We really enjoyed our trip. The activities were amazing, especially the crocodile safari, and the zip lining. The weather did not always cooperate but we always managed to have fun. We had the best tour guide and driver. The hotels OK. They all had very nice views. The sleeping arrangements were comfortable enough but the rooms almost all were damp and had a musty odor. It rained everyday and there often was not enough space to hang our clothes to dry. A hotel with a dryer for clothes would have been nice. I had some unpleasantness with the family of one of the students when they did not get the covid vaccine and their trip needed to be cancelled. I felt like I was overly involved in the enforcement of the covid protocols and when we got to Costa Rica, no one checked our vaccine record or negative covid status. I would recommend traveling with Explorica.

The trip was awesome. However, I do have a couple of concerns. Our trip included a school visit, however, the visit was scheduled for a Sat, which did not work. So the tour director had to reschedule the visit. I don't know why, but 2 days of activities got crammed into one day, as the government shut down the national park on a Tues. I was disappointed that we did not get to experience the complete excursion of this park.

Explorica did an excellent job pulling together two trips for us on a short notice. Laura was great!

This was my first trip to Costa Rica with explorica.We were a small group of 6 travelers. It was quite nice and enjoyable. Great food and almost all accomodations were great as well. The order of the activities in our itinerary were slightly changed once we were there but no a big deal.The reason I am not providing 5 starts is because when we arrived there was not transportation for my group. We were not greeted nicely and welcomed, but I am assuming that was a result of airport stress. The tour guide said we had to wait 4 hours (from 12pm to 4pm) at the airport until 2 more groups arrived, kids were tired and one of them was throwing up so she recommended us to pay for a taxi. She called her friend and in less than a minute we had a taxi ready for us, like it was planned ahead of time and she charged us $30, $5 each. Another not so enjoyable event was our time at Eco Arenal Hotel. We were treated by the onwer as a merchandise. She kept lying about the pool, promising it was going to be ready for us soon, but it never happened. Kids were rooming in groups of 4, however only 2 towels were provided per room. When we asked for more, the owner was mad stating they were closed and only opened to accommodate explorica groups and we shouldn't ask for anything. Food was disgusting there also. Gallo pinto in the morning was sour, like old and rotten and dinner was like can meat and fried beans thrown in a plate. The owner got mad every time we asked for more coffee, milk or juice since everything was always too limited. Things got very uncomfortable when she, herself, mistreated our students commanding to pick up their plates from the tables in a very rude and disrespectful way. She stated that explorica had to tell us because it was part of the agreement. This was the only place we were expected to pick up our plates. We would have done it happily if that was part of the experience and if we would have been told clearly and in a good manner, but no one mistreat my students on my watch. Explorica should remove Eco Arenal from the list and stop making business with the owner Laura. Last but not least, I called explorica 1 week before the trip to pay for the optional activities since I noticed that not everyone in my group chose all of them. I was willing to pay myself for everything but explorica said it was too late, and everything had been arranged. Well, I understood. However, once we arrived the tour guide said that anyway I had a free place (later she changed her mind, she said she made a mistake and I had to pay as well) if I wanted to go. I said that I wouldn't because I wasn't leaving any of my kids behind, she said they could pay for it, but only in cash and more expensive than the explorica price. I did pay for everything myself even when I knew that I was being overcharged, however it didn't make explorica looks professional. I paid because it was a shame for me to start asking my students for more money than expected. I also didn't have a good communication with our tour consultants close to departure date. 1 month before the trip, once all was fully paid I guess, they both stopped emailing me/ calling me. I didn't even receive e tickets for my group. All I knew was that we were traveling with United on May 31st, so I called united and find out all details on my own 24 hours before departure. In general I don't have any major complaints about Explorica, I just suggest the company to make sure that the tour guides remain professional about cash flow, keep an eye on the quality of the service provided in the hotels, and ask the tour consultants to take better care of the group leaders traveling for first time. I am sure they assumed I knew what to do, where to find info, but didn't realize I didn't get trained because covid, all training trips were canceled, and I was a first time group leader. I hope Explorica would still consider to provide a training program to answer all my questions.

I and 9 other travelers are still in Europe due to the ridiculous COVID policies and I have done ALL the logistics as our group has been split into three different groups. This trip has been awful and even before the covid cases messed it up. Whoever planned it did not look at a map. We spent way too much time on the bus because it was poorly planned. I want refunds for my travelers and I have already canceled next year's tour. We had no support and I felt isolated and way too stressed and especially tough while sick. Disaster. Our Tour Director felt the same way. One bad day after another.....much more later when I get home. If I ever get home

We walked 7.2 miles on arrival day because our guide did not have subway tickets, 7.9 miles the next. The food was below average and the portions were very small. Our hotel rooms had moldy bathrooms, we were over one hour (by coach) from the attractions and they tried to put together students from different groups. The parents traveling with us were even asked to share a room (they refused). First and last experience with Explorica!

We had a great trip. We did need a new tour director, as our first director was rude and unorganized. Explorica was able to get us someone new by the next day. One night our dinner had not been paid for- our tour director put it on his company card.

It was and amazing touring person he made every one feel confident it was the bests experience ever thank you explorica to make my dreams come true!! 😍

We had the most amazing time in Niagara Falls and Western NY. We know that this was a completely custom tour and one that Explorica doesn't offer in their regular catalog, yet everything went so well. We highly recommend working with Amanda and our Tour Director, Rebecca. It was so nice to not be stressed about the logistics and I got to relax for once!

The trip was great and our tour guide was excellent. My only suggestions is to even out the activities. On Saturday, our first full day, our schedule was pretty packed and students only had about an hour for free time and lunch. We had a lot less to do the second full day, Sunday, and students had about 3.5 hours of free time. I would like to see it be more equal. Also, I'm not sure what happened but on the way home, our original bus driver stopped at the bus depot in Schenectady and switched drivers. He got off the bus without saying anything to anyone and a new driver got on without even introducing herself. It was fairly awkward and no one had any idea what was going on. It would be nice to be kept in the loop if you want to pass this along to the bus company