This review is to help make others aware that if you have a trip booked with Trafalgar your trip and money may be at risk. Here is what has happened with my trip.
I booked a "Real Britain" tour with Trafalgar, a nine-day trip through England and Scotland. The trip was booked in August of 2021, and I have paid in full. Two days ago (59 days before our trip), I received an email from Jackie Di Lecce telling me my trip was withdrawn (Trafalgar speak for cancelation). There was no indication that the email was from Trafalgar. I might have just skipped over the email, but it had my booking number. I looked at the Trafalgar web site to check my status. Everything looked OK. Still showed number of days till the trip. No message or any indication that anything was amiss. I decided to call Trafalgar and find out what was happening. After a long time on hold a person named Francisco Mora finally came on the line. I explained about the letter and the web site. He told me that the letter probably came from their Withdrawal Team. He also confirmed that our trip had been withdrawn. He explained that I had the option of booking the same trip on a different date or I could get a refund. He also informed me that the refund would take 90 days. I explained to him I needed the money to book a tour with another company. He put me on hold and when he came back, he told me they were going to be able to expedite the refund. Now it was only going to be 30 days. I told him I needed to research tours offered by other companies before I made my decision. I asked if there was a phone number that I could call without the long wait. He said he would send me an email with details and his phone number. I received his email. No number and it only said "This is my email, feel free to ask me any questions you may have. Thank you." I sent him a reply asking to have validation on Trafalgar letter head verifying that the refund was in process. I also asked why the website still showed the trip as active and again about a contact number. In his response, he did not answer about the web site and told me there was no such number.
So here I am less than two months from our trip, and it's canceled. I have purchased airfare and a river cruise through Europe based on the Trafalgar tour start date. I have found a few other tours that might work but the dates are not the same and will require additional nights of lodging or air fare changes.
Bottom line: I will never book with Trafalgar again and I am making it my personal mission to alert everyone of the risks when booking with Trafalgar. read more
