Down Under Endeavours offers handcrafted luxury vacations, honeymoon packages, and luxury travel packages to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tahiti, and beyond
Down Under Endeavours (downunderendeavours.com) has 234 customer reviews on Five Star Index, with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5.
Also known as
downunderendeavours.com
Website
downunderendeavours.com
Category
Activities & Tours
Location
Chicago, Illinois
Listed on Five Star Index
2026
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The company replied to 90% of reviews.
Latest
Most recent review: February 2024.
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It was my first time ever working with a travel agency and I have to say I can’t imagine booking any other trip without Down Under Endeavors. All the stress of research, planning and booking was lifted off my shoulders, and every single adventure planned for our honeymoon was really tailored to our insterests and personalities. Laura and her team were very thoughtful and we loved the surprises that they left for us on different parts of our trip. I can’t wait to work with them again!
Response from Down Under EndeavoursMar 13, 2019
I can't wait to work with you again Janay! Thank you so much for this lovely review. Touch base any time in the future. Take care!
RF
R F.
Down Under Endeavours for NZ and AU travel
We received outstanding service and counsel from Down Under Endeavours’ Laura Tober. She made the time to understand our needs and accessed great services at our destinations
Response from Down Under EndeavoursMar 1, 2019
Thank you so much! It was so nice to work closely with all 4 of you. You all are so much fun, keep in touch and let's get together on another trip in the future. Take care R,J,C&J!
JB
Joe & Barb V.
Australia & New Zealand Dream Trip
We just returned from a wonderful vacation to Australia & New Zealand planned by Katie Marta at Down Under Endeavours..Katie did a fantastic job of making this trip an experience we will always remember. She was very insightful about what we were looking for and tailored all our destinations, tours, and accommodations to fit us perfectly. I must say everything was perfect and Katie was a joy to work with.
If your looking for a well planned and unbelievable experience Down Under let Katie and DUE plan your trip. My wife & I give them our highest recommendation.
Response from Down Under EndeavoursFeb 21, 2019
Thanks so much, Joe! It was such a pleasure working with you as well and I hope we can do it again soon! :)
~Katie
SC
Steve C.
Australia, New Zealand, Fiji Trip
Katie Marta set up an incredible vacation for us. The trip included stays in Port Douglas and Sydney in Australia, Queenstown and Auckland in New Zealand, and an amazing resort in Fiji. The hotels, tours, and excursions were exactly what we wanted, all because Katie took the time to listen to our interests.
Response from Down Under EndeavoursFeb 21, 2019
Thank you, Steve! It was such a pleasure to work with you and I hope we can plan your next adventure together as well! :) ~Katie
TA
Tammy
Do your research rather than blindly pay! Save your $$$!
We chose Down Under Endeavors to plan our honeymoon in New Zealand and the Cook Islands. Now I will say that our experience wasn't bad. Audra, our consultant, was super nice and she was able to organize our itinerary to where we could do everything we wanted to do. She's the reason why this isn't a 1-star review. The reason I am writing a bad review is the pricing. They market themselves as a "luxury travel agency" and when I got the itinerary with prices, I definitely knew they were going for luxury prices. I'm not one to just accept paying a large amount of money without doing some research to see where we could save. Using the itinerary, I looked up everything, thinking I could see where we were spending too much and ask for a downgrade on specific things. What a surprise when I added everything up and found that I was almost $2000 under their quoted CASH price (so we wouldn't have even gotten airline mile rewards unless we wanted to pay an extra $335). I asked Audra if there was a conversion issue because I couldn't understand how the price could be so different. She said that there were discrepancies due to us using non-refundable rate quotes for the hotels, pricing a different tour than they offered, and that their conversion rate was slightly higher (by 2 cents) than what Google said. Again, did my research. I updated all of the pricing and still came out to over $1000 saved if we booked ourselves. Audra contacted other departments in the company and came back with a one-time discount. Still wasn't enough to beat what we were seeing so we decided to book our honeymoon ourselves. I'm currently at $1800 under their quoted price.
They put on their websites that "Unlike a travel agent, we don’t mark up every item on your itinerary. Instead, we charge a one-time planning fee, and all other costs go directly toward your trip." That doesn't seem to be true and honestly, I don't blame Audra for being limited by what her company gives her for rates. I should have known that a $250 planning fee wasn't enough to pay for this service.
The one thing that extremely pisses me off (and the reason why I decided to write this review) is that we decided that we'd at least book our airfare through DUE. I couldn't figure out how they were getting really good prices on flights until after we booked the flights through DUE. Come to find out, if you book a "multi-stop" trip through Air NZ, you get better prices. And just for fun, I tried it out with our booked flights (since I had never done a multi-stop trip before). What a lovely surprise to find out that we were overcharged by exactly $150.
I highly recommend that if you go with DUE, please do your research because I'm sure you'll find that you can save your money by booking directly with the hotels and activities. They say that all other costs outside of the planning fee go towards your trip and "our rates are certainly competitive with what you’ll find online" but I can't see any truth in that. On the plus side, this $250 planning fee (well I guess $400 total fee, with the $150 extra we paid for flights) got us a super detailed itinerary that we used to book everything ourselves. Not really worth it.
Response from Down Under EndeavoursFeb 27, 2019
Hi Tammy,
I apologize that you were not satisfied with your Down Under Endeavours experience. I know that Audra enjoyed working with you, and she has reached out a few times to connect with you over the phone to discuss the points you listed, particularly about the airfare you purchased. We do believe that the value of our service comes from our firsthand expertise of each destination; streamlining your travel process from beginning to end by handling every aspect of the trip; and providing 24/7 in-country support while you travel. This service far exceeds what travelers would receive by booking a trip themselves, and your review has notified us that we can improve the way we communicate that message.
Audra and I are both available to speak with you on the phone about your concerns, and would greatly appreciate your feedback on what we could do differently. Please just let us know a convenient time for you.
Warm regards,
Candice Heckel
Product Manager
CA
Carey and M.
Down Under is great
Down Under is great! They were incredibly easy to work with and Katie did an amazing job planning our honeymoon. We highly recommend New Zealand and Fiji. Connect with Down Under for a great vacation!
Carey and Michelle
Response from Down Under EndeavoursFeb 14, 2019
Thanks, Carey & Michelle! You two were so fun to work with and I hope I can help you with your next travel adventure :) ~Katie
CT
customer - T.
Vanessa did a great job organizing the…
Vanessa did a great job organizing the trip. She planned the trip based on our feedback and the geographic flow of the trip made complete sense as we progressed through our journey in Australia and NZ. Also, she planned great excursions and listed optional activities to consider on free days which saved time and allowed us to better enjoy our trip! Thanks!!
Response from Down Under EndeavoursFeb 5, 2019
Hey Ted! It was an absolute pleasure to help you plan such an amazing trip for you and your family! Please keep in touch and let me know if there is ever anything else I can help you with. Wishing you and the rest of the family all the best for 2019! Cheers, Vanessa
NA
Natalie
So Worth It!
Candice did an amazing job helping us plan our New Zealand honeymoon. We had the most fantastic and memorable trip. Highly recommend!
Response from Down Under EndeavoursFeb 2, 2019
Thank you! It was so great working with you both. Hope to do it again soon!
warm regards,
Candice