An update on my
Nat Geo hiking trip with my daughter to Machu Picchu ...
Well the rose-colored glasses with Nat Geo are a little off. I was on the phone contacting them about the private Japan trip in anticipation of the ABD release (to compare), when the woman I was talking to told me my MP hiking trip had been cancelled! My Nat Geo trip coordinator hadn't called me about it. He, apparently, didn't know. He tried to tell me I was wrong, but when I pointed out the dates were off the computer he got very anxious and said he would call me back. Turned out the first lady had been right.
The trip being cancelled wasn't what bothered me, however, as they state very clearly that the trip isn't guaranteed until there are 8 people and as of a couple months ago I knew there were only three. What bothered me was that at that point, I asked if I should switch trips because others were filing up. The trip coordinator said no. Of course, by time the trip was cancelled all the other trips were booked except for one in late October (when my daughter is back in school). I was pretty furious. I felt that they should have let me know when it looked as if our trip wasn't going to go and the other trips started filling up--especially after I enquired about it.
I was give the option of an immediate refund or putting toward another trip. Not great options given that my daughter has been dying to see MP and she's studying archaeology at university. They couldn't squeeze us onto another trip because of the fact that the mountain lodges only have 6 rooms.
Anyway, I was *not* a happy camper, to say the least and expressed by extreme disappointment.
The good news is that the next day I remembered that REI did a very similar trip--pretty much identical--and they had space in a trip about a week before we had been scheduled to go with Nat Geo. It was also already guaranteed to go so I was able to make some pretty awesome plane reservations that I'd found a few days before. I will also be able to report back with another travel company.
In the end it worked out. Nat Geo is supposedly sending me some kind of compensation letter, but as I'd used a bounce back $500pp offer to originally book that is now gone, we'll see how it compares.
I'm still looking at that private Nat Geo Japan trip if ABD doesn't look good, but it's a good reminder that no travel company is perfect. I do hope they improve their communication going forward for things like this though. I'd actually asked about moving, which makes it worse.