Shore Excursion Problem

[joeb49]

Had a great cruise last week on the Inspiration except for one problem--

Stingray Tour left without me.. and a few others!

Did as told.7am- Went to wait in the Paris Lounge as directed. They called for the larger tours first-including Island tours, Hell and Turtle Farm. Waited.... Called for Scuba. Waited.... Called for the 2 different Stingray tours and I got right up- stopped at ladies room (truly for one minute) and got in line going down the stairs to the tender. Sat rocking waiting for tender to fill and then when we arrived at the dock went right to gathering area with the correct sign- for Stingray City- and no one was there!!! Had a hard time finding anyone who had a clue what was going on or anyone in charge. Finally found a Carnival rep after about 5 minutes of walking the terminal circle. She said just wait til the 10am tour! So now what do I do for 2 hours??? Shop!!! except who wants to carry all that with you on a tour??? Did do a little (which was lucky!) Went back to terminal at 9:30am- just to be sure! Found a few others that had also missed the morning tour.(they really need more places to sit down!!!)

 

Now 10 am comes and they erase that time and write in 10:30 on the dry erase board for our tour. 10:45 comes and they say there is a problem with the transportation. 11am and we finally walking toward the vans- but there is still a delay as there are not enough vans for all of us! Now we are all getting nervous! Last tender back to ship is at 1pm!!! Its 11:10am!!! Finally a Carnival rep comes- apologizes- and tells us that we will get the full tour and they will have a seperate tender waiting for us to return to the ship when we get done!! Thought a bad situation was handled very well!!! Those that had planned on a little shopping on our return to the port might not agree!

 

We did get the full time in the water with the stingrays and I thought it was even better cause most of the other tours had left by the time we got out there!!!!lol! Had all the rays to ourselves!

 

My only concern then was my DH was scuba diving and expected me to be on the first morning tour-and would be back on the ship when he returned as it was a much longer excursion. What would he think when I wasn't there??? There was no way to get in touch with him or the ship! As it was he barely made the last 1pm tender and we had our own tender at about 1:45 so on board by 2pm- they hauled up the gangway right after we boarded and we were underway within 10 minutes!

 

Anyone else ever have this kind of problem??? Maybe just getting the kinks out at Grand Cayman???

[Jasonsterling]

I haven't heard of anything quite that complex before but wasn't the Sting Ray Tour worth it! I love that tour and have done twice. I probably would have been a little peeved at waiting but I'm sure it would have melted when I got in the water with the Sting Rays!

[hstrybuf]

Maybe just getting the kinks out at Grand Cayman???

That would be my guess. Their transportation system was heavily damaged by the hurricane. I'm glad they made the effort to let you go on the excursion and get you back to the ship safely.

[joeb49]

Yep- had a great time snorkeling with the stingrays- can't wait to get the pictures back! Sent them in with the dive pictures for special underwater developing and will get them back end of the week! Hard to wait so long in this day of 1 hour photo! lol!

 

And it is just one more reason to book excursions with the ship! Especailly when there are only a few hours in port! They really took care of the problem!

[derf5585]

At least you weren't left at the dive site

 

Based on the true story of two scuba divers accidentally stranded in shark infested waters after their tour boat has left

from

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374102/

 

 

"Open Water": The Sharks, and the Fear, Were Real

from

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/08/0803_040803_open_water.html

[Katlan]

7am- Went to wait in the Paris Lounge as directed. They called for the larger tours first-including Island tours, Hell and Turtle Farm. Waited.... Called for Scuba. Waited.... Called for the 2 different Stingray tours and I got right up and got in line going down the stairs to the tender.

Is there some sort of ticket or proof that you need to have to be able to get onto the tender - to show which excursion you are on? Or would it have been possible to just go with whichever group was called? :confused: I am thinking that maybe it's just the honor system? I'm asking because I wouldn't want the same thing to happen to us and if the time were getting close, we could just go with the flo in another group. :rolleyes: I don't think our non-Carnival excursion would be so accommodating.

[michaelaz]

Please dont fuel hysteria about being left by your dive operation,any certified diver can tell you open water was soooooooooooo far from the truth. Diving is safer than flying,and you fly right ????

[neverenufcruising]

Is there some sort of ticket or proof that you need to have to be able to get onto the tender - to show which excursion you are on?

If you book with the ship, then the excursion info and time you're schedulded is printed on the ticket. The tickets are usually placed in your room at least the day before the excursion. I've had some of the tour operators check it carefully, others don't even look at it. I've been fortunate and have never had a problem so I don't know if they'd let you sneak in on another tour scheduled at a different time.

[Perrys100]

Sue & JOE special underwater developing? Please do tell.???

[TrqoisWtrs]

Here's an example of the underwater developing.

http://www.scubacenter.com/Seaprocessing.htm

If you go to Kodak's website, you can find the location of dive shops near you that handle it. You can also go to http://www.scubatoys.com/store/search_results.asp?iLevel=1&txtsearchParamCat=ALL&txtsearchParamMan=ALL&txtsearchParamVen=ALL&txtsearchParamType=ALL&txtFromSearch=fromSearch&txtsearchParamTxt=kodak

and order the envelope to do it by mail. Thats what I do because the dive shop is just far enough away from my house that its easier to let the post office handle it. :)

This developing makes a huge difference. I had a roll developed but then just took the negatives to Walmart and they came back with this bright green hue. yuk. They didn't know how to handle the water colors.

[Perrys100]

WOW, way huge thank for a super fast response time!!! I will be using that service!