excursion satisfaction

[queenb12575]

I will be going on an excursion in San Juan Puerto Rico and the reviews I have read are saying it isn't doing the things it shows or talks about. What is the refund policy if I book it through Carnival and it isn't what they said it would be?

[Domino D]

I will be going on an excursion in San Juan Puerto Rico and the reviews I have read are saying it isn't doing the things it shows or talks about. What is the refund policy if I book it through Carnival and it isn't what they said it would be?

 

I am not aware of them having a satisfaction guarantee. You may want to talk to the Shore Excursion desk once on board and ask them, or if I am wrong another poster will correct me. The terms do say that the tours are subject to change.

 

https://www.carnival.com/legal/shore-excursions-terms.aspx#shorex

 

SHORE EXCURSION TERMS AND CONDITIONS

General

These conditions are binding once you purchase any shore excursion provided by independent tour operators through Carnival. The deadline for making shore excursion bookings online is 1 day (24 hours) prior to sailing, unless otherwise noted in the shore excursion description. All of the shore excursions listed on the carnival.com website may not be available for every cruise itinerary.

All excursions are subject to change without notice. Descriptions, departure times, itineraries, pricing and locations may be altered and may vary due to unforeseen circumstances. Descriptions, schedules and excursion lengths are all based on approximate times and predetermined points of interest. Changes may be unavoidable and can be made at Carnival’s or the tour operator’s sole discretion. Departure times and meeting places will be printed on the shore excursion ticket. As a delay may result in a missed excursion or interfere with the excursion’s normal operation, guests are required to report to the specified location, at the designated departure time.

You will be required to pay for your shore excursion order in full using our secure online credit card processing. You will receive instant online confirmation that your order has been paid in full. Your tickets will be delivered to your cabin prior to embarkation.

Shore Excursion Cancellation and Refund Policy

Shore excursions may be cancelled by Carnival or the Tour Operator for any reason whatsoever. In the event of cancellation your sole recourse is a refund of the amount paid for the cancelled activity.

Excursions and performances may be canceled or modified depending on the number of guests participating. Some excursions require a minimum number of guests to operate. If this minimum is not met, excursions may be cancelled by the Tour Operator and full refunds will be issued.

Sometimes the weather does not realize that our guests are on vacation and subsequently forgets to cooperate. It should be noted that excursions operate rain or shine. At times, tour operators will cancel particular excursions due to weather-related safety considerations. In this instance, refunds will be made for guests holding tickets on a cancelled excursion, and all efforts will be made to accommodate guests on an alternate excursion.

For online cancellations of excursions or Carnival LIVE purchases that occur before the cut-off window (24 hours prior to sailing), a full refund will automatically be posted to the credit card that was used to pay for the shore excursion order, regardless of whether the person who made the purchase is sailing. Please allow 7-10 business days for the credit to post to your account. No changes can be made after the cut-off window until sailing and must be approved by the Shore Excursion Manager onboard. For cancellations made once onboard, any refunds will be made to the Sail and Sign account of the order’s contact person, not the original credit card used to secure the online order. This condition applies even in the event that shore excursions were purchased as a gift by someone who is not sailing.

In the event of a cruise booking cancellation before the 24 hour cut-off window, a full refund will automatically be posted to the original credit card used to pay for the order. If the designated contact person on a shore excursion order must cancel their cruise booking and the remaining guests who are sailing would like to retain the shore excursion order, a new contact person needs to be assigned. If a designated contact person cancels and does not reassign the responsibility, the associated shore excursion orders will automatically be cancelled and refunded.

Cancellations made once onboard are subject to a 25% cancellation charge. . A refund, less any applicable cancellation charges, will be applied to the designated contact person’s sail and sign account. Carnival will only offer shipboard credit for shore excursion order refunds, but note any credit not utilized by the end of your cruise will be refunded via check to the order’s designated contact person on the morning of debarkation. However, within 24 hours of arrival in port where the shore excursion is to occur, orders become non-refundable.

Guests are encouraged to purchase Carnival’s Cruise Vacation Protection Plan to cover any eligible non-refundable shore excursion or Carnival LIVE cancellation charges.

[easyboy]

Ship excursions are organized in groups and operated by the ship's tour contractors. May be hard to get a partial/full refund if you are the only one not satisfied and complaint is subjective. They may consider a complaint that is quantifiable like a boat ride included in tour information, aside from sight seeing, was not provided, or a supposed lunch inclusive but not served. In this case, it could be the whole group complaining that could be a plausible reason for the ship's excursion desk to demand from the contractor a reduction in tour payment fee, and then provide a corresponding refund.

[deborahjo]

Carnival does not like to give refunds. In Cozumel we booked a snorkeling excursion thru Carnival. (Liberty). Said transportation provided. Transportation was guest walking while the tour guides rode in a golf cart.

 

They took longer because we had a Carnival dancer on board and they wanted to stay longer. Wrong.

 

As we came around the corner heading in we could see the Liberty getting ready to leave. The tour operator did not care. They took their good old sweet time.

 

Once docked we again ask where our transportation was especially since we could miss the ship. We were told to "start walking if we wanted to make the ship". We banded together and took off. There were no taxis around.

 

When we got to the pier a lot of people took off running because it looked like they were pulling the gangway in. I had an injured leg and could not run.

 

Once at the ship and up the gangway we got chastised for being late. Ggggggrrrrrrr.

 

Filed complaint along with many others and we got a letter saying we were entitled to -0- because we completed the excursion.

 

We are very careful now and ask a lot of questions before booking thru Carnival or a third party vendor.

 

 

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[BoDidly]

Carnival does not like to give refunds. In Cozumel we booked a snorkeling excursion thru Carnival. (Liberty). Said transportation provided. Transportation was guest walking while the tour guides rode in a golf cart.

 

They took longer because we had a Carnival dancer on board and they wanted to stay longer. Wrong.

 

As we came around the corner heading in we could see the Liberty getting ready to leave. The tour operator did not care. They took their good old sweet time.

 

Once docked we again ask where our transportation was especially since we could miss the ship. We were told to "start walking if we wanted to make the ship". We banded together and took off. There were no taxis around.

 

When we got to the pier a lot of people took off running because it looked like they were pulling the gangway in. I had an injured leg and could not run.

 

Once at the ship and up the gangway we got chastised for being late. Ggggggrrrrrrr.

 

Filed complaint along with many others and we got a letter saying we were entitled to -0- because we completed the excursion.

 

We are very careful now and ask a lot of questions before booking thru Carnival or a third party vendor.

 

 

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This sums it up perfectly . Op think about this ,San Juan Puerto Rico has more excursions offered right at the port. Some will be the same offered by Carnival with the exception that the price will be cheaper .

[kc58ab]

I haven't been to San Juan but have been reading up as my next cruise is going there. Apparently there is a free trolley by port that goes to quite few stops like the fortresses and old town shopping area. Also sounds like those are both within walking distance as well if either interest you.

[coevan]

go private, a little research goes a long way. There are many reputable shore excursion companies with reviews on Tripadvisor. If you read something with a negative review, maybe there is a reason.

[Domino D]

I haven't been to San Juan but have been reading up as my next cruise is going there. Apparently there is a free trolley by port that goes to quite few stops like the fortresses and old town shopping area. Also sounds like those are both within walking distance as well if either interest you.

We did this one time in San Juan, and might do it again this fall. It is a good way to spend the day. We rode up to one of the forts, and then walked back through Old San Juan. Had lunch, did a little shopping and sightseeing. Hope you guys enjoy it. Great picture spots at the fort. I do remember it being a while between trolleys.

 

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[BoDidly]

Tours of the city for Twenty bucks is offered right at the port as you exit the ship. They will drop you at the fort or any location you prefer . Also a straw market strives several blocks to the left of the port as you exit the ship.

[nchikk]

I haven't been to San Juan but have been reading up as my next cruise is going there. Apparently there is a free trolley by port that goes to quite few stops like the fortresses and old town shopping area. Also sounds like those are both within walking distance as well if either interest you.

 

We did this one time in San Juan, and might do it again this fall. It is a good way to spend the day. We rode up to one of the forts, and then walked back through Old San Juan. Had lunch, did a little shopping and sightseeing. Hope you guys enjoy it. Great picture spots at the fort. I do remember it being a while between trolleys.

 

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These.

[Micahs Grandad]

go private, a little research goes a long way. There are many reputable shore excursion companies with reviews on Tripadvisor. If you read something with a negative review, maybe there is a reason.

 

You nailed it

[cruziJenn]

I totally agree with independent tours especially in San Juan. On our last visit there we found a tour bus about 5 minutes from the ship. We went left from the pier along the sea side of the main street. It was $10 or $15 each for at least a 2 hour tour around town, the driver was very flexible and considerate of our time (and very informative as well, just a great tour guide) and we had plenty of room on the very well air conditioned tour bus. Afterwards we still had plenty of time on our own to walk around and do some interesting shopping.

 

It's just ridiculous that any Carnival sponsored tour would almost cause anyone to miss the ship. That's why a lot of people pay the extra through Carnival, for the supposed security of getting back on time.

[Sixtytwo]

If you are seriously having doubts about an excursion you booked, cancel your booking and look elsewhere. Better than trying out some "satisfaction guaranteed" policy that does not exist.

[kc58ab]

We did this one time in San Juan, and might do it again this fall. It is a good way to spend the day. We rode up to one of the forts, and then walked back through Old San Juan. Had lunch, did a little shopping and sightseeing. Hope you guys enjoy it. Great picture spots at the fort. I do remember it being a while between trolleys.

 

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Thanks. My kids really want to see the fortresses so we will be doing that. From what I've seen it does look like some beautiful scenery from the top of there.

[IPlayWithString]

We had something similar happen a couple of years ago on a Spring Break cruise (I think we were on the Freedom, I don't recall right now).

 

Anyway..we had arrived in Belize, no problem. Tender boat over, no problem. Bus ride from the port to the cave area, where we were supposed to go tubing through a cave...that was iffy. The bus was funky smelling and at one point, we went over a rickety looking bridge that was barely above water. When we got to the cave site (90 min or so out of the port area) we were told by the guide on the bus that essentially he had JUST found out (which I didn't believe for a second) that the water level in the caves was too high. SO instead they were going to "give us more than we paid for" and take us on a "short" jungle hike. A "short" jungle hike that lasted about 3 1/2 hrs. NOBODY in the group was prepared for jungle hiking and my son ended up getting blisters from having to hike in water shoes. We were also given crash helmets that, even though we weren't even IN a cave (it was a dry cave) except for maybe 15-20 min out of the 3 1/2 hrs we hiked, we were told to wear and were chastised every time we took them off. My son is autistic with sensory issues, so we'd hide at the back of the group and let him take his helmet off for a few minutes whenever we could.

 

We did get to do some tubing..down a river. But by the time we got to the tubing part, they were in such a hurry to get us downriver that instead of tying the tubes together, we were instructed to just grab onto the handles of the tubes on either side of us and hang on. I spent 30 min or so trying to find a comfortable way to sit while also hanging onto my son and husband (I was in between them). By the time we got downriver and exited, my arms were sore from hanging onto their tubes and my back had started to hurt because I never could find a comfortable position.

 

The lunch we were supposed to be provided was eventually provided. It wasn't even all that great..some "jerk" chicken, rice with pigeon peas, coleslaw and some iffy tasting punch that we didn't drink (Hubs bought us sodas instead). My son was so hungry by this point (it was after 3pm and we'd eaten breakfast around 7:00 or so) that he tried to eat all of my food once his was gone and he normally eats like a bird. We were over an hour late getting back to the ship too, due to the time it took to get back to te port area and and then 30 min or so tender ride over.

 

Hubs went to guest services later that night to complain and I'm pretty sure everybody who'd been in our group was complaining also as this was NOT what we'd wanted or even halfway expected.

 

Carnival more than made up for it though. In addition to a total refund, the onboard special needs advocate that had been assigned to us provided my son a stuffed monkey from Camp Carnival as well as a tour of the navigational bridge with the captain, which he really enjoyed. The captain also gave my son an autographed coffee table style book about the ship which was really nice as well. :)

[Shaded Lady]

Other than reading the reviews and making a decision, there's not much you can do in advance. But after your Carnival excursion you can do plenty to help others... complete the Carnival survey and rate it honestly... say what you liked and what failed to meet your expectations... Carnival DOES pay attention to the surveys. Once I booked an expedition that was cancelled once I was onboard... Excursions desk worked with us to find a replacement activity and the reason they gave for the cancellation was that there were too many negative reviews and they felt their passengers weren't getting good value for their money, so they fired the excursion company and hadn't yet found a replacement. We got a full refund plus a discount on the new excursion we selected.

[Micahs Grandad]

Thanks. My kids really want to see the fortresses so we will be doing that. From what I've seen it does look like some beautiful scenery from the top of there.

 

It is a pretty easy walk about 1 mile or a bit more from the ship. Or take a 20 dollar tour and have them leave you by the fort.

[coevan]

I was going to say the same thing, no need for a CCL shore excursion for the fort

[Micahs Grandad]

I was going to say the same thing, no need for a CCL shore excursion for the fort

 

Other than for excursion far from the ship question the need for ships excursions at all

[coevan]

even far from the ship they are the same companies. You could go private and be with NCL guests. Each shore excursion company have contracts with different ships.

[Micahs Grandad]

even far from the ship they are the same companies. You could go private and be with NCL guests. Each shore excursion company have contracts with different ships.

 

Far from the ship more danger of missing vessel if a problem arises.

 

For example in Cozumel would never do Mayan ruins privately as it is about 90 minutes away.

 

Other than that private is the way to go

[coevan]

You are clearly missing the point. I would love to hear statistics on pier runners. I have heard of drunk people not telling time. Not sure how many people missed the ship because of a shore excursion. I have mentioned this before on numerous posts. There might be 2-3 different companies doing the Mayan Ruins. So Shoreexcurioner, Princess, NCL, RCCL, CCL and hotel guests all use the same companies. I would not go Rogue and use Joe's excursion company with no reviews. Carnival does not run their own shore excursions.

[deborahjo]

I haven't been to San Juan but have been reading up as my next cruise is going there. Apparently there is a free trolley by port that goes to quite few stops like the fortresses and old town shopping area. Also sounds like those are both within walking distance as well if either interest you.

 

 

 

We love the free trolley in San Juan. It may take some time waiting on one but well worth it. You can see so much. We took out and back to the fort.

 

 

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[bnorris10]

I haven't been to San Juan but have been reading up as my next cruise is going there. Apparently there is a free trolley by port that goes to quite few stops like the fortresses and old town shopping area. Also sounds like those are both within walking distance as well if either interest you.

This is true but keep in mind you can end up waiting a long time for the trolly and not end up on it - we waited 30 minutes and when it got there it was already full

[Micahs Grandad]

This is true but keep in mind you can end up waiting a long time for the trolly and not end up on it - we waited 30 minutes and when it got there it was already full

 

Sometimes free is not quite worth it:)