Etiquette on excursion coaches.

[elleks]

Oh, no. Those people who followed the schedule and got on the bus before you, and waited for you to board, should ask you (politely, hat in hand), if you would prefer their seat. Are you joking?

I think he's talking about land holidays, where a coach picks up from several different hotels.

Talking of which, has anyone been on a coach where the driver has to go looking for the passengers, because they can't be bothered to be at the pick-up point on time?

[Ashland]

I think some people just feel they are more entitled than others. ...drives me nuts! On a recent excursion, we were first in line with the tour guide. Up comes Mr. & Mrs. Entitled. Americans but speaking fluent Spanish they immediately started talking to the guide in Spanish. (Yep, I was really, really impressed with them!) During the "parade" to the bus, they wormed their way in front of us. Of course they plopped themselves in the front seat, across the aisle from the tour guide. Once underway, they started to monopolize the conversation with the tour guide...in Spanish. I'd had enough and politely asked "in Spanish" if they could please speak English so everyone on the bus could understand what they were saying about our destination.

 

I loved the excursion but would have gladly slapped them silly, their over inflated ego's never waned the entire excursion and it was almost too much for me. :o

 

In general our bus excursions have always been pleasant experiences. This was a first with Mr. & Mrs. Entitled! Hopefully we'll never run into them again (yeah, right!!!):D

Mr & Mrs E. travel often, we've seen them on a few occasions ;)

[beachchick]

Oh, no. Those people who followed the schedule and got on the bus before you, and waited for you to board, should ask you (politely, hat in hand), if you would prefer their seat. Are you joking?

 

Wow, that was harsh and wrong. Please read the post again. This is where a tour bus, day trip or otherwise, has several pickup points (e.g., hotels) where passengers gather. Those who are last on the scheduled pickup route are following the schedule. No, it's no joke that those people might be reasonably peeved if they are on a multi-day trip to be told, "Tough luck that the tour company picked you up last. They don't care that you paid the exact same fair as the group of people picked up first. Your view for the entire trip will be of the onboard potty." Geez, it's not as if the passengers get to create the pickup map! I think in these circumstances that tour companies should insist on a reasonable rotation of seats.

 

beachchick

Edited April 5, 2013 by beachchick

[cruisemom42]

I really like that!

 

Here's my problem. More than once, we've arrived last, through no fault of our own, usually because the bus was gathering people up from several different starting points. As the last on, we got the least desirable seats - everybody else had the chance to stake out the better spots. So are you telling me it's good etiquette that those who had the advantage in the first place get to hog their good seats throughout the entire trip? We all paid the same amount for the trip, after all.

 

And no, I've never had the experience of anyone saying to me, "Gee, you've been stuck in the back of the bus by the toilet for the last two hours. Would you like to exchange seats with me so you get a good view and some fresh air for awhile?" Nah, never happens.

 

As for a tour guide who orders people to stay in their original seats, if I was stuck in a bad seat, I'd be pulling that guide aside and having a conversation, believe me.

 

I'm not sure I follow why you addressed your remarks to the other poster you quoted, who clearly said that on a multi-day tour the guide asked everyone to rotate seats -- so everyone is not "stuck" in the same seat for the entire trip.

 

As for day trips, yes, I've been on those where I was picked up at or near the end of the hotel pickups. I wouldn't expect others to change seats with me because mine is less desireable. It's just the luck of the draw. For most of the trips I take, the bus is just a means of getting there, not an end unto itself. I may even sit and read my Kindle or my notes about wherever we are going. Sure, having a nice view is better, but......that's the breaks. Someone gets the "not so good" seats, and occasionally it may be me.

 

If you want a first-class experience where you can control where you sit, rent a private car and driver.

Edited April 5, 2013 by cruisemom42

[RockeyBullwinkle]

how about common sense and some courtesy? if a lady and a child get on the bus and there are only singles left I can't believe she would need to ask someone if they would move.. more then one someone should have made the offer before being asked. when getting on and off at stops of course you take the same seat when returning. on multiple day trips I would think some seat adjustments could be made politely with mutual agreement. couple of younger singles might prefer to sit together and the 2 older folks sitting with them might prefer the switch. as far as running back to the bus to grab a better seat I would trip you.

[flamomo]

I guess I have been uncommonly fortunate on my ship's tours ..... even without the driver/guide making a statement re: returning to one' original seat ...... that the other passengers have always done so. Or perhaps all those people were just unusually polite and had a good understanding of excursion bus etiquitte.

[sail7seas]

I was in Macy's a few weeks ago and it was coupon day. The lady in front of me at the check out did not have a coupon so I offered her the use of mine. (It is reusable all day.) She looked at it, commented it was only 15% off but the one she had left home was 20% and was angry that was the best I could do for her. She huffed and puffed and begrudingly used it without so much as a thank you to me. No manners.

 

I was at another store yesterday and as is the usual these days, I paid for my purchase, the clerk handed me the sales slip and my bag. I said 'you're welcome' and she would have stared me to the ground before she would say thank you. I asked why it is that no sales clerks seem to wish to thank their customers these days and I got dead silence. I then asked again if she thought she could thank me for my business and her silence was deafening. No manners.

 

I was standing in line at Lido waiting to have my sandwich made and when the person ahead of me finished and moved along, though I was watching and ready to move up to take my turn, I felt two hands on my back, PUSH me.... literally push me forward. What is one to say in such a circumstance? Who will turn into the person with No Manners?

 

I can't speak for any other country but I can speak on my own impression of my little corner of the world and there are few people who bother with any sort of manners.

 

I thread about etiquette is bordering on ludicrous in this environment IMO

Very sad but the lack of manners is appalling and getting worse by the hour.

 

 

[BeagleOne]

I was in Macy's a few weeks ago and it was coupon day. The lady in front of me at the check out did not have a coupon so I offered her the use of mine. (It is reusable all day.) She looked at it, commented it was only 15% off but the one she had left home was 20% and was angry that was the best I could do for her. She huffed and puffed and begrudingly used it without so much as a thank you to me. No manners.

 

 

Oooh! I'd have been VERY tempted to say, "Well, if my 15% coupon isn't good enough for you, I'll just rescind my offer, then." What a rude woman she was!

[Warm Breezes]

I was in Macy's a few weeks ago and it was coupon day. The lady in front of me at the check out did not have a coupon so I offered her the use of mine. (It is reusable all day.) She looked at it, commented it was only 15% off but the one she had left home was 20% and was angry that was the best I could do for her. She huffed and puffed and begrudingly used it without so much as a thank you to me. No manners.

 

I was at another store yesterday and as is the usual these days, I paid for my purchase, the clerk handed me the sales slip and my bag. I said 'you're welcome' and she would have stared me to the ground before she would say thank you. I asked why it is that no sales clerks seem to wish to thank their customers these days and I got dead silence. I then asked again if she thought she could thank me for my business and her silence was deafening. No manners.

 

I was standing in line at Lido waiting to have my sandwich made and when the person ahead of me finished and moved along, though I was watching and ready to move up to take my turn, I felt two hands on my back, PUSH me.... literally push me forward. What is one to say in such a circumstance? Who will turn into the person with No Manners?

 

I can't speak for any other country but I can speak on my own impression of my little corner of the world and there are few people who bother with any sort of manners.

 

I thread about etiquette is bordering on ludicrous in this environment IMO

Very sad but the lack of manners is appalling and getting worse by the hour.

 

 

 

When we sailed on the Carnival Glory I went to the buffet for breakfast one day. An older "gentleman" in line behind me kept requesting (demanding) I get him things from the buffet. I thought ok maybe he has trouble reaching so I helped him out to be nice. I left after about the 3rd time with no "please" or "thank you" just demands and the statement "Gee's your tall" (actually I'm the shortest in family at 5'9"...makes me wonder what he would have said to DS if he was in front of him at 6'7 1/2"). I found this extremely sad. My kids have been taught from an early age to say please and thank you and were instantly reminded if they forgot. Seems some people were never taught how to be polite.

[sail7seas]

I just found it interesting how much we are discussing etiquette for a tour bus when we can hardly get through a day, it seems, without being subjected to ridiculously bad manners or no manners at all.

 

I wonder if the lady described above as the etiquette instructor who said bus etiquette is that each keeps the seat they initially had on a tour bus if maybe those with the best seats shouldn't offer to share and not 'hog' that seat the whole time. Would etiquette suggest good manners might be to offer it to someone who had a clearly inferior seat?

 

Edited April 5, 2013 by sail7seas

[OCruisers]

QUOTE=sail7seas;37871719

 

I wonder if the lady described above as the etiquette instructor who said bus etiquette is that each keeps the seat they initially had on a tour bus if maybe those with the best seats shouldn't offer to share and not 'hog' that seat the whole time. Would etiquette suggest good manners might be to offer it to someone who had a clearly inferior seat?

------------------------------------------------

 

Agree! Good etiquette totally depends on the situation.

It's never wrong to use normal "good manners" and is the botton line best etiquette.

 

LuLu

~~~~

[RockeyBullwinkle]

I'm particular where I sit in a movie theater (I wear industrial hearing aids) We always get into theater early and get our preferred seats. I can't count how many times someone will rush in just as the movie starts and ask if we would mind moving over so they can sit together in our row. even when the place is 1/2 empty.

[spunkyhungry]

I think he's talking about land holidays, where a coach picks up from several different hotels.

Talking of which, has anyone been on a coach where the driver has to go looking for the passengers, because they can't be bothered to be at the pick-up point on time?

 

Yes! This happened to us on a shore excursion in Puerto Rico at the Bacardi rum distillery. We waited about 20 minutes for a couple who were getting a bottle of rum engraved, and the engraving process took a really long time. The couple didn't even try to find the tour guide to explain; our tour guide actually had to search for them. Everyone on the bus wanted to leave without them because the wait was cutting into our downtown shopping time. However, the driver/tour guide didn't want to leave without them and said we would wait for them.

 

On the subject of choosing seats, I think if on the return trip a seat was empty I would not hesitate to sit in it, even if I sat somewhere different on the first part of the trip. If a seat had bags/clothes/other items in it I would not sit in it.

[Tiggertastic]

We have travelled so many times where nobody has ever switched seats. Then this happened:

 

We were in st Thomas last week and the leaving time was 11.30. By 11.45 we still had a family of 4 missing and we had 4 seats left, 2 in front of the other 2. The driver came to my husband and I and told us to move (not requested, told, 'move there') to the back 2 seats of the 4 so that the family of 4, when they eventually arrived, could sit in a line. We said no - we had been there 30 minutes and the family could speak to each other better sat in a block rather than a row. He then told another couple to move, they originally said no but moved in the end as the driver would not go until the family was sat just as the driver wanted them to.

 

The same family then over ran the next stop by 20 minutes so the driver removed one of our stops completely - the beach!

[SHAZA0208]

Now that's the worst I have heard so far!

Some people really do not care about others.

[Keith1010]

When you tour or sail with lots of people you will see a range of things; some good and some not so good.

 

Keith

[tutuwahineLV]

:rolleyes:

[nybumpkin]

The seat-swapping doesn't really bother me much as a solo traveler, but one time I was on board a bus with a fairly good seat near the front and was asked point-blank by a couple to give up my seat because they wanted to sit together and the only seats left by that point were singles.

 

I don't think that's fair, and I said so. Not my fault they boarded the bus late.

I travel on business on Amtrak to NYC on Empire Service, which runs along the Hudson River. After 25+ years, I still love the river view and try to make sure I'm at Penn Station in plenty of time to get a seat on the river view side of the train. Any number of times I've had people who board the train with less than 5 minutes to spare, look around and comment "there are no seats together" and then ask me to move to an inside seat across the aisle so they could sit together. I always just politely respond, "I'm sorry, I really wanted the river view." :) (Of course, now I need the window seat so I can plug in my phone!)

[sail7seas]

We have travelled so many times where nobody has ever switched seats. Then this happened:

 

We were in st Thomas last week and the leaving time was 11.30. By 11.45 we still had a family of 4 missing and we had 4 seats left, 2 in front of the other 2. The driver came to my husband and I and told us to move (not requested, told, 'move there') to the back 2 seats of the 4 so that the family of 4, when they eventually arrived, could sit in a line. We said no - we had been there 30 minutes and the family could speak to each other better sat in a block rather than a row. He then told another couple to move, they originally said no but moved in the end as the driver would not go until the family was sat just as the driver wanted them to.

 

The same family then over ran the next stop by 20 minutes so the driver removed one of our stops completely - the beach!

 

 

Wow..... Just Wow. That is terrible.

There is no chance DH and I would have moved in those circumstances.

The family deserved no courtesy IMO

 

[Kbarinc]

I recently was on a van tour in St Thomas. Six people in our group, ages 83,82,

62, 61, 61 and 59. We boarded the van first and had six seats together.

At the first stop everyone got off to take pictures and purchase souvenirs.

When we all returned, one couple (not with our group) decided they did not like their original seats and took our seats. This action is completely rude and selfish

with no consideration for basic common courtesy. The naysayers will say first come first serve because they did not like their seat. If you wait around and are last on the van you take what you get. I'm sure the naysayers would feel differently if their seat was taken under the same circumstances.

[Bookish Angel]

Sorry about that.

Edited November 9, 2014 by Bookish Angel

[Bookish Angel]

For me, the MUCH bigger problem is the adults and/or their children who will not be quiet when the guide is speaking. Talking over the guide or letting kids play loud video games that interfere with the commentary is just plain rude.

[donaldsc]

After reading several of the posts on this thread, it reinforces my pledge to never ever take a bus tour ever again in my entire life. Sounds like taking such a tour would be worse than being tortured to death. If bus tours were the only way that I could travel, I would stay home instead.

 

I should admit that I have taken one multi-day OAT bus tour in Mexico and I guess that I must have lucked out on my one bus tour. Every day, the guide ensured that we all switch seats in an organized fashion so that nobody was stuck with a bad seat for the entire seat.

 

When I travel and see bus tour groups piling off their bus, I only feel pity for them.

 

Along the same general lines, my wife and I always pick aisle and aisle seats on a plan. On one trip, a guy asked me if I would move so that could sit next to his wife. I politely told him I wasn't moving.

 

DON

Edited November 9, 2014 by donaldsc

[donaldsc]

I'm particular where I sit in a movie theater (I wear industrial hearing aids) We always get into theater early and get our preferred seats. I can't count how many times someone will rush in just as the movie starts and ask if we would mind moving over so they can sit together in our row. even when the place is 1/2 empty.

 

Can I assume that you said "no"?

 

DON

[Lady Chew]

We were on a bus tour in one of the Indian ports earlier this year ... about 30 people. Everything started out fine but at one point the guide really started pushing us to get in & out of the various sites, really rushing us. There was a group of six who wanted to stop at a local liquor store for alcohol to take back to the ship. So the rest of us were rushed so that these folks could spend almost 30 minutes choosing their alcohol. We all had to wait on the bus in the heat. When they got back on the bus and came by our seats I said in a very loud voice "I hope you are going to share that with the rest of us since we all had to wait so long" ... and some other people let them have it as well.

 

I hope those people tipped the guide well for that stop, because it cost him quite a few tips from some of the rest of us.

 

And yes, we let Shore Excursions know about it.