Road ScholarReviews of roadscholar.org

We are very experienced travelers, and this was our first time with Road Scholar. We recently completed a trip to Israel, Jordan and Egypt in March 2023 and it was wonderful. The hotels were first class and much better than I anticipated. The guides were excellent in each country. The group was 23 people. The buses they used were all exceptionally clean, very spacious comfortable and safe. A couple of days prior to the end of the trip many of us learned that our flights home had been cancelled by the airlines, due to a labor strike in Germany on Lufthansa. Road Scholar immediately rebooked everyone who had arranged their flights through RS. We are looking forward to our next trip on RS.

Spent over $1100 on deposit and trip insurance. We had to cancel because the trip was too strenuous for us. We got nothing back. Probably our fault for not doing due diligence but beware.

We just returned from: Hawaii’s National Parks: Exploring Four Islands from Volcanoes to Pearl Harbor I am extremely disappointed that Road Scholar is publishing an itinerary they KNOW cannot happen. This trip has 3+ days on Molokai and almost everything on the agenda doesn't exist: the ferry has been closed for over 6 years, the National Historic Park has been closed to visitors since the pandemic, the Nene sanctuary is closed, the sugar mill isn't restored to operational, etc. Molokai itself is not conducive to tourism. The Sheraton has been closed for a long time, leaving an unappealing half star as the only option. The transportation was laughable - old/dirty passenger vans that BOTH broke down, or a school bus. The food was the worst on the trip and the lunches were terrible cold box lunches - largely left uneaten. The local guide made disparaging remarks about the United States, and there were signs for "no tourism" and "go home". Why road Scholar would continue to publish a fictional itinerary that has been inaccurate for 6 years is beyond me and insulting. Unfortunately, the poor treatment we received on Molokai has tainted my opinion of the entire trip.

In September, 2022 I booked a Machu Picchu/Galpagonos trip for $8499. I paid the $1000 deposit with the remaining $7499 due 2/28/23. I also paid $1089 for the cancel-at-anytime trip protection. Due to the unrest in South America, my friend and I decided to cancel the trip as of 2/16/23. I was told by RS that I would get $750 back because it was prior to 2/28/23. I understand that I wouldn't necessarily get the $250 back. I have filed a claim with Aon for the nonrefundable $250. My complaint is with Aon and/or Road Scholar regarding the $1089 trip protection I paid for. My friend didn't pay for the trip protection right away and had until 2/28/23 to buy it. That is when the remaining $7499 is due. She will get the $750 back and lose $250. If I had waited, I would only be out of pocket the $250 and not the trip protection I paid for in advance. Why was I charged $1089 when I only put down $1000? I should have only been charged insurance for the $1,000 deposit and then the remainder of the insurance on 2/28/23 when final payment is due. It appears that I was duped! I would gladly take a credit for the trip insurance and use it for a future trip. I plan on going on the trip next year when the dates are available but I definitely wouldn't use Aon again and may consider another company for a future trip to South America.

I booked a trip with road scholar and had to put a $500 deposit down. I thought I was told that if I had to cancel, that deposit could be used for another future trip as as I canceled within a certain timeframe .I need knee replacement surgery and I had to cancel the trip .turns out that the $500 was nonrefundable. I’ve never worked with the company that did not allow you to either refund or transfer the deposit as long as you met their cancellation guidelines be careful

We have traveled with Elderhostel/RoadScholar 5 times, and the experience has always been excellent. We have never had to cancel a trip (with them), but with most tour companies, how much of a refund you get depends on how far in advance of your travel date you cancel. (With another company, they would have given us a small refund -- 25%, I think -- if we had been able to cancel 7 days before the departure date; unfortunately, I was hospitalized just 5 days before departure and so got no refund from the tour company.) As for the tour company's "Cancel For Any Reason" insurance policy, I do not know about RS's policy, but many (most?) "Cancel for Any Reason" policies will cover only about 70% of the total trip price.

I booked a trip for self and partner, and as we are older, I booked the insurance offered. We were not able to take the trip, as my partner found that his neuropathy deteriorated to the point that he could not keep up with the activity level that Road Scholar required. Unfortunately, Road Scholar was only willing to refund half the fees, and the rest was only available as a credit to future trips. Since we cannot take a future trip I asked to be able to transfer the fees to someone else. They refused. The insurance company, AON, for reasons best known to them refused any compensation. Shame on both companies. BYW, they also do not have any links on their site to this trip or the previous one we took, so I cannot leave a review there.

I went on a trip, Sicily Cooking. Booked it on Jan. 4, 2022. In March they emailed me a flight plan for 3 connections from Chgo. When I called asking to be booked for 1 connection they refused. There were 2 routes that had 1 connection. It was a nightmare the moment we tried to check in at O'Hare. The first flight was cancelled and the way the air was booked Delta and Air France were blocked by ITA airlines from issuing another ticket. It took 3 1/2 hours for a new ticket. Called Road Scholar emergency number, after going through their lengthy recordings was connected to someone who then transferred me back to the recording. No help at all. In Paris, the first stop, missed the connecting flight do to first flight being late. Air France was again blocked from issuing a new ticket. I had to walk more than a mile though the airport to go to Delta to try to issue the ticket, they had problems with the block on the ticket and I almost missed the connecting flight. Of course, my checked in bag was lost with all the flight problems. The hotel room (paid the single supplement) should not have been used by any Road Scholar customer. To get to the room had to climb 5 steps, in the room a step to get into the bathroom, no place to charge phone. Hotel had to unplug lamps behind the bed to charge devises. Toilet paper kept above and behind toilet. Other people on this trip had nice remodeled rooms. To leave the hotel over 100 steps to get to the street for tourists. Guide did not let us know if there were other places to go and shop or eat.. Since I had so many problems with air coming I wanted to check to make sure the return flights were ok. Emailed Road Scholar just to ask them to check the flights because I couldn't, their response was to use the locator number which I told them didn't work. I sent back a reply which said I tried that, the next response was, not my job, call the travel department. They wouldn't even refer my request to their travel department. This is my 4th trip with them, I don't know what happened on this trip which will be the last with them. When talking to their representative she blamed the airline and hotel for the problems. Stated they are not a travel agency and they are adequately staffed. The only thing they offered was a credit for the single supplement. Since I will never travel with them again, it is useless.