Roberts Tours

[Time To Cruise Again]

Can anyone tell me what is the latest recommendation for booking tours thur Roberts. Our cruis is April 15, 2008 on Pride of Alhoa:cool:

[Lyn2005]

If you are asking when you should book, we booked about 3 weeks prior to our cruise. Some of our travelling companions who had planned on booking with the ship once they boarded decided to go with Roberts when they found out what we had paid. They were able to call Roberts from the port and on a couple of tours just showed up at the bus and there was room for them, not always the case though.

[Time To Cruise Again]

Thanks for the information. Do you remember how soon they bill your credit card?

[Time To Cruise Again]

Lynn, how was the cruise on Pride of Aloha?

[cruzn single]

When we booked for our January POH cruise, they billed the credit card as soon as I booked with them. Of course, that was nice, because the shore excursions were paid for before we even left home!

[Lyn2005]

I didn't check our credit card but I assume they charged it right away.

 

Our cruise was wonderful but we went into it knowing the ship was not 5 star. Actually the facilities were better than what we had expected and what other people had reported on these boards. Our dinners were nicely presented and good, the waiters were friendly and efficient. The main diningrooms are nicely decorated. We used the buffet for breakfast and lunch and it was so-so but we usually found things that we liked. It's just not laid out very good for traffic flow. Room service was very prompt. Our room was always clean and made up when we got back to it although we rarely saw our room steward. The itinerary is great and the islands are beautiful. There were 4 couples travelling together and 4 different opinions on the cruise. We are not fussy people so maybe we had lower expectations than others would.

[Time To Cruise Again]

Thank you all for the information on Roberts and the Cruise on Pride of Aloha. I figured Roberts would bill you right away. I work for a Credit Card Co and are very fimiliar with billing and disputes. Just wanted to make sure if they billed up front. :)

[CC Help Michell]

Thank you all for the information on Roberts and the Cruise on Pride of Aloha. I figured Roberts would bill you right away. I work for a Credit Card Co and are very fimiliar with billing and disputes. Just wanted to make sure if they billed up front. :)

 

They do, and to be honest I really wouldn't worry about them, overall, as a tour company. NCL doesn't use them, as they bought Polynesian Adventures, but MANY cruiselines do use Robert's for their ship sponsored excursions in Hawaii. They've been in business in the islands for donkey's years -- both my grandparents and my parents used them on their vacations (in my grandparents' case, that was 1962!). They do have a cancellation penalty, but no rescheduling penalty (at least as of our booking them last summer), so just inform yourself of the policies and I think you will be fine.

[cruizinwithkids]

They do have a cancellation penalty, but no rescheduling penalty (at least as of our booking them last summer), so just inform yourself of the policies and I think you will be fine.

 

I was disappointed that the cancellation was not specifically explained on the confirmation and invoice documents. It is quite clear in the terms and conditions but I misunderstood the document. I had to cancel a tour and it cost me $10. The money wasn't really the point but as you go searching all over the place for a good deal to miss the 10% cancellation fee is pretty annoying.

 

Another thing that I experienced that I have seen others discuss is that Roberts will also sit for a while trying to sell last minute bookings.

 

Both of those are minimal complaints and I thought the overall value of what we got was excellent.

[Lyn2005]

I was disappointed that the cancellation was not specifically explained on the confirmation and invoice documents. It is quite clear in the terms and conditions but I misunderstood the document. I had to cancel a tour and it cost me $10. The money wasn't really the point but as you go searching all over the place for a good deal to miss the 10% cancellation fee is pretty annoying.

 

Another thing that I experienced that I have seen others discuss is that Roberts will also sit for a while trying to sell last minute bookings.

 

Both of those are minimal complaints and I thought the overall value of what we got was excellent.

 

We didn't find that to be the case with us but, on the other hand, our tours were pretty much full.

 

Another good point too was that even if the numbers were small, Roberts still ran the tour. One one trip there were only ourselves and a couple from Australia so Roberts sent a van and we had almost a private tour! And at one port while we were waiting for the Roberts bus people were coming back into the terminal to use the phones to call other tour companies because their tour with another company had got cancelled at the last minute due to low bookings.