Santana Adventures Avis 191

This was our 6th Santana trip so we're obviously fans. The ship was great - comfortable, good food and service. Santana's crew is very supportive and helpful when mechanical issues arise. We highly recommend Santana!

Absolutely beautiful location. Great food and accommodations. Biking planned as well as possible.

The ship and food were excellent. We appreciate the thought and experience that goes in to planning the rides but yet allows us to travel at our own pace.

I've been on many bike tours, but this is easily the most memorable! The Windstar ship, Sea Breeze, was excellent with all-suite accomodations, superb food, and great friendly crew. Santana owner, Bill, goes all the way with making the tour memorable, with his fantastic staff, the great excursions, fun entertainment, and super handling of loading and unloading bikes. These islands were stunning with flowers everywhere, gorgeous beaches, happy residents, welcoming dancers on several islands, and incomparable snorkeling. Truly an unforgettable experience!

Positives:
1. The routes were breathtaking
2. The boat crew was exceptional
3 For a small boat, the food was good.

Suggestions:
1. Washing was great but wet clothes

The cruise line and staff did a great job. As was pointed out the entire crew were Portuguese. There was a lot of climbing but mileages were less to take that into consideration. Douro River valley is beautiful and the food delicious. The area history is amazing and hard to believe the river was used for transportation of the wine back in the day before the river was tamed

Can't say enough about the company. They go out of the way to make sure you have the best bike experience. Many added logistical issues on their end to make it all work as best as possible. Always an adventure with them and worth it. Not really sure who would be a close second in this type of trip category. They have support vehicle but expectation for you to manage minor things like a flat tire. Lots of people to help if needed.

Please be advised that this company has unrealistic refund policies. We had to forfiet a sizeable deposit with notice given a full 18 months prior to departure. Santana Adventures has poor customer service and a business practice of misleading hidden charges added after the initial commitment.... almost 20% ($2,130) tacked on to the already high price of a $10,798 cruise. POOR BUSINESS PRACTICE!

I have been asked to provide more information. Here is the email I sent to Santana about a month after signing up for the Columbia River Cruise and more than 19 months prior to the depature date. My group of friends (there were 4 of us total) felt the additional fees were not properly outlined at checkout. This communication supports my comment above:

Sent Sunday 1/16 @ 7:59am
Hi Dustin,
I am in receipt of invoice #17045 for the Columbia River Cruise-2023. Although I still plan to take the cruise, I feel it is poor business practice for Santana Adventures to tack on $2,130 additional charges (20%) after the commitment to cruise. I have cruised and taken several bike tours in which guides, ride support, admissions, port charges.... were part of the package charges declared on the front end. When I signed on for the cruise, it was my understanding that the total cost would be $10,798 (less gratuities). Did I miss the fine print?
Thank you,
Barbara T

Subsequently, we decided to cancel our trip. We had a call with the President/CEO of Santana on 5/8/22 (16 months prior to departure) who made an offer to cancel our reservation, resell our cabin and return our deposit, applying $1,000 of our deposit towards his expenses and withholding an additional 3-1/2% of our deposit amount. No monies were ever received.

I would just like to caution travel shoppers to educate yourselves on what you are signing up for when you book with Santana Adventures. Read EVERYTHING. Ask questions re: "cruise extras".

This is for families considering a trip with Santa Adventures - My daughter turned 7 on a Santana adventure, and she is now 15 and has a few under her belt. So we have had a number of different "bring the whole family" experiences. I highly recommend it, but with a caveat - know your family, and know your limits. It is a truly rewarding experience, your kids (and you) will see the world at the perfect pace, learn valuable skills, possibly history, culture and a few words of a foreign language, and maybe even what you hoped they would learn on such a trip. You get to eat with reckless abandon, having cycled off a zillion calories. Plus, there typically enough flexibility in a given day for families to venture different ways to satisfy their own vacation needs. These variations have differed as the age and needs of our daughter have changed

Don't go on this trip if you are not bicyclists, as mentioned, the best experiences are seeing the world at a cyclists pace, but they cannot be enjoyed if you are uncomfortable on a bicycle. You don't need to be an Olympic athlete, but you need to be able to manage yourselves and your children, which might mean towing them up a very long hill on a tag along after you say, "power up the jets" and you hear in response, "the jets are broken" (followed by the continuation of the epic story of magical rainbow kitty that seems endless or charming) But then, you know your kids.

Which brings me to type 1 fun and type 2 fun. Any trip that requires physical exertion results in both type 1 fun and type 2 fun. I recently learned about this - type 1 fun is where it is both enjoyable in the moment, and at the retelling. Type 2 fun is not as fun (and maybe at times not fun at all) in the moment, but is fun after the fact. Probably more fun than type 1 in the retelling. Guaranteed both types of fun on a Santana Adventure.

I am happy to talk with any families if they have questions. Just ask Bill (Mr. Santana Adventures himself) for my info.

Avoid this company at all costs. The worst customer service I have ever received. Even though my husband and I paid in full for an extremely expensive cycling cruise, they didn’t bother to put me on their mailing list so we received NO updates about anything related to the cruise—including the fact that the cruise ship operator went bankrupt. I have had to constantly reach out since they refuse to communicate —even about the mountain of legal paperwork we have received from the cruise line. I usually love supporting small “mom-and-pop” businesses but the lack of professionalism and the fact that they refuse to communicate about our hard-earned money is outrageous. Apparently all customers will be forced to hire lawyers to fight the cruise line even though Santana has our money in an account. They will keep your money—highly unethical.

We have been on many adventures with the Santana crew and all have been amazing. We do multiple trips each year and all have offered their own version of magic. Bill is masterful when it comes to dealing with all that Mother Nature throws our way and I am always so happy to have him at the helm. We have done one already this year and have 2 more on the books. Can't wait.

BEWARE. They take your money and deliver NOTHING! Santana cancelled the Columbia River Tour for August of 2024 and refuses to provide a refund ... they are holding our money while they sucker more people into tours that they require you to prepay. When they cancel, you get nothing. We have gotten nothing but headaches and heart aches from dealing with this company.

Santana cancelled a trip in Spring 2024. They are not providing a refund despite having my money in a trust (supposedly). The owner, Bill, is not communicating with the group in a transparent manner. It is remarkably disappointing and frustrating.

This is my 7th trip with Santana and again couldn't have been happier. The boats crew, accommodations, and ability to bike daily with all gear and belongings remaining in one place is special. I again loved the routes reach day and the flexibility. Will be on the 2025 Florence to Barcelona trip next. Santana support has improved every year and my daughter came and had a wonderful time even as a non-cyclist.

We recently returned from our first Santa Adventures trip, a biking cruise around New Zealand. We had a fantastic time. First, the ports we went to were great—we like the charm of the smaller cities where we got to see the less traveled part of New Zealand and more of the culture of the people there. Next, the rides themselves were carefully vetted and were the best part of our trip. Bill and his crew had been on the roads and could give an accurate picture of what we would be riding and seeing on each route. His route talk each morning made it easy to select which route we would be taking each day.
In addition, Bill and team had selected different experiences for us in most ports, for example the bird sanctuary, winery, and Maori cultural center. The riders had the option of attending these opportunities or doing what they wanted with their time. Getting out on the countryside and having a coffee/wine was a wonderful option and also supported local businesses.

Now, the part that led me to say this is not for everyone. We absolutely loved getting a gps map on our phone and heading out each day on our own. We have been on trips where the entire group is herded together and we had to wait for others to catch up or catch up ourselves. We are comfortable changing flats and also calling for help if it is needed.
If you are the type of person who needs have their hand held, expect others to change a flat and make sure you get back to the ship on time (yes, they will leave you so you do have to be an adult and get yourself back on time), this will not be the trip or company for you.
If you are an entitled person who expects to be talking about the departure to the airport at the end of your trip on day two—not for you. (Incidentally, the departure on the last day was clearly explained and seamless). You are on vacation so relax and live more in the moment than the end of the trip.

Lastly, the ship and crew were on point. The food was the best I have had on a cruise ship and the cabins were wonderful. Getting on and off of the ship was easy and painless even with the large number of people all wanting to go at the same time. We have a typical lazy cruise on a massive ship later this year and I am not sure I will like the large ship experience after this cruise. The only complaint I have about the ship is the Star Grill. The chef cutting meat at lunch gave the thinnest slice of meat and if you asked for more he gave you a tiny slice more—kind of acted as if you were taking food from his children’s mouth. I prefer meat to calorie filled salads so this was my and my husband’s least favorite experience on the ship but since you can eat in another location not a deal breaker.

All in all, if you are self directed and can follow directions, are fit enough to ride 35 flat miles (and maybe some hills)—are not used to casual riding on an E bike (these rides are not really appropriate for the fitness level of a person who must use an E bike) this is for more serious riders IMO, and are able to live a bit more in the moment than having a schedule clocking in every moment, you will love Santana Adventure’s trips—we have already booked our next one.

We have been on two Santana adventures and have signed up for 4 more. The ships are exquisite. Much smaller than a traditional cruise ship, luxurious and with excellent food. Most importantly however the cycling locations and routes are primo. There is a nice variety of easy, medium and hard routes that anyone can find challenging or relaxing.

The whole trip was very well organized and all the support people were very patient and put up with a lot of questions. The logistics were very well done and getting from point A to B was very smooth. I would definitely do another Santana trip. The only thing that missed was that I was under the impression that I could "rent" CO2 cartridges. I thought that I would put down a deposit for them and get my money back if I returned them. I was literally told by the person who I paid, "I hope to be buying these back at the end". When I returned the cartridges, I was told there was no money returned. Not really a big deal in the greater scheme of things but definitely was not communicated correctly.

This was my 3rd cruise with Santana Adventures and I already booked the next one. I am only sorry that at 82 years of age my time for many more is running out. I love the combination of cruise and seeing the country by bike. Bill and Jan McCready are doing a great job organizing these trips and scouting the routes. The only thing they can’t control is the weather, but so far I have been mostly lucky. I highly recommend them!

We have done two Santana Adventures, one to Tahiti and the second to New Zealand. We love riding our tandem, we love seeing the world through our biking experience, and being on a ship with a couple of hundred people who share this love as well. We love vacations full of action and activity, where we are tired at the end of the day from being out and seeing the world together and with friends. The people we meet on these tours are so wonderful and share similar values and interests. Bill always has a variety of rides to meet all levels of interest and ability so that no one feels left out; and he also has great activities for non-riders. We will definitely go again.

New Zealand was an amazing cycling trip with Santana. They are very good at logistics with traveling with bikes. We had some beautiful routes and was able to choose daily the length of the route and the difficulty. I like that we are self guided so we are not riding in a large confined pack. We stop when we want for a as long as we like.