Poor excursion descriptions??

[caryn]

I'm looking at excursions for my Greek Isles cruise at the end of June and the descriptions are terrible. The warning section is longer than the description of what the tour entails. Is this as good as it gets? I haven't sailed RC in a few years and I'm really hesitant to book through the ship if I don't have a good idea of what I will be doing, for how long, and on which kind of transportation. Any chance the descriptions will get better as it gets closer to the cruise?

 

 

[Mapleleafforever]

2 minutes ago, caryn said:

I'm looking at excursions for my Greek Isles cruise at the end of June and the descriptions are terrible. The warning section is longer than the description of what the tour entails. Is this as good as it gets? I haven't sailed RC in a few years and I'm really hesitant to book through the ship if I don't have a good idea of what I will be doing, for how long, and on which kind of transportation. Any chance the descriptions will get better as it gets closer to the cruise?

 

 

Is it still excursions through Royal only or are you free to book private yet? We had great luck with private tours on our Med cruise a few years ago. 

[FionaMG]

3 minutes ago, caryn said:

 Any chance the descriptions will get better as it gets closer to the cruise?

 

I wouldn't count on it. 

But I totally agree the descriptions are rubbish.

[caryn]

1 minute ago, Mapleleafforever said:

Is it still excursions through Royal only or are you free to book private yet?

I'm not exactly sure. Royal hasn't specified but it wouldn't surprise me if they think they don't have to. Last time I did a European cruise we booked mostly private tours so I might go that way again. I just like the ease of doing some through the ship if it's something I'm interested in.

 

[Mapleleafforever]

1 minute ago, caryn said:

I'm not exactly sure. Royal hasn't specified but it wouldn't surprise me if they think they don't have to. Last time I did a European cruise we booked mostly private tours so I might go that way again. I just like the ease of doing some through the ship if it's something I'm interested in.

 

We booked private tours and posted on our roll call if someone wanted to join. Had all full vans of 8-10 for all of the tours we booked. Had the same 3 couples on 4 of them, some we remain good friends with. Roll Calls can be your friend on this. 

 

Best part, we had the smaller "limo" vans which means we were among the first in and out of all locations, so much less time waiting. 

[island lady]

Totally agree.   

 

The descriptions are extremely lame at best.  Years ago they used to have detailed descriptions, lots of actual pictures and reviews.  Now....some not even close to the minimal they describe.  

 

We did a tour in Bonaire 2 weeks ago that highlighting dropping you off at a resort, describing a white sandy beach. The only picture showed a romantic scene of a couple walking on a wide white sugar sand beach. 

 

Reality?  No sand at all, just sharp jagged rocks and coral on skinny stretch of water front.   

[caryn]

2 minutes ago, Mapleleafforever said:

We booked private tours and posted on our roll call if someone wanted to join.

Yeah, I'm probably going to join another couple on my roll call for one, possibly two tours. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm just baffled that the RC descriptions are so bad. Maybe I'm spoiled by Airnbnb experiences since usually list the timeline of what you'll be doing so there are few suprises.

[caryn]

Just now, island lady said:

Reality?  No sand at all, just sharp jagged rocks and coral on skinny stretch of water front.   

Really bad. I don't mind paying for an excursion that will be well planned and organized but I don't want this to happen and essentially waste my day.

[Mapleleafforever]

1 minute ago, caryn said:

Yeah, I'm probably going to join another couple on my roll call for one, possibly two tours. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm just baffled that the RC descriptions are so bad. Maybe I'm spoiled by Airnbnb experiences since usually list the timeline of what you'll be doing so there are few suprises.

I hear ya haha

[ChickonRules]

I booked an Aruba excursion based on it saying the bus tour would be 45 minutes following a beach break. The bus tour ended up being 2 hours and only an hour at the beach. My 13 month old was so tired and cranky. If I had known it was that long, I would've just went to the beach on my own.

[island lady]

11 minutes ago, caryn said:

Really bad. I don't mind paying for an excursion that will be well planned and organized but I don't want this to happen and essentially waste my day.

 

Complaining about the false information afterwards fell on deaf ears as well.  They don't care.  

[caryn]

Well, this is just further convincing me to do my own thing. When my family did a med cruise years ago my parents came along so we didn't mind the accessible tours and motor coaches for some days. As a solo traveler for this cruise I want a bit more adventure or uniqueness. 

[island lady]

Just now, caryn said:

Well, this is just further convincing me to do my own thing. When my family did a med cruise years ago my parents came along so we didn't mind the accessible tours and motor coaches for some days. As a solo traveler for this cruise I want a bit more adventure or uniqueness. 

 

We usually do most, if not all...tours on our own.  The last few weeks have been a bit iffy, with say for example St. Lucia.  Could not do any touring on our own, restricted to RCI ship tours...which was request by St. Lucia, not RCI. Which was another really awful tour.  Overloaded cat boat, just nasty all the way around.  

 

I am hoping things will continue to relax with Covid.   I hope.  

[caryn]

5 minutes ago, island lady said:

I am hoping things will continue to relax with Covid.   I hope. 

Fingers crossed 🤞

[Swann5]

We have found the lack of detailed descriptions very frustrating on RCCL and Celebrity. It makes it very hard to know what you are getting and many excursions sound very lackluster. We previously we did mostly independent tours, but with Covid and my recent health issues, we have been booking more through the cruise lines because you can cancel and get a full refund with little notice should the need arise. The lack of details would be a very good question to someone within the companies as I'm sure many people have passed on booking through the cruise lines because they do such a poor job of marketing them. We have enjoyed many of the ship excursions we have taken and also like the convenience of going through the ship, but you have to have a certain amount of trust that the excursion will exceed their very basic descriptions. Very frustrating!

 

[PNW Traveler]

I agree that the excursions descriptions are too brief and often lack basic information.  As a result, I've often resorted to "googling" and researching excursions by the name or title in the shore excursions listing.  It takes a bit of work, but other cruise lines and tours will offer an identical excursion and provide a more detailed description.  Sometimes I can even find photos of the excursion, length of time on bus, and even reviews.  This is internet work, but it has helped in the past.  Royal's descriptions used to be better.

 

 

[caryn]

17 hours ago, Swann5 said:

 We have enjoyed many of the ship excursions we have taken and also like the convenience of going through the ship, but you have to have a certain amount of trust that the excursion will exceed their very basic descriptions. Very frustrating!

 

Completely agree. I don't want to book a private tour and then we don't even stop because of covid, the weather, etc. So much easier with the ship excursions, especially if you don't know 24 hours in advance to give a company enough time. 

[caryn]

15 hours ago, PNW Traveler said:

 It takes a bit of work, but other cruise lines and tours will offer an identical excursion and provide a more detailed description.  

 

 

Thanks, I'll look into that. Doing that work is worth it to me so I can make an informed decision.