Exploitation!

[Julia’s Journey’s]

I suppose I should point out that many people on our Liberty of the Seas tour were SHOCKED to find out how far the port was from Rome. There were complaints that the ship should have pretty much parked at the Vatican entrance.

 

This made me laugh, a couple on the Royal TA came to the M&G and were chatting to us, I think they were told that excursions could be booked at the M&G:confused: They asked if they could catch the train with us into Rome and I said yes etc etc. The day before arrival in Rome they left a msg on our phone saying they wanted to join us but were late risers so could we leave after 10.30am - I guess they thought Rome was around the corner:eek::eek:

This was there first trip to EU and guess they didn't do much research.

[moonhunter]

I wonder if you have cruised before? This sounds like a reasonable price. But maybe you should cancel now since you have such a negative view of the cruise. I doubt that you will find anything to be happy about.

[Aquahound]

So.....Royal Caribbean would charge you less? Is that why you are going to stay with them?

 

In my experience, RCI charges anywhere from $25 to $99 for transfers depending on length. For Bordeaux, I suspect it would be at the higher end of the scale....equal to, if not more than Princess.

[Reevo79]

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but I can certainly sympathise with the point being made here. Much like the OP me and my DW are from the UK and have sailed with RCCL many times in the past, however, the Princess cruise in May being referred to here was on offer at a very good price and we decided to book it as we would like to try a different cruise line for a change, going in with the state of mind that "it's really cheap so we won't have lost a huge amount if we dont like it"

Admittedly, we probably should have done a little homework on the ports of call being visited, but given that the trip was more about experiencing what Princess ships are like rather than exploring the ports of call we didnt give it a huge amount of consideration.

We are pretty adventurous when it comes to ports, and I will reguarly plan for us to go out there on our own rather than using what I feel to be the overpriced excursions offered by the cruise lines themselves. We are both very happy to jump on a local bus/train/taxi and go off on our own, taking the risk that if something goes wrong we could potentially end up missing the ship.

However at the port in question here, Le Verdon, it would seem that there are literally no other options of getting from the port to Bordeaux and back again to catch the departure of the ship. The train station is in the village of Le Verdon, ditto the bus stops, and from my own research there would appear to be no local taxi companies who will take passengers from the port the 2-3 miles into the village centre. This is itself doesn't bother us as we have decided to take the ferry from the port over to the town of Royan across the river to do some shopping and spend some time on the beach. Even, this however requires us to walk a good mile and a half from the cruise ship to the ferry terminal. We are both young and have no health issues so not really a problem, but anyone who may be a little older, or has mobility issues would be struggling given the lack of local taxis.

However, if you had your heart set on visiting the city of Bordeaux, then its really a case of HAVING to use the official excursions at whatever price the cruise line chooses to charge. This is not the first time we have experienced this, and we have even had a situation with RCCL last year whereby you couldn't even get off the ship unless you paid for an official shuttle bus ticket onboard as the port police were stopping people leaving the dockside on foot.

Getting back to the main issue being raised by the OP, we only paid just over £400 for the cruise (approx $640 for those of you in the USA), so to be asked to pay $79 each for what is essentially a bus journey does come across as a bit strong in comparison to the overall cost of the trip, which is probably why the OP is upset about it.

I agree that $79 is about the going rate for an official cruise line "on your own" excursion and I have seen higher prices charged on our previous RCCL cruises for shorter journeys, but when the cost of the excursion is so high in relation to the initial cost of the trip you can understand why people would be upset.

At the end of the day, the cruise lines are in business to make money, and if they are charging such a small amount for the actual cruise then they need to make it some other way, such as drinks sales, casino, and through excursions. Of course no one forces the passengers to buy anything, and I personally like to save some money and do trips off my own back.

As a side note, we are both really looking forward to experiencing what Princess has to offer, especially given a lot of the positive stuff we've seen on here from you guys. :)

[windsor26]

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but I can certainly sympathise with the point being made here. Much like the OP me and my DW are from the UK and have sailed with RCCL many times in the past, however, the Princess cruise in May being referred to here was on offer at a very good price and we decided to book it as we would like to try a different cruise line for a change, going in with the state of mind that "it's really cheap so we won't have lost a huge amount if we dont like it"

Admittedly, we probably should have done a little homework on the ports of call being visited, but given that the trip was more about experiencing what Princess ships are like rather than exploring the ports of call we didnt give it a huge amount of consideration.

We are pretty adventurous when it comes to ports, and I will reguarly plan for us to go out there on our own rather than using what I feel to be the overpriced excursions offered by the cruise lines themselves. We are both very happy to jump on a local bus/train/taxi and go off on our own, taking the risk that if something goes wrong we could potentially end up missing the ship.

However at the port in question here, Le Verdon, it would seem that there are literally no other options of getting from the port to Bordeaux and back again to catch the departure of the ship. The train station is in the village of Le Verdon, ditto the bus stops, and from my own research there would appear to be no local taxi companies who will take passengers from the port the 2-3 miles into the village centre. This is itself doesn't bother us as we have decided to take the ferry from the port over to the town of Royan across the river to do some shopping and spend some time on the beach. Even, this however requires us to walk a good mile and a half from the cruise ship to the ferry terminal. We are both young and have no health issues so not really a problem, but anyone who may be a little older, or has mobility issues would be struggling given the lack of local taxis.

However, if you had your heart set on visiting the city of Bordeaux, then its really a case of HAVING to use the official excursions at whatever price the cruise line chooses to charge. This is not the first time we have experienced this, and we have even had a situation with RCCL last year whereby you couldn't even get off the ship unless you paid for an official shuttle bus ticket onboard as the port police were stopping people leaving the dockside on foot.

Getting back to the main issue being raised by the OP, we only paid just over £400 for the cruise (approx $640 for those of you in the USA), so to be asked to pay $79 each for what is essentially a bus journey does come across as a bit strong in comparison to the overall cost of the trip, which is probably why the OP is upset about it.

I agree that $79 is about the going rate for an official cruise line "on your own" excursion and I have seen higher prices charged on our previous RCCL cruises for shorter journeys, but when the cost of the excursion is so high in relation to the initial cost of the trip you can understand why people would be upset.

At the end of the day, the cruise lines are in business to make money, and if they are charging such a small amount for the actual cruise then they need to make it some other way, such as drinks sales, casino, and through excursions. Of course no one forces the passengers to buy anything, and I personally like to save some money and do trips off my own back.

As a side note, we are both really looking forward to experiencing what Princess has to offer, especially given a lot of the positive stuff we've seen on here from you guys. :)

 

What a great outlook As you say the cruise was cheap therefore it does leave a little more for tour expenses if you really want to go somewhere

[Northender]

This made me laugh, a couple on the Royal TA came to the M&G and were chatting to us, I think they were told that excursions could be booked at the M&G:confused: They asked if they could catch the train with us into Rome and I said yes etc etc. The day before arrival in Rome they left a msg on our phone saying they wanted to join us but were late risers so could we leave after 10.30am - I guess they thought Rome was around the corner:eek::eek:

This was there first trip to EU and guess they didn't do much research.

 

That is too funny. My question is, did they get up early and join you.:D

[tartanexile81]

I think a lot of the replies have been very harsh on the OP particularly as he / she has only posted twice on this forum. Let's try and be helpful and maybe even a bit sympathetic to the fact they were shocked when they discovered how far Bordeaux was from their port and the cost of the transfer. There are many cruisers (including me!) on both sides of the pond who don't do the intensive research before booking that it appears many users of CC think we should.... but that doesn't make them (me!) bad people!

 

I actually agree that $79 is a bit much for an "on your own" transfer and we saw the same sort of thing repeatedly on our recent cruise to the Caribbean where we regularly caught a local bus ($1-$2) to the beach instead of the ship's transfer for $50. If you multiply the $79 the OP quotes by 50 which will probably be the number of people on the coach, the total will be just under $4000. Not bad for just providing a coach. We've just done a coach transfer when we disembarked our cruise ship in Southampton up to Glasgow which cost us about £79 per person and took 10 hours!

[ar1950]

I think a lot of the replies have been very harsh on the OP particularly as he / she has only posted twice on this forum. Let's try and be helpful and maybe even a bit sympathetic to the fact they were shocked when they discovered how far Bordeaux was from their port and the cost of the transfer. There are many cruisers (including me!) on both sides of the pond who don't do the intensive research before booking that it appears many users of CC think we should.... but that doesn't make them (me!) bad people!

 

I actually agree that $79 is a bit much for an "on your own" transfer and we saw the same sort of thing repeatedly on our recent cruise to the Caribbean where we regularly caught a local bus ($1-$2) to the beach instead of the ship's transfer for $50. If you multiply the $79 the OP quotes by 50 which will probably be the number of people on the coach, the total will be just under $4000. Not bad for just providing a coach. We've just done a coach transfer when we disembarked our cruise ship in Southampton up to Glasgow which cost us about £79 per person and took 10 hours!

 

Not harsh at all when you consider that the only posts by the OP were to bash Princess (and then the respondents to his first post) and the Princess tour price when RCCL UK site quotes this :

Bordeaux On Your Own - VQ12

Port/City: Bordeaux (Le Verdon), France

Activity Type: Sightseeing and/or City Tours

Approximate Duration: 9 hour(s)

Prices starting from:

*46.28 GBP (Adult)

*35.88 GBP (Child)

*0.00 GBP (Infant)

 

So as far as the pricing, RCCL is $77.00 (adult) at the current British Pound to US Dollar exchange rate. I don't believe that all of the angst that the OP conveyed was worthy of the $2.00 difference that RCCL (OP's favorite cruise line) would save him over the "exploitation" cruise line (Princess).

 

Bon chance finding a better price from Le Verdon to Bordeaux.:cool:

Edited March 16, 2014 by ar1950

[sunsetbeachgal]

And with Royal Caribbean you have to pay for tours at the time of booking the tour, rather than on Princess you pay on board. Now that is something I mind and on my upcoming RCCL cruise (chosen by family we are traveling with.) guess how many ships tours I booked...zero!!

Edited March 17, 2014 by sunsetbeachgal

[CI66774]

I think a lot of the replies have been very harsh on the OP particularly as he / she has only posted twice on this forum. Let's try and be helpful and maybe even a bit sympathetic to the fact they were shocked when they discovered how far Bordeaux was from their port and the cost of the transfer. There are many cruisers (including me!) on both sides of the pond who don't do the intensive research before booking that it appears many users of CC think we should.... but that doesn't make them (me!) bad people!

 

I actually agree that $79 is a bit much for an "on your own" transfer and we saw the same sort of thing repeatedly on our recent cruise to the Caribbean where we regularly caught a local bus ($1-$2) to the beach instead of the ship's transfer for $50. If you multiply the $79 the OP quotes by 50 which will probably be the number of people on the coach, the total will be just under $4000. Not bad for just providing a coach. We've just done a coach transfer when we disembarked our cruise ship in Southampton up to Glasgow which cost us about £79 per person and took 10 hours!

 

I don't think anyone is calling the OP a "bad person." However, when the OP entitles his/her post "Exploitation" - well, that's a strong word - given, it appears, she/he didn't even do any cursory review of the itinerary. She/he could have posted a question without labeling something as exploitative.

[SwissDave]

I think a lot of the replies have been very harsh on the OP particularly as he / she has only posted twice on this forum. Let's try and be helpful and maybe even a bit sympathetic to the fact they were shocked when they discovered how far Bordeaux was from their port and the cost of the transfer. There are many cruisers (including me!) on both sides of the pond who don't do the intensive research before booking that it appears many users of CC think we should.... but that doesn't make them (me!) bad people!

 

I actually agree that $79 is a bit much for an "on your own" transfer and we saw the same sort of thing repeatedly on our recent cruise to the Caribbean where we regularly caught a local bus ($1-$2) to the beach instead of the ship's transfer for $50. If you multiply the $79 the OP quotes by 50 which will probably be the number of people on the coach, the total will be just under $4000. Not bad for just providing a coach. We've just done a coach transfer when we disembarked our cruise ship in Southampton up to Glasgow which cost us about £79 per person and took 10 hours!

 

I think if the OP had come on asking for advice on lower cost options for getting to Bordeaux, or even asking if $79 was 'normal', rather than launching straight into a tirade and complaining about something that hasn't actually happened yet, then there would have been a bit more sympathy, and certainly some good advice would have been given.

[SwissDave]

...snipped to make shorter.....

As a side note, we are both really looking forward to experiencing what Princess has to offer, especially given a lot of the positive stuff we've seen on here from you guys. :)

 

Welcome to Princess. Top tip for you, when you board head to either the dining room for lunch, or to the International Café (Plaza deck 5) and not the buffet. International Café is free (except gelato if they have it) and much more civilised than the buffet.

 

Are you on the May 3rd or May 24th sailing?

[dmwnc1959]

Well said...

 

 

I don't think anyone is calling the OP a "bad person." However, when the OP entitles his/her post "Exploitation" - well, that's a strong word - given, it appears, she/he didn't even do any cursory review of the itinerary. She/he could have posted a question without labeling something as exploitative.

 

I think if the OP had come on asking for advice on lower cost options for getting to Bordeaux, or even asking if $79 was 'normal', rather than launching straight into a tirade and complaining about something that hasn't actually happened yet, then there would have been a bit more sympathy, and certainly some good advice would have been given.

[MauiLvrs]

I actually agree that $79 is a bit much for an "on your own" transfer

For LA ... probably.

In this case ... seems like a reasonably priced option and NOT Exploitation!

 

$178/pp to dive in Belize ... we thought was awful expensive ...

So we decided that diving in Roatan was close enough to the same and were going to Grand Cayman instead of Belize.

[WeeCountyMan]

A Scot complaining about having to spend money - wait 'til he hears the price of a wee dram on Princess !!!

 

;)

[SwissDave]

A Scot complaining about having to spend money - wait 'til he hears the price of a wee dram on Princess !!!

 

;)

 

That made me laugh :)

 

Princess prices are cheaper than what I pay here for one.

[Hlitner]

We have booked our first cruise with Princess this May - it is a week cruise from Southampton to La Coruna, Bilbao, Bordeaux and Guernsey ...... 'Bordeaux' is actually a misnomer as it is a remote port called Le Verdon. It is extremely difficult to try to get to Bordeaux under your own steam. Princess Cruises' cheapest excursion is to 'explore Bordeaux on your own' and costs $79 EACH purely to transport you to Bordeaux and back ........ we shall not encourage Princess Cruises by paying what I feel is an extortionate amount and furthermore this will be our first and last time cruising with Princess - I hope fellow cruisers on this trip also complain ....... we shall return to Royal Caribbean for our future cruises...... totally disgusted!

 

Not sure your post makes a lot of sense. The port information was readily available before you booked your cruise (it is even on the Princess web site). Only small ships can actually cruise up the river into Bordeaux (HALs Prinsendam has done this a few times). The process of cruising into the city of Bordeaux actually takes a very long time (they have to creep up the river at a slow speed) so is generally only done on much longer cruises where they can spend the 2 days required to make the round trip.

 

As to cruise line excursions, they are generally overpriced on all cruise lines since they generally contract with the same companies to provide their land-based excursions. We have personally cruised on 14 different lines (including Princess and RCI) and do not normally buy cruise line excursions from any line.

 

So,, it seems to us that you have only yourself (and perhaps your travel agent) to blame for your dilemma. Your situation is akin to letting yourself purchasing the London Bridge...only to later find it is in Arizona :)

Edited March 17, 2014 by Hlitner

[andyleeds]

We will be on this cruise, the 3rd May one, it will be our first cruise. We have booked the city drive and time on your own tour to Bordeaux with Princess. $198 for both of us but when you convert it into £s it is approx £125 for two which considering the distance I don't think is too bad. I think sometime us Brits see the price in dollars and don't correctly convert to British pounds to get a true reflection from our point of view.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums