EF College Break (EF Ultimate Break)

I have been trying to make the best of this trip, but honestly, I’m having a terrible time. This has been the most stressed I’ve ever been on a vacation.

I’m currently stuck in Iceland, no one from the EF team will not respond to me, I’m out a LOT of money, I’m FREEZING, and I’m severely uncomfortable.

I would HIGHLY NOT RECOMMEND EF Ultimate Break for any of your travel needs. They do NOT take care of your problems— they just make the most money they can off of you and do not actually care about your comfort or concerns.

This trip has sent me on an incredibly LOW low, and I just want to go home, but that would be a substantial amount of money I can’t afford.

I have been bouncing around contacting EF, JetBlue, Icelandair, and British Airways. I still don’t have my luggage, and it is the LAST DAY of planned activities already.

I also found out from JetBlue that there was a refund issued for $834 for the original flight we didn’t make (that’s just one of them)— yet, *I had to pay $1100 to EF Ultimate Break to rebook on my new itinerary that made me miss my first day of touring, and I DID NOT see that $834.

I am beyond mad and tired and ready to be home safe. This is disgusting service.

Three people (including myself) were stranded in Italy while the rest of the group went to Greece because of technical issues with our tickets, and the company took many hours to contact us, and even longer to get back to us with another flight. There were issues with two of the excursions where most/all people couldn't go and the company never got back to a majority of us. Only breakfast is included (it's usually some bread and ham or something). It's a gamble how your trip goes depending on who booked the same trip as you, since you'll be spending a lot of time on a bus with them (bus days were literally full days from early morning to nighttime). My favorite parts of the trip were spent away from the group; if you've been to Europe before, you're better off skipping almost all of the excursions (they're all tourist traps and you're better off looking independently). If you've never been before and want to stick with the group, go ahead! Also, the quality of your trip is highly dependent on your guide (mine was fine, but I know other people who had awful guides). I'm pretty sure the 4.9 stars on the EF website are bought or fake, because it wouldn't let me write a review. Also, you will get seriously sick multiple times on the trip. It's guaranteed. The only positives are that you don't have to worry about how to get from one country to another, since you have a group bus, and that you'll know everyone you're bunking with (and if you have a decent tour guide, you can request to not be roomed with people you don't like. Also, EF lies about the number of people you're bunking with. My tour was only supposed to be a max of 4 to a room, but we had multiple cities where it was 9 girls in one room. And they obviously never responded to our complaints about being lied to. Also, some of the locations and hostels were super sketchy and in the middle of nowhere; it's obvious EF tries to save a buck wherever they can. Overall, you could not pay me to book with EF again. Huge waste of money and huge regret; from now on, I travel solo or with friends.

Three people (including myself) were stranded in Italy while the rest of the group went to Greece because of technical issues with our tickets, and the company took many hours to contact us, and even longer to get back to us with another flight. There were issues with two of the excursions where most/all people couldn't go and the company never got back to a majority of us. Only breakfast is included (it's usually some bread and ham or something). It's a gamble how your trip goes depending on who booked the same trip as you, since you'll be spending a lot of time on a bus with them (bus days were literally full days from early morning to nighttime). My favorite parts of the trip were spent away from the group; if you've been to Europe before, you're better off skipping almost all of the excursions (they're all tourist traps (even your tour guide's recommendations) and you're better off looking independently). If you've never been before and want to stick with the group, go ahead! Also, the quality of your trip is highly dependent on your guide (mine was fine, but I know other people who had awful guides). I'm pretty sure the 4.9 stars on the EF website are bought or fake. Also, you will get seriously sick multiple times on the trip. It's guaranteed. The only positives are that you don't have to worry about how to get from one country to another, since you have a group bus, and that you'll know everyone you're bunking with (and if you have a decent tour guide, you can request to not be roomed with people you don't like). Also, EF lies about the number of people you're bunking with. My tour was only supposed to be a max of 4 to a room, but we had multiple cities where it was 9 girls in one room. And they obviously never responded to our complaints about being lied to. Also, some of the locations and hostels were super sketchy and in the middle of nowhere; it's obvious EF tries to save a buck wherever they can. Overall, you could not pay me to book with EF again. Huge waste of money and huge regret; from now on, I travel solo or with friends.

Ef plans everything for you… so you don’t need to worry about the hassle. I was booked on three different airlines which wasn’t their fault. I just toughed it up and dealt with the hand I was given. I only did a carry on luggage in order to not lose baggage. I made it to Barcelona just fine. The group dynamic was easy to get along with. No one was left out. The food and drinks were amazing. I loved the flamenco show! Overall, just be smart about the choices you make

Our trip didn’t even happen. We arrived at the port after a full day of traveling just to sit on the boat for over an hour wandering what was happening. Eventually we were told this trip was cancelled, and EF would need to rebook a new trip. No itinerary was provided and communication was poor throughout. The worst part is no refund was offered for those who wanted to do their own trip at this point. We basically were stuck waiting on news from EF and forced into their new itinerary in the meantime. This new itinerary had significantly more travel(we wasted about 5/11 days traveling) so ended up being a huge waste. EF has yet to make this right, we clearly paid for something we were not provided.

booked a trip in 2019 for a 2020 trip. EF cancelled it during Covid and didn't offer any travel during my desired time. I scheduled my own trip and went to Europe. I then rebooked a Australian trip (because I could not receive a refund) for 2023. Around Aug. 2022 I realized the trip would cost nearly 12k grand, I again requested a refund on my initial $4k down payment. I was told they would keep $600 to cover incurred cost for a trip that was over 250 days out. They handled this very poorly and I was spoken to very poorly. I would not recommend this travel agency. They are simply trying to take advantage of consumers at every opportunity.

I'm posting on here because EF doesn't post reviews 3 stars or less on their website (which is automatically a huge red flag). I just recently came back from a trip with EF, and it was so beyond disappointing. The only really great thing about this trip was the people. I loved my group and I loved my tour director.

But be warned, EF will give you terrible and cheap meals, accommodations, and flights. Starting with the meals, EF plans trips in some amazing cities, and the food is probably the most exciting part of these cities and a huge part of what makes it fantastic. Eating good quality food with good people is what makes any trip or event memorable. But the places EF led us to to eat, was so awful. It was so upsetting, and a waste of money. For flights, from where I live there are plenty of nonstop flights going to where I was going to for this trip. EF gave me long, grueling, inconvenient layovers in some random cities - and this was obviously to cut corners on the flights to keep more of my money. All of the hotels were dirty, outdated, and cheap.

If I'm paying so much money for a trip, EF must be pocketing a lot of it. Because it definitely did not go towards a good trip.

You can do as you will, but if I could go back in time and tell myself to not do the trip with EF...I would do it in a heartbeat. Don't say I didn't warn you.Just don't let them rob you.

*I cancel my trip and is almost 3 months after and I still haven’t received my money *
May 9,2023 i ask to cancel my trip, I ask to be refunded to the original card that I used(credit card) they told me no that they would send me a check.Mia Kelly send me a confirmation email stating that the check at most would that 2 weeks to get to me.June 1,2023 I emailed them saying I have not received the check, Ashley Palmer responded saying that checks that 4 weeks.June 10,2023 send another email, Ashley Palmer responded saying that the check was issue on May 17,2023.June 22,2023 send an email stating that I haven’t received my check,Ashley Palmer responded asking me what is my address.June 28,2023 I send another email saying that I haven’t received the check.On june 29,2023 Siena Cashan email me asking to confirm my address again.I send an email on July 1,2023.Ashley Palmer responded July 5,2023 saying that they send a new check.July 5,2025 Lara Bone( manager) send me an email saying that a new check was issue.July 11,2023 I send an email saying that I haven’t received my check,Ashley Palmer responded that the check was issued on June 29,2023.July 11,2023 Lara Bone(manager) tells that they are going to void that check and send a new one.They told me they Can issued an refund to my card on file(credit card), that they previously told they could not do.July 14,2023 I emailed them saying that I haven’t received any refunds.July 17,2023 I got a check I send an email to Lara Bone(manager) saying that I got the check.She responded saying that the claim was close.On July 20,2023 I got a notification from my bank saying that my account was overdrawn I call my bank and they told me that the check that I deposit did not have funds.I email back to Lara Bone(manager) telling her that my bank account was overdrawn because of them and she told that they send the check so I shouldn’t have any issue.She call me staying that it was a miscommunication issue on MY part and they would send a new check I decline and told them that they need to fix it today.She told me that was impossible after I threatened to take legal action she ask me for my checking account information when I ask when I would see the money in the account she told me that they send it immediately but it takes my bank account a couple of days to approve it.Couple of hours later she send me an email saying that they send the money.I call my bank because I don’t trust them(Ef trip) and my bank tells that they haven’t received anything.I send an email to Lara Bone and she responded that it takes Ef 2- 5 days to put the money in the account so she lied again.I have screenshot if anyone wants them please DONT USE THIS COMPANY.

It be nice if they didn't discriminate against older people and I think the whole 18 to 35 thing loses them a lot of business and I'm married to and older man and it be nice to be able for him to come on your too but he is in his 50s they don't give you what they say the will in advertising

I just came off of this trip and it was not worth it. The first hostel we were put in had 8 girls stuffed into ONE room with ONE bathroom. There was no air conditioning, and we were in the middle of a heatwave. If we had been given a warning that there's a chance we could be with 8 girls, we could have at least prepared mentally. Instead, we were blatantly lied to as the description and the EF app told us the maximum amount of people to a room is 4-6. The second hostel had 4 girls to a room, with a 3 inch gap under the bathroom door. This meant you could even hear the person breathing inside, not just their personal business. This hostel at least had AC. The third hostel was fine and we got individual rooms and AC. Besides that, our group was the smallest EF group ever with 12 people. Our tour director "revealed" to us at the end of the trip that this was his first tour but that was pretty obvious throughout the whole trip. I think EF allowed such a small group as guinea pigs for his first tour. As nice and lovely as as a person he was, he had little knowledge about any area we were in, got us on metros going wrong directions, and showed little interest in us. Our bus broke down while heading to an excursion and cut into our 2 hours + we got no tour guide, which was also paid for us by us. Our tour guide in Madrid was fighting random people on the street, yelling at people in museums. She took us to a museum and chose 3 paintings that she amateurly interpreted and then forced us all out of there presumably so she could get her tip outside. We did not get breakfast one day while travelling even though it's on the itinerary and supposed to be provided. There were other issues, but the biggest thing is they hide bad reviews on their website.

I have gone on two EF ultimate Trips.. and after the last experience, it will be the last.

First Trip, Iceland - was Good.. Basic, very general Itinerary, but well executed and great tour guide. EF screwed up Departure Transfers, but the tour guide got it all looked after for us.

Second most recent trip - TERRIBLE customer service, booked me on an airline that had a strike pending and did not care that I was concerned. I was brushed aside. On arrival, had to wait well over an hour for one other individual, and we had a rep take us on public transit to get to the hotel.
There is no formal Group introduction, Tour Guide was good but not great, a lot of details could have been better executed or communicated. Group dynamic is awful... They seem to encourage people to book with Friends or have "ambassadors" that book people and host a trip to get their own trip for free. so basically, they charge extra to provide free trips to people..

Terrible flights, terrible customer service - Very basic itineraries that don't do much outside of typical tourist experience, terrible effort put into the group dynamic, overpriced for what you get. Hotels are not in good locations, going for cost vs convenience and experience.

Oh and they also won't post all review on their own website, unless its a high enough rating.. so very misleading

Brought us all the way to Greece, bussed us from Athens to the port and put us on a boat just to find out the boat wasn’t working. They said the prior boat had issues too and so for safety they needed to cancel. WOULD NOT OFFER REFUNDS only a travel voucher. They then put us on a significantly inferior trip with bad hotels and poor excursions even though we paid for way more

To preface, I never went through with a trip with EF Ultimate breaks so I can only provide insight on their booking process and contract. I was fully ready to book their Jordan trip, but had a few clarifying questions. In every interaction I had with a representative, they were extremely pushy about booking and ended the conversation without answering my questions as soon as I said I would not be ready to book that day. I also received multiple texts (to my personal phone number, not a chat box) asking if I was ready to book to the point that I blocked their number. I also noticed their contract states that they may cancel your trip for any reason and you will be subject to their cancellation policy (essentially no refund unless you are several months out). I wanted to put this review out there in case anyone else, like me, was super excited about these almost too good to be true trips and did not have the chance to interact with customer service or read the contract until it was too late. Definitely talk to customer service, read the contract carefully, and consider the negative reviews that ef refuses to post. I found the more research I did, the more I realized there were plenty of other companies who had much more professional standards for representatives, trip contracts, and more positive reviews on unbiased platforms.

The trips are awesome! Especially when you have a great tour director. The customer service sucks! They will run you around in circles before someone answers your questions. The chat customer service will tell you to call in, make you wait, just for you to get an answer that you could have received via the chat. You just can't get a solid answer. So after you book, you better not have any questions on changes you can make to your trip - you don't get a solid answer or wait for an hour on the phone to get it.

This company is a scam. They had the flight tickets booked under united airlines. When we reached Chicago(our connection location), we were informed that they only terminal and airline flying to Dublin, was NOT United Airlines. They had booked us on the wrong airline, or they misprinted tickets. There were other people that we did not know, on this tour at the airport at the same time. Their tickets were correct, but mine and my travel partners were not. This led to us missing our flight to Europe. When trying to contact EF regarding a rebooking of the flight, they blamed us for this error and wanted to charge $800+ for new flights. If we had done that, we would have missed two full days of our tour, that they would not refund us for.
EF is an absolute scam. We are not college students, rather adults in their late twenties. This was no fault to ours, this is all to blame on EF. Absolutely worst customer service.