Glory Tours -- Absolutely Outstanding

[cap_777]

Hi,

 

we booked with Glory Tours for our April Cruise on the Empress. The response time was mixed. I sent two e-mails with questions, the first e-mail was answerered rather quick, the second one, after reservation took two days. After booking on their homepage it took about a 4 days for the confirmation/tour pass to arrive by e-mail I think it depends on Sarahs schedule. I booked this tour mainly because of the reviews on this board. I too hope that the tour is great. But with so many positive reviews for the tour itself I still fell safe.

[ming]

Glory Tours in Barbados

 

 

How many things in this life require one to pre-pay-in-full for something they won’t use immediately?

 

Postage stamps…..Gasoline…..The frozen food you bought at the store last week…..The newspaper….et al…

 

One puts a deposit down on their cruise. (credit hold)

 

One puts a deposit down on their hotel room. (credit hold)

 

Even a deposit down on their burial, yes?

 

So why is it necessary to totally pre-pay for a tour?

 

If I never read one bad thing regarding Glory Tours, this wouldn’t enter my mind. But we have, haven’t we?

 

Responses from their patrons that have taken the tour(s) are glowing….Mostly.

 

But we continue to see so many people that have given Sarah their Visa card and pray for a confirmation…Pray for an e-mail…..Pray that they aren’t double-charged……Pray someone’s there when they arrive…..

 

Folks….Every business has their growing pains.

 

Every business, even a sole-proprietorship, tries hard to make their clients happy……

But it doesn’t take YEARS to get their act together. Weeks…perhaps months…but not years.

 

I am so sorry to keep reading about these troubles with Glory Tours. You poor people that just want a good vacation and follow the rules but still have a worry because after you sent your VISA #, you heard nothing.

 

Folks……Tours should simply require just an e-mail, a letter or a phone call. A SMALL deposit MAY be acceptable, but really shouldn’t be necessary.

 

You have a Cournicopia of options on this island. Don’t pre-pay this tour and worry.

 

Vote with you wallet and find another tour that just requires just an e-mail contract and not full payment.

 

This may sound harsh, but there is no reason a person should have to worry when travelling to paradise…..

 

A company, no matter how small, should be able to accept a few no-shows. It’s just a part of business that is built upon trust and good management.

[ming]

Additionally……

It is my belief that Glory Tours has violated the admonishments of this board.

 

LauraS, Community Manager of Cruise Critic , has stipulated that no tour information, hours or pricing can be conveyed by any tour operator on this board. I believe Glory Tours has accomplished this and promoted their operation in the process. Perhaps obscurely, but nevertheless, blatantly.

 

Any tour operator that includes their business name in their signature is in violation of this rule, isn’t yours?

 

Travel agents cannot mention their affiliation, so why should you be able to?

 

Sarah, I believe that your continued excuses regarding hospital stays and computer problems (etc), violate CC rules and only promote your business. Others operators cannot post regarding general day-to-day experiences, so why should you enjoy this freedom?

 

If you cannot represent the wonderful island of Barbados ethically and without fault, you shouldn’t be allowed, by current published standards, to post here.

 

I defer judgement to CC management.

[Sarah Taylor]

I quite often wonder if responses like the above are actually from competitors or friends of threes

To start off we used to make all bookings on trust that the guest would show and many did not whilst we had turned away many who wanted to go.

An approval on a card last 3 days or so I am informed by my bank they have advised taking payment is the only way but they do inform me they will be able to offer me another option this year.

Most of our tour passes go out very quickly but at times they take longer than I would like occasionally there are email server problems or sometimes the tour passes end up in your junk mail folders because they come through a different email address.

Laura and I have been in contact several times and I happily follow what she tells me. I post under Sarah Taylor it is my name people on the board yes know who I am but I would have thought it was better to be honest and be upfront. There are others who own operations that do post here a few are upfront others my friend just do self promotion.

I am not promoting I am always forced to defend after post like this are made. It is hurtful that I have to continue to deal with these things. I know we had Credit card problems but that was so long ago now. Up to yesterday I had a guest who emailed me about not getting a tour pass. I had sent the tour pass 3 times but I resent it and called to make sure she got it and was assured that everything was ok.

Here it is cut to the point. I love meeting people and I love my Island that is why I started Glory Tours. I am so particular about being able to be reached I got a treo so that my customers can reach me by phone or email anywhere. I know it might sound silly but I keep trying to think of everything I ca do to make things the very best they can be.

I live in the Caribbean there will be phone problems sometimes there will be internet and email problems sometimes but I have publicly stated here many times there will be no more CC problems anyone who has a problem of being charged more than once for there tour will have there full amount refunded and the tour will be free. Why is this constantly brought back up when there have been no new issues?

My wish for all of you is just have a great cruise a great holiday and a fabulous time in Barbados whatever you do. :) :cool: :)

God bless you all

[BMVPrima]

Greetings. I am the person that Sarah has referred to in her last posting who did not receive her tour passes. As she stated, she did call me and mentioned that she had sent it several times. We discussed sending it as an attachment on my last email that I had sent her and it worked. She was getting all my emails and replying, however, I did not receive it on my end. Although, I can't explain why I had not received my confirmation, I can say that it was quite impressive and reassuring that she picked up the phone to call me and explain what was happening. She wanted to make certain that I felt comfortable again and that the tour was confirmed. I have to feel that the technology on the islands are not what they are in the states and challenges due rise. So we do have to be a little patient. I was totally comfortable after our phone conversation and she was very understanding with my feelings. She has assured me that everything is in order and we will have a great time. I am confident with having placed a tour with her, that she does all that she can in her power to make certain that the travellers have a most memorable and enjoyable experience on the island. That is why I went with her in the first place.

[ming]

"I quite often wonder if responses like the above are actually from competitors or friends of threes[sic]"

 

Dear Ms. Taylor,

 

Please let me assure you that I am not a competitor, or a friend of one. I have no vested interest in any tours on the island of Barbados, or on any other Caribbean island.

 

My interest is solely with the happiness of customers of any tour, anywhere, but especially Barbados.

 

I am saddened to read of even one person that had trouble with Glory Tours. Be it no acknowledgement of an e-mail; delayed, or no verification; no tour operator available at agreed pick-up time; or any problem (excluding weather) that causes a patron to be dissatisfied.

 

"To start off we used to make all bookings on trust that the guest would show and many did not whilst we had turned away many who wanted to go."

You’ve made my point in your above statement.

 

You once allowed guests to book without pre-payment, you held their spot open, they didn’t show and you had many who wanted to go (but lost the revenue due to being ethical and holding open the no-show slots).

 

Do the other tour operators on Barbados require pre-payment of their tours?

 

I think few, if any do. They base their business on trust.

 

Do they get burned? Sure. Anyone in business with a philosophy of trust gets burned once in a while.

 

But they achieve a following and ultimate success.

 

I suggest that you again trust your customers.

Give them a 15-minute window to show, and then fill their spots with the walk-ups.

 

You could eliminate all the credit card hassles; the verification hassles…All the hassles.

 

And people would come to this board and say "What a great time I had with Glory Tours!" I just e-mailed them and they were waiting for me on the dock". "Some of the folks in my group didn’t show, but there were plenty of people that hadn’t planned and signed-up".

 

Ms. Taylor, I know that you run a very nice tour. All the good-stuff that I have read is glowing.

I think, in that respect, you do a wonderful job.

It’s the preliminaries that are a little rough sometimes.

 

I suggest you re-consider your business plan and factor in trust. No pre-payment, just an e-mail, letter or a phone call. You’ll see it will work.

 

And never again will you read any disparaging posts on this forum.

 

My sincere best to you Ms. Taylor.

[pholter]

I personally would fully expect to pay at least 50% of my tours as a deposit on any excursion. Just as I have to pay in advance for my cruise fare. It's a no brainer to me :confused:

 

Glory Tours is a fantastic way to spend a day in Barbados!!

[thatbloominplace]

to ming:

not sure what ax you have to grind with glory tours, but it seems to be personal. i have just returned from a week in barbados. did not choose to tour with glory because i rented a car. however, i did go on silvermon and they required a 50% deposit. and guess what, they overcharged by 50% on the final payment. so this can happen with any small operation like this. on my upcoming cruise, i have several tours booked with small private companies and they all require some sort of deposit. so this is not a very unusual process. it sounds at times that this thread has taken a life of its own and the argument you made about sarah describing the daily activities of glory tours by the operator is really the result of her need to respond to individual complaints made on the board. while some of the past complaints regarding double charges are legitimate, now everyone is posting if they have any issues, including not hearing from her in the hopes that this will get her to respond. i would argue that this is the problem with the thread. this is not really the proper forum for this type of post. i agree, though, that if the response time is too slow, i would move on,too.

[Sarah Taylor]

Unfortunately Laura is away for a few days otherwise I would let her handle this.

 

I am not going to spend to much time responding again I did want to mention one thing. We do give our customers at the very least a 15min late window usually 20min and that is only after we have been assured that the ship is in and that passengers have disembarked.

 

If it is a group travelling together we have waited for over 2 hours already.

 

Once again I wish you all the best and I do promise you I am working to improve the response time. i have a meting with our internet provider this morning:D

 

Happy cruising everyone

 

:D Smile and the whole world will smile with you

 

now wouldn't that be a good thing LOL

 

God Bless

[emporess]

Sarah~

 

I originally emailed you on 1/22 and you replied on 1/23. You asked how many people there were and I emailed you right back with the number. I have since sent MANY emails without any reply. There are no messages and I just checked my junk mail to make sure.

 

I don't like the way you have been attacked by the poster, but you have surely not emailed me back and I shouldn't have to beg you for a tour. I realize that your tour would be very good, but customer service is definately lacking.

[Sarah Taylor]

Hi Emporess

 

I am so sorry I realized that some of my email where going unanswered so I created two new folders one for follow ups and one for tourpasses that needed to go out my plan was I would be able to keep track better this way.

 

The big problem came where those folders contents disappeared not once but twice. I am realizing that technology really is not reliable therefore I am determined to answer all my email before I go to sleep on a night. the thing is I don't just get email about tours people ask me all sorts of questions about Barbados. i like to help but wow sometimes it is allot.

 

So once again my apologies to you and anyone who has had a similar problem in the last few weeks.