Expensive lesson learned re. independent excursion

[catl331]

Didn't you think that booking a tour at 9:40am that met far away from the ship was risky?

I don't think so. I can walk from the ship to St Mark's in 45 minutes or so, leaving an hour to spare. The mistake was probably taking the vaporetto.

[DaveOKC]

We have taken private and HAL excursions in the past and both have their pros and cons and everyone has their own feelings on this issue.

 

If I am at a foreign port that I am not familiar with, I stick with the HAL excursions. Yes I know I will be paying more, but it is worth it to me for the ease of handling and security/timing of getting back on time.

 

Also, I often end up with onboard credits, so I use them for tours. Plus, the money I spend with HAL helps me to earn more Mariner Days.

[kazu]

This nearly sounds like a Viatour operation to me or some such similar organization/middle man.

 

They always require prepayment and there tours are not geared to cruise passengers often.

 

They might claim they are, but my experience was they are not. We did one years ago (many years than I care to count) and I swore off them after that. And we were in the city, not on a cruise.

 

These are not private tours as many of us define them, but group tours with other interested people.

 

Like the others posted, our private tours pick us up at the ship and drop us back there (or in the port city if some prefer). We don't have to scurry to catch them.

 

I have had to prepay a private Flamenco show (fabulous), a transfer to Seville (we declined the interpreter which was costly as DH could handle it and the drivers are not allowed to take cash) and a couple of others out of I don't know how many private tours. (Too many to count ;) ).

 

Minor deposits are needed with a few European companies and one in Raiatea IIRC. I don't have an issue as I have checked out the companies. Many and most tours do not require any deposit or prepayment if you make arrangements to book directly ;)

 

Sorry to hear of the OP's experience and this experience, painful as it was has taught them a valuable lesson.

[avian777]

... If I am at a foreign port that I am not familiar with, I stick with the HAL excursions. Yes I know I will be paying more, but it is worth it to me for the ease of handling and security/timing of getting back on time.

 

Also, I often end up with onboard credits, so I use them for tours. Plus, the money I spend with HAL helps me to earn more Mariner Days.

 

... and also adds to the Carnival Corporation dividend pool!!! (y)(y)(y)

[MisterBill99]

Thank you for you kind and thoughtful response. I am probably just a little more risk adverse than you are, so I will continue to take HAL excursions. But I don't question your choice to do otherwise.

Again, thanks and continued good luck on your excursions. :)

If you do your homework, there is no luck required.

 

 

But I will say good luck with your HAL excursions since there will be far fewer reviews to see if it's decent than you'd be able to get with a private/shared excursion.

[iancal]

Agree with igraf. Use a little common sense, do some research, and don't pay in advance (a deposit at most).

 

This clearly did not end well for the poster however I suspect that a tad more diligence and common sense may have resulted in a different conclusion.

 

There is a cost to be paid for the benefits of arranging private tours. They are typically better tours, fewer participants, few stops for 'shopping' and less expensive/better value. The cost is the time and effort to research and select the most reputable-which can be time consuming. If you are not willing to pay this cost than stick with the cruise line excursions.

[Hlitner]

Aside from the OP's bad luck, the refund is a different issue. The OP was docked on time, got off the ship in plenty of time (we can walk to St Marks Sq in about 30 min) and simply got lost and failed to show-up on time. Given those circumstances, why should there be a refund. Compare it to a cruise line excursion where a passenger misses their meeting time (on the ship) and misses the excursion. Are they entitled to a refund? Nope. I

 

Hank

[blueboro]

After being in Venice in August on a cruise I can sympathize with you. That is THE most difficult port to get around in of any port we have been to on our 25+ cruises. Since there are few roads and the boats seem to never follow a schedule, it is a challenge.

[Krazy Kruizers]

OP

I am so sorry for what happened to you.

Hopefully you had not paid the vendor before you left home.

[catl331]

Hopefully you had not paid the vendor before you left home.

The thread title is "Expensive lesson learned ..."

[ChinaShrek]

 

There is a cost to be paid for the benefits of arranging private tours. They are typically better tours, fewer participants, few stops for 'shopping' and less expensive/better value. The cost is the time and effort to research and select the most reputable-which can be time consuming. If you are not willing to pay this cost than stick with the cruise line excursions.

 

There is also time involved to get other passengers to join your "private tour." People would consider the minutes or hours spent hawking a tour on a roll call undesirable. You may also have to spend time emailing the private tour company questions that other people may have. Time is money. If I spend an hour or two arranging a private tour, how much money have I really saved compared to the cruise line's shore excursion?

[iancal]

We don't take private excursions to save money. This happens to be a by product of many of the ones that we have done, or that we have joined.

 

Our main reason for doing them is threefold. Fewer people, more customized tours, and all of our money stays in port with the locals.

 

Our observation is that the cruise lines take advantage of cruisers when pricing excursions in non english speaking countries. Some of the cruise line pricing that we have seen for excursions, hotels, and transfers in Europe is excessive to say the least.

[RuthC]

Time is money. If I spend an hour or two arranging a private tour, how much money have I really saved compared to the cruise line's shore excursion?

When I take a private tour I take it to get a better tour, not a less expensive one. If it costs less (which it may not), that's just a fringe benefit.

[haladdict]

Maybe the cruiser was an inexperienced traveller. We have all made a mistake and hopefully learn from it.

Sandra

[Cruising-along]

We have taken private and HAL excursions in the past and both have their pros and cons and everyone has their own feelings on this issue.

 

 

 

If I am at a foreign port that I am not familiar with, I stick with the HAL excursions. Yes I know I will be paying more, but it is worth it to me for the ease of handling and security/timing of getting back on time.

 

 

 

Also, I often end up with onboard credits, so I use them for tours. Plus, the money I spend with HAL helps me to earn more Mariner Days.

 

 

 

Exactly how I feel, and actually prefer total DIY over private tours in some cases.

 

A friend of mine had a terrible experience last year. She signed up for a private tour in Rome through her roll call. She followed all instructions but couldn't find the group. After searching for an hour she gave up. And yes they wanted payment up front. I shudder whenever I see that complete payment is due up front.

 

 

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[bennybear]

Lol, getting lost in Venice is absolutely true, even after many visits! But much fun usually.

 

So sorry to OP, as well. I found recently more companies wanting prepayments and some not willing to refund if ship fails to dock. So needless to say I didn’t use them.

 

We much prefer private tours for the smaller group of usually likeminded folks. We were so disappointed by our first ships tour in St Petersburg that missed things on the tour and wouldn’t allow us inside the churches. When we retuned I booked a private tour that took us to the Gold room in the Hermitage, inside the amazing churches, on the subways, canals and hydrofoils. No compare of what we saw.

 

We also remember our first visit to Taormina, tromping around slowly in a group of 50 compared to the the next private visit where we saw way more in a group of 8.

 

It does take an incredible amount of time to research and set up these tours but IMHO it is So worth it, no matter the cost. Just do your research.

[MisterBill99]

A friend of mine had a terrible experience last year. She signed up for a private tour in Rome through her roll call. She followed all instructions but couldn't find the group. After searching for an hour she gave up. And yes they wanted payment up front. I shudder whenever I see that complete payment is due up front.

I always try to meet the people I am sharing a tour with BEFORE the day of the tour, and have their cabin number so at least we can speak in advance. I also make arrangements to gather at a specific spot on the ship and leave together, rather than meeting at the port.

[igraf]

HAL passengers tend to be elderly and many cannot walk briskly for 45 minutes.

 

My objection here is paying up front for a tour. Why do that when there are hordes of tour operators offering their services in every port? We often just hire a taxi by the hour (doesn't apply to Venice).

 

igraf

 

 

 

I don't think so. I can walk from the ship to St Mark's in 45 minutes or so, leaving an hour to spare. The mistake was probably taking the vaporetto.

[Cruising-along]

I always try to meet the people I am sharing a tour with BEFORE the day of the tour, and have their cabin number so at least we can speak in advance. I also make arrangements to gather at a specific spot on the ship and leave together, rather than meeting at the port.

 

 

 

I did wonder why they hadn't done that. It was a 49-day cruise so plenty of time!

 

 

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[KroozNut]

I'm sure someone has already said that you got what you deserved. :( The risk for a 'cheaper' excursion is always that nothing is guaranteed, including getting to the excursion, and/or back to the ship on time.

 

My advice is that if you're going to do an organized excursion (which we rarely do BTW), book it through the cruise line for a multitude of reasons, not to mention to alleviate the experience you had.;)

[kazu]

I always try to meet the people I am sharing a tour with BEFORE the day of the tour, and have their cabin number so at least we can speak in advance. I also make arrangements to gather at a specific spot on the ship and leave together, rather than meeting at the port.

 

I do the same. I get to "know" them by email, find out how I can reach them onboard and then meet them on board and of course we always meet together on board and go off together.

[kazu]

HAL passengers tend to be elderly and many cannot walk briskly for 45 minutes.

My objection here is paying up front for a tour. Why do that when there are hordes of tour operators offering their services in every port? We often just hire a taxi by the hour (doesn't apply to Venice).

 

igraf

 

Whew! good to know. I wonder who all my tour participants were in the past on HAL ships? they may have been up there but they could certainly walk at a fairly brisk pace. Probably better than some young people I know who are sedentary and glued to their electronics. ;):')

[Hlitner]

I'm sure someone has already said that you got what you deserved. :( The risk for a 'cheaper' excursion is always that nothing is guaranteed, including getting to the excursion, and/or back to the ship on time.

 

My advice is that if you're going to do an organized excursion (which we rarely do BTW), book it through the cruise line for a multitude of reasons, not to mention to alleviate the experience you had.;)

 

I guess you will not accept that many of us simply do not like being crammed into large groups of other passengers. We will only book a cruise line excursion when it does something (we want to do) that we cannot possibly do on our own...or through a private small group excursion. The cost savings are a secondary issue...although cost savings can be decent. As I told some friends on our recent VOV cruise, "we only book a cruise line excursion as a last resort....when there are no other options." And that seldom happens,

 

Hank

[lilant]

Agreed. That was the first thing I thought of when I read the title here. OP, how much did you lose? Have you tried disputing the charge or asked for a refund? Make sure you leave a negative review on Trip Advisor and maybe they'll reach out to you and offer a refund.

 

BTW I'm not sure if your tour was specifically intended for cruise ship passengers. Sounds like it wasn't given the apparently unreasonable start time. Maybe that's the lesson here. Book excursions for cruise ship passengers which start at an appropriate time.

 

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WHY would the op leave a "negative review, ask for a refund or dispute the charge" ? She was late. It's a shame she missed the tour but I've been on tours where we waited an extra minute or two and the people never showed. Venice is VERY confusing and we've been a couple times. On walks around the city we gotten lost. Some places you can navigate easily Venice is NOT one of them.

 

 

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[whogo]

Whew! good to know. I wonder who all my tour participants were in the past on HAL ships? they may have been up there but they could certainly walk at a fairly brisk pace. Probably better than some young people I know who are sedentary and glued to their electronics. ;):')

Sure, most HAL passengers are able bodied. I do not have the experience with other cruise lines to say whether HAL gets an unfair rap on the aging/infirm question, however my HAL shore excursions always seem to have one person who has trouble keeping up. A cruiser was worn out by the stroll from the bus to the entry to the Palace of Knossos, no way was he able to tour the ruins.

 

 

One woman on an independent Jerusalem tour from the Prinsendam had to be left behind and picked up later. She could not even begin to walk through Jerusalem.

 

 

We were going to share a taxi tour with a HAL couple we met on the pier, but the husband hadn't shown up and then the wife mentioned that he was in 80's and had trouble getting around and remembering things. She was not upset when we took off without them.

 

 

rafinmd's current blog mentioned being on a bus with a scooter and about 6 walkers. All anecdotal evidence, but if you have not been inconvenienced on a HAL shore excursion by someone who was in over his head, I think you have been lucky.