paddingtonbear Posted July 30 #1 Share Posted July 30 Since covid I've noticed that some of the private excursion providers now don't give a refund at all if the ship doesn't make the port or if the ship is late. Others require notification 24 hours before the tour for a refund which wouldn't help if there was a last minute medical emergency. We are doing a Canada & New England cruise which seems to be susceptible to weather problems. What do you do? Do you definitely not use those providers who don't give refunds? Don't use those who have a 24 hour refund policy? Or just hope for the best? Travel insurance excess would probably negate the value of any claim. Yes, I know the ship excursions negate this worry but they are prohibitively expensive lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Coral Posted July 30 #2 Share Posted July 30 24 hours cancellation doesn't help either as a lot of decisions to dock or skip a port happen that morning. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dog Posted July 30 #3 Share Posted July 30 Those ports were easy for us to do on our own. We rented a car across street from terminal and drive to Peggy’s Cove. HOHO buses at other ports. I never book with anyone who asks to prepay. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare karatemom2 Posted July 30 #4 Share Posted July 30 Depends on the port and the tour. If it was a port that was missed due to weather or a tender port that might be less reliable, I would likely only book with a vendor that offered a guaranteed refund if the ship missed the port. However, in fairly reliable ports if there was an excursion that was a really high priority for me, I might roll the dice and hope for the best and take the risk of being out the dollars if we missed the port for some reason. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipgeeks Posted July 30 #5 Share Posted July 30 What are your ports? We've done that itinerary a number of times, and never felt that we needed an excursion or even a taxi. The ports we're familiar with are all right there....kind of like Sydney is to OPT. If you can walk, you can see the best of the ports. But please let us know where you will be sailing to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddingtonbear Posted July 30 Author #6 Share Posted July 30 The ports I'm concerned about are Halifax and Portland. In Halifax we really want to do Peggy's cove before the crowds. There is what looks like a great private tour by tripshepherd.com/tours/peggys-cove-express has 24hour cancellation but if you cancel after that you only lose $50 pp. I don't want DH driving on the wrong side of the road. In Portland we were looking at realportlandtour.com/home It has 24 hour cancellation. It's $65 pp including tax. I think we've given up on an excursion from Sydney to the Cabot Trail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zqvol Posted July 31 #7 Share Posted July 31 1 hour ago, paddingtonbear said: The ports I'm concerned about are Halifax and Portland. In Halifax we really want to do Peggy's cove before the crowds. There is what looks like a great private tour by tripshepherd.com/tours/peggys-cove-express has 24hour cancellation but if you cancel after that you only lose $50 pp. I don't want DH driving on the wrong side of the road. In Portland we were looking at realportlandtour.com/home It has 24 hour cancellation. It's $65 pp including tax. I think we've given up on an excursion from Sydney to the Cabot Trail. Peggy’s Cove is a nice beautiful stop, but it is not a place you are going to spend much time unless you are eating a meal. Plan to add something else in with that adventure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddingtonbear Posted July 31 Author #8 Share Posted July 31 20 minutes ago, zqvol said: Peggy’s Cove is a nice beautiful stop, but it is not a place you are going to spend much time unless you are eating a meal. Plan to add something else in with that adventure. That tour takes you on a long scenic route back to Halifax and I thought we would just walk around Halifax by ourselves after it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zqvol Posted July 31 #9 Share Posted July 31 4 minutes ago, paddingtonbear said: That tour takes you on a long scenic route back to Halifax and I thought we would just walk around Halifax by ourselves after it. Sounds good. This trip that is all we are going to do. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lx200gps Posted July 31 #10 Share Posted July 31 15 hours ago, paddingtonbear said: The ports I'm concerned about are Halifax and Portland. In Halifax we really want to do Peggy's cove before the crowds. There is what looks like a great private tour by tripshepherd.com/tours/peggys-cove-express has 24hour cancellation but if you cancel after that you only lose $50 pp. I don't want DH driving on the wrong side of the road. In Portland we were looking at realportlandtour.com/home It has 24 hour cancellation. It's $65 pp including tax. I think we've given up on an excursion from Sydney to the Cabot Trail. G'day. Re your stop in Portland, exactly when and how are you stopping there? Which cruise line, and when in the itinerary are you there? There's an issue with Portland and US Immigration clearance that definitely may affect excursions depending on the point in your itinerary that you arrive there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddingtonbear Posted July 31 Author #11 Share Posted July 31 4 hours ago, lx200gps said: G'day. Re your stop in Portland, exactly when and how are you stopping there? Which cruise line, and when in the itinerary are you there? There's an issue with Portland and US Immigration clearance that definitely may affect excursions depending on the point in your itinerary that you arrive there. Princess. Quebec City to Boston. You are right Portland is our first US stop after Canada stops. How long will immigration take? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lx200gps Posted July 31 #12 Share Posted July 31 27 minutes ago, paddingtonbear said: Princess. Quebec City to Boston. You are right Portland is our first US stop after Canada stops. How long will immigration take? Based on our experience last week, you should be OK assuming no major changes on how they run things. Princess had discovered that they have a major issue with their itineraries that have Portland as the first US stop after coming from Canada. We were originally scheduled to dock in Portland at 10AM, but the captain gunned it and we arrived at 8AM because of problems on the previous cruise. The USCBP agents boarded and split themselves into two almost identical teams, one to handle the few hundred non-US citizens, and the other to handle the thousands of US citizens. Incomprehensible, but that what they did. As Canadians, we were through the process and off the ship by about 9:30 and IIRC they had pretty much finished all non-US citizens by about 10AM. The last US citizens weren't out until after 2PM. As an Australian citizen(?) you should go through quickly as we did, but exactly how long it will take depends on the Group# ticket Princess will give you the day before. On our trip the interviews started around 9AM, we had Group 5, and they were calling out the specific Group #s over the PA. We actually hung around at the start of where the line was to be, and by the time they got to Group 4 non-US, things had opened up so much that the senior ship officer guarding the line let us through to the interview location early, as things were proceeding so quickly. Sadly, the US citizens didn't have it so easy. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddingtonbear Posted August 1 Author #13 Share Posted August 1 @lx200gps Thank you for that great info. We arrive at 7am and yes we are Australian. No doubt by the time we cruise they will hange it up so our queue is the slow one! But at least I will know what is going on. I will plan accordingly. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipgeeks Posted August 2 #14 Share Posted August 2 For any of you who end up missing your Portland plans due to a holdup, I highly recommend stopping in at the Visitors Center, right at the end of the pier, and getting a map and talking to one of the staff or volunteers there. Lots of good information about what you can do, and very friendly and helpful people. Lots of good things to do within walking distance. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiner6 Posted August 30 #15 Share Posted August 30 On 7/30/2024 at 7:25 PM, paddingtonbear said: The ports I'm concerned about are Halifax and Portland. In Halifax we really want to do Peggy's cove before the crowds. There is what looks like a great private tour by tripshepherd.com/tours/peggys-cove-express has 24hour cancellation but if you cancel after that you only lose $50 pp. I don't want DH driving on the wrong side of the road. In Portland we were looking at realportlandtour.com/home It has 24 hour cancellation. It's $65 pp including tax. I think we've given up on an excursion from Sydney to the Cabot Trail. Be careful in choosing Peggy’s cove . You have been warned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddingtonbear Posted August 30 Author #16 Share Posted August 30 3 hours ago, shiner6 said: Be careful in choosing Peggy’s cove . You have been warned Why is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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