Gate 1 Travel

Great prices, great service, very responsive to questions. Our China trip was amazing and the hotels, tour guides, sights, transportation, and entertainment were all top notch! Very good value for the money. I have recommended them to many people and have looked at booking additional trips with them in the future. Great job!!

We've done four trips with Gate 1, to far-flung destinations. They've all been great. There are always a few irresponsible, immature whiners who blame any bad experience on somebody else's incompetence instead of their own.

Gate1 VP claims check was sent on April 29. Check was not received.

We have traveled with Gate 1 travel on 5 exotic trips, India, Africa,Amazon, Peru, Croatia/ Europe and Costa Rica. We have spent tens of thousands of dollars with them. We were loyal customers, taking sometimes two tours a year with them. But when we booked our last trip to Greece in Jan 2018 for a travel date of Sept 2018 that is when the terrible service started. I booked the trip early Jan. We had a horrible family situation 2 weeks after booking. I told Gate 1 of this tragic event and was advised by them to cancel it. So I cancelled the trip with Gate 1 for Greece. I took out their travel insurance when I booked the trip. I paid over $3k for the trip up front and they told me to contact their insurance carrier. When I did and tried to make a claim with the insurance company, they said they had no record of reservation. I called Gate 1 and wrote them (Gate 1 )many times, that I couldn't put in a claim, because they told me I didn't have a reservation number. Gate 1 cancelled it, so therefore there was not a reservation. I went back and forth with Gate 1 to try to get my money back, and they kept telling me, contact the insurance company. After 4 weeks and 32 emails back and forth with Gate 1, I contacted my Credit card company and asked them to put it in dispute. When i told them I put the amount dispute they told me they couldn't help me. Well they weren't helping me before in the first place. My credit card company sided with me, and credited the full amount to my account. During this process, I got a call from Karen a manager of customer service at Gate 1 literally screaming at me that I had to pay for the $951 airfare or they would block my email address. It was insane. I have never been treated so badly by a company. Having to deal with Gate 1 travel after having the stress of my family emergency was over the top. They treat their loyal customer like dirt and are so unprofessional. It is really sad too, because my husband and I are retired and travel all the time, once again. I recently tried to book a trip with them, and they told me I was black listed. Black listed! Seriously? You are not a loyal customer to them, even if you spend thousands of dollars with them. Don't travel with Gate 1. Terrible Customer Service and once they have your money, they won't give it back.

If you want to get violently punched and kicked by the Captain Ambrose Manolache, fracturing your ribs, injuring your lung, Gate1 Travel is the river cruise line for you! Enjoy!!!

Went on a Rhine River Cruise with Gate 1. The staff is wonderful. I really enjoyed myself.

Cancelled a trip to Vietnam in late January 2020 due to the Corona Virus and our senior age. Front line Customer Service stated that they would charge $200 pp to cancel and we had 3 weeks to re-book. I requested to speak with a Manager and after discussing with him the right / wrong business model, he waive the charges but the only trip available in 2021 was double the cost. I have tried to re-book a trip that we would like to take but no re-bookings allowed until airlines start flying to different countries. We have enjoyed multiple trips with Gate 1 in the past but are hesitant to book any future travel with them due to their cancellation policies.

We had an excellent time on our trip to Portugal because of our trip manager Rui and a bus driver Pedro. Rui did go above and beyond. Local guides were excellent, especially Augusta in Lisbon. I am a travel lover and have traveled a lot. Gate 1 provides a very broad view of the cities. No museums or zoo or aquarium were covered on this trip. But the reason Gate 1 is getting 3 out of 5 stars is because of the flights. We were promised straight flights when we were booking the trip. Initial straight flight to Portugal was switched with connection. Then out return straight flight was switched with connection. Why do I want to fly 20 hours when its 8 hr flight to Europe from USA?
Unlikely the flights were booked right away when I payed for the trip.

Reply to Gate 1 reply:
We booked the deal with direct flights guaranteed as part of the deal, payed in full right away. Direct flights were changed to connecting. Gate 1 didn’t leave up to the promise.
Anyway, I do not want to argue. My rating will not change

4 of us recently took a tour to portugal and loved it. Gate1 accomadations were very nice and the tour guide,Berta, was wonderful. She was so knowledgeable and gave us a fantastic tour. Gate1 also helped us make arrangements to stay an additional 2 days. I am planning a family trip to portugal and Spain next year and I will not consider using any other travel system other than Gate1. They are wonderful and I'm hoping to get Berta as a guide again. She made the tour fun and she was fabulous.

I was scheduled to depart on a 16-day Thailand trip on April 16th 2020 and my trip was affected by the Corona virus and canceled. I received my credit so that I can rebook the trip, but the promotional coupon that we used to book our trip that saved us $360 each is not valid now. I feel like it is unfair that the promotional credit that we used to initially book the trip is no longer available to us since we did not voluntarily cancel this trip. Now we have a credit for a trip that we can take on next year that we will have to end up paying more for if we can't find another promo code to use. We are risking not having the date available that we need by waiting to look for a discount code. on top of it not being fair that we are forced to use a credit and not able to receive a refund, I feel like the company is squeezing more money out of us than necessary because all of the bookings are more expensive now than they were before. I would really appreciate it if someone would understand that thousands of guests are going to have the same problem and issue us all of the credits that we use to book the trip so that we can rebook at the same rate.

Went to Israel on the 9 day Believers Tour over Christmas. My family and I had a wonderful time and saw so much! We followed all the sites Jesus went to during his birth, ministry, and resurrection. We were even in Bethlehem at the site of Jesus birth on Christmas day. The guide was very good at explaining all the history and keeping us on schedule. The bus was comfortable and the hotels were excellent. Plenty of food at the meals but my 16 yr old was unaccustomed to anything but American food. We however were able to get Domino's pizza delivered while in Jerusalem.

Our trip in January 2020 to Myanmar did have many issues and bad experiences. After return we did contact Gate1 multiple times on the phone and e mails.No solution and respond.Be avare that Gate1 will not help you with any issue or problems after they get your money.This was very disappointing experience on our bucket list trip.

My family members have 2 reservations with Gate 1 for travel to Amsterdam 4/9/2020. (Reservation 1778272 and 1766596). Gate 1 has said would allow rebooking and airlines (United and Delta) have said no charge for change fees for this date. 4 of us have sent numerous emails to the site specified during this difficult Coronavirus period. There has been no response to date. The phone numbers provided ring for 2 minutes and do an auto cutoff. There appears to be no way to get them to respond. I have been on prior Gate 1 trips without issue. I understand this is a difficult time, but it’s unreasonable not to be able to discuss situation and confirm rebooking over 4 days.

7 day PERU/Lima/Cusco Machu Picchu:

I recently returned from a trip to Lima, Cusco and Machu Picchu with my stepmom. I'm 31 and my stepmom is 56. My dad purchased this "girls trip" for us as a gift. I had not done group travel before this trip, let alone a group travel of ages ranging from my age to older than my stepmom's. I truly have no words to describe the enjoyment, genuine and exploratory week we had with Americo Romaineville in Peru. He is an excellent example of the education and sincerity that goes into your trip's, and a great example of the strong character of the Peruvian people. Every detail of our trip was organized down to the "t," and my stepmom and I, being two solo female travelers, truly never felt worried about a thing, or that any loose end was missing. The mixture of experiences we had throughout the week, from learning about the Incan culture, exploring and listening to the mysteries of Machu Picchu and Saqsayhuman, and listening to Americo's "behind the scenes" and genuine stories, history and facts about the country and region left me in awe. I started this post saying I was 31 and had never done group travel before because I was a believer that "doing it alone" was best. I enjoyed doing all of my homework and putting the pieces of my trips together myself in the past. However after this trip I can firmly say, if every guide is like Americo Romaineville, group travel is the way to go. I learned history and context of Peru that would have been impossible on my own, and made a true "second family" I will remember forever. On the last night together, a member in our group gave a speech thanking Americo for everything he did for us. From juggling a large group with varying personalities, to making sure every detail was taken care of, he stopped at nothing, and made our experience in Peru one I will hold dearly in my heart forever. Thank you Americo and Gate 1 Travel!

I, too, was scammed by Gate One's suggestion of travel protection that not only protected me from nothing (I was told it was for "any kind of cancellation") and lost $1,618.00 to their lie. I could find no one to discuss it or help me at Gate One or the insurance company.
I am positive I requested insurance that would cover me for any reason and am horrified they remain in business while pulling stunts like this.

Booked a trip to China with Yangtse River Cruise. Trip was great, hotels very good, travel times good schedules, our guide pretty good and very helpful when we missed our flight home because of problem in first airport. Our guide came back to airport and got us to a hotel for the night.Note much good to say about the cruise. Crumby ship, tiny ugly rooms, food not too good.Some was good but few choices, never even one solid meat dish at dinner, all chinese mixed up stuff, one dessert such as jello or pudding-nothing good. No ice cream ever. Food at land hotel meals was pretty good. For the price we made due and maybe use them again for Israel.. Booked about 4 yrs ago.

Hey everyone just a few comments on the great 15 day trip tp see Ecuador. The trip included the lowlands, the Amazon basin, Galapagos the highlands of the interior. The added feature was the great tour manager Eduardo Borja who made this trip even better. Now this trip is not for everyone if you are the couch monkey or the once around the block with your dog this trip is not for you. This trip is very active with a walking day averaging 7 to 10 miles a day mostly up hill it seems. Now you add the temps in the high 80s, the humidity in the high 80s and the thin air in the interior it this trip can wear you down. The upside is the variety of what you will see and the first rate hotels that have been picked for the tour. The staff, meals and rooms were great with some coming with pools at their location. The one problem is you are only in most of them for a night and if you stay longer your days are taken up with tours.
As already mentioned this is an active trip an example is going to the Galapagos, there are approx. 11 different transfers just getting there so be prepared. Now as mentioned this was a great trip but there are a couple of points.
1) Watch out for Altitude Sickness this is very real and I came down with it bad.
2) Drink lots of water
3) Sun Tan lotion and bug spray.
4) A Good Hat.
5) A small flash light to use on you Amazon night walk.
As mentioned this a very active tour and I can be the example of losing 15 lbs. on this trip due to the walking and heat. So have fun and enjoy see if you can pack a little less due to all the transfers. CWP

Got a $500 Boucher for future travel and $238 from the airline back.

We have taken 5 trips with Gate 1 Travel and we love this company! Some of our most memorable moments on the planet have been courtesy of Gate 1! Their slogan of more of the world for less is for real. Several people have complained on this site about problems with their insurance - not our experience at all. On one of our trips, Sandy suffered a debilitating injury which left her unable to walk. Arch, Gate 1's insurance company, must have spent 10K flying us back from Turkey first class from our hotel to our front door in Texas. They provided perfect guidance from seeking medical attention in Zagreb, Croatia (that was a trip in itself) to taking care of all the arrangements. It's really bad when something like that happens in a foreign land, but Gate 1 was perfect. On another planned trip for 20 days to China, Hong Kong and Tokyo, which unfortunately we did not get to take because I was suddenly stricken with an immobilizing illness, it killed us but we had to cancel the trip (I could not walk) just a week or so before departure. Again, we were crushed, which was bad enough, but thankful that Gate 1 and Arch refunded all of our money. . . . The only quibble of all our travels with Gate 1 is that we were sold some crummy bulk TransAtlantic airlines tickets on one of our trips, that we could not upgrade, without our knowledge. Gate 1 finally straightened it out, but not without a lot of hassle. We were told on our last trip by fellow travelers that their flights purchased through Gate 1 did not now have this problem, so hopefully this issue has been rectified by the company. And finally, we just had to cancel our three weeks in GB planned for May due to Covid-19, and the company refunded our money no problem, unlike United Airlines, who suck. Bottom line: Give Gate 1 Travel a try, it will be the best decision you've made in a long time. [George Clooney, Up in the Air]

Had a great time two weeks and a great European tour! Nice people to deal with . They were so obliging with us a group of 7. We had plane problems but they waited for us. Thank you Gate 1!