EF Ultimate Break Reviews 

booked a trip in 2019 for a 2020 trip. EF cancelled it during Covid and didn't offer any travel during my desired time. I scheduled my own trip and went to Europe. I then rebooked a Australian trip (because I could not receive a refund) for 2023. Around Aug. 2022 I realized the trip would cost nearly 12k grand, I again requested a refund on my initial $4k down payment. I was told they would keep $600 to cover incurred cost for a trip that was over 250 days out. They handled this very poorly and I was spoken to very poorly. I would not recommend this travel agency. They are simply trying to take advantage of consumers at every opportunity.

I'm posting on here because EF doesn't post reviews 3 stars or less on their website (which is automatically a huge red flag). I just recently came back from a trip with EF, and it was so beyond disappointing. The only really great thing about this trip was the people. I loved my group and I loved my tour director.

But be warned, EF will give you terrible and cheap meals, accommodations, and flights. Starting with the meals, EF plans trips in some amazing cities, and the food is probably the most exciting part of these cities and a huge part of what makes it fantastic. Eating good quality food with good people is what makes any trip or event memorable. But the places EF led us to to eat, was so awful. It was so upsetting, and a waste of money. For flights, from where I live there are plenty of nonstop flights going to where I was going to for this trip. EF gave me long, grueling, inconvenient layovers in some random cities - and this was obviously to cut corners on the flights to keep more of my money. All of the hotels were dirty, outdated, and cheap.

If I'm paying so much money for a trip, EF must be pocketing a lot of it. Because it definitely did not go towards a good trip.

You can do as you will, but if I could go back in time and tell myself to not do the trip with EF...I would do it in a heartbeat. Don't say I didn't warn you.Just don't let them rob you.

*I cancel my trip and is almost 3 months after and I still haven’t received my money *
May 9,2023 i ask to cancel my trip, I ask to be refunded to the original card that I used(credit card) they told me no that they would send me a check.Mia Kelly send me a confirmation email stating that the check at most would that 2 weeks to get to me.June 1,2023 I emailed them saying I have not received the check, Ashley Palmer responded saying that checks that 4 weeks.June 10,2023 send another email, Ashley Palmer responded saying that the check was issue on May 17,2023.June 22,2023 send an email stating that I haven’t received my check,Ashley Palmer responded asking me what is my address.June 28,2023 I send another email saying that I haven’t received the check.On june 29,2023 Siena Cashan email me asking to confirm my address again.I send an email on July 1,2023.Ashley Palmer responded July 5,2023 saying that they send a new check.July 5,2025 Lara Bone( manager) send me an email saying that a new check was issue.July 11,2023 I send an email saying that I haven’t received my check,Ashley Palmer responded that the check was issued on June 29,2023.July 11,2023 Lara Bone(manager) tells that they are going to void that check and send a new one.They told me they Can issued an refund to my card on file(credit card), that they previously told they could not do.July 14,2023 I emailed them saying that I haven’t received any refunds.July 17,2023 I got a check I send an email to Lara Bone(manager) saying that I got the check.She responded saying that the claim was close.On July 20,2023 I got a notification from my bank saying that my account was overdrawn I call my bank and they told me that the check that I deposit did not have funds.I email back to Lara Bone(manager) telling her that my bank account was overdrawn because of them and she told that they send the check so I shouldn’t have any issue.She call me staying that it was a miscommunication issue on MY part and they would send a new check I decline and told them that they need to fix it today.She told me that was impossible after I threatened to take legal action she ask me for my checking account information when I ask when I would see the money in the account she told me that they send it immediately but it takes my bank account a couple of days to approve it.Couple of hours later she send me an email saying that they send the money.I call my bank because I don’t trust them(Ef trip) and my bank tells that they haven’t received anything.I send an email to Lara Bone and she responded that it takes Ef 2- 5 days to put the money in the account so she lied again.I have screenshot if anyone wants them please DONT USE THIS COMPANY.

It be nice if they didn't discriminate against older people and I think the whole 18 to 35 thing loses them a lot of business and I'm married to and older man and it be nice to be able for him to come on your too but he is in his 50s they don't give you what they say the will in advertising

I just came off of this trip and it was not worth it. The first hostel we were put in had 8 girls stuffed into ONE room with ONE bathroom. There was no air conditioning, and we were in the middle of a heatwave. If we had been given a warning that there's a chance we could be with 8 girls, we could have at least prepared mentally. Instead, we were blatantly lied to as the description and the EF app told us the maximum amount of people to a room is 4-6. The second hostel had 4 girls to a room, with a 3 inch gap under the bathroom door. This meant you could even hear the person breathing inside, not just their personal business. This hostel at least had AC. The third hostel was fine and we got individual rooms and AC. Besides that, our group was the smallest EF group ever with 12 people. Our tour director "revealed" to us at the end of the trip that this was his first tour but that was pretty obvious throughout the whole trip. I think EF allowed such a small group as guinea pigs for his first tour. As nice and lovely as as a person he was, he had little knowledge about any area we were in, got us on metros going wrong directions, and showed little interest in us. Our bus broke down while heading to an excursion and cut into our 2 hours + we got no tour guide, which was also paid for us by us. Our tour guide in Madrid was fighting random people on the street, yelling at people in museums. She took us to a museum and chose 3 paintings that she amateurly interpreted and then forced us all out of there presumably so she could get her tip outside. We did not get breakfast one day while travelling even though it's on the itinerary and supposed to be provided. There were other issues, but the biggest thing is they hide bad reviews on their website.

I have gone on two EF ultimate Trips.. and after the last experience, it will be the last.

First Trip, Iceland - was Good.. Basic, very general Itinerary, but well executed and great tour guide. EF screwed up Departure Transfers, but the tour guide got it all looked after for us.

Second most recent trip - TERRIBLE customer service, booked me on an airline that had a strike pending and did not care that I was concerned. I was brushed aside. On arrival, had to wait well over an hour for one other individual, and we had a rep take us on public transit to get to the hotel.
There is no formal Group introduction, Tour Guide was good but not great, a lot of details could have been better executed or communicated. Group dynamic is awful... They seem to encourage people to book with Friends or have "ambassadors" that book people and host a trip to get their own trip for free. so basically, they charge extra to provide free trips to people..

Terrible flights, terrible customer service - Very basic itineraries that don't do much outside of typical tourist experience, terrible effort put into the group dynamic, overpriced for what you get. Hotels are not in good locations, going for cost vs convenience and experience.

Oh and they also won't post all review on their own website, unless its a high enough rating.. so very misleading

This company is a scam. They had the flight tickets booked under united airlines. When we reached Chicago(our connection location), we were informed that they only terminal and airline flying to Dublin, was NOT United Airlines. They had booked us on the wrong airline, or they misprinted tickets. There were other people that we did not know, on this tour at the airport at the same time. Their tickets were correct, but mine and my travel partners were not. This led to us missing our flight to Europe. When trying to contact EF regarding a rebooking of the flight, they blamed us for this error and wanted to charge $800+ for new flights. If we had done that, we would have missed two full days of our tour, that they would not refund us for.
EF is an absolute scam. We are not college students, rather adults in their late twenties. This was no fault to ours, this is all to blame on EF. Absolutely worst customer service.

Disclaimer: I really wanted to give this trip 5 stars, but I also have to give a fair and balanced review. Despite the stars, I love what EF stands for and have recommended & convinced others to book with this company!

Let's start with the pros:

It's Europe! Even in winter, the experience is nothing short of amazing, simply due to the nature of seeing iconic places you've always dreamed of visiting. Just show up and be amazed. And don't forget to leave packing room for souvenirs, budget for excursions that may come up & save some funds to tip your tour director at the end. Having an awesome and experienced tour guide helped with making most of the trip enjoyable and smooth sailing. Navigating things was made easy by bus passes, apps and a super responsive and helpful tour director. Overall, this tour was a really lovely combination of structure and freedom. Faced paced for sure, but well worth the energy investment. (YOLO, right?) Rome and London are great places to start and end the tour, but I might suggest restructuring the trip to add an extra day to Paris or one of the other shorter stops along the road trip. I also highly recommend booking in advance the Anne Frank House tour in Amsterdam. This was by far the most impactful highlight of the trip.

The cons:

Logistics and safety. Despite being unable to be connected with a member of the flight team during a several-hour long delay in checking into my return flight at the airport and experiencing a separate lengthy delay in getting a response from EF's travel insurance company regarding medical expenses upon my return home, my main grievance is with the lack of concern for participant safety as evidenced by the lack-luster response to my direct complaint about the utilization of 3-level bunk beds for tour bookings. After experiencing physical trauma I'll now have to live with for the rest of my life, I would have expected more than a suggestion to simply upgrade my pre-booked future trip to ultimate plus. The reasonable suggestion wasn't made in preference, but in genuine concern for future participants. The notion that adjusting future EF tours to only book hostel rooms with standard 2-level bunks is infeasible "due to the nature of things in Europe" is both dismissive and inaccurate, as only one hostel of the 5 countries we visited was booked with a 3-bunk option.

A lot of people book with a tour company because they presume its safer to have the umbrella of a company looking out for you during your travels. In my case with EF, this was both true and untrue.

They no longer post 3 stars or less on the site. So, the post I submitted for the European Road trip never got posted there. The exact review, which is by all means fair, is what I've pasted above.

The London-Paris-Amsterdam trip through EF Ultimate Break was terrific! When looking into travel programs, one aspect I want is organization. EF was highly organized. From flights to transportation in each city to the activities planned, EF had everything down pat.
Our tour leader, Kyri, was equally as fabulous. He was fun and excited to show us each city. A guide can make or break a tour, and Kyri made ours special.
I would highly recommend looking into a trip with EF!

They are very much irrational....a trip cost 1800 and they want to keep 1k for cancelling regardless of the issues you are having. Do not book with this company! Plan you own trip or find someone else.

I had the most horrible experience with EF Ultimate. They have horrible customer service and customer satisfaction. They will do anything to take your money, and it is sneaky. DO NOT SIGN UP WITH THIS COMPANY. They will scam you.

I had a horrendous experience with EF, and would discourage anyone from booking a tour with them! I was scheduled to go on an African safari in February 2023. Because I am a US citizen, a Visa is required to go on the tour. When using the link provided by EF to secure my Visa, the website said the application needed completed by December 22, 2022. One step in the application process was to input the address of the first place you would be staying during your trip. This information was not available in my trip portal, and customer service told me this information would not be available until January 16, well after when the application was due. After numerous unanswered emails and multiple lengthy, unhelpful calls, EF told me if I couldn't get the Visa it would be my own problem and they wouldn't give me my money back, even though they refused to give me the information I needed to get said Visa. The final resolution was my canceling my trip and losing half of my money along with the trip insurance. This was frustrating, heartbreaking, and overall a terrible experience!

The only positive thing about this entire trip was our tour guide who was knowledgeable and kind despite all the horrible things that happened during the trip.

To start, EF puts you on the worst flights imaginable. My first flight (out of 3) was cancelled the night before I was supposed to leave and EF refused to help me. I spent 8 hours on hold with the airline to get booked on another flight. I made it to my second flight and was denied boarding for no reason (at the fault of the airline). I called the 24/7 EF emergency line and they said they could only help me during business hours from Mon - Fri between 8am - 5pm ET. I later learned they helped someone else on my trip over the weekend, which was outside their "business hours." The emergency line is useless and the people who answer the phone are incompetent. I was stranded in another country for 24 hours with no assistance from EF and still had not made it to my destination. They refused to help me with the airlines, booking a hotel for the night or meals. When I finally made it to my destination, I had missed 2 days of the trip.

The hotels on the trip are the worst I've stayed at in my entire life. They are dirty and in extremely inconvenient locations. The restaurants we were taken to were not great - I could have found better on my own and you're stuck in a bus with 40 other people for the majority of the trip. We spent more time on a bus than actually touring the cities.

On my trip home, I barely made my connecting flight and was lucky because I would've been stranded AGAIN in a foreign country. Others on my trip dealt with lost luggage, more cancelled flights, being stranded or left on their own to figure it out. I understand a lot of these issues were airline related, but it's also because EF puts you on the cheapest possible flights, which means you get the worst service and no one cares about you. It's truly remarkable how little EF cares about their trip attendees.

Once I arrived home, I called EF to talk about my experience and to discuss reimbursement for the two days I missed. I also purchased the travel insurance. I was told to file a claim and that "they rarely decline claims." The girl I spoke with said she'd talk to her supervisor and get back to me. I followed up three times and haven't heard from her in 5 months. She completely ghosted me. I filed a claim and followed up with them multiple times as well and just today, again 5 months later, received an email saying my claim was denied.

This company has the WORST customer service I've ever experienced and they DO NOT care about you or your safety during their trips. They want your money and that is all. I spent an additional $1,000 on a hotel and food while I was stranded because the city I was in was completely sold out on hotel rooms - money I will never see again in addition to what I spent on the trip itself. Even if you are a poor college student, you deserve a way better experience than this company provides.

DO NOT USE THEM!!

Do not book with EF. You’ll get the absolute worst flight itinerary - seriously 4 layovers for no reason, they’re just cheap and cutting corners. I found better flights in a 30 second search that were reasonably priced.

Do not book with EF if you enjoy travel for the sake of learning and connecting with new cultures. These trips are full of 19 year olds who just want to get drunk where it’s legal. I ended up going to all the cool attractions by myself anyway and I could have done a solo trip for much less money. And had a better time. AVOID.

This platform won’t allow me to put 0 stars! DO NOT BOOK WITH EF ULTIMATE. They are liars and scam you and all they want is your money. They do not care about you and will not help you. I leave in 30 days and I was just notified that they didn’t even book my flight. I have to pay for visas and doctor appointments and they can’t even bother to book my flight. They have one job and can’t do that right. Go anywhere else! Do not use them!

This is the absolute worst company and I'm pretty sure it's all a scam. I booked a trip back in March and found out two months before I was set to leave that they had canceled my tour due to "low enrollment". Due to their policy, I was supposed to be able to be rebooked for a similar date. THEY RESCHEDULED MY TRIP 4 TIMES AND WERE UNABLE TO CONFIRM ME FOR A TRIP ALL 4 TIMES. They had my money for two months and were unable to rebook me each time, despite telling me I would be prioritized to be booked. They also kept trying to charge me an extra "adult fee" every time THEY had to reschedule my trip. I absolutely regret not canceling sooner, as they took 2-3 weeks each time I rescheduled to inform me that I wasn't able to be booked. In the amount of time I spent on hold and calling those incompetent clowns over the course of my rescheduling process, I would have been able to book my own trip a dozen times over.

Fortunately, I ended up being able to book a trip through G Adventures at the last minute. G Adventures was able to book me and get me a flight ticket in just an hour. G Adventures was able to do in ONE HOUR what EF literally could not do in TWO MONTHS. EF is literally a scam. Don't ever give them your money.

Do NOT book with this company. Took advantage of the global pandemic to steal money from travelers. Disgusting!

Trip is a good time , worth the money , however after giving a referral to a friend and then being told we would get our group discount back after the trip EF has failed to follow through and seems to not wanna give the money we were owed for the deals that they had and they have avoided paying us. Watch out for this as we were told we would get the money back after our trip and my friend I referred to as told I would receive the offer for referrals but they have completely avoided us and continues to put it off. Our trip was in July / august and we are still trying to get this money from them.

I booked a trip with them. They cancelled that trip and are refusing to give refunds. I don't think I'm asking too much to get a refund for a service I never received.

Booked a trip to Europe with this company for late March. They cancelled the trip right after the travel ban and they refused to even give a partial refund for those travelers. Your choice was to take a travel voucher or book a future trip. However, those who had similar trips in May or later were given the option of a partial refund. I bought the travel insurance, but apparently that insurance is owned by EF and doesn't cover pandemics. This company is inconsistent in how it treats its customers and should give everyone who had a trip with them at least a partial refund. Do not book with this company. They have no compassion for their customers even while in pandemic. They will take your money and refuse to give it back!