Private or Ship Sponsored Excursions

[Crew News]

As I sat on my Deck 6 verandah at 5:30 PM after exiting Glacier Bay, I noticed a tour boat approaching the Holland America Lines (HAL) Ms Westerdam. The boat's passengers were cheering and waving wildly. Our Captain announced that these were passengers left behind in Juneau in the dense fog. The tour boat turned to come along side and I noticed it was the Saint Gregory from Allen Marine that I had taken for a whale-watching tour in Juneau just yesterday.

 

Fifteen minutes after the 43 passengers were passed from the Saint Gregory to the Westerdam, a lady shouted down from Deck 8, "Glad to be back home on the Westerdam."

 

She related to those gathered on their balconies below that 60 Juneau passengers had been trapped by the fog in Juneau and could not get back to their ships before the ships had to sail with the tide. Six on a helicopter tour to Mendenhall Glacier spent the night in a small emergency tent on the glacier. Eighteen (one from Westerdam-sponsored excursion, three from Zuiderdam-sponsored excursion, and 14 passengers on private excursions) returned to Juneau via dog sled. The four on the HAL-sponsored excursion passengers had their hotel and meals paid by HAL. There were 36 who spent the night at Taku Lodge. Since flights to the lodge were halted early afternoon, there was lots of food available and the lodge had plenty of beds so that all would be comfortable.

 

When the fog cleared this morning, HAL collected its HAL-sponsored excursion passengers (46), sent three via charter plane to Skagway to catch the Zuiderdam, and placed 43 on the chartered Saint Gregory from Auke Bay, Juneau, to catch the Westerdam as we exited Glacier Bay. The lady on Deck 8 said that HAL took really good care of its passengers while in Juneau.

 

Simple math shows 14 non-HAL excursion passengers were forced to use other means to catch their ships at the next port.

[JimAOk1945]

The next time someone asks me why I always book our shore excursions on every cruise, through the cruise line, I will tell them about this incident.

Edited July 17, 2014 by JimAOk1945

[Kamloops50]

That's why I always book ship excursions.

 

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[mjt2890]

I still prefer to book with tour operators directly and bypass the ship. It's their livelihood to get you back on the ship in time. If they don't, do you know that news would spread like wildfire on forums like this and seriously damage their reputation.

 

Plus I always get trip insurance (also not from the cruise ship), so if I do have an interruption, they will get me back on the cruise ship.

[dfam4]

We've been on 5 cruises. On the first 4 we did ship excursions only and grew accustomed to the large crowds of people in the groups herding on and off the ship and to the crowds and the non-personal attention on the excursions themselves.

 

This time I decided to live on the edge and book only private tours. I spoke personally to each tour guide and they were all very professional and stated they would move heaven and earth to get us back on board on time. And I guess I believed them! All 3 excursions were the BEST we've ever been on due to the personal attention and small nature of our private party of 8. We all made it back from each of them with plenty of time to spare.

 

On our trip up to the Yukon on a motor coach with our guide we stopped and picked up the driver of another touring company whose small bus had broken down. He had safely seen all of his passengers loaded onto the other tour buses passing by on the way back to port. He and our driver explained how the different tour groups always stop to help the stranded get back to port.

 

I'm sure there is a small possibility that we could be stranded somewhere due to the weather but after our latest great experiences with private tours we will be hesitant to ever book through any cruise line again. The risk is worth it IMO.