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

[skrufy]

Ours has to be Montego Bay. We went on a shopping excursion and to a small mall, then to what looked like a sleezy flea market. We got off the bus saw the area and jumped right back on. The last stop was downtown. We went into a few shops and upon entering we were harrassed to buy something. Enough was enough, so we headed down the street to have lunch at Margarettaville. In a block and a half walk we were approached 3 times out in the open asking if we wanted to buy drugs. All was not a bad expierence. At Margarettaville we had lunch, a few drinks, relaxed for about 2 hours on the deck while listeninng to music and watching the resort catamarans going here and there, and parasailers go by. We will think twice before getting off the ship in Jamaica again.

[fishywood]

A December westbound Transatlantic from Venice to Ft Lauderdale. Calling in Bermuda. On a Saturday. In December (yeah, already said that). Tourist infrastructure already packed away for the winter. Only ferry times from Hamilton back to Dockyards are 1:30 and 3:30--remember this is a Saturday. The time in port was listed as 8:00 to 5:00. Then revised to 9:00 to 5:00 Then revised again (just before embarkation day) from 9:00 to 4:00. So the 3:30 ferry is out. And due to the choppy weather on arrival the gangway is not set up until almost 10:00. (I bet you see where I am going with this).

 

So the ship's tour we are on is one of many that ends in town with return to the ship via the ferry. Tour leaves late and has to hustle through to get us to Hamilton before 1:30. Our van arrives outside ferry terminal at 1:10. Where there are already way more people waiting than the ferry can hold. Line is spilling into the street, but we get in it to officially confirm we cannot make the ferry. A $40 cab ride is our return transportation. Yes we were reimbursed by the ship so I guess you can file this under all's-well-that-ends-well. But in retrospect we should have just avoided this comedy of errors by trying to cancel the tour as soon as we knew clearance in Bermuda was delayed (there actually were people on standby for tours).

[Krazy Kruizers]

We took a ship's excursion in Israel. David our tour guide is lucky to be alive. Many of us wanted to kill him by the end of the tour.

At each stop he would give his political view of everything. He spent so much time doing this that we arrived at the last couple of stops very late and they were already closed. We were so late that at the last closed stop, the police met us and escorted us back to the ship. And David was still giving his political views as we were all getting off the bus.

[wwcruisers]

While it didn't come close to the horrible scary experiences some have reported, we had a disappointing tour in Dominica. I had extensively researched private tours there (on TripAdvisor and the CC ports-of-call boards), and decided to go with a very popular tour operator. The problem was, we didn't get him as our guide. The driver/guide we were assigned alternately abandoned us, at the various stops -- and then, rushed us from place to place. Another lady and I were nearly left behind, because there was a line, at our one and only restroom stop. At one of the stops, another tour's driver saw some of us wandering around, looking lost, and said: "Where is your guide? He should be with you!".

 

Lesson learned -- now, when I contact a tour guide to make reservations, I always ask: are you personally leading this tour? Will we be in your van/bus? If not, who is going to be our driver/guide? What are his/her qualifications?

[tbmrt]

While it didn't come close to the horrible scary experiences some have reported, we had a disappointing tour in Dominica. I had extensively researched private tours there (on TripAdvisor and the CC ports-of-call boards), and decided to go with a very popular tour operator. The problem was, we didn't get him as our guide. The driver/guide we were assigned alternately abandoned us, at the various stops -- and then, rushed us from place to place. Another lady and I were nearly left behind, because there was a line, at our one and only restroom stop. At one of the stops, another tour's driver saw some of us wandering around, looking lost, and said: "Where is your guide? He should be with you!".

 

Lesson learned -- now, when I contact a tour guide to make reservations, I always ask: are you personally leading this tour? Will we be in your van/bus? If not, who is going to be our driver/guide? What are his/her qualifications?

 

We have had this happen to us on quite a few private, recommended tours in the Caribbean. However, thankfully, every substitute we had turned out to be very qualified.

 

Has anyone insisted on having the advertised tour leader himself? Wonder if this would work out?

[wwcruisers]

We have had this happen to us on quite a few private, recommended tours in the Caribbean. However, thankfully, every substitute we had turned out to be very qualified.

 

Has anyone insisted on having the advertised tour leader himself? Wonder if this would work out?

 

Actually, after the fiasco in Dominica -- that's exactly what we did in Grenada. Fortunately, our ship (Celebrity Eclipse) was the only one in port that day -- so, we had no problem getting Mandoo himself to conduct our tour. But, we made our preference clear, when we contacted him online, to reserve the tour.

 

It was one of the best excursions we've taken -- Mandoo is a great guide! But, interestingly enough, I just read a "horror story" on Ports-of-Call (Grenada) boards about someone who took a Mandoo tour, and their guide (not Mandoo) was arrested during the tour??? :eek:

[mr green]

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.

 

We have been in better caves. However, this was several years ago, and, for the money we had no complaints, and, it was a Princess tour.

 

john

[Velvetwater]

Havent really done many excursions but we did have a Colombian guy screw us out of $20 as we were too hot to check our exchange rate.

 

He then tried to swap notes with us (he wanted a $100 worth for his $20) so we told him where to go. He stomped off.

 

Would still go back though...as everyone and everything else was lovely.

[Gardeneroflove]

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.

 

Do the falls, next time.

 

Ours, we've had two, first was same as you, Falmouth, Jamaica. Our first port, on 1st cruise. We paid a driver to take us to a beach. Sounds simple? No....he drove who knows where to take us to a paid beach within walking distance, when public beach was right next to it. We had other hassles as well.

 

Last week we were there, bah, typical hassles of locals. A guy took us to a bar that had 'running around space' for kid and cheap beers. 'Right there' kept getting further and further. Finally ended up being $3 draft in a small cup. DH drinks his beer, we chat with some people on another ship. There was a guy entertaining, kept kid entertained. Cool. We go to leave, can't find him to tip him. We see the guy back by port, DH told him he left his tip by bar, but gave him $2 just in case. Guy who walked us to bar shows up, 'hey man, did you leave me a tip?' Pretty sure his tip was included in the free beer.

 

Jamaica do falls, ship booked excursion or stay on ship.

 

2nd worse. Grand Cayman with dd 14 months. DH was being too cheap, figured we could walk to beach. yes, but all rocks! Then huge crowd going back, tender delayed, then full, we had to wait for next one. It was hot, my baby was ready to nurse, signing for milk. DH is against nursing in public. We're in back on top lvl of tender, I try to make way to front, someone on top was blocking so everyone below could get off. Kid starts screaming, finally, oh, you can go. Thank you!

 

Last week in grand Cayman we paid $4pp for cab to public beach. They have showers, bathrooms, stuff to rent, food to buy (Pretty good barbeque chicken!) Much better!!! Once dd is older we'll do hell, turtle farm, sting ray.

[Treven]

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

One "agent" in Los Angeles held up my backpack after it having gone through the scanner, asking who belonged to this pack. I walked up and said that it was mine. She asked if they could open it, and of course I said for them to go ahead. After opening it she, with disappointment in her voice, said, "oh, it's only a clock radio".

 

On a ship sponsored tour in Aruba, the guide was giving her spiel about what we were seeing at that time. I spoke up and asked a question about the area we were in and she said that we were to hold all questions until the end of the tour. Of course by that time everyone would have either forgotten their question, or probably wouldn't be able to associate the answer with what was seen an hour or so before. She certainly didn't make much in the way of tips that day.

[Talisker92]

We were supposed to take a short drive to the ferry boarding area in Punta Arenas for an approximately two-hour cruise northward in the Strait of Magellan to Magdalena Island. This is the home of the Magellanic penguins, and looked interesting.

However, the wheels came off early on, as again there was nobody from the ship directing us from the tender pier to the buses. We were told to be there by 11:30 AM, but when we finally got to the bus we were informed the bus would not leave until 12:45 PM. At 12:30 a ship’s representative got on the bus to inform us of a further delay and did not have enough sense to use the mike. People at the back of the bus could not even hear about the delay. The bus had been rescheduled to leave at 1:45, which meant we would not have gotten back to the ship until 7:30 PM.

At this point a number of us said this was totally unacceptable and turned in our tour tickets for a refund. We then took the tender back to the ship, again thoroughly disgusted with the shore excursion people.

[sail7seas]

 

<snip>

 

 

It was one of the best excursions we've taken -- Mandoo is a great guide! But, interestingly enough, I just read a "horror story" on Ports-of-Call (Grenada) boards about someone who took a Mandoo tour, and their guide (not Mandoo) was arrested during the tour??? :eek:

 

:eek: Oh please,,,,,

Would you tell us the rest of the story? When the guide was arrested, did the authorities do anything to facilitate the tour group returning to the ship?

 

[Hlitner]

Although we have spent nearly 4 years on many cruises, there is only one incident that ranks up there as our worst. It happened nearly 20 years ago when DW and I were on a cruise on the old Marco Polo (which was then owned by Orient Lines) and docked in the port of Tunis, Tunesia. We had returned to our ship for lunch (after a morning wandering around the city) and decided to walk to a nearby beach for a swim. The Tunesian Official who was onboard the ship assured us we would be fine at this beach but that we would attract some interest from the locals who were not used to foreigners. So DW and I left the ship (we had to exchange our Passport for a special government port pass) and walked out of the port (lots of security at the main gate) until we reached a lovely beach packed with locals. Yes, we attracted a lot of attention (the children were fascinated by DWs blonde hair and western swim suit) but had a wonderful beach day. Later that afternoon we returned to the port and the guards (who looked military) at the gate refused to allow us to enter the port. We pointed down the pier to our ship, told them in bad French that we were passengers, and showed them our Tunesian government passes. One of the guards slapped the passes out of my hand and made it clear we could not enter the port. We again made it clear that we wanted to return to our ship and he stepped aside. As we walked past him we heard that awful sound of his automatic weapon being cocked (I am ex military and no that sound). We turned to see two guns pointed at us which was not a good thing, but it just made me angry. We figured they wanted a bribe, but we had not taken any money off the ship so I demanded to see an officer. One of the guards did go in their office and soon returned with an officer who also gave us a hard time, but finally backed-down and allowed us in the port. As we walked up the gang plank, the Tunesian Official (who had told us it was fine to go to the beach) was just shaking his head as one of the ship's officers was giving him a hard time. It turned out that they had both noticed our problem (you could see the gate from the gangplank).

 

I should mention that we again returned to Tunesia about 15 months ago on a HAL cruise (Prinsendam) where we were scheduled to dock in both Gabes and Sous, Tunesia. When we were scheduled to depart from Gabes our ship was refused permission to leave the dock until a bribe was paid to the local authorities. Our Captain refused and cited a US Law that makes it a felony for any US Corporation to bribe a foreign government official. We had a "standoff" for about 2 hours (while our Captain contacted Seattle who we were told contacted the US Department of State). However, before there was any official action we were released. The Captain later told us that he had explained that our next port (the following day) was also in Tunesia and if they did not immediately release his ship we would have to skip the port. Apparently the local officials did not want to explain how they had cost their country (and the other port) a lot of money (in lost port fees and tourist money).

 

Hank

Edited January 25, 2015 by Hlitner

[wwcruisers]

:eek: Oh please,,,,,

Would you tell us the rest of the story? When the guide was arrested, did the authorities do anything to facilitate the tour group returning to the ship?

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=45244007&postcount=11

 

Sevenseas -- Here's the link to that post -- not a lot of details, though. :confused: