Great Trip But With Glitches Raw Arctic Appears To Have Corrected
We hired Raw Arctic to plan our entire trip through Greenland with 5 days in Ilulissat and 7 days in Nuuk. The cost, excluding international airfare and without meals except hotel provided breakfasts, was USD $17,875 for two of us. Marc at Raw Arctic was the person who handled all aspects of our booking and trip. In Nuuk, all excursions were with Raw Arctic and were terrific. In Ilulissat, all were with Unique Tours and they were terrific as well. Where Raw Arctic fell woefully short was in reliability regarding their ground operation obligations. Marc forgot to arrange for or have us picked up when we flew back to Nuuk from Ilulissat. We paid for this transfer and it was a part of our fixed itinerary. We waited nearly 45 minutes outside the airport until we finally realized they weren't coming, It never occurred to us they fail to pick us up. We had to call, learned no one was coming, and then had to wait until Marc got someone to come get us. That's inexcusable. Of course, Marc apologized. Four days later, when it came time for our international flight home, we again had paid for transfer to the airport from our hotel and it was listed as part of our itinerary. Having been "burned" once, I contacted Marc the day prior to our flight to remind him that we needed to be picked up at 7:20 a.m. the next morning. He relied, "Yes, exactly. I will be driving you to the airport tomorrow morning." After waiting, at 7:35, he was still a no show and I had to call him, I believe waking him up. That's not the kind of reliable and stress free arrangements one pays for or expects. Once - maybe it's a one off. Twice -it's more like a pattern. My advice - Do not use Raw Arctic for trip planning or anything on which you might want or need to rely. For us they were simply not reliable or responsible. And, not once - twice. Do book separate Raw Arctic excursions in Nuuk - they were all excellent and staffed with superb guides and captains. Also, book excursions in Ilulissat with Unique. They were excellent as well.
As a postscript, I am editing this review to add that almost immediately after posting it, one of the principals of Raw Arctic reached out to me to extend what I believe is sincere understanding and apologies. He also informed me that Marc, the employee with whom we dealt, has been terminated. Consequently, the only thing that kept this from being a perfect trip no longer exists. I have adjusted our star rating to 5 accordingly.