Zegrahm ExpeditionsReviews of zegrahm.com

Have not had our trip yet. Customer service leading up to our traveling has been okay, but they messed up our billing. They ignored several emails that had payment information and then sent an email that we were past due. Hoping the trip will be amazing.

The customer travel agent has been unresponsive.

The January trip to Antarctica was amazing. The crew was excellent and really seemed to have a passion for their subject matter, the food and accomodations were great as well. Based on this positive experience, we decided to book two additional trips--one for late April 2018 and one for May 2019. Shortly after we placed our deposit in February, we learned that my husband had a glioblastoma (brain tumor) and could no longer travel on either trip. We had a Dr statement from MD Anderson and immediately called Zegrahm to cancel due to the circumstances. They did refund our deposit for the May 2019 trip but refused to refund for the late April 2018 trip ($2776.00) as it was out of their cancellation period. I am saddened and astounded that they could be so heartless. We are now faced with trying to get our deposit back from the credit card company and I hope we succeed but I don't understand why Zegrahm is being so difficult. We fully expected to go on the trips but due to the circumstances we had to cancel. Are you that greedy that you can't accommodate us? The money will be needed for his cancer treatments. I wish they would reconsider. Karen McNeal

Ship adequate. Very good built-in storage in cabin. Ship crew very good. Zodiac drivers all very good to excellent. Lecturers variable - good to excellent. Local guides excellent - consistently best we've ever had. Ship embarkation/disembarkation logistics excellent. Food - I say mediocre, my wife says generally lousy. I liked breakfast best because there was less for kitchen to screw up, lunch second best (same reason), dinner third best because there were more complicated things for kitchen to screw up. Roast beef one night was so bad/tough that one man got sick on it, many people couldn't cut it (mine was not that bad but certainly not good) - chef came around to tables next day to apologize for that beef. I had optional filet one night; it was not a filet but some sort of steak (perhaps flank). My wife had optional grilled salmon one night; it was barely grilled & poor overall. Much of food at all 3 meals was like school cafeteria food, though there were occasional better items. Free wine at meals was highly variable (both red & white) - some bad, some good, no consistency on good wine. Dining room wait staff was excellent - very attentive. Shore visits variable - some good to excellent, a few poor. Isle of Man - first 3 sites too rushed so we could do train ride which was essentially worthless - like a Disney World train. Original program made it sound like train was really significant and we'd ride it from one end to other of Isle of Man. Kirkwall, Orkney Islands - Skara Brae & Ring of Brodgar excellent but we should have also visited nearby standing Stones of Stenness, which were in original program. Buses could have parked nearby (regular parking area closed for construction) & we could have walked to Standing Stones. Recap & Briefing each day had briefing, but little, if any recap. The recap part was just supplemental info & entertainment. Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh was conveniently located but much more than we needed for a one night stay.

On a Travco trip to Southeast Asia...annoyed they didn't provide elephant experiences yet shown on brochure. Found their guide fabulous, their sales lady had an unpleasant attitude.

Zegrahm fell short short of expectations in several respects. 1, the ship and its decor were tired, 2, the food was undistinguished and the wine was was generally of low quality, 3, the buses were too large, typically two buses for the entire group. This limited the flexibility of departures and changes in venue. Buses should have been half the size used in order to facilitate flexibility and ease of navigation in smaller towns. 4, most of the anchorages were at excessive distance from the points of interest making it difficult or impossible to have dinner off the ship or to explore the towns in the evening. Often the location of the anchorage necessitated unduly long bus rides to and from the points of interest. 5, in spite of having an upgraded cabin our quarters were cramped and suffered from poor maintenance including leaks on two separate occasions. 6) The staff were engaging and helpful but odd choices in some cases- we had an ornithologist on board for a trip covering Malta and Sicily where bird populations have been nearly extirpated. He was a charming person but his specialty was of little use under the circumstances.7) both my wife and I submitted our comments when elicited by Zegrahm. Given the disappointment we registered I anticipated that there would be some form of follow up by Zegrahm. This never occurred.

We had numerous disappointments on this trip. Travcoa’s scheduling during Independence Day and adjacent days and the Independence rules/limitations meant we could not see the Dome of the Rock up close or have a cultural exchange among the speakers from the three religions off the area. Via Dolorosa and the stations were not pointed out to us. A hotel change on the sabbath meant rooms were not available until 5:00 ish; why not avoid a change of hotels on the sabbath? And being taken to the (Israeli Interior Dept.) alternate baptismal sight was a sham only corrected because we said it did not look like the sight we had seen from Jordon on a previous trip.

Nice staff. Substandard ship. Would not sail on it again.