Are Viator excursions trustworthy?

[dltaeg]

We have sailed with RCI a few times but always booked RCI excursions.

We sail again in May and want to visit Maho beach. I've found an excursion through Viator which is both longer and cheaper than RCI but having never used them before I'm a little weary. Has anyone used them before and are they a trustyworthy and reliable company to book excursions with?

 

Thanks x

[EllaDuChien]

1 minute ago, dltaeg said:

We have sailed with RCI a few times but always booked RCI excursions.

We sail again in May and want to visit Maho beach. I've found an excursion through Viator which is both longer and cheaper than RCI but having never used them before I'm a little weary. Has anyone used them before and are they a trustyworthy and reliable company to book excursions with?

 

Thanks x

I've used them all over Europe and the Caribbean and never had any issues.

[wheezedr]

You should realize that Viator  is not the tour operator but simply a booking company.  You can book through them as many do but a little research may allow you to find the actual tour operator and book direct. 

[hapster85]

We used them to find tours in NYC last summer. Worked out very well.

As mentioned above, Viator isn't a tour operator, just a broker.

Also worth noting that it's a TripAdvisor company.

[saltshell]

Used them in Vienna and Rome without problem.

[LucasLounger1]

I had problems with them, in Spain and Rome. Both times they hadn't actually booked me on the tour that I had paid for.  Mind you that was back in 2007 and 2008 so perhaps they have better service now.  Now I know to just search out the actual tour providers and book directly now rather than use Viator.

[cruisemom42]

I also have experienced unsatisfactory tours booked through Viator. I heartily endorse trying to find the local provider of the tour rather than booking through a middle man like Viator.  Communication is much better.  One of the issues I had with a tour involved the fact that no one let me know in advance that the tour was cancelled due to lack of sign-ups. I only found out when I actually showed up at the meeting place (which was the local tour office).  Another problem I encountered on several tours was that tours I booked were being conducted in three languages -- this meant a long time standing around each place while the guide went through lengthy spiels in English, Spanish and Italian.  (And other participants would talk right through the English version making it difficult to hear.)

[Turtles06]

OP: since you are considering a private tour, have you looked at the Ports of Call/Caribbean/St. Maarten forum?  You'll find reliable tour operators there recommended by folks here on CC.   These are private tour operators that folks on CC have actually used, and you'd be dealing with them directly.

 

One of those frequently recommended on the St. Maarten board is Bernard's SXM Tours.  We booked with them several years ago based on those recommendations, and had an excellent day (which included a visit to Maho Beach).  They have a number of different tours.

 

 https://www.bernardstours.com/

 

Just throwing that out there as an alternative to booking a private tour through a third party like Viator.

 

Edited to add: As I mentioned, we used Bernard's several years ago, so you'd want to update the research on them and check out recent reviews.

Edited January 23, 2019 by Turtles06

[bonsai3s]

1 hour ago, dltaeg said:

We have sailed with RCI a few times but always booked RCI excursions.

We sail again in May and want to visit Maho beach. I've found an excursion through Viator which is both longer and cheaper than RCI but having never used them before I'm a little weary. Has anyone used them before and are they a trustyworthy and reliable company to book excursions with?

 

Thanks x

We found them to be trustworthy and reliable.  We've used Viator in Europe, Asia, and South America.

 

What we like: If you decide to cancel, it's easy to get a refund.  Prices are cheap.  Numerous choices/variety of excursions available.  Excellent customer service.

 

What we don't like: This is nitpicking, but on one excursion in Cuzco, Peru, we were not told that a number of tickets to museums/churches were not included.  Other than that, we've never had any problems.

 

Again, as everyone said, Viator is a broker not a tour operator.

[LHT28]

if you just want to go to the beach just take a taxi

[dltaeg]

19 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

if you just want to go to the beach just take a taxi

We thought about this but as a group of 6 we will mostly likely need 2 taxis so a tour may end up being around the same price.

[Hlitner]

We seldom do tours (we prefer doing our own thing) but when we do decide to book a tour we prefer to deal directly with the tour provider, not a third party broker.   The Internet makes dealing with local providers relatively easy.   As to "doing our own thing" this has been our practice in most places across 6 Continents.  We prefer the flexibility of doing what we want, when we want, with who we want (which is usually just us).  Somebody mentioned a tour of St Maarten.  While this makes some sense for water borne things, if you want to see the island simply rent a car for the day!  And if you want to go to a specific beach just use a taxi (shared or private).   In Western Europe there are so many options for DIY including the use of trains, buses, rental cars, taxis and your feet :).  When we are in countries like France or Italy, a long lunch at a decent restaurant is often on our "to do " list and excursions seldom to never include that kind of thing.   In Iceland we could take a large excursion of the Golden Circle, or simply rent a car (for about half the cost) and do the same thing at our own pace.  And imagine, we do not have to wait for the person who is always late back to the bus, for 60 folks to get their bathroom break, etc :).  And for those doom and gloom naysayers, we have been doing this for over forty years of extensive cruising, in hundreds of ports, and have never missed the ship (came close a couple of times).  Come to think of it, despite chatting with folks on far more then 100 cruises we have yet to meet anyone who has missed their ship.  I assume it does happen, but its quite rare.  And Independent travelers usually have a "Plan B" just in case :).

 

Hank

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, dltaeg said:

We thought about this but as a group of 6 we will mostly likely need 2 taxis so a tour may end up being around the same price.

they have larger taxi vans

[lakelorain]

We use Viator often.  Nice to have them to go to if you have a problem with your tour company.  In Sydney we had a horrible tour guide.  The tour company wouldn't even talk to us.  We contacted Viator and had a full refund that day.

They have also put together custom tours for us in Spain and Italy.  We've been very happy with their service.

[Zee890]

I have used viator all over the US and Europe. Really convenient way to find tours and good customer service.

 

Booking an excursion with an outside company is the way to go with a cruise ship. I used to work for a cruise ship and I can tell you that all ship tours are through 3rd party opearators and if anything goes wrong, the cruise company has very little recourse because they aren't the operators. The prices are also tremendously marked up because the ship needs it's cut. I booked a tour in Costa Maya that was 50% less than what the ship was offering, even though it was the same tour.

 

That said, since it isn't affiliated with the ship at all you have to be responsible about watching the time, but operators are usually aware they have ship guests and will normally ask (make sure you tell them if they don't ask).

[MicCanberra]

I have done many viatour brokered excursions with no incident. I also use TripAdvisor and if possible check directly with the tour company for verification and price comparison.

[Mike981]

We just used them for a Walk and Rum tour in St. Thomas. It was fantastic. BUT, they didn't tell us that the Rum part was for a different part of the day. Kind of a big deal if you were looking at trying different rums and getting that experience.
I also agree, I prefer to book directly and have direct contact with the tour company. FYI, my beautiful bride booked the above mentioned tour and she is the rum fan.

[raffo1981]

We had good tours with them as well as some bad ones. I'd go with user reviews for the tour you're buying and ask as many questions as possible - if something's off in the way they communicate I'd back away - exactly what had happened every time we booked tours off their platform: you get a gut feeling and it usually is true. But again, I thinks it's like AirBnb and other services - their job is to sell and you never know who's behind the product until the minute you arrive. But to be perfectly correct - we've had some fantastic ones and I'd use them again

[scokely]

I've used them with great success across Europe and the states. As a broker Viator works to verify the products they are pushing out. When we used them with a cruise they were cheaper, more suited to our desires, and much smaller than the cruise ship tours. 

 

If you are looking for alternative tour ideas Air B and B has had "experiences" for a few years now. They have some really unique experiences that are often very tailored to what you want to see and do. I cannot recommend these enough. 

[Herfnerd]

Viator is a booking site - you can usually find who the actual tour provider is and book with them, usually at a better rate.  My thing is that I would rather get information straight from the source rather than thru a third party

[Zee890]

3 hours ago, Herfnerd said:

Viator is a booking site - you can usually find who the actual tour provider is and book with them, usually at a better rate.  My thing is that I would rather get information straight from the source rather than thru a third party

 

I agree with this as well. Sometimes I'll get the company/tour name from viator and look it up in my Chase Travel. Also a booking site, but with my points it's heavily discounted.

 

Viator will have sales from time to time, too. I just like their site by how organized it is as opposed to scouring the internet and being unsure of the legitimacy of what you're finding.

[donaldsc]

5 hours ago, Herfnerd said:

Viator is a booking site - you can usually find who the actual tour provider is and book with them, usually at a better rate.  My thing is that I would rather get information straight from the source rather than thru a third party

 

Even if you don't get a better rate, you are dealing directly w the vendor who also gets to keep all the money instead of having to split it with the booking site.

 

DON