Explore Worldwide Reviews 242

We went on the Singapore and Malaysia trip. I emailed customer services with observations about our experience but having received no reply I am leaving a review here.
The itinerary delivered by their Malaysian partners was very different to the one advertised on their website and in the trip notes sent to us.
We went to the same places but in a completely different order. This made a difference as the timing of our arrival at the Suka Suka Homestay meant we couldn't do the kayaking we had been looking forward to or take part in making the evening meal. The homestay was overbooked meaning some of our party had to stay off site. Indeed, the advertised maximum number on the trip was 16, but we were 17.
The timing of the itinerary in Melaka meant our river cruise was in the afternoon and not the more atmospheric evening. We also visited Villa Sentosa straight after breakfast the following day instead of the previous afternoon, which meant we were met with another large meal of cakes and savouries (delicious!) just after eating breakfast and 2 hours later we were facing a massive lunch. There were lots of lunches included that we weren't expecting, which we found strange, and one evening meal not included that the trip notes said would be.
We had expressed a preference for a double bed but this had not been passed on. Our guide had to change the arrangements at every hotel, but was unable to at 1 of them.
Our tour leader was idiosyncratic to say the least and we had a number of communication issues, which I have told Explore about.
The local tour guides in Singapore and the Cameron Highlands were very good as was our coach driver.
The places we visited were all lovely and the itinerary, even in the wrong order, was a good one. Wonderful food. The accommodation was all perfectly adequate and some much better than that, notably Melaka, Penang and the Cameron Highlands. The hotel in Langkawi is a bit dated but in a splendid location.
I would suggest anyone looking at this trip should book a few extra days in Singapore as there is so much to see and do there.

Update: I sent my email to Explore on 14th February and not 8th March as suggested in the reply. Perhaps 8th March is the first time they looked at it. I never filled in a questionnaire as I was not sent one. My husband was sent one, but not me.

Further update: There was another woman on our trip whose surname begins with B. Is Explore confusing me with that person? I never filled in a questionnaire as one was not sent to me and my email was sent on 14th February.

⭐️⭐️⭐️-1/2
My holiday experience with Explore Worldwide began Dec 2022, The Cradle of Voodoo. For me, it was a long awaited trip to connect with my ancestors. Mostly, the trip lived up to its expectations - the day-to-day traveling in a van to various destinations. Accommodations were as described 2/3star ratings, however, at least one accommodation, that had bugs and no running water, was a 1 star. It was somewhat comical though. Lol I enjoyed the visits to the villages, meeting the people, village chiefs and high priests, and exploring the Voodoo culture. Our guide was knowledgeable and would go out of his way to try to accommodate everyone.

Some of the descriptions on the EW website could be revised such as the amount of walking on the trip. It was a lot less as described on the website. A couple of stops like the butterfly journey were just “meh”, interesting but not really. The trip was not perfect; there were a lot of ups and downs but still it was an adventure to enjoy.

One of the highlights of the trip was the Voodoo Festival. This was to be a very exciting and educational experience. However, a glitch in itineraries had the day’s events backwards putting the festival at the end of the day. It was unfortunate that this part of the trip was not experienced since the festival had ended. A HUGE, HUGE disappointment this was for the entire group.

After returning home, emails were sent to Explore. Explore responded to our group stating they were not aware of the incident and it would be investigated. They seemed sincere with apologies and wanting to find resolution. (Keep in mind, this trip cost more than their other Voodoo packages because of the festival.) To date, 3/7 and almost two months later, Explore has not explained what happened nor have I been compensated as promised. They are now a ghost.

This is why they get a three star minus 1/2 rating. I learned much, my mission was accomplished (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) but the customer service I’m now receiving from Explore is disappointing and unprofessional (⭐️⭐️⭐️-1/2).

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Explore contacted me after reading the above. I resubmitted the information and still nothing. I contacted my bank to verify their attempts to deposit, nothing attempted. At this point, I guess I'm in limbo.

Amazing experience in Costa Rica, Carlos our guide catered for our every need. His knowledge of the local areas, where to eat, where the best places for water breaks on the cycle routes etc. Johnathon our driver was great, so helpful and a great support crew for our cycle tour. The whole experience from start to finish was so efficient. Thankyou Carlos, Johnathon and the Explore team.

Always answer queries satisfactorily. Have good value holidays. Deal with any problems whilst away.

Explore! advertises an enticing 3-8% Cashback via the TopCashback website (lesser amounts on Quidco) for purchases completed immediately and wholly online.

Unless a customer books without a flight at the outset, flight options and final costs aren't apparent until a post-booking contact with the company. This appears, in the eyes of the company's "network" - that mystery intermediary by which both company and cashback website can distance themselves from decisions - to invalidate a cashback claim.

In short, Explore!'s usual business model appears to preclude the payment of cashback.

Does Explore! wish to comment on or clarify it's use of cashback websites?

There are many great things about this trip. The trip to Al Ula is amazing. The tour of old Jeddah with Abir is fantastic. Medina is something very special. But what is not special is the amount of time on the bus!

Driving to burdaya: 6 hrs
Driving to Al Ula 7.5 hours
Driving to Medina: 5 hours
Driving to Jeddah: 6.5 hours
Driving to Al Bacha: 5.5 hours

These times do not include lunch stops. This means that we often arrived at dusk and then were off to dinner, only to often depart the next morning. The itinerary needs serious reconsideration. We managed to get our guide to cancel the date farm so that we could see more of Medina than the two hours that we had when we arrived.

In addition, the hotel in Al Ula was a disappointment - it was more like camping. Although my final trip notes had a lovely hotel, we were told that this is the hotel that Explore always uses. Very disapppointed.

I booked for my husband and I to go on the Peru Encompassed trip with the 3 day Amazon extension trip tagged on the end, we also booked to go to Lima few days early to get over the jetlag and see something of Lima before setting off on the group trip. Everything was booked for us by Explore! with seamless ease and without any hitches. This was the first time I had booked onto an organised trip so I was a bit concerned it might not be for us. How wrong I was. We were a group of 9, ranging from 30s to 60s, and a mixture of couples and singles and different nationalities. As a group we gelled really well and chose to spend most of our free time together which made the trip great fun. As for the trip itself, it surpassed all expectations. The Peru Encompassed trip was superb. I don't think any other country offers so much culture, wildlife, specular scenery and amazing food, all of which we experienced in abundance on the trip. We had a local tour guide for the whole trip who was fantastic and then expert guides joined us on different legs of the journey. We learned so much as a result. The highlights for me were visiting the local market in Arequipa with our guide and sampling lots of different fruit and street foods, the day on Lake Titicaca and of course Machu Picchu itself. We booked an additional trip to go back ourselves the second morning which was great as we could do a different route around the ruins and get different views from the afternoon before. Our final highlight was the additional 3 day trip to the Amazon staying at the Hacienda Conception. The lodges were immersed in the jungle which was wonderful if noisy! the food was fab and the daily trips provided were excellent. It was a great relaxing way to end the trip although it did rain quite a bit. Both my husband and I said our trip to Peru was one of the best trips we have ever done.

Stunning scenery in Yellowstone and Grand Teton NPs

Good company and varied itinerary

Fun packed itenary and amazing tour guide made this a hit holiday with all the family.

A fabulous trip with all care and consideration of passengers comfort and safety taken into account. Guides are chosen well and trips are designed to take in as much of the countries visited at a pace the group can cope with.

Excellent company, there are so many trips, you really get looked after. Everything is dealt with by your Tour Leader, all logistics are taken care of and usually things go smoothly, I only use explore because I know what to expect each time, that makes me happy, with a stress free holiday

The trip was so well planned and even though we had two different leaders, the transition was quite smooth in my eyes. Definitely two different styles of leading but nevertheless, I enjoyed my trip as a whole. I've been wanting to go to Greece for a long time and was happy to finally do it.

The Highlights of Puglia trip was fantastic. It was great to visit one of the lesser touristed places in Italy. We had the opportunity to do some off-the-beaten track activities and our guide was fantastic. I've done many Explore trips over the years and they are always fantastic.

Amazing leader- knew everything about all topics, very helpful and friendly. A great itinerary, gave a real chance to meet the people of the country as well.

A well organised and varied trip. The local guides were knowledgeable and interesting.

Holiday was an amazing expeience full of variety.
We had a great group leader who was just a wonderful person to spend time with.
It was the visits to a number of community projects where the holiday was supporting local initiaves that made this a very special experience.

Excellent guide, great walking and reasonably priced. I felt secure and safe. The company was good. The walking grade system is helpful and I’ve booked on a higher graded walking week for next year.

Excellent varied itinerary, both on the Ecuador mainland and the Galapagos islands, with lots of contrasting experiences and a few extra surprises along the way.

Particular highlights:
Quitsato Equator centre
Music demonstration at Peguche
Mindo hummingbird garden - a great way to spend an hour!
The indigenous communities and ecotourism projects at Otavalo and Yunguilla - excellent lunches at both, sampling the local produce.
Quito old town walk
Seeing the Cotopaxi volcano after the cloud lifted.
The variety of amazing wildlife in the Galapagos, particular the walks on the smaller islands, and we saw everything on the wish list!
Tortuga Bay - idyllic location; surreal experience swimming with the white-tipped sharks.

Japan is a wonderful country. Easy to travel around as signage on public transport was in Japanese and English. Very helpful people; if they cannot answer your question they will try to find someone who could. Great value for money. Most cafe/restaurant menu’s were in Japanese so ordering food was an adventure in itself; however staff would go out of their way to help.

Excellent variety of places to visit on the Coast to Coast trip to Costa Rica lead very ably by the local guide Andres who was very knowledgeable on how best to spot the many birds, frogs, sloths, monkeys and other animals in their habitat especially the elusive Quetzal and the beautifully colored nocturnal frogs. Watching a sea turtle lay her eggs on the beach was a key highlight along with the zip wires and canopy walks in the rain forest. Great to see single use plastic bottles were banned from many parks and recycling actively encouraged.