What was your worst excursion or bad experience in a port?

[tbmrt]

Thought it would be interesting to read about excursions or port visits gone bad.

 

Ours was in Falmouth, Jamaica. I had contacted a closeby beach with pickup service before leaving on our cruise. Checked out the reviews beforehand and while I knew it would be "rustic", I wasn't prepared for what occurred.

 

Six of us walked through a very shady neighborhood. Stopped to buy some fruit and the vendor tried to rip us off, telling us he never agreed to the initial price he quoted us.

 

We reached the location where we were supposed to be picked up by the beach's van. What appeared to be a prostitute in a red leather mini skirt and heels and her **** were standing on the corner. A policeman stood closeby also.

 

A rundown van w/no air conditioning pulled up. Driver was very pleasant. He got out to speak with the policeman. We waited for what seemed like an eternity in the hot van.

 

We finally got out and asked what was happening.

 

The driver said the policeman wouldn't let him take us to his beach...something about not having paid for a license or whatever.

 

Finally, the driver got the policeman to agree to have us taken back to the port gate. We did so. One couple decided to find a regular cab to take them to this beach. (We later heard they were charged a ridiculously high amount for no more than a 10 minute drive!) They told us the beach was fun.

 

Four of us decided to just shop and go back to the ship. We were too apprehensive to deal with trying to get to this beach after our experience in this town and the van.

 

I think we'd stay on the ship in Falmouth if we're ever there again.

[ducklite]

Both of ours were in French Polynesia. The first one gave me a pick up time (I still have the email) that was incorrect and the tour left without us. By the time we got hold of him and they returned for us, we had missed 90 minutes of the tour, and they still charged us full price.

 

The other cancelled our tour without telling us. It was only when I emailed to confirm a couple days in advance that he bothered to let us know.

 

These were both very highly regarded tour providers in French Polynesia. If they are the good ones, I'd hate to know how the so-so ones operate!

[moopig]

Just had a bad experience at West Bay in Roatan, Honduras (specifically, Bananarama). Had gone before and loved the beach but this time the vendors were relentless. Usually I don't mind vendors but these people wouldn't take no for an answer. They even grabbed my feet. When I finally agreed on a massage, of course the price changed. Would never go back there.

[travlnblueberries]

Being robbed

[mtwingcpa]

Rude treatment by customs and security employees at US ports.

[trish1c]

Roatan

 

The driver was new. He didn't seem to know where he was going. He took up someplace where his friend tried to sell us drugs. He bought some. The van got stuck in the mud. They sent a small thin guy with a rope to get us out. We thought we'd miss the ship.

 

It had a happy ending though. I complained here on CC when we got back. The parent company sent us a refund. So I applaud the company even if that driver was awful.

[cruzeluver]

So far we have been fortunate to not have any truly horrible days in port, but one was certainly not that great.

 

We have been to Cozumel numerous times and enjoy it. When going there a few years ago with some friends, we booked a catamaran sail and snorkel trip. What a mistake! The snorkeling, which was very brief, was mediocre at best. The location I think was to blame (we were so close to some of the ships in port we could have swum up to them). The "beach" we were then taken to was very small, rocky and just kind of blah. Then on the ride back to port the catamaran was turned into a major booze cruise with people getting loud and sloppy drunk. Felt like I was trapped in a frat house.

[OCruisers]

St. Thomas - Being robbed

 

Eeeek! :eek: Please give us the details!

LuLu

[DonnaK]

Our experience wasn't dangerous or hazardous. Just a ship arranged excursion that was not worth the money at all - Harrison's Caves in Barbados. We should have just gone to a beach resort that offers day passes.

[Lionesss]

Does painful count?

 

While in Jamaica we booked a double excursion.

 

First you zip line, then you tube down the river and they feed you jerk chicken in between.

 

Total time was to be 4 hours.

 

Well

 

The zip line and the tubing was great!! Mini lunch was actually good.

 

It was the down time, and this in itself was where the frustration was.

 

Almost two hours between excursions, and then waiting almost 45 min to get a bus back to port.

 

We were suppossed to be back at Falmouth at 3pm.

We arrived back a little after 6pm.

 

I will never book a double promoted excursion again.

 

Sea Ya

Edited November 30, 2014 by Lionesss

[jocap]

We've just returned from an Iberia/ North Africa cruise. For some reason we were placed near ships unloading cargo, in Casablanca, and the dock was covered with what looked like thick oil. All the carpets by the gangway had to be covered in plastic, and in the lifts.....everyone's shoes were messed up, until eventually a load of sand was laid down. Our captain was not amused....

It turned out to be a spillage of black molasses....:eek:

[Lionesss]

We've just returned from an Iberia/ North Africa cruise. For some reason we were placed near ships unloading cargo, in Casablanca, and the dock was covered with what looked like thick oil. All the carpets by the gangway had to be covered in plastic, and in the lifts.....everyone's shoes were messed up, until eventually a load of sand was laid down. Our captain was not amused....

It turned out to be a spillage of black molasses....:eek:

 

 

 

SWEET

 

That had to be a ugly mess.

 

You never know what you can step into.

 

Sea Ya

[SuiteTraveler]

We did a tour that included Pisa followed by wine tasting and lunch in Tuscany from the NCL Jade. The first part of the tour, to Pisa was unremarkable, then the bus driver decided to try a new route that included passing through a medieval Tuscan hill town. This is a walled town with streets so narrow it was almost impassable by the bus. The residents, with a look of WTH??? on their faces, came out to see the huge tour bus passing through their tiny town and some had to move their cars in order for the bus to pass. I think there was about 1 foot of clearance on each side of the bus.

 

After successfully clearing the town, the bus began ascending a gentle hill making a series of hairpin turns and scraping the bus against stone retaining walls. The brakes began to make a nasty odor in the back of the bus as the driver would make 10 or 20 point turns in order to get around the hairpin turns. Then one of the passengers, a woman, stood up and demanded to be let off the bus. We were not in any real danger. The worst that could have happened was the bus would roll backwards, harmlessly down the hill into a cleared field. But the woman demanded to be let off the bus and would not get back on for over an hour. I have no idea what she thought she was doing. There are no taxis in Tuscany. Finally, the tour guide persuaded her to get back on the bus and we went forward around the next corner.

 

At this point we were over an hour late for lunch and the winery called our tour guide to ask where we were. We were only about 1 mile from the winery at this point but the winery people said that our bus would not be able to make the very last turn to get to the winery and needed to go around to get to the winery via another road. Since we were so late, the winery managed to commandeer a local school bus and sent that to get us. The woman who caused us to be late inexplicably refused to get on this school bus, so she and her family rode all the way back around with the tour guide in the original bus - the one she had been complaining about going back through those hairpin turns that upset her so much. The rest of us got on the school bus, some had to stand due to space limitations, but we knew it was a very short ride and the driver got us to the winery at what can only be described as break-neck speed. I guess he was told to get us there fast. It was quite the wild ride and we were hanging on for dear life, but the ride was only about 1 minute long. When we stopped at the winery, there was dead silence on the bus.

 

We shuffled into the winery and took our places at the tables set for us and had what turned out to be an absolutely marvelous lunch. They gave us lots of wine and then lots more wine. The food was wonderful.

 

An hour into lunch the original bus and the complaining lady and her family arrived with the tour guide. As she went to sit down at another table, the complaining lady said, "I'm glad I was right!" Everyone rolled their eyes. The tour guide was very freaked out about the incident and came around to every table to make sure we were alright. She brought us more wine. At this point, most everyone had had plenty of wine. We enjoyed quite a bit of time at the winery, tasted wine and olive oil and met the owner who gave us a tour of her garden.

 

On the ride back to the ship, in the original bus, this time, via the route the tour normally takes, most everyone was a bit drunk and started singing along to various Dean Martin and Sinatra songs. When I gave the tour guide her tip as I left the bus, all I could do was laugh and say "OMG! What a day!"

 

This excursion had gone so wrong, yet everyone was determined to enjoy themselves despite the complaining woman and we did.

 

After this experience, I have always scheduled private tours when in Europe.

[CowPrincess]

My worst shorex wasn't dangerous or scary, just unpleasant. A canoe trip on a lake in Alaska somewhere in very cold weather (40ishF) and pelting rain.

 

Oh wait, yeah it WAS a bit dangerous. The road to the lake had HUGE chunks missing, and virtually no shoulders at all. Long drops :eek: The Grey Line bus driver was brand new, and completely unprepared for a pothole filled road with no shoulders, and washed out "bits" :eek: He was shaking and pale by the time we arrived at our destination. He looked like he was going to cry.

 

The rain was coming down with more pressure and volume than you can usually get in the showers onboard. Every one of us saturated, and cold. Then into the smelly SOAKING WET life jackets. (Dirty-wet-dog-that-had-thrown-up type of smell) Out onto the lake, where the rain was (of course) filling up the canoes. The guides insisted that we sing some dumb song with the threat that we wouldn't get lunch if we didn't sing. Everyone was cold and wet and still shaken from the trip up the mountain. We sang. And then the guides wanted to have a water fight. Near-mutiny, as no one had any sense of humor left ;)

 

Everyone who was on that shorex finally got warmed up just in time to disembark two days later.

[gooch47]

Ours was an area highlight tour in Bunbury, Australia. The driver had no idea what the itinerary was supposed to be so he just drove around. The area has an attraction consisting of garden gnomes. When we told him we were supposed to go there he said it was much too far. We also were supposed to go to a place where you could interact with wild dolphins. We convinced him to take us there but they weren't expecting us and they wouldn't let us go anywhere near the beach. We were restricted to the gift shop. This was a Princess sponsored tour, not some private operator.

[sparky-elpaso]

Not a bad excursion (actually it was wonderful) but an aggravating tour guide. Tour to the Normandy Beaches, etc. with Princess.

 

While most of the guides we had on other tours would give you info on the site and show you around a bit, answer questions, and then let you go off on your own to take photos or whatever. This guy wanted us to follow him around like little baby ducks. :rolleyes: I had done a bunch of research so we would follow for a bit and then just sort of fall behind so I could take photos of what I wanted and then catch up (we weren't the only ones who did this).

[s2kreno]

First, I have been on many ATV trips and this was far and away the worst, even before they threatened us and stole our money. It's Chavos Sport Rentals that Shore Excusioneer sends you to (Carnival and other cruise line contract with Shore Excursioneer -- not a good company).

 

The ATVs were not safe. Mine had two warning lights on it. I showed the guide. His response: "No problem."

 

At least one third of the trip is not on a trail. It's on a highway. Driving an unsafe ATV while being passed by a semi is not a great experience.

 

When you get to the hot springs, you have to pay again, another $7. If you don't have exact change, too bad. And they are just swimming pools with warmish water. Big deal. Problem was they noticed our cash when we paid for the hot springs. As we found out later.

 

Now, for the worst part. My husband and I are very experienced. I have raced cars and he raced motorcycles and he still has a Class M license. We're in our 50s and don't get silly with the equipment. But Jeff's throttle jammed and while fighting to get the thing stopped he bumped another rider (who had been ramming his friends all day and shrugged it off).

 

The others were all young Afghani military guys (from a Carnival Cruise) and they trashed the ATVs. But at the end, they were allowed to leave and this thug guy at the ATV rental wouldn't let us go. He wanted $350 for "damage" to the ATV, which was a joke. Then he said $150. We were afraid to call the police because I'd heard that the cops work with these guys sometimes. I offered the creep $20 (I was wet and filthy and freezing and wanted to go). My husband said he'd add $20. The thug looked in Jeff's wallet, said, "I want it all" and took $87 from us. The booking company, Shore Excursioneer (they work with Carnival and other ships) apologized and refunded my $20 deposit but we did not get the $140 we paid for the tour and lost the $87 too. So just because you use a booking company or come from a cruise ship doesn't mean you have any protection. At least not from this booking company.

Edited January 24, 2015 by s2kreno

[Warm Breezes]

Glass bottom boat in Nassau. DD, 4 at that time, had her toe run over by the ramp getting on it. It was bleeding like crazy, she was crying and no one offered to help us. She cried the whole trip and ended up losing her toe nail over it. On top of all that we didn't get to see any cool fish:(.

[wassup4565]

Completely our fault. At Orient Beach in St Maarten, instead of looking for a bona fide cab, we let a young guy talk us into letting him drive us back to the port. The car was a broken-down heap. The passenger seat-back wouldn't stay upright (think recliner). The driver seemed to be holding his door closed with a rope handle. Oh well...

 

Partway there, with the car labouring along like a mule, there was a loud explosion from the back end. A rear tire had exploded. So there we were, two women standing by the side of the road in St Maarten. It worked out. Two ladies in a handsome SUV stopped almost right away and picked us up, took us right where we needed to go.

 

All's well that ends well. And it's a good story to tell. But my heart sure sank when that tire exploded...

[donaldsc]

Rude treatment by customs and security employees at US ports.

 

I must be lucky. I have come into the US through a bunch of ports and have never been treated rudely by any US customs or security employees. Whatever questions they asked me were reasonable ones and they are just doing their jobs. If it has happened to you more than once, perhaps it is not the agents who have a problem.

 

DON

[tbmrt]

My DH and I were walking single file on a narrow street by the shops near the ship.

 

A guy in his late teens passed me by mumbling something about you people should stay home, etc. (in words much worse than that!)

 

He then got to my husband behind me and actually pushed him hard, muttering the same vulgar words.

 

Thankfully, my husband who is 72 years old and a senior personal trainer was able to maintain his footing. I'd hate to think what would have happened if this guy had pushed an elderly person down as roughly as he pushed my husband.

 

Very scary!

 

Dominica has always been our favorite port with very friendly people...This guy truly was an exception to those we met in the past

[cruisemom42]

Never have had a terrible experience ashore, other than some really disappointing shore excursions through the ship which basically led to my avoidance of the same.

 

The worst of these involved a guide in Turkey who basically didn't know anything about the sites she was supposed to show us, shilled endlessly for a particular shopping stop and made jokes in poor taste about an ethnic minority in Turkey that went over like a lead balloon.

Edited January 24, 2015 by cruisemom42

[sail7seas]

DH and I were walking not far from the ship in Ocho Rios when we noticed a young, filthy dirty man walking close behind us waving a machete. Unnerving to say the least. My DH put his hand on my back and gently and calmly moved us across the street and we returned to the ship. There is no viable, good reason for anyone to walk down a street loaded with cruise travelers carrying a machete in a threatening manner.

 

Why did the local police permit this? :confused:

 

[Kartgv]

We've told this story before on CC, but it's been awhile. 1981, Port Au Prince, Haiti, ship-sponsored tour. The tour was supposed to be a private taxi ride to the top of the mountain for its spectacular view, plus a visit to the rum factory which made 19 different flavors of rum. The taxis turned out to be any local with a car which would actually run. Each driver was given a $5 gas voucher, which they ALL immediately tried to use at the same gas station, resulting in a scene of real-life bumper cars. Our 'taxi' has a muffler which was held on with twine that caught on fire. The replacement 'taxi' would only go in reverse, so we backed all the way up and back down the mountain.

 

At others stops during the day we had the following 'highlights': one of us was spit on by a local wood carver in the museum after we took his picture (and we had asked if it was OK first!), being chased by a man with a dead chicken (he thought we needed to have our pictures taken with him and his chicken), having our stalled 'taxi' (which also had no glass in the windows) overrun by about a dozen begging street kids who tried to get us to buy all kinds of things, and it deteriorated from there to become truly frightening. We didn't think we were going to get back on the ship alive, but it sure made a good story in later years! And the rum was good - all 19 flavors.

[geoherb]

Last year in Cozumel, we finally decided to take the ship's excursion to Tulum. It was supposed to be the one that include time at the beach. We learned that the ferry over to the mainland is aptly known as the "vomit comet" for a reason. Fortunately both of us had taken precautions and did not get seasick.

 

I think it's always hot in the Yucatan. The tour of the ruins was not what I expected. Instead of going from place to place, our tour guide stopped us in the middle of a field and talked about the history of the Mayans. He pointed out a few of the structures, but I learned more about his ex-girlfriend and daughter than I did about Tulum.

 

To top things off, at the end of his talk, he pointed us toward the steps to the beach. It was closed due to rough surf. That was supposed to be a significant portion of our excursion. Plus we had toted all the things we needed for the beach with us--things we could have left on the tour bus if we had known the beach was closed.

 

When I complained at the shore excursions desk after getting back to the ship, they blew my complaints off. I filled out a formal one and did not hear back until the last afternoon of the cruise. Then the shore excursion manager wrote a letter saying that he had not been able to confirm my account of what happened since the tour company had not replied to his communication.

 

Fortunately I was able to get a partial refund after getting home--actually more than I requested while on the ship.