Non-cruiseline tours - any bad experiences?

[tiff123]

I'm just curious to see whether anyone has had a very bad experience with a tour booked outside of the cruise line... I'm not talking being dissatisfied, I am talking big-time problems like missing the cruise ship, being totally ripped off, broken down, etc.

 

Our limited experiences with non-cruiseline tour operators have been positive so far, but I want to know what others think.

 

Thanks!

[donoiv]

None. Do your research, etc.. and you will have a great time.

 

Just ensure that you get your money back if your ship doesn't dock on the correct day...

 

Like in Cozumel, if you do Dolphin Discovery at Chakkannab park... you can't tell them you are on a Carnival Ship.. or they won't take the reservation... so you tell them you are staying in a hotel... if your ship doesn't show up, no money back.

 

Most other places will refund though.

[5waldos]

Only one- trying to find our driver in Jamaica. His car broke down and we couldn't connect with him. Finally we did. But other than that we have had wonderful times on all our excursions, both ship and non-ship planned. And always gotten back in plenty of time- the biggest worry on non-ship excursions.

[kcdancerkc]

Nope - besides here we always try and check on tripadvisor.com too for great reviews

[bplazo]

Nope, only positive and the one time we had to skip an island I had a refund check in my mailbox before I even got home.

[vacruizer]

Almost missed the ship in Grand Cayman on our first cruise :eek: but after that only good experiences. We were supposed to have time for beach and shopping and be back 1 hour before the last tender. No beach, no shopping, tour guide kets saying "no worries - island time!" We ended up making our bus driver pull over near the pier and made a run for it and made the second to the last tender. :eek::eek::eek:

 

I always make sure now that I have several hours leeway before final boarding time when booking a private tour. If it's an all day tour or one that would put me back close to sailing time, I choose another tour or book with the cruise line. I've also been on some very nice Carnival tours as well as some great independent ones.

[airlink diva]

On my cruises, the bulk of my tours are with local tour guides. Overall, they all been positive with the exception of one.

One was with a tour in Barbados. I was on a turtle and snorkeling tour with a guide with alot of positive feedback. They were fine with couples, family groups,but not with solo people.

While the crew were offering others rum punch, soft drinks, snacks, I had to ask for anything. When I needed assistance getting back on the boat, another guest help me,not the crew. My items were moved while in the water by a crew member because I was in a spot in the way of the crew. Yet when a couple moved to the same spot, nothing was said.

I normally tip and didn't. I overheard one of the crew tell another crew member "I knew she wasn't going to tip us anything". They saw a solo person and assumed little or no money and ignored me compared to the others.

I couldn't wait to get off that tour. When I came back and made comments about how the tour was, the tour guide send me an email reply back not liking what I wrote about them.

When some friends were looking at a turtle tour in Barbados, I told not to book this tour

[golfadj]

We always do private tours with great results.

 

 

However once in Costa Rica the tour guide we picked gave us to a driver who it turned out didnt speak English very well and was not going to where we wanted to go.

 

After an hour of driving in circles had him take us back to the ship.

 

the other 15 or so private tours were very good.

[Rottweiler Puppy]

MAke sure you have insurance. While the Captain Marvins tour I went on was excellent , a person got stung bya Box Jellyfish. It was very bad and he went to the hospital. I wouldnt want to see what a bill in Grand Caymans looked like.

 

Definitely make sure you have trip insurance because anything can happen.

[tiff123]

MAke sure you have insurance. While the Captain Marvins tour I went on was excellent , a person got stung bya Box Jellyfish. It was very bad and he went to the hospital. I wouldnt want to see what a bill in Grand Caymans looked like.

 

Definitely make sure you have trip insurance because anything can happen.

 

 

Agreed Rottweiler. :)

[cccer]

Never had a bad time. I find them cheaper and a better experience than the cruise tours. Actually the only two time we have been late coming back to the ship were on cruise sponsored tours. Luckily they waited for us.

[sjcruiser]

We do tours/excursions on the fly, after getting into port, and have never had a bad experience. Most of the time we're at the same locations as the cruise line tours for less money, without the hassle of waiting on bus loads of people.

[golfadj]

Private tours are cheaper, better and less crowded.

[halos]

I'm just curious to see whether anyone has had a very bad experience with a tour booked outside of the cruise line... I'm not talking being dissatisfied, I am talking big-time problems like missing the cruise ship, being totally ripped off, broken down, etc.

 

Our limited experiences with non-cruiseline tour operators have been positive so far, but I want to know what others think.

 

Thanks!

 

We've been lucky so far. No bad experiences....some amazing, unforgetable tours too!! The Port-of-Call boards here are a fabulous source of information!!!

[old sole]

All experiences very positive. Only use ship's tours now when we can't find a well-reviewed guide.

 

The only incident we have ever had was a driver on Dominica who bragged about his 20 + years safe driving record and then at the next stop backed into a concrete post getting out of a tight parking spot he had chosen to get us a little closer to a walkway, badly denting his bumper (more likely the tour operator's bumper). I felt bad for him and tipped extra.

[skittl1321]

We were annoyed at a taxi in St. Thomas that picked up additional passengers after us, and then proceeded to take a 45 minute detour through traffic so they could drop a ring off at a jewerly store. and THEN go to the Beach they asked for instead of the one we asked of first- we were there first!!

 

But in the end, it worked out, because the waves at the beach we asked for made it such that it would not have been enjoyable, and he got word from his dispatcher and recommended to us we stayed at the other group's beach. As the day went on, more people from our original choice beach showed up, so we made the right call. Still annoyed at the shopping detour though.

 

 

Otherwise, no. Non-ship excursions have been great, ship excursions have been great too.

[cowprintrabbit]

Almost missed the ship in Belize; we went on a hike and cave tubing with a private guide and the trip took longer than expected. We ended up having to eat the included lunch in a van without seatbelts going really fast over washboard dirt roads. We still ended up on the last tender!

 

The guide WAS amazing, though - he knew all of the plants on the hike and the cave tubing was much better with a small group than the big flotillas we saw going through with the ship tours...

[tiggerman101]

I have done many. many private tours and have had one bad experience (that was still a great tour). It was on our Magic cruise in Messina, Sicily. Our tour guide said the smaller bus we were to use was broken so we had to take a huge bus instead. They still tried to get us up to the town on the top of this mountain and it was awful. The bus could not fit around the hairpin turns without a TON of effort and time. there was no turning around so we had to soldier on. In the meantime, nobody on the road could get around us or come down the road. We were passing all these houses, etc full of angry Sicilians screaming at us in Italian and making many nasty had gestures. People on the bus were in an uproar over the whole thing as well. Many threatened to get off and walk back. Of course, I was down in my seat laughing at the whole thing because it was so crazy. I will never forget the old lady screaming at us from her porch in broken English. She must have learned her command of the English language watching Tarantino movies....

 

All in all we made it up to the top, enjoyed the town for awhile and waited for smaller vans to come pick us up. The tour operator was mortified. They know bad reviews and the internet will sink them. We continued our day in another town and it was wonderful. Since it was our last port, it was a memorable way to end the trip.

[mistshar]

We had a bad experience in Cozumel. Not terribly bad but it wasn't pleasant. It was a glass bottom boat tour. First of all, we weren't informed that we would have to walk as far as we did to get to the boat from the port. Then when we finally got there, the boat was really old and very difficult to get into. It was a long drop (about 4 ft.) to jump down into it. When we got back, I thought I was never going to get out of it. It took 3 people to help me out. I have health issues which makes it difficult for me to walk very far and I'm not able to climb like that. It was not good for me. When we got home I emailed the owner and he was not happy. He was very nice and offered me partial refund and a free tour the next time I am anywhere that their company has tours again. I felt he was very fair. He said that the boat they normally use was in the shop and they had to use a substitute that day. It was a very difficult day for me.

[cruise_pirate]

None for us yet. unless saving money is a bad thing!:)

[mkleblanc]

We are going on our first cruise in a few weeks and have booked all independent tours. I did a lot of research beforehand and Cruise Critic was a huge help. We are saving a lot of money and I think we will have a better experience since we are doing some private tours. Like many of the posts have said, tour companies thrive on good reviews. They are going to do their very best to get you back to the ship on time so they can continue to have a good reputation and stay in business.

[Zoedokey]

If we wit until we get to Nassau, will there be tour operators there at the pier? How do we know who is legit? We are not sure if we want to do a local beach day or some kind of boating and i was hoping we could wait until we were on the cruise to decide.

[maldenmusic]

None-I prefer to use independent tours over the cruise line's any day!

[tracyanns]

About 10 years ago on a Celebrity Cruise a few passengers on our ship missed the boat. They took a tour into the rainforest and on the way back, and closer to the rainforest than the boat, the driver hit and killed someone and then opened the door to the bus and ran out leaving everyone on the bus.

 

It took a while for the police and everyone to get there, they questioned everyone and then had to wait for another driver to get there. By the time they go to the pier the ship had sailed. Not sure what ever happened with that...we only knew about this because one of the officers and I were chatting later that night and the police had asked the ship to wait but corporate said no when the captain asked...I think it was like 6 passengers...

 

I hope they had travel insurance, passports and a major credit card to get home! The officer said that by taking the independent tour they only saved about $40 per person.

 

He did say there are a lot of places that he would even do an private tour, but a tender port is not one of them...

[skylock]

After doing ship tours on my first couple of cruises, because I fell for the too dangerous to do independent tours, the next few cruises I researched to the minutest detail and njoyed the indepndent tours so much more. I am now to the stage of playing excursion roulette.

 

I stroll off the ship well after most people have gone and see what is being offered and pick one of those. I have really gotten some bargains from desparate people. The guide usually makes it back in tips because most have been excellent and we usually have a private tour which allows more leeway. I have had a few terrible guides but have never had a bad time.

 

Just use some common sense. If the tour is 4 hours away from the port, I would not book independent. If it is an island tour around the local area or to a close by beach, go for it. Take into consideration how long the tour will be. I am always back on board long before dearture. unless maybe there is shopping or a beach within easy walking distance to the ship. I would never cut it close with an independent tour.