Overseas Adventure Travel Reviews

Indonesia was our second tour with OAT. As before, guide quality was exceptional. They do a great job of managing expectations as well as giving you choices for down time versus extra activities. I love how the trips are designed, with one-to-one interactions with local people to really get a sense of the place.

What could be better than sharing a meal at a home hosted dinner and having discussions with locals while on a bus? The very small groups and local guides make this trip authentic and you leave understanding the culture of the country.

I can’t imagine a better Africa Safari option than Overseas Adventure Travel. The people in Charge, the cultural learning and of course the animals all added up to a wonderful experience! We stayed in unique “tent” accommodations that made us feel like we were part of nature. The trip leader stayed with the group the whole time I took care of all of the details to ensure comfort, sightings and friendships. OT groups are small, our is only 13 people. I believe the maximum is 16 on their small group adventures.

I was not going to review my recent Heart of India trip until I had a most unpleasant chat with the rep. Although our guide was efficient and went above and beyond anything expected we had some difficulties with him. We did have words with him our last night and, although I have no proof, it appears that he got the others on the tour to write letters complaining about us. No one said a negative word, including the guide during the trip and the first we heard was from this conversation. Main complaints:

Wonderful trip. Had the best tour leader. He was very accommodating and attentive to our needs. Perfectly paced. Only comment I have is that we were there as a group and it was listed in the O.A.T.S. document. Our rooms were not close by. Our leader was able to make adjustments. It should not have been his responsibility. Since we were listed as a group headquarters should have been responsible.

We have traveled as a family (parents, 13 and 14 yo) with private and group tours with no complaints. These trips ranged from $8k to $18k, without airfare. The companies were able to find air fare to our request. The entire registration process was easy, hassle/glitch free and the tours were well organized with no last-minute surprises. Our experience with Overseas Adventure Travel was the exact opposite. Firstly, they require minors to have an email address to e-sign OAT’s terms and conditions. Our minor children do not have emails so those had to be sent by USPS. Why does OAT expect a 13 and 14 yo to accept their terms and conditions? Strange indeed!

Absolutely wonderful! We have traveled OAT in the past and will continue to travel with them. Very organized, helpful, great tour guides that are very knowledgeable and personable. Our hotels are top notch and the portage of luggage is a dream. We only had to deal with our own carry on. Had plenty of time to do "our own thing" in each place we visited. We even went to see a play on our own! Love the small groups of no more than 16. We had 11 which was great and our group was a lot of fun. My husband did injure himself and needed hospital care for a day. Travel insurance is a must, which we had, and they were excellent in helping on our journey home. He had to keep his leg straight! Injured his knee. But all ended well.

I've been on 10 previous tours, with "upscale" tour companies, and many road trips and business trips. This was my first OAT tour and I've been telling friends that is among the best trips that I've ever taken. I expected the Nazca Lines to be the highlight of our Nazca and Amazon tour. The Nazca Lines were a highlight, but there were so many more highlights as well. The trip leader was terrific in every way. The naturalist who joined us for our days in the Amazon rainforest was amazing. Accommodations were as described and always part of the experience. The hikes, including the hills, and everything else were as described. The whole adventure far exceeded my expectations.

Just returned from a trip to Southern Italy. Traveling to Naples, Ischia Island, the Amalfi Coast, along with a pre-trip to Tuscany was a dream come true for me. This was my 1st overseas adventure and OAT presented me with a total immersive experience. The OAT travel leaders that we met on this trip both showed a love for their beautiful country and a desire to share this love and knowledge with others. Meeting with some of the local people and merchants was a real highlight. Visiting with the Pasta maker and his wife in Grangnano was a real joy. They explained the working of their little business and actually had us try our hand at making pasta. What fun! Can't stop talking about this trip. I highly recommend traveling with OAT.

Our first trip with OAT was exceptional, both immersive and educational. Our experienced guide lived up to that title in every way. My wife and I have traveled regularly for forty years and both agree that this trip was in our top three trips ever! Worth every penny. Highly recommend.

This was my first group tour. Everything about it was beyond excellent. The hotels, the actual tour, the food but especially the tour leader. Pepe was so knowledgeable, very concerned for his group, was flexible when little changes needed to be made and everyone on the trip (many had traveled extensively) said that he was the best tour leader they had had. I will certainly go in another OAT tour!

I've traveled internationally with OAT more than a dozen times and every experience has been exceptional, including my most recent 17-day journey through New Zealand. Their guides are uniformly excellent - knowledgeable, highly competent, friendly and responsive to the travelers' needs. When my husband fell ill in India, for example, our trip leader quickly arranged for a driver and translator to rush him to a local clinic, which provided the diagnosis and treatment he needed.

Enjoyed Australia/New Zealand and the respected guides. This is a very busy trip with a lot of tap and pay more than any trip yet especially considering the cost. Lots of walking uphill on uneven surfaces. Please consider before tackling this trip. Few hotels have baggage delivery to rooms any longer. I personally enjoyed New Zealand the best.

Rym in Algiers and Tarek in Tunisia were excellent, knowledgeable and caring tour guides. Our breakfasts and lunches were very adequate and often we did not have to expend extra for dinner on our own. The Algerians loved American visitors and we were often approached by them with a smile and comments such as "welcome to Algeria." Tourism is still at its infant stage. Physical agility is needed for the Tunisian trip as many of the towns have uneven cobblestone streets. The hotel bath rooms have no holding bars or anti slip pads an elderly need to be careful stepping into the high rim bathtubs and avoid falls. The most enjoyable part of the trip was visiting the many medinas and the camel ride in the desert in Tunisia. The Roman ruins in Dougga was exceptional.

This was my 15th trip with OAT, and they keep getting better. If you’re interested in Roman ruins WITHOUT the crowds, skip Italy and travel to Tunisia and Algeria. Just WOW! This trip was spectacular, with beautiful landscapes and a lot of diversity. I always appreciate the opportunity to stay in unusual lodgings, and Tunisia offered some unique stays — from a converted Berber storage facility in Tataouine, to a tented desert camp in the Sahara, to “treehouse” cabins in the Tozeur Oasis. All were memorable experiences.

This is my first experience with O.A.T. regarding the Back Roads of the Iberian Peninsula. Even though I have been on several overseas travel with other companies, I did not bother to write any reviews. However, our trip experience leader, Miguel ** made our trip so memorable that I am compelled to write something positive. First of all, I was most impressed with his vast knowledge and his sense of humor regarding the history of the places that we visited. I liked that he summarized our daily adventures on our ride back to the hotels and the following morning bus ride. For someone like me who is very forgetful of my daily events, this was extremely helpful. Other than seeing various famous sites, I very much appreciated being able to spend an evening with a local family to share our culinary and cultural differences.

My first OATs trip was to Southeast Asia, "Ancient Kingdoms" and it was exceptional! The main guide (Mai of Thailand) stayed with us for the 18 days, she was thorough and very attentive for our safety, health and enjoyment needs. Additionally, each of the other countries (Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam) had local guides. OATs does a wonderful job not only in selecting the guides and training them, but each guide added to the basic information by sharing their personal experiences and great sense of humor. The local community experiences OATs scheduled made the trip very meaningful and brought greater insight to the lives and perspectives of the local families. It was a wonderful experience! Thank you

Excellent guiding! Champion managed all the details of herding 15 people through a very and varied unusual environment with skill and grace, so that our experience was seamless. His knowledge was wide and deep and welcomed questions about any topic. He made the history, culture and challenges of each country come alive. You would be very lucky to travel with him.

I have gone on 6 of their tours and have 3 coming up. There are no more than 16 in a group. Tour leaders with us all the time. Free time or they suggest other things to do if you don’t want free time. Free time is not a lot but just the right amount. Could not be happier with any other group as I am with them. Reasonably priced as well.

I have just completed my sixth trip with OAT and continue to feel they are the best value for the single traveler. The itineraries are carefully planned, the trip leaders are always excellent, the accommodations, meals and transport are first rate and we gain access to sites and people that we would not meet by random chance. I highly recommend OAT for those who no longer want to deal with all the stressful logistics of travel.

We recently returned from an Immersion experience in Morocco. It was absolutely wonderful!!! I cannot think of a single thing that could be considered less than 5 stars. Our tour leader, Mohammed **, deserves about 10 stars (on a scale of 1-5) - he was that good! The tour was extremely well organized and led. Not a single problem with OAT, from booking to returning home. On the basis of this one tour, I heartily recommend OAT. And I totally recommend Morocco as a place you just have to experience.

This was my first OAT tour and I have very mixed feelings about the experience. The pros: Well organized and communicative, each of our tour guides were excellent (John, Kirsty, Link), passionate, knowledgeable and enthusiastic. The accommodations were very good-- clean, roomy, friendly staff...not a lemon in the group. The cons: The food was marginal, not much in the way of salads or vegetables. Finally, the actual tour, with hits and misses, mostly misses. Visited an "Animal Sanctuary"--basically it is a petting zoo. And I got to see animals that I could see in my own hometown zoo. I could have fed the kangeroos, if I pushed a 6 year old out of the way to do so. The Great Barrier Reef--one of the reasons I chose OAT is its limit of 16 people/tour. On the day we visited the reef we were on a boat with our tour and about 100 other people.

Wonderful, interesting, fun trip to the Azores and Madeira. Our guide was experienced and very knowledgeable, helped by the fact that he was a native of one of the islands. Plans changed some because of weather but OAT handled this really well. Beautiful hotels, great food.

From the time we first contacted the OAT customer service to when we said goodbye to our great guide, the experience with OAT was spectacular. The two parts that really excelled were how we not only hit the highlight locations in Morocco but spent time with the people. We had 4 visits to their homes, on site experiences with music, leather, fossils and pottery that added so much to the trip. The other part was how much we had in common and learned from the other 13 people on our tour. It was as good as you could imagine and a great bargain for the price.

One of the best, most informative and interesting trips I have taken. I included Taipei Taiwan as a pre-trip and Tibet as a post-trip. I highly recommend both of the add on trips but if you have to choose one I recommend Tibet ~ as long as you do not have respiratory issues. 12.000 feet above sea level takes acclimation and can be difficult for anyone with respiratory issues. All the local guides were amazing and very well informed. I traveled with 2 people that were traveling with Overseas Adventure Travel for the first time. They had traveled with other tour companies and were amazed at the quality of hotels, activities and guides they received traveling with OAT compared to the tour companies they had experienced before.

My husband and I decided to try something out of our comfort zone - a trip to Morocco. It was a wonderful adventure. Trying new foods is not my forte, but I had good meals every day. The accommodations were unique - nothing like hotels in Europe or the U.S. Our guide was excellent - we enjoyed his company and expertise. I have been raving about this trip to everyone who asks me about my experience, and highly recommend OAT.

We have traveled 11 times with OAT and Grand Circle on small group land tours, small ships and river cruises. Travelers not only see the famous sites, but also the "off the beaten path" things that most tourists may miss. They arrange home visits and other opportunities to meet the people of the area. "Learning and discovery" is their motto and you find yourself learning (in a fun way) much more than you anticipated. When we travel with OAT, we find that many of our travel companions are repeat customers, having traveled with OAT many times. This loyalty speaks to the quality of the experience.

Our Moroccan trip with OAT was very immersive and authentic. Our guide was exceptional with his knowledge of the places we visited, as were the local guides. Our accommodations were wonderful and also authentic with beautiful mosaic design and furniture. Meeting the local families was a highlight. (I believe there were four families.) The only suggestion I would give overall is the variety of food choices was repetitious.

Excellent trip, probably the best one so far. Diverse comes to mind when I describe it to friends. Ocean to desert to mountains. The scenery, people, animals and guide made for a great trip. The lodging was excellent. The "tents" were much more than I expected. Said, our guide was excellent. His knowledge was hard to believe. Friendly and helpful. Highly recommend.

The wild Ecuador, Amazon, and the Galapagos were very beautiful with plenty of wildlife. You should consider the ability and agility to be a difficult and not moderate like advertise. The guides were wonderful. The food was excellent. The accommodations were great.