SA Vacations Reviews 133

The tour organized with 5-stars throughout! We had the very best service, hotels, meals, tours to see Peru's amazing sites, and all a very well planned agenda, transport, every detail was taken care of at a very reasonable price. I highly recommend this wonderful professional agency! First but not last trip!!

Date of experience: May 16, 2025

SA Vacations did an amazing job organizing our private trip to Machu Picchu. We were a group of four, and from the moment we arrived in Peru, everything ran smoothly. The hotels, transportation, and overall coordination were all five-star quality, and the guides were excellent—super knowledgeable and easy to connect with.

The trip struck the right balance between adventure and relaxation. We never felt like we were on a rigid schedule, but everything was clearly well thought out. It was a truly memorable experience, and I’d highly recommend SA Vacations to anyone planning a high-end, hassle-free way to see Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley.

Date of experience: May 16, 2025

The entire process from research to our destinations to our return flight back home was flawless. We were extremely pleased with all accomodations, tour guides, amenities, the daily itineraries, location destinations, pre-arranged tour tickets and flights that Martha arranged for us. We were a bit nervous with the lack of personal face-to-face/human verbal contact we were given during the process as all communication was via email/text unless we initiated a phone call with our questions. But everything Martha had sent to us regarding our itinerary was spot-on and the people she said that would be at a specific location at a specific time were always there to meet us. We never felt abandoned or forgotten about once we arrived in South America. Now that we have experience with SA Vacations we will book another trip through them knowing that even if Martha doesn't do communications personally, we do know she is getting the job done and accurately.

Date of experience: April 18, 2025

We just had a trip of a lifetime put together by SA Vacations in the Gallapagos Islands (Coral 1 yacht) and various areas of Peru - Lima, Arequipa, Colca Valley, Lake Titicaca, Cusco and Machu Picchu. We were thrilled and secure with the accommodations, private guides, excursions, trains and drivers as well as the many areas we explored! PeruRail train from Puno to Cusco was such a surprise. Our SA Vacations agent responded to any changes in a timely and respectful manner as well as making great suggestions to our itinerary. We would definitely book with them again!

Date of experience: April 15, 2025

Our whole trip was planned beautifully by SA Vacations. Our guides in Santiago and on Easter Island were fantastic! We had Guia Rosa Villanueva in Chile and Vicente Hereveri was our guide on Rapa Nui. Alan and Martha Cohen made everything run smoothly and managed all transfers and flights. They planned the best experience we could imagine. All accommodations were excellent and in good locations . I will definitely use this agent again in the future.

Date of experience: March 08, 2025

This was our second tour using SA Vacations and WOW another great experience. From the tango show in Buenos Aires to the glaciers of Patagonia to the incomparable Iguazu Falls , what a trip. Alan & Martha saw to it that our every need or desire was met.

Date of experience: March 09, 2025

The whole arrangement was very well done , the local knowledge of the company is remarkable
The hotels are nice boutique places and the tour arrangements were seamless
Loved the Costa Rica
Very hospitable people
Will definitely recommend SA vacations for the Americas , next one hopefully Patagonia !

Date of experience: February 22, 2025

The trip was wonderful from beginning to end. Every detail was taken care of and everything went smoothly. My husband even left his phone and one of the vans and we contacted the company and they were able to retrieve it immediately. They went above and beyond.

Date of experience: March 08, 2025

SA Vacations planned and executed a flawless 8 day experience on board the Galapagos Legend and then shifted us to Peru for Machu Picchu. The Belmond Hotels in Peru are glorious 5 Star masterpieces. Breathtaking!
All transfers were on time with superior vehicles. All guides were top notch. All questions answered by SA Vacations before we left. SA Vacations is First Class in every way! We had an INCREDIBLE time!!!!

Date of experience: March 08, 2025

I just returned from Santiago, Chile and Rapa Nui. I am so thankful for a great experience. The people at SA Vacations had everything planned out and those in Chile implemented everything exactly. Hotels, drivers, guides, all logistics were done exactly right. Everyone was friendly, thorough and professional. It was an amazing experience.

Date of experience: March 17, 2025

We want to thank SA Vacations and Martha C. For helping to plan our Rapa Nui Island, Chile trip. We had so much fun and enjoyed our vacation to Chile, Everything went smoothly! Thank you again, and we look forward to working with you planning for our next trip!

Date of experience: February 06, 2025

SA vacations did a fantastic job organizing the trip and suggesting the best way to see both Machu Picchu and Galapagos. SA vacations is very thorough and responded quickly to all Inquiries allowing us to feel very comfortable with all the plans. A portion of the trip was one on one with our Guide, which was suggested by SA vacation staff. The trip itself was amazing and would highly suggest traveling to both of these locations. Thank you, Martha and Alan.

Date of experience: December 06, 2024

Don’t hesitate to book your travel plans with SA Vacations!! In January 2025, I travelled to Uruguay with the help of this company. I had a fantastic trip and SA Vacations even made last min changes to my itinerary, as requested. The entire travel experience was flawless. That trip was my 4th time using this company for my travel needs. My first experience with SA Vacations was in 2009. They were and still are great at what they do.

Date of experience: January 16, 2025

Great trip to South America. I worked with both Alan and Martha and they put together a great trip to Argentina and Chile. The four night Australis cruise was fantastic. We had one small issue and Martha resolved it very quickly. Thank you SA Vacations for your excellent work!

Date of experience: January 01, 2025

Martha came to our rescue. We needed good international connections which she provided. She organized a 4 day trip to el Calafate and Buenos Aires. The transfers, hotels, sightseeing was all spot on. S A is the team for South American vacation joy.

Date of experience: December 16, 2024

We had a terrific trip to Machu Picchu and Rapa Nui. Martha did an amazing job putting the trip together on short notice. All of the guides and hotels were excellent. The flights were all on time and the connections went smoothly The pick up and drop off at the airport was wonderful. It made the ambitious trip easy and seamless. We spent our time enjoying the experience rather than hassling with the logistics. It really was awesome. I would definitely use SA Vacations on my next South America trip.

Date of experience: December 16, 2024

I booked the 11 day Machu Picchu/Easter Island trip. I did it fairly last minute. Alan was very kind and helpful. All the hotels were clean and staff was kind. All of our transportation guides & drivers were pleasant. Santiago Airport was poorly run and not well kept (that is not SA Vacations fault, just a heads up for the next traveler. ) My Easter Island flight got rescheduled and Stefany (my guide in Chile) was extremely helpful. She made sure my transportation was still on time and the rest of chile experience went smoothly. Only 2 things to note that could use improvement. One, the tour guides in Easter Island and one for Cusco did a very poor job speaking in English for the English-Speaking tours. Two, Martha was quite difficult to get in contact with. She had a much different demeanor than her husband and not a lot of patience. Luckily, Alan balanced that out. They make a good team. Overall, a little bit expensive but also a fun experience.

Date of experience: December 04, 2024

SA Vaccations booked our holiday cruise in Chile in Oct/ Nov. They did an excellent job, that saved us money on both the cruise fee and flights from and back to Canada. We experienced our best cruise ever on the Skorpios II thanks to Martha who told us about this fantastic cruise. We will book more trips with SA Vaccations as they are very professional and can sav us money too.We recommend them to any one who wants to travel to South America.
Zena and Mark
Canada

Date of experience: October 23, 2024

We recently did a South American tour of primarily Argentina and Peru with the help of Martha from SA Vacations. The trip was 17 days and included 9 flights and 7 hotels and tours at every location. We visited Buenos Aires, Iguazu Falls (both Argentina side and Brazil side), Lima, Peruvian Amazon, Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and Cusco.

My wife and I have primarily travelled independently but decided to enlist an agent with experience in South America. SA Vacations was the right choice.

We stayed in 4-5 star hotels and had both private and small group (no more than 10 people) tours everywhere. We were picked up at the airports and hotels on time and the local guides were exceedingly helpful, courteous, and knowledgeable. In several instances they even procured our boarding passes and luggage tags.

We had a tiring (were both in our late 70s) trip but every place and experience was top notch and thanks to Martha's help very rewarding.

Date of experience: September 04, 2024

I wish l did not have to write this review but in my heart of hearts, l believe l must as sometimes people should try to be courageous. 

This was to be a trip of a lifetime,  21 days touring South America at a cost of over $21000, a top end tour we thought, hoped, but sadly we were wrong. Our experience was nothing short of, at best, being second rate, at worst, well, just that, terrible. 

Albeit SA Vacations has good reviews, with over 65 countries visited thus far and multiple tour companies used, this, by far, is one of the worst experiences we've had. Without knowing or being advised, it appears that Martha onsells all the components of the itinerary/tours you pay her good money for, regarding management, enjoyment and experience. So you are always dealing with 2nd, 3rd and 4th tier parties who owe you, not that much as you are really loyal to SA Vacations and not them. *Which, by the way, is fair enough ...

During all of the 21 days, my experience is about 30% great and the rest, well, let's just say, regrettable.

From hotels being not fit for purpose, dirty towels, dirty glasses, dirty floors, dirty curtains, not being able to enter the room, waiting in a cold loby for hours, one until after 6.30pm, failure to provide breakfast boxes, clean water to brush teeth and it goes on and on. Some hotels were just tired, old, dirty, worn down, furniture torn and broken, the feeling of sleeping in a tent would have been an upgrade. "Oh well, what can you do", as Martha said, words to the effect of, "that's life, things happen", etc, etc..."

From sections of tours being withdrawn without notice, itineraries changed without notice, experiences destroyed without notice and then to be told you would be refunded those portions. But my experience to date is that they were just 'empty' words to appease you at that moment as there has been no sign of any compensation or refund, nor do l expect any ...

Communication with Martha is the worst. I had to insist she contact me by phone as hours of messaging her fell on deaf ears and when we spoke, she basically told me to calm down, shut up and understand that life is not perfect and things happen. I found her to be (I'm sorry to say) somewhat aggressive in her tone and manner, as if your bad experience was your fault and you shouldn't have complained to her in the first place.That may be true but not if you pay her so much money so as to avoid this. Other travel agents albeit don't want to hear from you, are happy to know when things go wrong and mainly to do the right thing, but more importantly promote their company as one that is there for you in times of trouble - we did not feel the love.

If you travel to South America for the very first time and don't speak Spanish or Portuguese, a good travel agent should know this as on many occasions, Spanish or Portuguese was spoken and English was extremely difficult for the locals to understand or speak. 

I would love to go on and on but l think I'll finish up by saying, please check the negative reviews first because if everything goes right, all reviews are usually good, but it is when things go bad that you want your tour company to step up to the mark and take ownership. Sadly this did not happen and, apart from that, when I would complain it was usually met with the fact that if l wanted to upgrade my experience, I would have to pay for it.

The greatest experience for me and my wife is that this nightmare we paid SA Vacations for is over and thank God for that. I hope Martha enjoyed my money more than I did.

But please visit South America,  the people, culture, experience and riches are just "the best."

I wish her well because, in my opinion, she will need it. So please do yourself a favour, consider another tour company or do it on the hock. I believe you will have a better experience and be treated better.

*The above is a reflection of our experience. We have no intention to upset anybody but simply give an overview of our opinion having used SA Vactions. "But Never Again"

I'm sure there are many other wonderful tour companies out there that, in my opinion, care and take ownership of your holiday. After all, it's not always about the money, or is it?

God speed and safe travels to you all. 

God bless you too Martha as l am a God fearing person and to share love is better than the alternative. The world should always strive to love more and hate less...

Date of experience: October 05, 2024