Any bad non Princess excursion experiences?

[1965]

For the 1st time ever we may take non Princess shore excursions. One hears there are risks. Wondering if anyone has actually had a bad experience, been scammed, been left behind by the ship for being late, etc. Thanks.

[Liz54]

Our experience has been the opposite. We have consistently had better tours for less money with private tours. How long would a tour Co stay in business if they had disasters going viral?

[memoak]

The only time I really think a Princess excursion is better is when the location of the tour is more than an hour away and road and traffic conditions are bad.

[easyboy]

Not had a problem. But we don’t take private tours for day long trips or return to ship is close to all-aboard time.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Waynetor]

I have done many non ship excursions that were booked ahead of time and very rarely had a problem. (over 550 days at sea)

 

Twice I had a problem was with the tour operators that fill up a van/bus at the port and do a tour. The first was in Dominica that included a stop at a waterfall - at the time my wife had trouble walking and I asked what the path was like - the vendor selling the tour said it was smooth and paved all the way - turned out it was paved about a 100 feet and then uphill and very rough. My wife and other seniors had a very hard time with the trail but at least they had a full van.

 

The second and much worse was in San Juan. That day we were supposed to be in Grand Turk but had made a late switch due to a hurricane. I took my time getting off the ship as I had been there before. A shore side vendor was offering tours to the national park for a hike. We had a 4 pm sailing with 3:30 all aboard. I asked if the tour would be back by 3 and was assured it would be (I should have checked with the driver). Turned out the tour took a lot longer and everyone else in the van was from a ship that arrived much after ours and was not sailing until 8pm. The driver broke just about every road rule to get me back by 4 and then went on to do the city tour part of the trip. The crew had already got my passport from my safe. Fortunately for me the ship had a crew medical emergency that caused it to leave late.

 

A more minor issue was with hiring a tuk-tuk in Asia. Three of us agreed to do a 2 hour tour for $20 each. We took our time at some stops and added a couple extra and it tour ended up being 3.5 hours. The driver wanted $50 each at the end. If hiring a taxi for a tour at the port I would suggest writing down the amount and time and ask about cost if overtime.

[Micahs Grandad]

We have done almost all private tours and we find them better, cheaper and less crowded.

 

Never a problem being late back to the ship.

 

Tour guides generally have been excellent especially SPB in the Baltics in July.

 

I can think of two where guides were less than satisfactory.

 

Holland where the tour guide thought we should run thru each place we visited and never bothered to look back to see where his people were.

 

Ireland where the tour guide dropped us off at each point of interest and said she would be back to pick us up. Never occurred to her that she is supposed to go with us explaining thins and answering questions.

 

In both case we complained to the tour operator who refunded about half of our payment and said they would either fire guide or have a long talk about function of tour guide.

[MGAfhc]

We took private excursions in the Caribbean for years with no problems whatever. In the last couple of years the problem we have had is that there have been groups of 6 or more in the van who vote among themselves to change the tour. Some times it's that they want to go to a bar or restaurant and one time they decided to make a scenic tour into a beach outing. I really wasn't planning to go to a restaurant, but that time went along with it. The other times I paid the operator extra to take us back to the ship.The worst was in Cozumel where the first stop was a Hotel/beach owned by the tour company and six of the ten decided they wanted to stay for the afternoon. The fare was paid up front to another agent and it didn't seem right to demand a refund from the driver. We paid extra to have him take us back early, and didn't get a tour. I think he felt bad about it but it was a no-win situation for him.

[Pam in CA]

I’ve taken many independent tours in many parts of the world. Had only two bad experiences.

 

1. In a Central American port, someone on our roll call organized a day-long tour, enough people to fill a large bus. The tour was fine until the last stop for shopping at a market. People kept on getting off the bus to get “one more thing.” Instead of telling people to get back on the bus, the organizer got off, too. We were running late and had a long drive to the port. I was told to not worry, the Princess buses hadn’t left yet. We finally got going. Shortly after we left, the Princess buses (which were far better than ours) passed us as our bus wheezed along. We were the last to arrive at the port. Princess probably would have waited for us but that was not a fun experience.

 

2. My second bad experience was booking a private tour in Belfast with McComb’s. I know that they have fully booked three buses from our roll call. They required pre-payment in full with no refunds. When I asked if there was any flexibility if the ship didn’t make port, I was told not to worry... that no cruise ship had missed port in twenty years. Which was essentially a non-answer but I interpreted as reassuring. Well, two hurricanes went up the US coast and turned towards Ireland, creating one monster storm in the Irish Sea. We stayed docked in Dublin for two days. Tried contacting McComb’s while still in Dublin (the day before the tour) to cancel my tour but was told they were sticking to their policy no matter what even though they had a day’s notice. Every other independent tour operator gave 50% refunds but not McComb’s. When I emailed them again to ask for at least a partial refund, I was told they would contact their lawyers if I said anything negative about their company. Their policy was their policy when with hurricane-force winds when we would have been in port. I was shocked by their threatening response. FYI, HAL’s Prinsendam sailed off the coast of Ireland in the Irish Sea during the storm (when we would have been in port in Belfast) and experienced 70-75’ waves for over 12 hours.

[Kartgv]

In the last couple of months, there was a very long thread asking about bad experiences on private tours - I can't find it now, but maybe someone else can find the link. It may have been on the "Ask a Cruise Question" board. Yes, there were bad experiences reported, though I don't remember anyone being left behind due to a late return. The negatives were more about individuals on shared tours who didn't respect the rules (or failure on the part of the organizer to establish rules in the first place) and made problems for others. That can happen on both private and cruise line tours. Our own bad experience involved lack of proper seating in the small shared van and 2 very loud and opinionated passengers who made it a very long and unpleasant day. One thing you should do before booking a private tour to read TripAdvisor reviews.

[PoohUnderstands]

In the Caribbean and elsewhere, I have avoided the bad situations with other travelers listed above by being the one to Reserve the private tour guide. This is my tour. I do the tours where it is up to 6 people. I am prepared to have it really be a private tour and pay amount which is never that much more than Princess's pricing and then while conversing on the roll call, one can get a "feel" for another fellow traveler and then you can ask them if they want to go with you. You are up front with what will be going on on the tour. I usually just ask one other couple. To be blunt, that way the other couple gets full disclosure on what you are going to be doing, but you are in charge as it is your reservation. If you go the private tour route, I suggest this.

 

Now, I do suggest you book 9-14 months out to get the best tour guide. I find that out by checking Cruise critic's ports of call forums and trip advisor. I then contact the tour operator and make a reservation. If I change my mind, you are still so far out, that you can cancel for free (you make sure not to prepay) and still give the tour operator time to rebook.

 

This has always worked great for us. I have never gone alone so the prices have always been great, but am prepared to bare the cost myself and have a truly private tour!!!!! Good luck on your excursions and have a great cruise.

 

Pooh

[Luvmyrotti]

I've had nothing but good experiences, from Normandy, to a number of British Isles and other European ports, to the Caribbean, to the Pacific coast of Mexico and Hawaii. I think the only time I've chosen to do Princess small group connesiour tours has been in Alaska land tour and in Rome and Florence on a Med TA sailing. On both Italy stops, we arrived an hour after the sailing time and in both, the ship had waited for us. On several European sailings, I have done small (less than 10 in a van) private tours that I booked myself and solicited others on the roll call, which have been great. I just think you need to be smart where you do private excursions. Try to read lots of reviews on your companies and book well in advance to get the best tour suppliers.

[PrincessLuver]

Our experience has been the opposite. We have consistently had better tours for less money with private tours. How long would a tour Co stay in business if they had disasters going viral?

This has been our experience too.....we have had some bad Princess one's though and that is why we like independent tour operators.

 

The most memorable was we booked the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial tour about two years ago with Princess and when we got to the cemetery it was closed. Princess was unwilling to refund any of the passengers who signed up for their tour. People were really disappointed!!!

 

I think a lot's of the "the ship will sail without you" comments are put out there to get people to buy the high priced Princess tours.:halo:

[thinfool]

In our experience, the tour operators (non cruise line) are more interested in giving you a great experience than the cruise line operators are.

 

Think about it....a non-cruise line operator is far more interested in getting you back to the ship than a cruise line operator. The cruise line operator has some flexibility because the ship is more likely to wait for his arrival. (tho not guaranteed)

[Micahs Grandad]

I’ve taken many independent tours in many parts of the world. Had only two bad experiences.

 

1. In a Central American port, someone on our roll call organized a day-long tour, enough people to fill a large bus. The tour was fine until the last stop for shopping at a market. People kept on getting off the bus to get “one more thing.” Instead of telling people to get back on the bus, the organizer got off, too. We were running late and had a long drive to the port. I was told to not worry, the Princess buses hadn’t left yet. We finally got going. Shortly after we left, the Princess buses (which were far better than ours) passed us as our bus wheezed along. We were the last to arrive at the port. Princess probably would have waited for us but that was not a fun experience.

 

2. My second bad experience was booking a private tour in Belfast with McComb’s. I know that they have fully booked three buses from our roll call. They required pre-payment in full with no refunds. When I asked if there was any flexibility if the ship didn’t make port, I was told not to worry... that no cruise ship had missed port in twenty years. Which was essentially a non-answer but I interpreted as reassuring. Well, two hurricanes went up the US coast and turned towards Ireland, creating one monster storm in the Irish Sea. We stayed docked in Dublin for two days. Tried contacting McComb’s while still in Dublin (the day before the tour) to cancel my tour but was told they were sticking to their policy no matter what even though they had a day’s notice. Every other independent tour operator gave 50% refunds but not McComb’s. When I emailed them again to ask for at least a partial refund, I was told they would contact their lawyers if I said anything negative about their company. Their policy was their policy when with hurricane-force winds when we would have been in port. I was shocked by their threatening response. FYI, HAL’s Prinsendam sailed off the coast of Ireland in the Irish Sea during the storm (when we would have been in port in Belfast) and experienced 70-75’ waves for over 12 hours.

 

Wow I would have just related my experience in every forum I could. How can it be slander if you just tell what happened.

[smm0218]

"My second bad experience was booking a private tour in Belfast with McComb’s"

 

 

I have (had) McCombs on my list for a Belfast tour. I have rethought that choice.

 

 

Thanks

[joeyancho]

Always great tours. Always great prices. I always ask the guide if his wife is a good cook as we will be spending the night at his house if we miss the ship.

[geoherb]

The one bad experience we had was with a small group tour in Costa Rica organized by a woman on our roll call. The tour guide did not realize our ship wasn't changing time to match local time. He wasn't there when we disembarked. Fortunately some other guides had his cell phone number and called him, so we had to wait just a few minutes for him to get there.

 

That's the same tour on which one of the guide's helpers had a bad cold. DH later developed a sinus infection, which he blamed on being in a van with the sick helper all day. Overall, though, it was a great excursion. We got to the sloth sanctuary ahead of the Princess buses and got a personalized tour by the founder. We also stopped at a fruit stand, ate lunch at a beach-front restaurant, and went on the small boat through the Tortuguero Canals--for about half the price of what Princess was charging for excursions that did not do as much.

[Micahs Grandad]

 

That's the same tour on which one of the guide's helpers had a bad cold. DH later developed a sinus infection, which he blamed on being in a van with the sick helper all day. Overall, though, it was a great excursion. We got to the sloth sanctuary ahead of the Princess buses and got a personalized tour by the founder. We also stopped at a fruit stand, ate lunch at a beach-front restaurant, and went on the small boat through the Tortuguero Canals--for about half the price of what Princess was charging for excursions that did not do as much.

 

Smaller vans can get you to see so much more than large cruise ship buses. Also takes forever to unload and load passengers off the buses

[floridalover5623]

Smaller vans can get you to see so much more than large cruise ship buses. Also takes forever to unload and load passengers off the buses

And sometime they don't all arrive back to the bus on schedule either which cuts into your time. :mad:

[sanger727]

I have done many independent excursions without any bad experiences. Now, there are 3 things I don’t do when it comes to the independent tours:

1. Jump into a tour being organized on the dock - you don’t know anything about the company providing the tour and I like to do my research.

2. Join a private tour organized by someone else on the roll call - I don’t know them or their attention to detail; just feel better if I’m the one organizing it.

3. Pay for a tour upfront that doesn’t have a written refund policy in the event of being late to or missing port.

 

We have had great experiences with independent tours. A couple examples:

1. Stingray city in grand cayman - ended up on a small boat with a guide and 2 other couples. We get there and have the entire time to hold, pet, feed, kiss the stingrays; the guide even takes pictures without our cameras for us. While we were there saw a huge double decker bus pull up with the cruise excursion. It was clearly evident that there weren’t enough guides because a few came over to our group to ask if our guide would help them pet one.

 

2. Did a full day ATV your in st Martin. It turns out that there’s really only one ATV rental place and they provide the guides. So we got there and had to wait a bit because they had us start with the cruise line excursion. It was a huge group, more than 20 ATVs. We were a little worried at first because with so many people breaks become longer and there were many who were inexperienced riders and had trouble keeping up with the group on paved roads, so lots of stopping and starting. At the first stop they told us to pull away with a guide and a small group. The rest of the tour was great. Only 5 ATVs, so were able to move a lot faster and see a lot more. Even went off road up this huge hill to an overlook.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[skynight]

For the 1st time ever we may take non Princess shore excursions. One hears there are risks. Wondering if anyone has actually had a bad experience, been scammed, been left behind by the ship for being late, etc. Thanks.

What ports are you visiting? You may get more precise information if you mention this. I have not had any bad experiences like the examples you mention.

[Micahs Grandad]

And sometime they don't all arrive back to the bus on schedule either which cuts into your time. :mad:

 

Very true and it has happened to us.

 

However when you have 15 in a van chances are a lot better all return on time than when you have a bus of 50.

[dickinson]

I’ve taken many independent tours in many parts of the world. Had only two bad experiences.

 

1. In a Central American port, someone on our roll call organized a day-long tour, enough people to fill a large bus. The tour was fine until the last stop for shopping at a market. People kept on getting off the bus to get “one more thing.” Instead of telling people to get back on the bus, the organizer got off, too. We were running late and had a long drive to the port. I was told to not worry, the Princess buses hadn’t left yet. We finally got going. Shortly after we left, the Princess buses (which were far better than ours) passed us as our bus wheezed along. We were the last to arrive at the port. Princess probably would have waited for us but that was not a fun experience.

 

2. My second bad experience was booking a private tour in Belfast with McComb’s. I know that they have fully booked three buses from our roll call. They required pre-payment in full with no refunds. When I asked if there was any flexibility if the ship didn’t make port, I was told not to worry... that no cruise ship had missed port in twenty years. Which was essentially a non-answer but I interpreted as reassuring. Well, two hurricanes went up the US coast and turned towards Ireland, creating one monster storm in the Irish Sea. We stayed docked in Dublin for two days. Tried contacting McComb’s while still in Dublin (the day before the tour) to cancel my tour but was told they were sticking to their policy no matter what even though they had a day’s notice. Every other independent tour operator gave 50% refunds but not McComb’s. When I emailed them again to ask for at least a partial refund, I was told they would contact their lawyers if I said anything negative about their company. Their policy was their policy when with hurricane-force winds when we would have been in port. I was shocked by their threatening response. FYI, HAL’s Prinsendam sailed off the coast of Ireland in the Irish Sea during the storm (when we would have been in port in Belfast) and experienced 70-75’ waves for over 12 hours.

 

Pam - you didn't mention the one we took together in Hawaii. (she did not organize it) Someone on our roll call organized this . It was a 15 day cruise to Hawaii and someone booked a private tour on the big island for us to go to Volcanoes National Park. When we arrived I don't think the guide was around and took a while to find her but I could be wrong. This was a husband and wife guide company. The husband was doing a different group. The wife apparently was "sick". The person they found to do our tour was a taxi driver from the airport. As we were driving to the park she kept talking about her dysfunctional family and children, where different people died along the side of the road, and how most people on the big island are alcoholics because there is nothing to do! When we get to the park she does take us to many of the highlights but does not come outside with us to explain things. I saw lots of other guides explaining things to their group.

 

We were supposed to pay at the end by cash or credit card. This driver knew nothing about it but ultimately called the husband who was guiding the other group so knew what we needed to pay. He met us back at the ship to take payment. Two couples (including us) wanted to pay by cc but his phone wasn't working or something. Ultimately we were told to mail a check to them when we got home. The woman who organized the tour wrote a bad review on Trip Advisor. I was about to do so when I decided to call the woman (we were given the business card). She answered and told me it was the worst day of her life and apologized about that "tour guide". She said I didn't need to pay anything. I was willing to pay something so she said to just send a check for $20 (I think) to pay for the entrance to the National Park. I did so. It was never cashed. Their website was taken down. I have no clue what happened to them but it doesn't look good.

[pink845]

We have done a lot of excursions with Princess over the years - always in countries where we would be a little shy doing things on our own. And that says a lot because we are huge do it your self people. One excursion was years ago when did a two day excursion to Egypt. It was a 3 hour bus ride into Cairo and the bathroom on the bus had no light in it and then into hour 2, the toilet broke down. We got $250 back per person for that from Princess.

 

The second one we were in Alaska and it was raining cats and dogs and we were waiting to go to the Mendenhall Glacier and it was chaos as only one ship door was available for people to come out of and it was taking eons for 2000 elderly passengers to be transported via wheel chair (I exaggerate here) to the buses and the tour operators were very disorganized (and that was the first time I saw such a huge scale of disorganization from Princess). We were left out waiting for a whole hour on the platforms with no direction and it was very unpleasant. We were then rushed to the Glacier, given like 15 minutes in total and well, we got all our money refunded for that and I believe it was $69 per person. On the next cruise, we simply rented a car and did it ourselves as we did for Skagway as well. In Bangkok, in Vietnam, in Kuala Lumpur and in Russia, we took Princess' ON YOUR OWN Transport and did the touring by ourselves. So we did a bit of a compromise and it worked very well. So all in our experiences with Princess Tours have been excellent indeed.

[pink845]

I worry about taking excursions with outside suppliers as once you have paid for that excursion on your credit card, they have no obligation to give you any money back if you are unsatisfied. At least with Princess, you have a point person with whom to have a conversation - the Excursion Manager and if all else fails, Princess Customer Service once you get home usually get the refund job done has been our experience. Also, Princess waited six hours in Athens once for our bus to return to Pireaus due to a riot breaking out at the Parliament buildings. We did not get any money back. That was fine but would you be able to get back to port and have the ship wait for you if you had booked a private excursion. NO NO NO. In some locales, you may pay a bit more (sometimes a lot more) but one has to weigh the pros and cons depending on the venue.