kathy2343

Avoid like the plague. Our highly experienced travel agent recommended them under the previous name, and I found a press release online that sounds like they either changed their name or were bought out during the '20-'21 COVID epidemic. I told her about my experience, and her company has now dropped them as a vendor. That's all you need to know, but in the interest of others who may consult this in the future, here's the detail. First, I left a voicemail with their group department, requesting info on one desired activity. That was March 2022, it's now June 2022 and were' back from our cruise to Alaska, and they have yet to return that call. Strike #1--woeful customer service. I and other family members booked two other excursions with them for the same cruise. Thankfully I read the fine print, which said that thought they confirm the *booking* immediately (meaning they take your money), they wouldn't confirm the actual *excursion* until 30 days beforehand. Because a similar excursion was already sold out through the cruise line, that concerned me--if Venture Ashore backed out 30 days in advance, we might not be able to book through someone else. Strike #2--bad business practices. I called them repeatedly to request confirmation of my excursion (not just the booking), and they kept promising they would get to it as soon as possible. After several weeks, I received word that they couldn't fulfill the booking. Thankfully they returned my money quickly, and I was able to rebook with another company. But again, very poor customer service; these should be either confirmed with the local vendors or canceled and refunded immediately. Some of the other family members did receive a cancelation of their excursion because VentureAshore couldn't fulfill it. Others booked for the same one weren't canceled and went ahead. But when they showed up, the address they'd been given was wrong. They called the local vendor, who said they hadn't been at that address for a year but hadn't been able to get Venture Ashore to change it. He hastily called the bus driver, who had just left because my family's names weren't on the list--Venture Ashore had never confirmed the booking. Thankfully he was able to catch the driver to go back and they enjoyed the excursion, but he told them they've experienced this multiple times with Venture Ashore--people showing up without having been booked. Strike #3--incompetence, if not outright dishonesty. As others have said, it's a booking service that uses local excursion operators who shouldn't be blamed for Venture Ashore's poor performance. I suspect that when they changed names or were bought out, they bit off way more than they could chew. Run. Far and fast.