and 3 other chaperones. This was the largest group that I've ever brought and I can't believe how smoothly everything went.
I'm already starting to plan for my next trip, hopefully in April of 2025. Thank you, ACIS!

PROVIDED BY FEEFO: feefo.com/en-US/reviews/luxury-gold

We have taken a total of seven trips with Tauck and A&K, we wanted to see Sakura and others were full, pricing wise you were slightly cheaper and we decided to try. II have never had 24 people on a luxury tour, there were no local guides, tour director was very poor at making even slight adjustments to the schedule, meals were horrible and took far too much time, Nirth of Japan was a total waste of time. Every single person in the group was disappointed with the entire arrangement. I think you took the money as a luxury trip and subcontracted with a mediocre operator in Japan and pocketed the difference. I am in a business and have no problem with profits, but it should be earned and deserved. What you provided, I could have done in less than half the money with a private tour for two or four. Most daylight hours were spent on a train or at lunch which gave very little time for any sightseeing. The hotels you provided were excellent. Your tour director was not aware that most of these folks were in their late 60s and 70s and she made them do a lot of unnecessary walking which could have been covered by smaller vans. In any case, if you really want some detailed and constructive feedback, I will be happy to chat with you. I know that no one will follow-up, but at least the offer is out there. Good luck with your future endeavors Read less

So I’ve known about Intrepid for a while. I traveled with Contiki last year and loved it. Tried Intrepid this year because I liked the trip they were offering and thought both companies were about the same. Huge mistake. Intrepid is such a scam. They put you in the nastiest accommodation possible so they can gain large profits from you. The pictures of the hotels online were clearly taken decades ago because none of them were up to standard. Our hotel in Casablanca literally smelled of mildew and the towels in the bathroom were dirty. In our hotel room in Fes, we had a cockroach and a mouse. There have been bugs flying around in all our hotel lobbies. With how frequently Intrepid holds these trips, I know they know for sure that these hotels are awful, yet they keep people there. Barely anything was included in the trip so how and why did they make us pay $1100 for these rooms?? Where did the rest of the money go?? Especially in a country as affordable as Morocco?? This is borderline unethical. I will never book a trip with Intrepid ever again. If this is what their Classic package is like, I wonder what conditions they have the Basix travelers living under.

ACIS is great about taking care of all the details. As an educator and trip leader I appreciate this. I was able to enjoy our school trip to Ecuador, together with my students and chaperones.
The hotels and location were great. My students were able to naturally interact with the locals. The food was amazing. The people at each of the restaurants and hotels, as well as the guides went above and beyond. The quality of the meals, the hotels, and activities were awesome. I highly recommend ACIS travel to anyone thinking of student travel.
I also appreciated the flexibility of our tour guide and his connection with not only the students but the chaperones. We felt like we were with family.
I had peace of mind the entire trip, even with an emergency one of our chaperones had.
I will travel again with my students, with ACIS!!!!

Thank you for such an incredible and smooth experience!!!

PROVIDED BY FEEFO: feefo.com/en-US/reviews/luxury-gold

I had the most amazing vacation in Egypt with Luxury Gold. Absolutely everything was fantastic… all employees were wonderful, the food was good, the rooms were clean, I felt safe in a foreign country, our guide Mohamed Youssef was so knowledgeable and organized. I couldn’t ask for a more perfect vacation. Thank you!

PROVIDED BY FEEFO: feefo.com/en-US/reviews/luxury-gold

Greetings,

The customer service from all the personnel of Luxury Gold was above expectations, specially the one we receive from Mohamed Youssif our tour guide. His knowledge about the Egyptian culture and his explanations of all the temples was exceptional. Glad to have him as our tour guide; he make our trip one of a kind.

Mohamed Youssif it was a great pleasure to meet you, thanks for make this trip our best trip ever.

Victor Abreu & Elia Carrion

PROVIDED BY FEEFO: feefo.com/en-US/reviews/luxury-gold

Over the duration of this 11 day trip 'Elegance of the Nile', we were dealing with at least 3 different tour directors.Obviously some were better than others, but consistency of leadership would have been preferable.
The staff and crew on board the Tosca Nile river boat cruise were exceptional. Their attentiveness, varied food menu and presentation and cleanliness with respect to housekeeping were superlative. This cruise was the highlight of the Egyptian trip.
Sadly ,the country lacks adequate sanitation facilities ,open markets are a feeding frenzy for local merchants of all ages to continuously harass tourists which produce the opposite desired effect of attracting a desired sale. The armed military presence at every possible junction can be unnerving if not prepared or advised of same in advance of a trip to a tomb or pyramid. This may be a function of the stability or lack thereof of the country , rather than a criticism directed towards the Tour Company.

PROVIDED BY FEEFO: feefo.com/en-US/reviews/luxury-gold

My rating is based on the following experiences/observations:

1.The size of the group was unquestionably MUCH TOO LARGE (initially set at a maximum of 20 participants, we ended up with 24); this large size made it difficult for one single guide to handle effectively, either logistically or in a timely fashion;

2.“Off to a wrong start”: our initial group meeting on the first night rather “set the stage” (unfortunately!) for the rest of the tour, so to speak. We gathered at 8 PM (which, due to jetlag, was already too late for many participants) for an immediate sit down dinner, with no introductions and no name-tags. It literally took a week to get to know everyone’s name! That evening, drinks were also supposed to be “on the house”, an opportunity to perhaps socialize. But then, the dining room was shutting down and we all had to leave!

3.Our guide was friendly and very polite but appeared unfamiliar with the itinerary; she had only a fair command of the English language and seemed to have minimal knowledge of many of the sites that we visited; as a result, GOOGLE was often our only source of information on specific locations;

4.Transportation on-board both the bullet train and various coach buses was in “economy class” instead of what everyone had assumed would be in “business class”. As a result, we experienced train compartments that were extremely crowded and difficult to navigate (especially with such a large group, and often at rush hours) and the seats on those regular coaches were much too close to each other and definitely uncomfortable;

5.None of the luncheons (sometimes offered as part of the tours) included any beverages except for water. Juices, tea, coffee, etc. were all extras….and had to be paid at the end of the meal. That just added more waiting time to our itinerary…

6.And be it due to the size of the group OR the inexperience of the guide...we WAITED!!! We waited (in line) to access the sites that we were visiting, we waited getting ON the bullet trains and buses, we waited getting OFF those same trains and buses, we waited to get into restaurants and get seated, we waited for people to pay for their beverages at luncheons, we waited for people to gather up back together…we just spent an incredible amount of time JUST WAITING!!! And suddenly OOPPS…we were running out of time and had to rush to our next itinerary stop/location…just to get there and wait some more!!!

7.The excellent write-up on the company’s website had all participants initially very excited about the trip, with great expectations of a memorable experience. Unfortunately, few of those expectations ever materialized.

8.On the plus side, the itinerary for the most part was very good. The hotel accommodations and meals were truly excellent! At that price point, however, we were expecting a much better experience…hence my current rating!

PROVIDED BY FEEFO: feefo.com/en-US/reviews/luxury-gold

Tony, the tour director was excellent. Informative and engaging. Destinations were well thought out and enjoyable. Would have liked a little more time to enjoy the properties at Kings Canyon and Alice Springs. Dave, the driver was excellent although he did a great job and we appreciated the shorter route, to Alice Springs, the ride itself was very bumpy and uncomfortable at times. Nonetheless would suggest keeping in as it reduces time on the bus. Driver Ashley in Sydney area was also quite good.

I have been traveling with ACIS since 2004. They are the BEST company by far. They are helpful, involved, approachable and knowledgeable. Every trip has exceeded my expectations and I would NEVER take my students abroad with any other company. If you plan to offer a trip to your students, friends or colleagues, choose ACIS.

Our trip to Peru which has been planned for the past year came to a halt with the political issues happening there. ACIS was monitoring this until it was not able to happen. Fortunately, Jill and her team were able to update our trip 35 days prior to departure to give us an amazing experience in Ecuador. Our tour through the Andes and Amazon was an experience like no other. We stayed in a hotel that was only accessible by boat, a hotel next to a waterfall/thermal waters and a hotel that Simon Bolivar stayed at 300 years ago. ACIS was also cognisant of the best airlines to use. We typically use Newark (from NJ) but when they suggested JFK, I knew it was in our best interest as the flight times would not have us wasting time with a long layover. I know it is not easy to do a 180 like this but thank you as always for making an experience unforgettable for our students. I look forward to my 17th trip (14th overall with ACIS) this summer!