Zegrahm Expeditions Reviews 108

Excellent leaders and good choice of areas to visit and accomodations

I have had excellent experiences with the staff and management of Zegrahm

The three country safari was wonderful. We stayed at excellent camps.
The staff, food, vehicles and guides were all of the highest quality.
Lex Hes is an outstanding leader. I liked that he is slow paced in the animal viewing allowing us to observe the animals for long periods instead of rushing off. He is also very generous with his photographic information.
My photographic highlight is Lex teaching me how to photograph the Milky Way at Sossusvlei, the results were amazing!

The actual trips are amazing. They tend to provide more Expedition experts per trip than other companies I have traveled with and I really enjoy the depth of available knowledge.
Customer service in terms of flight and hotel arrangements before and after the trip are somewhat lacking. For example, I had a 10 hour night time layover in the Johannesburg Airport and no one even mentioned the very convenient Marriott in the secure area. I was only offered the Southern Sun hotel which was expensive and required leaving and returning to the airport (and clearing immigration) which didn't make any sense.

The trip was fine. The Ocean Adventurer is now super-powered and needs its rooms remodeled.

We have done two small cruises with them in less than two years and continue to be impressed with this companies attention to detail, quality and knowledge of their administrative and education staff, and with the quality of their contractors (ships, bus companies, tour guides, etc). They are accessible and responsive throughout the planning and preparation phases. The lack of an earlier evening dinner hour is the only omission I've heard senior cruisers like us mention when discussing our satisfaction with the cruises. We'd still give it 5 stars.

A seemingly small company which means personable service --- they know your nsne & circumstances when you call. My parents were booked for a cruise on a huge line several years ago. My father passed away and the cruise company gave us hell for wanting to change the reservation into my sister's name. With Zegrahm, I asked if we could change a member of our group right before departing; I was told yes. That's a benefit of dealing with a smaller company.

"Rating 5 stars: Excellent – no reservations, I would recommend this company to anyone.

Your review :

After a great North West Passage + Baffin tour with QUARK in 2006, we took five expeditions with ZE so far.

As mentioned by most of the travelers and using their words, we enjoyed :

- their skill at developing attractive itineraries;
- good small-sized ships;
- the staff : experienced, knowledgeable, helpful and fun. Great people to be around ;
- informative seminars : selected topics, effective and notable lecturers;
- excellent communication, responsiveness, pre-travel question answering;
- full payment inclusive.
- interesting co-travelers ;

In the red area :

- traveling wish is limited by substancial prices;
- waivers of liability are demanded (for helicopters pilots, diving instructors,....for example), leaving guests defenseless: staff, crew, members,...may default in providing their services. Hence, why isn't their civil liability covered through an appropriate insurance and cost thereof included in expedition prices ?

kind regards,

Jacques GERAUD

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.

Great organization and modifications to the tour where needed.

This is the best company for expedition travel. Staff are knowledgeable and helpful. enjoyed all of our trips with them more than any other company.

Highly skilled and knowledgeable staff, accommodations of the highest caliber, attention to safety and stellar destinations all make Zegrahm a top contender in international adventure travel. My single con about this trip was the use of a derogatory term describing Argentinians uttered during a public presentation by a member of the staff. I'll leave that to the trip leaders to figure out. Otherwise everything was as good as or better than I could have asked for.

This trip was more than I could ever dream of, I am a person of few words so in a nut shell, don't miss out on this trip and the staff at Zegrahm was excellent. Highly recommend travel with them. Hope to go on another adventure with them.

Zegrahm is a first rate expedition company, very thorough in its planning, trip execution, using very knowledgeable guides, providing excellent accommodations and cuisine throughout the trip.

We loved this trip! Everything was very well organized and top notch. The Expedition Leaders were all super knowledgeable and upbeat. We would highly recommend Zegrahm.

An excellent itinerary, right up with the best we have experienced with Zegrahms in our many travels with them. They showed us an unique part of our own country in a pleasant and informative way which was better than we could have done by ourselves.

Ideal vacation with intellectual Stimulation. Fine Food, excellent and friendly Service, good cabin, interesting excursions, world class Expedition leader - happy customer.

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.