smarTours Reviews 12

Paid $5000 for trip, smarTours closed and has our money. No contact info, website is gone, social media is gone, CEO, Joe Robinson is ghosting everyone.

I did a tour to San Remo / Menton/ Turbine and my tour guide was Smiley - she was great knowledgable, educated. One of the best tours I have taken. Highly recommend Smiley and her passion of touring and showing tourist the best they can see. Highly recommend a tour with her

BUYER BEWARE. We were to leave on a tour of Egypt/Jordan 5 days after the Hamas attacks on Israel. This outfit took about 5 minutes consideration to decide that it would be fine to land in Cairo on the Muslim International Day of Rage. They offer this tour about once a quarter, but refused to allow us to postpone our trip until the regional situation was better known. Since then, the only person one cannot reach is the manager of customer care, which says a lot. We have received several less than professional letters from their controller, who refuses to consider our request for refund. They did, however, provide a full refund to our friends and traveling companions on this trip, whose situation was identical to ours. This company doesn't care about repeat business or treating all their clients equitably.

Epic Journey to Africa with SmarTours

Smartours was amazing in Africa. We had a great tour guide. 5 Star hotels and transportation.

We embarked on many safari adventures across Africa. We had the incredible opportunity to witness the magnificent "Big Five" animals, including lions, rhinos, elephants, buffaloes, and leopards. We even had the thrilling experience of walking alongside wild lions and riding an elephant named Coco, accompanied by guides armed with rifles and shotguns for our safety, protecting us from lions, leopards, and poachers. Enchanting us with its grandeur, the mesmerizing Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Zambia, known as the "Smoke that Thunders," captivated our admiration as the largest waterfall in the world. Embarking on a journey along the Zambezi River proved to be a thrilling adventure, as we came across the majestic hippos that call its waters home.

Additionally, we were fortunate to behold the majestic Table Mountain in South Africa and set out to daringly swim with sharks.

On our Journey to ALL 7 Continents, our travel experiences have taken us to incredible places all around the world. It is a matter of great pride for us to declare that we have traveled to every single Continent on Earth, placing us among a select group of fewer than 500,000 individuals throughout the entire span of human existence who have accomplished this feat.

During our extraordinary journey spanning all seven continents, we had the incredible opportunity to visit remarkable destinations:

- The majestic Grand Canyon. Flying over an active volcano in a helicopter and embraced the thrill of skydiving. Niagara Falls

- We explored the historic remnants of the Berlin Wall and immersed ourselves in the charming atmosphere of Nyhavn and visiting The Little Mermaid.

- In China, we marveled at the vastness of Tienamen Square and were in awe of the awe-inspiring Great Wall of China. We had the opportunity to visit the Shanghai Tower, which is the second tallest building in the world, and experience its impressive height firsthand.

- Down in the Land Down Under, we indulged in the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef and enjoyed a memorable hot air balloon ride over the picturesque outback, where we even caught sight of kangaroos. We even partook in Cane Toad races.

- We embarked on a journey to the mystical Machu Picchu, ventured deep into the enchanting Amazon Jungle, cruised along the mighty Amazon River, and admired the iconic Christ The Redeemer statue.
We were fortunate to witness the breathtaking Iguazu Falls from both the Brazilian and Argentinean perspectives. Renowned as the second largest waterfall globally, Iguazu Falls captivated us with its sheer magnitude and natural splendor.

- We braved the extreme elements of the coldest, driest, and windiest place on Earth—the untouched Frozen Tundra of Antarctica.

We conquered the treacherous Drake Passage twice, braving the notorious Drake Shake and its towering 21-foot waves. It is renowned as one of the world's most perilous waterways.

Exploring Antarctica provided us an opportunity to witness first hand the breathtaking ice formations, observe penguins, seals, whales and birds in their natural habitat.

On March 17, 2023, at 3:45 pm, we achieved a significant milestone by officially landing at Orne Harbour in Antarctica, thus completing our mission to set foot on all seven continents. We had a heart-stopping thrill when our Arch-Nemesis, an Antarctic Fur Seal, nearly attacked us. 😆

-During our travels we have embraced local cuisines to connect with the culture and traditions of the places we visited. Some of the local cuisines we have tried were: Crocodile, Kangaroo, Alligator, Ostrich, Emu, Guinea Pig, Warthog, Wildebeest, Star Fish, Sea Horse, Tarantula, Silkworm, Scorpion, Grasshopper, Crickets, Turtle, Juti'a (type of rabbit), Centipede, Millipede, Oryx, Springbok, Blesbok, Gemsbok, Kudu, Impala, and other types of Antelope and many other delicacies around the world.

SmarTours is an excellent Tour company. We Highly recommend

The tour was geat, great accomodations, tour gides very helpful and ,hotels great cruise ship excellent , everthing was great

Well paced, guides went above and beyond, a great experience.

We had a wonderful tour guide Dave who was very knowledgeable but also friendly and fun. Our Driver Bill made an excellent partner to Dave. They made our trip special.
Ireland was more beautiful than we imagined it would be.

In March 2023 we took a SmarTours package to Morocco. I was a little afraid to travel there, but my husband was super excited to go. Now I look back at my fear as naivety, because I absolutely fell in love with Morocco and its people.

Our guide was named Madani and he shared so much about the lives of his people and their rich history. We traveled in comfort and stayed in amazing hotels in six different cities. We went on daily adventures that I never knew were possible. This was not what I call a "vacation", but rather "educational traveling". Every day I learned...every day I experienced this exciting country and culture...and best of all...every day I smiled.

Our first adventure with SmarTours was to Peru. That adventure got us hooked on this company, because we realized how much of the world, we knew nothing of, but could learn about with SmarTours.

Live for today...because tomorrow is not promised

Jan 2020, three of us booked the Enchanting Peru trip for Sep 2020. The trip was cancelled due to the pandemic and the bankruptcy of SmarTours. They were the only tour company that I did business with that went bankrupt.

On Feb 3, 2021 SmarTours sent me an email confirming my $300 credit for future travel. For three people that’s a total of $900. On May 15, 2023, Theresa Meyer, Co-President emailed me to use my credit and “to invite me to travel with us again.”

I responded to the invitation and offered a creative, Win Win solution, please use our $900 to book a day tour for us with one of their business partners. Theresa ultimately responded, “Unfortunately this is not something we can do. All of our partners are B2B and do not directly work with customers on individual day tours or excursions. It sounds like the best bet would be to transfer your credits to someone who is interested in going on one of our full trips. You may all transfer your credits to anyone you like. If they book their own airfare independently, we have several trips that come in under $2000 per person, inclusive of guide, entrance fees, hotels and transportation, covering anywhere from 7 to 13 days. Which is an incredible value. We do not offer any tours for only $300 or $900.”

Well I thought SmarTours was a business that used business partners which is B2B. In the time she took to craft that response she could have gone on Viator, GetYourGuide, or TripAdvisor to book a day tour for us.

I do not recommend using this tour company.

I had a trip booked to china Feb of 2020. Of course it went away. I took my credits, which they told me I had, and signed up for a trip to Portugal in Sept of 2021. This change has never appeared in my account at Smartours. I have called three times. Every time except for today they have said, yes, you are booked, and fully paid. Today she said that It's booked but not paid for. There aren't any credits, and she needs more information. I will get a call back on Monday. Sure. They are playing hide the pea with my money. I have taken other trips with Smartours and am sorely disappointed with this experience. Where is the money? It's been a year and a half.

Smartours cancelled my trip to Manchu Picchu. Stated I would get a refund. After a couple of months and no refund, they said that my only option was to go next year in 2021. I cannot go then. Essentially they have taken $6998 from me. If you call customer service, they so go to their website. I wrote their president, Ms Petersen, but she does not respond. I got their reply OVER A YEAR LATER. Great way to be in the travel industry.

Has taken our money over eight grand after South Africa banned travel, South Africa airline cancelled, smartours cancelled,
CDC warning and now no refund in sight.
Other travel companies have started refunds already. Why not smartours? They have millions of dollars that was not used for any
Trip. Can someone please explain? Is this legal?
Thanks