AffordableTours.com
Reviews and Complaints

I booked a tour to Mexico in February 2020. The tour was to take place in December 2020. My travel consultant was Sonny Johnson at extension 5177. At the time of booking I paid the deposit to hold the tour. Several days later I purchased the travel insurance. The next time I heard from her was October when the final payment was due. To my surprise I found out that I didn’t have plane tickets. The agent stated that I refused tickets at the time of booking. It was half a year ago, and this is not true. There was no communication during all these months, no updates, no advisories, no offers. When I tried to find out what happened with tickets, Sonny Johnson got very agitated and impatient. She did not admit to making a mistake, she said that she was going to put in a ticket to customer service so I was transferred to another agent. She didn’t take my phone calls, so in order to pay for air insurance on time, I had to go through another agent. I also ended up overpaying for the last minute airplane tickets. This kind of unprofessional and incompetent service reflects poorly on company.

We booked a guided tour to Costa Rica through affordabletours.com in July/Aug. They were impossible to get through email or on the phone. I tried to contact the agent that was supposed to be working with us on the phone several times. The only way to get anyone on the phone was to call the main number and leave out the ext number of the person you are trying to contact. My husband is more for emails, they still haven't responded to the first email we sent back in July. The quoted us for a flight that was just not a good time of day. We tried to get them to change for a different time. It took almost an entire week to get anyone on the phone. They told us they could get us the flight we wanted but then didn't book it but they charged us for it. It was a bit more expensive than the one they had us on. They wouldn't give us a refund, instead they advised us to book tours that the tour company offered. So we did that. We booked a few and they were fine. We booked one tour, they gave us the paperwork for it, and when the time came we found out they booked us on the wrong one. The tour company wouldn't give us a refund. They told us to ask affordable tours. My husband emailed them and they still haven't responded. It is almost $100 they owe us.

In June 2022, I was advised, in writing, that my tour to Sicily was fully paid for. Now I have received another email dated 10/21/21 that I now owe an additional $550. Yes, the dates are correct. Apparently, globus is telling trena, the travel agent at affordable tours, doesn't have a clue. This is a trip of my lifetime, meeting with my childhood friend of 6 to 6 years and her family.

I lost 3 dear family members in the last 6 months of 2019 including our daughter's husband, my husband of almost 57 years and our only son.

If someone has made a mistake at Affordable Tours or Globus, you should have errors and omissions as well as General Liability insurance to cover these types of mistakes., rather than nickle and dime your customers.

I can assure you that I will thoroughly explore any future travel with other tour companies.

Be careful when booking with Affordable Tours. The discounts that they claim to get for you is less than what you can get from the actual tour company. Allso the booking payment confirmation email does not state that you will be penalized 5 % if you pay the amount with a credit card . Other tour companies will clearly state that payment with cash or check will merit you a 5% discount. While booking to get the sale the agent will tell you that you will get a further discount from the booking price if you pay by cash or check.When I tried to pay the final booking price payment on my confirmation statement the 5 % credit card penalty was added onto my final payment and I was forced to pay it since I was paying by credit card.

Affordable Tours Booking Ref # 612910

Affordable Tours duped me into paying a deposit which would have been fully refundable if the tour was not confirmed. While on the phone with them the debit was processed against my card. When the refund had to be made, I battled for three days to finally obtain a payment confirmation that the funds would be reflected on my card within 5 to 7 days. Three weeks later, there is no sign of this refund or any documentation that it was in fact made. Today Affordable Tours is distancing them from this refund. All I get from Affordable Tours is "don't speak to us, speak to the tour operator" while being unable to provide a specific contact who allegedly processed the payment and refund. Be very careful of handing your credit card details to this company. When things go well Affordable Tours provide some service but when things go wrong, the people who took your money will blame your bank and the operator but will in no way assist.

Do not book with affordable tours. They never return phone calls or answer emails when have your money for a vacation. I have contacted them numerous times to receive my itinerary, flight info., invoice. My agent lawren is terrible. I have never heard back from her. I had to contact am waterways myself to get this info on my river cruise to the rhine. I dont even know where i am on the ship.
You are better off contacting vacations to go. They are very professional and they are there for you. This is a rinky dink operation. They might save you a few dollars but you will pay with agravation and disapointment.

I've saved for 5 years to take a trip for my 50th birthday. I chose a 'reputable'' company that apparently uses AffordabeTours.com to book the trip details. Never in my life have I been so confused, disappointed and frustrated in the customer service and tactics of a company that I wanted to give my money to!

They have invisible procedures, unknown to the customer and imaginary 72 hour policies to ''approve'' your trip, and you can not ask for help from another travel agent, (or accidentally click a button that sends your info to another agent)! You'll get your hand slapped, and told they can no longer 'assist' you, as did agents Rachel and Amalia did, and eventually due to their chaos and drama, my trip was Denied!

Don't even bother with contacting a customer service manager, they'll basically repeat what the agents said, as did Naomi did me. Basically because I accidentally 'played outside the imaginary lines', I was in the wrong.

Please also note that AFTER Amalia Denied my trip on 1/9/2018 at 5:29pm ET, Rachel emailed me a ''friendly reminder'' on 1/10 at 5:21PM telling me I needed to complete my trip details (i.e. down payment)!

I have proof that Paige stated on 1/9 at 2:21 pm ET that she could No Longer Assist me due to the reasons state above. And then later on the same day, Amalia DENIED my trip. (However, Paige sent me a friend reminder to complete my booking the very next afternoon). This meant that I could not benefit from the discounts that were available to, me before they wasted my time. Before I contacted the primary company, I spent several days researching and planning for this trip, only to deal with AffordableTours.com, who in my experience, is Not about the customer, but only about who gets credit for the customer's trip.

I urge you to be very careful if you decide with any travel company that uses AffordableTours.com as a 3rd party!

I booked the Western Australia Adventure back in Oct, on the 6th.the price stated, in Oct. at $3799.00 with a discount, bringing the price down to $3609.05. Today I was on Affordable Tours Web site. the new price was $3230.00. I called them, and asked for a refund of the remaining discount of$379.05. They called G Adventures, they would not give me the difference.do not book more than a month ahead of the tour, or you will get stuck with the starting price. Dennis Grazick Lilburn Ga. Jan 10, 2016

This is to express my disappointment and frustration with Affordabletours.com, office located on Stafford, TX, and specifically with Lee Barefield, a so-called travel consultant. After carefully planning my trip to India, based on his quote, I subsequently learned that the cost of the tour had increased for almost $1, 000. What is very upsetting to me is that, prior to paying for my deposit, I had asked Lee Barefield if there was any change in price and he said “NO”. When I confronted him about the outrageous change in the price quoted, his response was “I did call them and that’s what they said.” Just that simple. Needless to say, I did not go to India. I sent a letter to Affordable Tours, Monogram and Globus asking to honor Lee Barefield’s first quote. I never received a response let alone an apology. Stay away from Affordable Tours. They don’t seem to know what they are doing nor do they care either.

We booked a 19-day Insight Vacations "Treasures of Spain, Portugal and Morocco " tour through www.affordabletours.com because we were lured by the discount they offered. Everything went smoothly until we had completed the booking and made a down payment. At that point, Affordable Tours revealed its true nature, and customer service came to a virtual standstill. Our problem arose from the fact that one of the travelers was a non-US/non-EU national who required tourist visas for all the countries to be visited. It turned out that Affordable Tours will offer no advice or assistance on visa-related questions. We were referred to their preferred "visa processing service, " which failed to respond to our inquiry. In preparing for this tour, we needed specific details for the tourist visa applications that should have been immediately available as part of the online booking information, but wasn’t and getting it proved to be like “pulling teeth” and required multiple e-mail exchanges. In one case, we were left dangling without the required hotel details only to find out that Rick Contreras, our so-called "travel consultant, " had gone on vacation without informing us, so we had to generate a separate e-mail request to another staffer who then provided it. Subsequently, we asked two very basic, simple, but specific, additional questions regarding our booking, and in each case, ran into the proverbial brick wall with Affordable Tours. Here are these two instances:

1. Once it became clear that we would be unable to obtain a Gibraltar visitor’s visa in a timely fashion for the non-US citizen traveler because his visa application had to be sent to the Gibraltar authorities for review, which might have required up to two months, we asked a direct and simple question: Can he wait at the Spanish border (and where) for the return of the group from Gibraltar? We quickly got the brush-off from Affordable Tours ... "we don’t know, you can’t alter the tour itinerary” (something we never asked for!), it’s up to the tour director, don’t bother us!" At our insistence, Rick Contreras finally contacted Insight Vacations and got a very forthcoming, satisfactory answer: "No problem, there are a number of options, the tour director will take good care of you." Problem solved!

2. Later, we asked for the scheduled return time to the hotel from the morning tour in Fes, Morocco, on 12 August, to enable us intelligently to schedule an independent excursion to Volubilis and Meknes, two UNESCO World Heritage sites, for that afternoon. Same stone wall: "We don’t know; it’s up to the tour director, don’t bother us." We then escalated the request to the "travel consultant's" supervisor, Marilyn Minke. Ms. Minke took no additional action. Rather than contacting the our operator, Insight Vacations, for an answer, she provided a brush-off, generic response, stating essentially "... we cannot tell you the exact start and end times of the tour (something we had never asked for; we needed merely the scheduled times); it's up to the tour director." We then contacted Insight Vacations directly ourselves and promptly received a very satisfactory response which allowed us to book the desired excursion. Prior to our departure on the tour, I expressed my anger and disappointment about the customer service we had received form the Affordable Tours staff to the company CEO/Chairman, Jaime Fernandez, via direct e-mail. Mr. Fernandez dit not deem my complaint worthy of a response.

Our conclusion from this experience is that AffordableTours.com is a discount seller/clearinghouse for multiple tour operators, whose sole focus is on selling tours. Once the sale is closed, the customer is essentially on his/her own. The so-called "travel consultants" employed by Affordable Tours are untrained and unfamiliar with the tours they sell, show no interest in anticipating customer problems or questions, and treat queries with indifferent nonchalance; when pressed, they find it easier to make excuses for inaction than taking positive action in the spirit of providing service to the customer. We will never book anything through Affordable Tours. DO NOT BE LURED, AS WE WERE, BY THE DISCOUNT; IT IS NOT WORTH THE TIME AND AGGRAVATION EXPENDED IN DEALING WITH THIS COMPANY! The experience with Affordable Tours stands in stark contrast to the very excellent service and high quality provided by Insight Vacations, the tour operator.

I booked a cruise on Carnival and was told by the travel agent at Affordable Tours that I would receive $75 onboard credit when I arrived at the ship. I never received it. When I returned from the cruise, the agent said I was supposed to bring a certificate with me. I told her I never received a certificate and I was promised the credit when I boarded the ship. She said she was on vacation and has no backup so couldn't advise me that I needed a certificate. When I called Carnival I was told that Affordable Travel never paid for the onboard credit. Affordable Tours has done nothing to resolve this situation. Don't use them. They are very unprofessional.

When I first called AffordableTours.com and spoke to one of their customer service agents, they told me that all available vacation planners were busy, but would call me back. I received a call within 10 mins to my surprise. I had initially called about a cheap 3 day Caribbean cruise where I wanted nothing but the minimum inside cabin, but ended up taking a longer day 7 day cruise with a balcony thanks to Andy! Not only was the price of the cruise a steal, the service that he gave and knowledge that Andy had about the cruise line and the destination were outstanding.

I checked on the other 'pure' online sites and just wasn't completely comfortable with booking online, which is why I decided to call AffordableTours.com. After talking to Andy, I was booked and immediately sent an email confirmation that broke down the price of the cruise, the savings that I received by booking through them, the itinerary and more. After we got back, Andy actually called and asked how the cruise went - I'm not sure if they are forced to make the call, or if he just remembered, but at any rate, I was pleasantly surprised!

Overall satisfaction with both Andy and AffordableTours.com is an A+. I take about 3 cruises a year, and from now on, they will all be with AffordableTours.com.

As many of you most know, the winter months are difficult months to deal with. The weather is very cold, the icy roads are frightening and the sun is no longer warm and appealing. These things combine for the desire to make a great winter getaway. What better place to go than on a cruise!

Recently, I coyly suggested a cruise to my hubby to go to some remote tropical place. He suggested that I "check it out on the internet". Being the money conscience one in the marriage, he was interested in price comparisons. Well, this was not going to be a problem for me. First stop, ResellerRatings, of course. Then I excitedly headed over to AffordableTours.com. What impressed me first about this site is the very easy navigation. It was pretty quick and painless getting started. For those unfamiliar with website navigation, I highly recommend this site for that reason alone! Just a few clicks of the mouse, and boom, I had my prices and so much more unlike some sites I visited, I did not have to sign up or register to get the free price quotes.

There are several ways to get information from Affordable Tours Cruises in order to obtain the best price for my desired winter getaway. I decided to use the Search Cruises. Of course I needed to know beforehand what my destination would be, when I wanted to travel, if I desired a specific cruise line with any specific special interests.

I have never been to Tahiti, so that was my first choice. Departure month was easy...I picked January 2013! I decided that the longer the trip the better, so I clicked on an 11 night cruise! Moments later, the Cruise Wizard showed me that there were 2 cruises on the Princess Cruise Lines and 2 cruises on the Oceania Cruise Lines departing in January for Tahiti! Whoop Whoop! My four choices included a lovely picture of the cruise ship with many vivid details describing the ship. The total price was available including how much percent I would save.

Another thing that greatly impressed me about this site is the comparison table. Not only does it tell me what the differences are between cruises, as far as price, itinerary, and ports, it also showed me a little map of the route taken by each cruise ship! It also has information on nearly every port a ship stops during the route, with the weather, the things to do and description!

If you are in the market for booking a cruise, whether for this blustery winter getaway or any time, I do highly recommend checking with this wonderful easy to use website.

I had no need to interact with customer service, but it is greatly comforting to know that there is round the clock support which is toll free!
Seeing the bad reviews here, I was definitely going to write my experience.

I am an avid traveler and I have never used an internet based company. I am a brick and mortar type guy I dont believe it til I see it. My daughter went to France for a week and a half came back and told me how awesome her trip was and how me and her mother should visit. We talked about it and then got around to price. So I went to my local agency and got a price and told my daughter and she said wait thats very high you should try Affordabletours.com. I looked and yes they had a cheaper price but I was still leery. I used there price tracker were u pick a price and they notify you when it reaches it. After about 2 weeks I got an email saying my priced was reached I was called by Terri and she went over the particulars. Everything sounded good but I really didnt want to work with a call center I asked if I could come by the office and she said sure why not. So I went by and to my surprise it wasnt run by robots. It was real people and I even got a brochure outlining my trip and it was amazing. 3 months later I got my travel documents and France here we come. The Trip was amazing and we had the time of our lives. I am glad my daughter helped me over come my fear to use internet companies.

My husband and I booked the Globus Monogram Tour from June 4 to 14, 2011 through Affordable Tours.Com. While we were on the exploratory stage, the booking agent was very attentive. She would answer all our inquiries immediately. However, after we have made the full payment, she became scarce. We had told her that we wanted to get our documents at least two weeks before the tour because we were leaving for Barcelona on May 25. The agent, Teri Baxter, assured us this is possible. However, as the date of our departure to Barcelona approached, our documents were not sent. On the eve of our flight, I called her up long distance to request for the documents. She checked with Globus and said that she would send them immediately. The next morning, at 4 AM, the documents have not been sent. I had to call Globus directly and the person in charge immediately sent the documents and I was able to print them before our flight. We had also indicated that we wanted to book a post night in London for June 15. However, Globus booked us for June 14 because our instructions were not carried out correctly. Fortunately we were able to make the proper booking at the hotel in London when we got there. Because of my experience with Affordable Tours, I will not deal with them again.