WEGL81 Posted June 25, 2016 #1 Share Posted June 25, 2016 One of the issues I have had in the past with X shore excursions is that the descriptions often don't match reality. So having honest reviews from people who have been on the excursions is extremely helpful. However, I have noticed a pattern and I'm wondering if it is due to X's infamous website follies or if people just don't know what they're doing. How many times have you read an excursion review and someone had written a review of the whole cruise? Or, even worse, a review of a completely different cruise? It's usually to complain about something, so they give it a low rating (the cruise) which ends up affecting the excursion rating. It's very frustrating. You see that an excursion has a 2* rating, you investigate and find out there was one 4* from a person who went on the actual excursion and a 1* from someone who had a bad experience on the cruise and placed their entire cruise review on the excursion. Anyone else notice this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phillygirl2400 Posted June 25, 2016 #2 Share Posted June 25, 2016 My sister recently submitted a negative review of a Celebrity Bermuda excursion. Her biggest complaint was that the excursion was not as described. Celebrity rejected it. They said that it didn't meet their standards. I suggested that she post it on cruise critic and trip advisor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare WrittenOnYourHeart Posted June 25, 2016 #3 Share Posted June 25, 2016 My favorite ones are the people who clearly don't get the "1 is horrible to 5 is excellent" rating system. I have read more than one review where the person gave it one star then went on to rave about how it was the best day of their trip. I've noticed that more than the other. Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macaroni Posted June 25, 2016 #4 Share Posted June 25, 2016 I wrote a negative review of an excursion to Nevis....it was rejected by Celebrity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gopro63 Posted June 25, 2016 #5 Share Posted June 25, 2016 something that has been going on since day one. the info supplied is never 100% correct. there can be two or three tours and they sometimes are the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WEGL81 Posted June 25, 2016 Author #6 Share Posted June 25, 2016 My sister recently submitted a negative review of a Celebrity Bermuda excursion. Her biggest complaint was that the excursion was not as described. Celebrity rejected it. They said that it didn't meet their standards. I suggested that she post it on cruise critic and trip advisor. I've written a couple negative reviews that were published. I think you have to be careful not to accuse anyone of anything. One person posted on CC that his review as rejected by X. He wrote it down here and it had things like accusing the tour operator of getting kickbacks. Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WEGL81 Posted June 25, 2016 Author #7 Share Posted June 25, 2016 something that has been going on since day one. the info supplied is never 100% correct. there can be two or three tours and they sometimes are the same. I've cancelled a couple excursions while onboard because the description on the ticket didn't match the description when I bought the excursion. Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gopro63 Posted June 25, 2016 #8 Share Posted June 25, 2016 It can go both ways. the Shore excursion canceled our tour because the lack of people interested. And even with the tour filled they added a bus. so it can be very misleading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realnice46 Posted June 25, 2016 #9 Share Posted June 25, 2016 One of the issues I have had in the past with X shore excursions is that the descriptions often don't match reality. So having honest reviews from people who have been on the excursions is extremely helpful. However, I have noticed a pattern and I'm wondering if it is due to X's infamous website follies or if people just don't know what they're doing. How many times have you read an excursion review and someone had written a review of the whole cruise? Or, even worse, a review of a completely different cruise? It's usually to complain about something, so they give it a low rating (the cruise) which ends up affecting the excursion rating. It's very frustrating. You see that an excursion has a 2* rating, you investigate and find out there was one 4* from a person who went on the actual excursion and a 1* from someone who had a bad experience on the cruise and placed their entire cruise review on the excursion. Anyone else notice this? We have only done 1 X shore Excursion and we were pleasantly surprised. Last year one of our ports was Marseilles and I want to visit the village of St Remy and Les Baux and could not find private tour so chose ship's tour. although it was on a big bus it was very nice and as a complete surprise and not listed in the itinerary was a visit to Carrieres de Lumieres and old quarry that features works of art projected on the walls accompanied by wonderful music. I had read about but did expect to be able to visit. Breathtaking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WEGL81 Posted June 26, 2016 Author #10 Share Posted June 26, 2016 We have only done 1 X shore Excursion and we were pleasantly surprised. Last year one of our ports was Marseilles and I want to visit the village of St Remy and Les Baux and could not find private tour so chose ship's tour. although it was on a big bus it was very nice and as a complete surprise and not listed in the itinerary was a visit to Carrieres de Lumieres and old quarry that features works of art projected on the walls accompanied by wonderful music. I had read about but did expect to be able to visit. Breathtaking! We've had a few good excursions with X. I think the best was between the 17 mile drive in Monterrey and a bus trip to Mt Teide in Tenerife. Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taftstreet Posted June 26, 2016 #11 Share Posted June 26, 2016 One of the issues I have had in the past with X shore excursions is that the descriptions often don't match reality. So having honest reviews from people who have been on the excursions is extremely helpful. However, I have noticed a pattern and I'm wondering if it is due to X's infamous website follies or if people just don't know what they're doing. How many times have you read an excursion review and someone had written a review of the whole cruise? Or, even worse, a review of a completely different cruise? It's usually to complain about something, so they give it a low rating (the cruise) which ends up affecting the excursion rating. It's very frustrating. You see that an excursion has a 2* rating, you investigate and find out there was one 4* from a person who went on the actual excursion and a 1* from someone who had a bad experience on the cruise and placed their entire cruise review on the excursion. Anyone else notice this? Hi Cool cruiser, I am really impressed with your bio and want to know how you got that set up on your login? I am not very computer savvy. Thanks Sonia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare chemmo Posted June 26, 2016 #12 Share Posted June 26, 2016 I have to say generally we have been happy with descriptions re tours and the tours themselves. On recent cruises, amount of walking, steps...has been an issue for me and I have found the information on this very honest. We were also impressed with the shore desk who found a staff member who had actually been on one of the tours we were considering to help us decide if a tour was doable with my limitations. We find looking at reviews you do have to be selective...as someone else said their review may be coloured by other things from their present or past experience. Sometimes simply the more frequent cruiser may be harder to impress 'we had much better snorkling in *****'or a new cruiser may have unrealistic expectations 'the Acropolis was too busy...'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silviaeaston Posted November 23, 2021 #13 Share Posted November 23, 2021 I was just in 3 of the Celebrity Excursions and 2 of them left a lot to be desired. The "Mountain Views and Villa Botanica" was laughable at best! We went to the "Villa Botanica" which since the hurricane 5 years ago, (they admitedly) haven't replaced the signs describing the plants. Also, no "tour guide" to tell us what we were seeing as we walked the grounds nor where to go, so I'm sure we missed some of the place. The offered "rum tasting" didn't happen. Also there was a broken/rusted old truck at the very entrance that hasn't "run" in at least 10 years. The other awful "tour" was the "Carambola Beach Break"... it was simply a beach with about 150 umbrellas, completely devoid of any palm trees to give out shade. BUT they charged $10 to open the available umbrellas, so at $1500 for the 2 tours that come to their place, it's a nice $3000 a day! The public or other beach not owned by Carambola had nice palm trees that not only gave shade but beauty to their beach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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