Keep checking tour information, it's a work in progress

[3rdGenCunarder]

AQV is still updating tours for this season's Great Lakes itineraries. My cruise is two months away, and they're still adding tours. You won't see all the tours on the initial itinerary page, but if you click on any of the "premium" tours, it will take you to a page where you can see the list specifically for your cruise. 

 

When Escanaba was added as a port to replace a Canadian island, I did a chat and was told that they were working on "premium" tours for Escanaba and they would be "really good."  Knowing that there are wineries near Escanaba, I have been checking the website every week or two, hoping to see something "really good" pop up. So far, only the "included" tours are showing for Escanaba on my cruise. So I keep checking. A few weeks ago, I discovered that they had added a Motown tour for Detroit. Today, I discovered another Detroit tour. This one goes to a pottery where you get to glaze a tile, and they ship it to your home. This may not appeal to a lot of people, but I googled the pottery and it looks interesting. 

 

So check your cruise from time to time and see if new tours appear. For once AQV does NOT ask for money up front.  Premium tours go on your onboard account. 

[uktog]

Thanks, I can see the interesting pottery tour for our cruise but unfortunately they have not added the Motown trip which DH would really like.  I had dithered on the Henry Ford experience as an alternative but that is wait list now so I think we just HOHO Detroit

 

I did like when I booked our premium experience in Niagara that there was no upfront charge, which is the same as we experienced last year on the Mississippi.

 

I see all our excursions still state the cruise ends in Milwaukee in line with the written communication sent to us but in contradiction to the email sent to our travel agent and the answers I was given in live chat.  Come on AQ get your act together for the 17/18th May ex Toronto voyage!!

Edited April 13, 2023 by uktog

[Av8tor]

Yeah, i'm experiencing the same thing for my Empress cruise in October.  The antique aircraft & auto  tour I'm interested in shows up on the general info for the Columbia River cruises, but when I go to the booking page for my actual cruise date, it's not listed as a choice.  I chatted with the AQV agent and she checked with the development team to see what the story is.  They told her that it SHOULD be available to book and they'd work on it.  The agent took my e-mail address and said she'd notify me when the problem was fixed.  I checked other cruise dates and that tour was available to book for cruises through September, but not for October onwards.  It's inside the 180 day window so hopefully it'll still be an option and right now it's only a question of them actually loading it into the website.

 

Another potential issue I saw was the issue of cancelling tours and getting refunds.  The general tours & excursions page says that if you cancel a tour at least 48 hours in advance, you will get a full refund.  However, the actual Terms & Conditions page that you must agree to before booking, only says that if cancelled before the 48 hours, the cost can be applied to another tour if available.  That difference concerned me, but the AQV agent confirmed that both options are available and the choice is yours.  I'm not sure how that really works out since tours booked in advance are not charged at the time of booking, but are just placed on your onboard account to be paid at the end of the cruise.  With all the posts about how slow AQV is with refunds (granted most of those complaints are for complete cruises) but I'd rather not find out the same is true for tours...

[Av8tor]

Update on the wonderful AQV attention to details...

 

After finding out that our Empress itinerary for Oct has been changed with no notice to me or even being posted on the website (fairly minor changes involving one different stop and timing differences for others), they finally posted the tour I am interested in.  I got it booked, but then noticed the tour is posted for 1-4:30pm which will be interesting since our time in "port" is only scheduled for 8:30a-2p.

[ericosmith]

Sometimes I think there is a disconnect between AQV and the company that runs the busses and excursions.  

[uktog]

2 hours ago, ericosmith said:

Sometimes I think there is a disconnect between AQV and the company that runs the busses and excursions.  

There is also a massive disconnect between

1.  The company and the overseas agent they require all UK bookings to be managed through by your travel agent

 

2.  I am not sure if it’s City Experiences who run their excursions but they deliver the online help and they haven’t a clue what’s on the website or what information has been sent to a guest direct by the line via the UK managing agent. 
 

Add to that, my travel agent has had to escalate the issue of non responsiveness and constant conflict in communication via their head office to the cruise line and still no response.  
 

We just want to know what city our cruise ends and if it has changed, will AQV take responsibility for the cost of transfer back to the contracted point rather than charge for it as is their current plan. (There are legalities when a change like this are made in the UK AQV appear to be wanting to ignore) 

Edited April 21, 2023 by uktog

[3rdGenCunarder]

I can understand tours changing on short notice. That happens for a variety of reasons. But the disembarkation/embarkation ports must require advance reservations with the local port authority. A ship with 200+ people can't just show up and look for a parking place. SOMEONE has to know the schedule. But I can't find that person.

 

I tried emailing Port of Milwaukee, and I got a reply. But their info came from AQV, not any entity within the Milwaukee port. AQV told them of three dates in Milwaukee, and @uktog's cruise was not one of them. Nor mine. 

 

I tried emailing Navy Pier in Chicago. I haven't had a response yet. I just emailed the Illinois Central Port District. They are strictly cargo, but I'm hoping they can give me contact info for cruises out of Chicago. 

 

This is ridiculous!!!!

[ericosmith]

On 4/17/2023 at 3:13 AM, hallasm said:

21 hours ago, uktog said:

There is also a massive disconnect between

1.  The company and the overseas agent they require all UK bookings to be managed through by your travel agent

 

2.  I am not sure if it’s City Experiences who run their excursions but they deliver the online help and they haven’t a clue what’s on the website or what information has been sent to a guest direct by the line via the UK managing agent. 
 

Add to that, my travel agent has had to escalate the issue of non responsiveness and constant conflict in communication via their head office to the cruise line and still no response.  
 

We just want to know what city our cruise ends and if it has changed, will AQV take responsibility for the cost of transfer back to the contracted point rather than charge for it as is their current plan. (There are legalities when a change like this are made in the UK AQV appear to be wanting to ignore) 

City Experiences is another company owned by Global Maritime that also owns American Queen Voyages.  There primary business is sightseeing cruises and tours in various cities in the US and around the world including the UK.  If I'm not mistaken they own tour boats that dock at Navy Pier.  If that's who's answering the phone I have wouldn't  doubt that they are clueless.

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

And another tour change for my cruise. I check about once a week to see if new tours appear--I was told some "really great" premium tours would be added for Escanaba, but so far they aren't showing for my cruise. 

 

As I scrolled down the list, I discovered that a tour has disappeared, along with the port stop. Sault Ste Marie is the port after Mackinac Island (Chicago to Toronto). They had been offering a HoHo bus on the US side. But now there's no tour and it says "scenic sailing."  I looked at a few other cruises, and those still have the port stop and HoHo bus. It does not take all day to go through the Sault Locks, so what's going on???????

[3rdGenCunarder]

I looked at other itineraries and, although it isn't on mine, some of the other Great Lakes cruises have an interesting boat ride (yes, I know we are already ON a boat ride!) for the Escanaba stop. It's a ride along the "pictured rocks" shoreline of Lake Superior. It's expensive, but I would do it if it were on my cruise. Looks like some great photo ops.

[uktog]

45 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

I looked at other itineraries and, although it isn't on mine, some of the other Great Lakes cruises have an interesting boat ride (yes, I know we are already ON a boat ride!) for the Escanaba stop. It's a ride along the "pictured rocks" shoreline of Lake Superior. It's expensive, but I would do it if it were on my cruise. Looks like some great photo ops.

I am so glad you prompted me to look. That trip is not offered on the Toronto to Chicago voyage but maybe it will be onboard, my experience on the Mississippi was there were extra trips on offer once onboard.

I scrolled through all the Premium excursions on our cruise and I saw some extra information against our Niagara excursion indicating it is not available to book onboard and that immediately on booking guests would receive an email about menu selections.  Well we had booked it and had a confirmation four weeks ago but have had no email about menu selections.  

Fearing the worst - this is AQ after all and my experience now is always looking at the worst, I contacted the online chat, very nice person on the other end but they cannot resolve what has happened so now we wait the Development Team to confirm if we did have a reservation as its a wait listed trip now - even though I have a confirmation number and copy of the email (which I have mailed to them).  

 

I do not know what else they could give me issues with on this trip.....  

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

I do not know what else they could give me issues with on this trip.....  

 

Don't tempt fate with comments like that!!!

 

My itinerary is now different from what appears to be the standard order from Chicago--scenic sailing, Escanaba, Mackinac Island, Sault Ste Marie, scenic sailing and the rest. That's what is shown on the map and is a logical sequence in terms of geography. Now my cruise is scenic sailing, Escanaba, Soo locks (but no stop in Sault Ste Marie), then we backtrack to Mackinac Island (which explains why we won't have time to stop in Sault Ste Marie), then scenic sailing and the rest. 

 

I intend to print out every tour confirmation and bring it with me. I'm not doing the long Niagara falls tour. I may not bother with the standard one, either. It might be nice to just wander around Port Colborne, have lunch ashore (I found what looks like a good brewpub), and watch the ships on the Welland Canal. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

More excursions have surfaced. Not on all cruises yet, they seem to load them haphazardly, not in any order. For Escanaba, in addition to the two included tours, there are two premium tours. I think they're overpriced (not unusual for ship tours), but they're interesting. One is a boat ride along Picture Rocks, a beautiful stretch of Lake Superior shoreline. The other is an afternoon of alcohol. Two wineries and two breweries. 

 

I thought I would want the boat ride because of the photo ops. But the coast faces NW, which means the best light would be afternoon, not morning. So now I'm thinking I will book the tasting tour. Even if the wine isn't to my taste (I'm fussy), I can always find a beer that I like.