Any Info on tours through Passport America?

[gthomas]

We are planning a cross-country trip this year. Passport America has a 30 day caravan that covers part of the area we want to see (Great American Caravan). We are considering taking it in the middle of our travels from California across I-40 and home through a northern route.
We have been pleased with our membership, but I am having problems finding any reviews about their tours other than on their own website. Has anyone had any experience with their tours?
The price is expensive, but reasonable compared to other providers. We are not trying to decide tour or no tour, we are looking for someone to do the legwork in the middle of our trip.
Any help or comments will be appreciated.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I think the actual tour operator is Great American Caravans LLC, so maybe you can find reviews for them. I believe they have a Facebook page, and I think I've seen mention of them on consumer feedback sites such as Yelp & Trip Advisor.

We've never taken any RV tour, but have chatted with several tour participants at various campgrounds over the years. They all seem to be pleased. Note that a organized tour is NOT right for everybody - you are on a schedule and your entertainment is mostly chosen for you, so less freedom of action. The upside is that somebody else figures out all the arrangements.

 

[gthomas]

Thanks Gary.
We did a Good Sam tour to Baja California many years ago, so we understand. . Normally we like the freedom of just doing our own thing, but this time, we are looking for a break in the middle of our trip to let someone else do the work.
I'll research Great American Caravans LLC and see what I can find.

 

[Heli_av8tor]

We took the Passport (Great American Caravan) Florida tour 3 years ago and look forward to another someday. It was 43 nights. I think they’ve shortened it some as most agreed that it was a bit much. We started in Biloxi, MS, followed the Gulf coast to Key West, then up the Atlantic side to Jacksonville.

We are not good planners and this was a perfect answer for us. We saw and did so much more than we would have on our own. Also met several couples that we have remained friends with.

Although not totally without a hitch or two Ryan and crew always bent over backwards to make it an enjoyable venture.

One of our goals was to find a RV resort or two that we’d like to spend a winter. A number of our overnights were at fairgrounds. At first I was disappointed with that but quickly learned that we enjoyed them more than the resorts. Also learned that we are more Arizona people than Florida people.

 

[SeilerBird]

When I was a teenager going to Disneyland frequently I developed 'Tom's First Disneyland Theory' and it goes like this:
If I go to DL alone and stay 12 hours I will see 20 attractions. If I take a girl to DL for the same length of time we will see 12 attractions. If she brings along her kid we will see 10 attractions. If she brings twins we will see 8 attractions and if she brings three kids we will see 6 attractions.
This theory works because a group always travels at the fastest speed the slowest in the group travels. So if you are not in a hurry it might work out for you.

 

[gthomas]

Thanks guys,
We retired last year and are looking to visit some places we have never had time to go to. Taking our time and having someone show us things we wouldn't find on our own is part of the plan, so sit sounds like this trip is going to be OK for us.
I found some google reviews and they are also positive.
Looks like we are going to go for it!

 

[ziplock]

Can you share your travel plan?

 

[ziplock]

e retired last year and are looking to visit some places we have never had time to go to. Taking our time and having someone show us things we wouldn't find on our own is part of the plan, so sit sounds like this trip is going to be OK for us.

Can you share your plan?

 

[UTTransplant]

We took the Passport (Great American Caravan) Florida tour 3 years ago and look forward to another someday. It was 43 nights. I think they’ve shortened it some as most agreed that it was a bit much. We started in Biloxi, MS, followed the Gulf coast to Key West, then up the Atlantic side to Jacksonville.

We are not good planners and this was a perfect answer for us. We saw and did so much more than we would have on our own.Also learned that we are more Arizona people than Florida people.

I will have to pick your brains about this the next time we see you. We are interested in maybe doing a tour in the east just because it seems you have to plan campgrounds well in advance there. I spent 30 years of my life as a project manager, and I don't want to plan anything complicated ever again LOL! Doing a tour in an area I will probably only be in once seems like a reasonable thing, because we are much more westerners than easterners.

 

[Heli_av8tor]

The NE states are what we are interested in as well, and for mostly the same reasons. We really had a great time on the FL trip.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

For those who struggle with locating campgrounds and attractions, an organized tour can be a real boon. We've never had difficulty finding a CG, even in popular destination areas, but I'll grant that it can be some hassle if traveling at peak times. However, part of our "planning" was always to avoid such peaks!

I get the impression that GThomas has already made the decision to use a caravan rather than going on his own, and is only asking if Great American is a good choice. Anti-tour replies aren't being helpful.

 

[gthomas]

Can you share your travel plan?

We are going to work our way across I-40, we have seen most of the western part, so the goal will be to get to the caravan. On the way home, we want to see the Midwest, Black Hills & Mount Rushmore. We have been as far as Yellowstone, so we want to focus east of there.
We haven't planned this part of the trip very well yet, we were trying to decide on the Passport America part before we got too excited.

 

[buck2520]

I have heard/read so many good things about Great American Caravans, also doing business as Passport America Caravans.
They were a pleasure to work with when we scheduled our first caravan trip in 2022. We had to cancel (more than 60 days ahead of departure date) and company owner Ryan Simmons allowed us to sign up for the same 2023 caravan. They just kept 2022 payment as payment for the newly agreed upon caravan trip. We had paid in full for the 2022 trip, $500 deposit and $6,000 in additional payments, for a total of $6,500. All was well and we were excited about the upcoming trip and happy with how Ryan was treating us.

Then in July of 2022 our lives changed and we had to cancel the 2023 caravan trip. Ryan was again good to deal with and told us he would initiate our refund. He said it could take four to six weeks for us to receive our refund check. About eight weeks later we had not received a check from Ryan, nor any messages about our refund. I was finally able to get in touch by email and then came the absolutely surprising revolution from Ryan that he would not honor his own company refund policy. He indicated this was because the trip had been rescheduled. All cancellations were done within timelines stated in their company terms and conditions.

We could have demanded our refund from the 2022 trip cancellation, gotten our refund, then signed back up for the 2023 trip. Instead we allowed them to keep our money for an entire year, just to make it easier on all parties. There was never any written or verbal notice that a reschedule approved by both parties would change his company policy or put a refund in jeopardy. To say I am now upset with Ryan Simmons would be a huge understatement. According to his company policy we should get 100% off $500 deposit and all but 3% of our other payments of $6,000. According to his own company policy we deserve a refund of $6,320. As of Nov 11, 2022 we have not resolved the issue and Ryan Simmons has not had any further contact with us, he seems to be just ignoring the issue.

 

[LMHS]

I used to live in a park that had a PA tour stop in. It was a mess. The people were very upset.

They lost the "wagonmaster" as they started out of ABQ. His RV burned up and it took him days to get to Roswell. His house was in ABQ.

The person riding "drag", the person that was 2nd in command and bringing up the rear, quit somewhere between ABQ and Roswell. Some of the people said they last saw them shortly before the last main road in ABQ (Eubank). It's about 250 miles from ABQ to Roswell.

A few of the participants knew where they were going to be staying in Roswell and the caravan played follow the leader. They rolled in with no money, no reservation info, etc. The people who were managing the park at the time didn't know how to handle a group like that so they didn't have the reservations paid for. And more RVs were in the caravan than reservations for (35 RVs not 20).

The trip was to include meals and alcoholic drinks. The park did not allow alcoholic drinks in the Clubhouse. The participants were more upset about the drinks than they were the missing "provided" meal.

I must say, they did organize themselves pretty well and did several potluck dinners amongst themselves as well as wandering off to do the planned activities (many of which were free) and visiting the Alien Museum on Main Street ($7 Adults).

The day before they were to leave, the "wagonmaster" turned up. AFTER they left, we found out that the guy had been in town for a few days at a hotel on the other end of town and no one knew. The new park managers said never again. They didn't think they would get paid for all the RVs staying there.

I located the tour information (cost & itinerary), then I sat down and added up what it would cost to do that particular tour for two people on their own. It was a massive difference. What I found interesting is that they didn't even use PA discounted CG/RVParks. And there was a PA park in all but one of the planned stops. My daughter and I were shocked. I figure I can read a map and make a reservation. I don't know about the other places they stopped at but I know that there are several places in Roswell that I would have played tourist at, but they were not on the itinerary.

 

[buck2520]

I have heard/read so many good things about Great American Caravans, also doing business as Passport America Caravans.
They were a pleasure to work with when we scheduled our first caravan trip in 2022. We had to cancel (more than 60 days ahead of departure date) and company owner Ryan Simmons allowed us to sign up for the same 2023 caravan. They just kept 2022 payment as payment for the newly agreed upon caravan trip. We had paid in full for the 2022 trip, $500 deposit and $6,000 in additional payments, for a total of $6,500. All was well and we were excited about the upcoming trip and happy with how Ryan was treating us.

Then in July of 2022 our lives changed and we had to cancel the 2023 caravan trip. Ryan was again good to deal with and told us he would initiate our refund. He said it could take four to six weeks for us to receive our refund check. About eight weeks later we had not received a check from Ryan, nor any messages about our refund. I was finally able to get in touch by email and then came the absolutely surprising revolution from Ryan that he would not honor his own company refund policy. He indicated this was because the trip had been rescheduled. All cancellations were done within timelines stated in their company terms and conditions.

We could have demanded our refund from the 2022 trip cancellation, gotten our refund, then signed back up for the 2023 trip. Instead we allowed them to keep our money for an entire year, just to make it easier on all parties. There was never any written or verbal notice that a reschedule approved by both parties would change his company policy or put a refund in jeopardy. To say I am now upset with Ryan Simmons would be a huge understatement. According to his company policy we should get 100% off $500 deposit and all but 3% of our other payments of $6,000. According to his own company policy we deserve a refund of $6,320. As of Nov 11, 2022 we have not resolved the issue and Ryan Simmons has not had any further contact with us, he seems to be just ignoring the issue.

Update. 1-6-23. We won credit card dispute charge back and got a big chunk of our money back. They still owe us $500 and I will continue efforts to get them to honor their own refund policy.

 

[Flausman]

We are planning a cross-country trip this year. Passport America has a 30 day caravan that covers part of the area we want to see (Great American Caravan). We are considering taking it in the middle of our travels from California across I-40 and home through a northern route.
We have been pleased with our membership, but I am having problems finding any reviews about their tours other than on their own website. Has anyone had any experience with their tours?
The price is expensive, but reasonable compared to other providers. We are not trying to decide tour or no tour, we are looking for someone to do the legwork in the middle of our trip.
Any help or comments will be appreciated.

Stay away from Great American Caravans/ Passport America Caravans. Here is our experience with them:

Their itinerary looked great when we signed up and paid for the caravan, but we didn’t actually get a lot of the excursions that we had paid for. Instead they took us to a lot of free and low cost visitor centers and museums.

They booked us at primitive and sub-standard campgrounds, and even had the group park in the gravel beside an airstrip, when there are plenty of nice partial and full hookup campgrounds close by most of the time.

They didn’t deliver on the meals that were promised.

The wagon masters they sent with us were very unprofessional and unpleasant.

A tail gunner was promised for extra security and peace of mind, but no tail gunner was on our caravan.

Definitely do yourself a favor, do the research and book a reputable company if you choose to do a caravan.