Aruba,anyone do Jolly Pirates? (Miracle)

[mrchips14]

Our tour was canceled on Oct. 6, due to the rough water and low visibility from all the rain the day before. OK I can understand that.

 

So a word of caution, If you can call them before leaving the ship. It cost us $15 each way.

[Charleyann]

We were signed up to do the Jolly Pirate ship excursion on Sept 26th. I originally had booked thru the cruise ship, but changed it to a direct booking so that we could get the meal and the rum punch. I was told we'd have to find our own way to the excursion. No problem there as we took the city bus to the hotel row and they said to look for them to the right, facing the beach. The walk was actually about a half mile or more. I had two people with us that have difficulty walking. We finally arrived and could see the two ships near the beach. We went in and the guy told me that they had cancelled our reservation because of motor trouble. Tehy sent us an e-mail just a day or two ago, he said. I'm on a freaking cruise, and not getting my e-mail at work HELLO! No apologies, just a not my problem attitude.

 

The cruise ship one went out and the other ship stayed put. I wondered if they didn't have enough bookings and just decided to cancel. We attempted to book another snorkling trip with anyone, but since it was a Sunday, no one was available. We ended up making a beach day of it.

 

When I got back to work, the e-mail was read which stated that the cruise ship had taken up all the openings and that was why they cancelled. I think it is very unprofessional of them to take a booking, bill my credit card and then cancel. If they are not going to honor their independant bookings, they shouldn't take them.

 

Again, VERY UNPROFESSIONAL! I would caution anyone booking independently.

 

We booked on our own and it was cancelled because Carnival went under contract with them !!!!

 

Not ever trying them ever !

 

Once bitten, twice shy !!!!

[cruising forever]

We booked on our own and it was cancelled because Carnival went under contract with them !!!!

 

Not ever trying them ever !

 

Once bitten, twice shy !!!!

 

 

No need to flame me cuz I'm not subscribing to this thread, but I think other readers should know..........it is common practice for various vendors to contract with cruiselines.

[GaznPaula]

A pretty damming post there about JP'S lack of PR...

Where are you now JP person..??

 

To me...YOU HAVE BEEN BUSTED !!!

[glrounds]

Hi Charley Ann,

 

Would appreciate the link to Jolly Pirates coupons. What does pm stand for??

Thanks

 

Sue: Am guessing pm = private message

 

Cruise Critic does not have that feature whereby you can send a personal message to someone else. Very valuable on websites like this, but they just don't do it. :confused:

[Cornishpastyman1]

I can't remember if the tour company was called the Jolly Pirates (boat was called the Jolly Roger so it may well have been) but from my half day with whoever it was I made this

which between from 1.24 - 3.00 shows what it's like, including Antilla viewing and rope swings.

 

Great fun, I thoroughly recommend it to anyone of any age.

 

Have a great time:):):)

Tony

[Charleyann]

Cruise Critic does not have that feature whereby you can send a personal message to someone else. Very valuable on websites like this, but they just don't do it. :confused:

 

 

Sorry, coupon is no good as you can only use it if you book on your own. If you are on Carnival , they will cancel your reservation if you try booking yourself....

 

To the other poster said not JP faults....I was sore with JP as they were in contract with a few of us before Carnival and when they went into Carnival, they cancelled our reservations and then told us to book with Carnival which was

$20 more with no lunch and one fewer snorkle stop......

[Charleyann]

http://www.nightspublications.com/_downloads/coupons/aruba/A10_WebCoupon_JollyPirates.pdf

 

 

Here is the coupon. If you are on Carnival ship it is no good. JP says you have to book with Carnival or you don't sail. More expensive, no lunch and one else snorkle stop.....

 

We have a large group . Now going with another tour company

[Charleyann]

No need to flame me cuz I'm not subscribing to this thread, but I think other readers should know..........it is common practice for various vendors to contract with cruiselines.

 

Nobody flamimg you ! It is also common practice when you take somebody's money and cc information and book something and give them a confirmation number and therefore enter into contract with said person , doesnt make it right to cancel because you go into contract with someone BIGGER and get more $$$ and throw the little guy to the side ! Bad Business which is bound to ask for negative feedback. .....

 

Just like buying seat at a concert for two and a group of a hundered come along and say we want all those seats already reserved for our group only and kick patrons out of their already paid and booked seats !

 

Damn right , feedback isn't gonna be positive. ... JP walked right into that !!!!

[lanabanana]

I do not recommend this company for this reason. I was booked with them a year ago and received an e-mail the night before informing me that they had trouble with their engine and were cancelling the excursion. The problem was that I had two other couples going with us, neither of which received an e-mail. If I hadn't told them, they would have paid the $$ to get to the beach, only to be told that they would not be going out.

 

I booked with them again, for last week. Once again, the night before the excursion I received an e-mail informing me that the waves were too high for snorkeling and the excursion was cancelled. Now, all of the ships snorkeling excursions were cancelled as well due to high waves, so that wasn't a problem. The problem was that I knew of two other couples scheduled to come as well, and again.....they did not receive an e-mail, so they wouldn't have known about it had I not told them. This is just very unprofessional and to have it happen two years in a row is just too much. I will NOT be booking with them in the future.

[Charleyann]

Bump

[GuilderlandGreg]

@Charlyann:

 

You're on the Miracle Christmas Cruise, right? Me too.

 

I booked the same Happy Hour Sunset Cruise you referred to in a previous post but now I'm not sure the timing will work.

 

12:00PM est / 13:00 local time - Miracle docks.

12:05PM est / 13:05 local time - Bus to Cruise leaves from Renaissance Tower

1:00PM est / 14:00 local time - Snorkel Cruise departs

 

So we'll have to bet on the Miracle docking on time and being able to get off the ship and catch a cab to DePalm's dock and get there in less than an hour.

 

Are you going to try to pull this off? My finger is hovering over the cancel button on this excursion...

 

Greg

[shamrockace]

We were signed up to do the Jolly Pirate ship excursion on Sept 26th. I originally had booked thru the cruise ship, but changed it to a direct booking so that we could get the meal and the rum punch. I was told we'd have to find our own way to the excursion. No problem there as we took the city bus to the hotel row and they said to look for them to the right, facing the beach. The walk was actually about a half mile or more. I had two people with us that have difficulty walking. We finally arrived and could see the two ships near the beach. We went in and the guy told me that they had cancelled our reservation because of motor trouble. Tehy sent us an e-mail just a day or two ago, he said. I'm on a freaking cruise, and not getting my e-mail at work HELLO! No apologies, just a not my problem attitude.

 

The cruise ship one went out and the other ship stayed put. I wondered if they didn't have enough bookings and just decided to cancel. We attempted to book another snorkling trip with anyone, but since it was a Sunday, no one was available. We ended up making a beach day of it.

 

When I got back to work, the e-mail was read which stated that the cruise ship had taken up all the openings and that was why they cancelled. I think it is very unprofessional of them to take a booking, bill my credit card and then cancel. If they are not going to honor their independant bookings, they shouldn't take them.

 

Again, VERY UNPROFESSIONAL! I would caution anyone booking independently.

 

2-29-12 update: Went back to Aruba and tried again, booking independently. They redeemed themselves and we had a fantastic time. I believe in second chances and I'm glad I gave them one. I still think they cancelled the first one due to not enough people booking, but this time they came thru. The drinks were pouring, the music was playing and the food was good. The pilot's little girl was so cute, although I would put a life jacket on a two year old myself. We snorkled in three different places. The first was over a shipwreck, but the water was too rough for me at this location. The other two was calm. I did go off the swinging rope once and found out I am not as strong as I thought as I just slipped off the rope instead of hanging on. It could have been the rum punch. Thanks to the crew for a great day.

[shamrockace]

Also, the pirate ship booked thru the cruise line was jamb packed where ours had maybe 1/3 of their crowd. It left us plenty of room to move around.

 

We took public transportation to get to the beach. You can buy a round trip to save money.

[GrimesFamily]

Visited Aruba on Adventure of the Seas last week. Had a reservation for 4 with Jolly Pirates.

 

Excited we should up almost 45 minutes prior...only to find out "We don't have a reservation in your name." They kid at the desk even checked their email inbox, and there it was, including a confirmation email sent late the week before we left.

 

The kid offered to let us wait "on standby" and if their was room, he'd let us on. Over the course of 30 minutes, another family came forward...had tickets, and email confirmations...they too weren't in the system, and got turned away.

 

The ship ended up overbooked, two passengers they allowed to "proceed to the boat" had to be escorted off.

 

The kid at the desk admitted that 11 groups had issues that day, and others had similar issues earlier in the week. The common thread seemed to be the website.

 

I can't speak to the quality of the excursion, but CAUTION. This screw up on Jolly Pirate's part, and their unwillingness to make it right almost ruined our afternoon in Aruba.

 

VERY DISAPPOINTED, and my heart goes out to the 8 year old girl who's birthday party was the same sailing we were on. Her party got "bumped" as well.