Thomas P Gohagan & Company

Had a bad experience with Gohagan. We booked a VERY expensive Elbe river tour. The water level was low and the trip was converted from a 7 day cruise to a 4 day bus and hotel and a 3 day cruise. I think I could have adjusted to the change in plans but I was so disappointed with the way Gohagan responded to my questions and requests. They were extremely unhelpful to say the least. If only they had made some small effort to reassure people that the trip would still be worthwhile I would have gone along with it but they made such little effort and showed so little concern that i cancelled all together.

We just completed a small ship tour to Greece and Turkey with Gohagan Travel, a tour operator based in Chicago. We have done small ship travel with academics aboard before, although never with Gohagan, so we can compare this to other trips. We chose this trip because of the great itinerary. I must say we were very disappointed. First, the positives: The local guides in each location were fantastic. The itinerary was great. The ship was nice, clean, room had a balcony, and the house staff were very pleasant.
The problems: 1) There were many alumni groups on the ship and these groups did not socialize with others, stuck together. This made the trip much less fun than others we have been on where everyone was super friendly.
2) The academics hired for this trip were very lackluster, their lectures extremely boring, some lecturers were past their prime, no passion about the topics, no making history come alive. I would give this group of professors a D– to F. I have been on trips with great scholars who were interesting, fun and complete experts. Not these.
3) The Gohagan staff were not helpful, not organized, sometimes uninformed, gave poor instructions, and a couple of times were downright rude. I asked questions about itinerary twice while we were in the field and was verbally snapped at by the staff person who said «it was in your written briefing» rather than just politely answer my question. I guess I was being punished for not memorizing the daily sheet.
4) The food was so mediocre that it made the trip unpleasant. So much for the French cuisine that was touted in the brochure. The food was not good. A cut above cafeteria food.
5) Very little interaction with locals, only once did we have a dance group come aboard. Very little cultural exchange, although this was billed as a trip highlight.

We have recently returned from cruise in the Baltic Sea arranged by Gohagan aboard the MS Le Diamant. It was by far the WORST vacation we have ever taken. First the ship was a day late arriving, it later broke down in St Petersburg Russia and we had to skip one destination. The owners of the ship, Compagnie du Ponant had apparently sold the ship to another co and did not tell anyone. The tours on the cruise were ridiculous… including a 30 minute walking tour of Gdansk Poland and less than 1.5 hours in Riga Latvia.
I will never ever take another trip arranged by Gohagan. So far, all they have offered in compensation is a voucher from the ship company, essentiallly offering unsold space on one of their cruises. Gohagan specializes in college alumni tours… DON’t DO it!