Gate 1 Travel Reviews 449

Very Disappointing Egypt Cruise — Except for the Food

I was really looking forward to this Egypt cruise, but unfortunately the experience fell far below expectations. To start, there was no WiFi on board at all, which made it extremely difficult to stay connected or plan ahead during the trip.

The transportation schedule was poorly organized, with extremely early departures that felt unnecessary and exhausting. Many of the optional excursions were rushed, confusing, and simply not worth the extra cost.

Another major concern was the sun deck, which had an uneven floor. This was not only uncomfortable but also unsafe — in fact, three travelers actually fell down because of it. This issue should never be ignored on a ship carrying tourists.

On top of that, the tour leader’s service was unprofessional and unhelpful. She didn’t provide clear information, seemed disorganized, and often acted indifferent when we needed clarification or assistance.

The only positive part of the trip was the food. The meals were genuinely delicious — fresh, flavorful, and beautifully prepared. Unfortunately, the quality of the food couldn’t make up for the many problems we experienced.

Overall, despite the excellent meals, I cannot recommend this cruise. The lack of WiFi, bad scheduling, poorly managed excursions, unsafe sun deck, and unprofessional tour leadership made this a very disappointing experience.

I HAD been a loyal customer of Gate 1. I have taken multiple trips, several annually. NOT anymore. I had a reservation for travel several months away. My companion had to cancel due to work conflict. I anticipated the "single supplement" fee - no problem. However, Gate 1 wanted to charge an additional $300 fee for the cancellation. This occurred prior to the final payment was due. I called to request it to be removed. They refused. I asked for a supervisor - refusal again. Therefore, I cancelled my trip and will not use them again. They lost my business and several family and friends have committed NOT to use this service. Penny wise and dollar stupid. Bad customer service Gate 1! Bye-Bye!

Just completed the 11 day trip to Egypt, it was actually 8 days with a tour guide, 2 days were flying there and first night in hotel and 1 day is the return flight day. The pickup and trip back to airport were impressive (tho expensive $80). Except on pickup my guide made me feel really guilty for not have any US dollars for the Egypt visa. No mention if this was made in the itinerary notes. It did mention having single dollar bills “to make tipping easier”and small denominations of local currency, again for tipping. So I chose to bring the local currency as I had spent three weeks in Greece prior to this and I had no dollars left. My Guide seemed flummoxed that I didnt have the $24. Finally I said I have a credit card Surely they take credit cards. He seemed unsure.And sure enough they did. Since returning home, I re- read the travel documentation and nowhere could I find a mention of bringing US dollars specifically for the Egypt visa.So this should be included right in the itinerary. The horrifying part of the trip for me was having to get up at 2:45am one day and 4:15am 3 other days. Only one of these was mentioned as an “early morning start”. The 2:45am morning was listed as “After breakfast”. Another was “leave for airport for flight to Cairo. I’m 78 and really value my sleep and part of vacation for me is sleeping til at least 7 or 8 in the morning. To me “early morning” means 7-8 rather than 10! If the itinerary had mentioned the real times I would not even have considered this tour! With these kinds of times, i feel I have a right to know them ahead of time. During the last 2 days of the tour I developed my first cold in years and I’m sure the lack of sleep contributed to lowering my immune system. I checked Air Egypt flights and they were later ones. They also had late afternoon ones, and in both cases of the early morning we had no sight seeing on the evenings before, do we could have flown the evening before! When I told the guide that such early Mornings are not OK with me, he just shrugged as if it was out of his hands that someone else is making those decisions.He didn’t say who to give feedback to.
Now to the guide, he was very well informed, very patient, sometimes a little arrogant, eg when i asked him a followup question about which 6 countries had helped fund and carry out moving blocks of abu simbel stones. He said you were not listening and told me again the names of the 2 guys that had done something else. When he realized i was asking about his earlier statement, where he d only told us 2 of the 6 countries that had contributed he did not apologize for his earlier statement. He often smoked around us, tho usually outdoors, and would constantly cough into the “whisper”microphone. Really, he should at least switch off his microphone when he does his smokers cough. Otherwise he was fine and his indepth knowledge really added to the trip.

After the South Africa's trip, I found Gate1 packed the trip with extensive stopping stops which were not mentioned in the itinerary. The tourist guide was disappointed -- rude and unprofessional. According to Linkelin, the tourist guide's main career was to assist with evaluation, assessment and sales of residential properties around Cape Town. She was passionate about assisting first-time buyers.

As such I ordered Gate1 to close my personal account and delete all my personal data from Gate1.

But Gate1 still continued to hand over my personal address to its contractor and the contractor continued to mail Gate1 printed brochures to my mail box. I have contacted Gate1 about the issue but the printed brochures continued on their way to mail box.

Gate1 does not respect client's privacy. The brochures must be stopped at once.

Sending those brochures telling me big discount and offering my $200 travel credit cannot get back me as Gate1's clients. I understand that Gate1 may lose a lot of clients as shown by a lot of bad reviews at Trustpilot.
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It is a reply to Gate 1's comment below. Gate 1 lied!!
I have told Gate 1 to close my account in August 2025 and not send any printed brochures on August 2025 as well. Today is Nov 10 2025. It is 3 months apart, NOT SEVERAL WEEKS!

GATE 1 MUST STOP SENDING ITS GARBAGE TO MY MAIL BOX AT ONCE!!!!

IF GATE 1 TRAVEL DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO RESPECT ITS CLIENTS, GATE 1 TRAVEL SHOULD LEARN HOW TO RESPECT ITSELF.

GATE 1 REVIEW UPDATED

i traveled with gate 1 for years and always had fun. i scheduled a 15day tour to Spain 9/10/25....started in Madrid! I and was really looking forward to it! I WAS SHOCKED WHEN I MET THE TOUR GUIDE LUIS. HE TURNED OUT TO BE THE MOST CONTROLLING, SMUG tour guide that i've ever had the misfortune to have as a tour guide! my god...if you didn't sit, or stand or jump when he wanted he would give you a dirty look. what a CREEEP. he harassed me thru the whole time i was on that tour...then i was asked to leave at 11PM and they scheduled a flight back to LAX and it COST ME...$1!00!! SO BASICALLY....LET THE TOUR GUIDE KEEP HARASSING YOU AND IT'S OK! WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!! THIS WAS THE 10TH TOUR WITH GATE 1! At one point he told me his job as a tour guide was to make sure everyone was following the rules!! This says it all....this guy is NOT a tour guide...he thinks he's a captain in the military, there to make your life miserable!! Not when i paid all that money to travel!!! Wonder if they have a background check on him!!??

In Addition to above review: Luis and did not get along from the beginning. He knew how to get me removed from the tour! He discreetly kept harassing me until I blew it! At last, he handed me a threatening text copied from Gate 1 rules that I would be kicked off the tour!!! This was at 8am before the tour bus left …and I wasn’t even awake yet! I could not believe that again..and again…and again..the harassment did not stop!! Of course…I blew it on the bus and texted Gate 1 to tell them that Luis was harassing me!!! Just as Luis planned…at 11pm that evening…I was called and told I had to leave the tour!! Just as Luis planned I was removed!!! He got away with this!!!

Gate 1 Discovery tour Civilizations of Greece. Hotel is nice, but as a solo traveler who pays a supplement for the trip, I am ALWAYS guaranteed the WORST room. Wish I could add photos, but I look over a parking lot and excavation work being done, probably to extend said lot. Thankfully room has soundproofing for windows overlooking this hideous view. I’ve taken many trips with G1 as a solo, and this is almost ALWAYS the case ( I got nice rooms in Mexico).Usually for couples they get much better rooms. Just something to keep in mind if you are traveling solo with G1. It’s the first 2 days of trip in Thessaloniki, so you would think the company would spend a few more bucks to give a better start to the tour.

Horrible trip to Tunisia Sept 2025. Really bad guide Aisha and awful tour. I won’t do Gate One again

I have traveled with Gate 1 many times in the past and usually had good experiences. However, my recent trip to Peru was very disappointing. The hotel accommodations were poor, the food was unsatisfactory, and the worst part was that our guide exchanged currency for me at a completely unfair rate — 1 USD to 2 soles, when the official rate was much higher. This left me very unhappy and feeling taken advantage of. I hope Gate 1 will take this seriously and improve their standards for hotels, meals, and especially the professionalism of their guides.

I approached this website after many many Encounters with unprofessional and Extremely rude customer service/ sales representatives these past few weeks in hope of booking a vacation. Evidently from seeing a 2.7 customer satisfaction review average it is going to be a waste of my time to write this Review because obviously the leadership of Gate1 is not addressing the compilation of issues. As an executive in leadership development I am appalled. I will mention to the powers that be that your customer service representatives are not serving me and they are not serving YOUR company. To be as blatantly rude as they are and have customers get off the phone without Working with or any concern of making a sale blows my mind. In my crazy mind I think OK I'll just call back and get somebody more pleasant and professional....WRONG the representatives have no intention of selling anything or working with the client in the best interest of GATE1.

This is supposed to be an exciting And pleasant experience. With all my travel through the years I am just dumbfounded. Please do not send one of the automated "dismissive replies. That is just another poor representation of the company.

My parents used Gate1Travel to book their honeymoon and had a wonderful experience. On 7/10/25, we booked a Father/Daughter trip to Greece and are scheduled to leave 10/7/25. We paid the trip in full at the time of the reservation. On 8/26/25, my Father had to undergo a cardiac catheterization after some abnormal testing results received last week. We were told that he needs a quadruple bypass and is not medically cleared to leave the state and our trip should be postponed 3 months. I called gate1 and advised them of the medical emergency and that we wished to change our reservation to the Jan date that was available when we booked it. They advised since it was passed the final payment date and 40 days before travel we could only cancel it with cancelation fees for both airline and land. The cancelation penalties are roughly 75% of the total trip. I asked if there could be an exception as this was a medical emergency not a voluntary decision and was willing to provide medical documentation. They informed me there are no exceptions and they will follow their policy. I further asked if the trip was booked under 90 days from travel and paid in full how could they say we were beyond the window. They could not provide a response and asked if I wanted to cancel one or both passengers. I asked if the reservation could be canceled with penalties but be offered a discount to rebook the same trip under the circumstances. They advised they would not provide any discount. I asked if there is anyway to rebook the same trip but try and minimalize some of the loss as they were keeping 75% of the money paid. I again advised this is an involuntary cancelation and due to the severe blockage to my father's heart is not allowed to travel without serious risks. They could give two shits and basically told me to kick rocks. Is it partly our fault because we did not opt for insurance, yes. But you would hope that there would be some compassion and empathy for the situation. We weren't looking for a full refund with no penalties. Hell, I would have even been willing to still pay some penalties if they would just reschedule the trip for the OTHER AVAILABLE DATES for the same trip. They didn't even express condolences for the situation. All this company cares about is your money and once they have it don't expect ANYTHING from them.

I am scheduled to leave tomorrow for Ireland. By chance, I called United Airlines to ask a question. The agent said that Gate 1 messed up your ticket. Plus Air Canada is on a strike. The United Airlines representative was concerned. He even called Gate 1 with me on the line. The Gate 1 agent was rude and made up excuses why no one contacted me. No more Gate 1 Travel trips! Total dysfunction is a hallmark trait of this agency.

Wow. I traveled once before and had a great experience in Asia. W this company.. called this Saturday west coast time USA 1212 sat afternoon. Was told no dates for Egypt in fall 26. Asked for info on iTinerys on 10 plus days. To Egypt. 4 of us. And early dates that they do have .. Got a what felt like bind stares in to the dark from rep ?? Asked again for itinerary’s in time they did have?? Again. Very little help. When a customer who’s planing on spending 10 to 15 thousand dollars seeks assurance of competence and guidance in the offerings. It’s best to have knowledgeable. Folks on the other end of the line. This rep appeared to be the stunned deer in headlights standing in the road. Frozen. So much for gate one travel. Il pass

We recently went on a Gate 1 Riverboat cruise on the Danube River on the Monarch Queen....12 days ...Prague, Pilsen, Passau, Melk Abbey, Vienna, Bratislava and Budapest. We upgraded our room to a stateroom...the staff was wonderful! The weather was pretty warm for Europe in June...almost 100 degrees each day..but the guides were great and did the best they could to keep up cool! This was our 7th trip with Gate 1 and always a fantastic time!!!

Just got back from a Norway tour. The tour manager was rude, nasty and offensive. The tour itself was very poorly planned. It was billed as an 8 day tour--in reality it was 5 and most of the time was spent on a bus. Hotels were not great--one was awful--room like a cell and dirty. My first and last time with Gate 1 travel.

I have taken many big trips with Gate 1, I e. Japan, Africa, etc., however, I planned to do the trip for Thailand, Cambodia & Vietnam in January 2026, but now there's fighting at the border between Thailand and Cambodia, also there is a level 4- DO NOT TRAVEL by the Embassy. Gate1 refuses to give me my $600 deposit back because they said they have not cancelled this trip yet and is monitoring the situation. My thrill is no longer interested in being over there. Gate 1 will not even give a credit, with all my years of traveling with them. How unfortunate.

UPDATE:
I contact Gate 1 again, as they stated, yet they said the same nonsense. There was no reason to ask me to contact them, just to repeat same sentence. $600 deposit is not a lot of money for some, but it is to me and shame on Gate 1 for not honoring the refund.

I booked the 16 days Egypt with Jordan tour. On the highlights page it said that Jordan visa is included. I booked my own flights so I called the agent to confirm visa situation. He told me that it is not, since I booked my own flight and airport transfer. He spoke to his manager and assured me this will be remedied by Gate1. After some back and forth emails and review left on this forum, a representative reached to me within hours, and let me know that I will be reimbursed for this due to the misunderstanding. Also, Gate1 will edit the highlights page to avoid future confusions. I changed my review accordingly to reflect this. I’ve had positive experiences with Gate 1 for 10 years. The quality of the packages offered and customer support deserve recognition

This was my fourth trip with Gate1, and I was very disappointed with how they handled my reservation this trip. My family’s reservation was linked to mine, as I always do when traveling. They made no effort to book our rooms next to or even close to one another this trip. This was very upsetting. We were often in rooms on different floors, towers, or buildings. Something has changed with Gate1, and I'm very disappointed they had so little regard for our accommodations. I don't think I can trust them again with my family’s vacations.

A little late on writing this review!

My husband and I had the incredible opportunity to join the 14 Day Classic Greece with Crete & Santorini Tour.

It was truly a trip of a lifetime! From the breathtaking ancient ruins to the picturesque islands, every moment of this journey was unforgettable. However, what truly made the experience exceptional was our amazing tour manger, Marianna.

From the very start, Marianna was warm, knowledgeable, and extremely organized. She made sure every detail was taken care of, allowing us to simply relax and enjoy the beauty of Greece.

She also went above and beyond to accommodate everyone's needs, offering personalized recommendations for dining, shopping, and off-the-beaten-path experiences that we would have never discovered on our own. It felt like we were traveling with a local friend who was eager to share the best of Greece with us.

The logistics were seamless, from transportation to accommodations. Marianna handled everything with grace and professionalism, making the tour smooth and enjoyable. Thank you Marianna for making our first trip with Gate1Travel a great experience!

I must add that the bus drivers were remarkable, and very skilled in navigating the sometimes very narrow and steep roads of Greece. They were also, a very important part of our trip and added to the pleasure of this awesome tour. Thanks for the smooth ride!

Looking forward to many more tours with Gate 1 Travel and would highly recommend booking with Gate 1 Travel!

I just booked a tour with gate 1 for a September safari to Kenya and Tanzania. Their customer service is very bad. If you are new booking, your phone is answered right away, however, as soon as you paid for the trip, it is Impossible to reach them, a phone call’s wait time is 45 minutes, and then you were routed to some remote call center in probably another country with bad connection, where the customer service representative is not knowledgeable and can’t help you with any thing. Very frustrating experience. Will not book with them again in future!

We just returned from a 10 day trip to Ireland. Our tour guide, Lenny, was fantastic . Very knowledgeable and adjusted our schedule seamlessly based on the weather, group desires and crowds. We couldn’t have been more happy with our first Gate1 experience (we actually just booked our second Gate1 before finishing this one!). Our driver Mike Cash was equally adept and friendly.
We were referred to Gate1 by three separate acquaintances who were all equally satisfied.