How close in Cunard to Who selects their shore excursions?

What I mean is, does Cunard actually get involved with the operation of the shore excursions and have contacts with the actual companies that provide the busses and the tour guides, or are there one or more intermediate companies or multiple layers that provide say "4 generic shore excursions" the day the ship arrives. Why do I ask this? When there is a problem, is there a person in Cunard that knows someone in Corsica (lets use that city for an example only ) and can call and say hey we get complaints about tour XYZ when the ship was in last week, whats the problem?, or is the complaint isolated far from the company by several layers of other companies, and the customer service reps passivate you by talking about your problem, but nothing changes??

My instinct is that the customer service 1-800 types are far away from the day to day details and far away from getting your complaint addressed-but thats just an instinctual thing. Cunard has reps on some shore excursions but I don't think all. as I have posted otherwise, we did not like some of the shore excursions, and the hotel to ship transfers.

What I mean is, does Cunard actually get involved with the operation of the shore excursions and have contacts with the actual companies that provide the busses and the tour guides, or are there one or more intermediate companies or multiple layers that provide say "4 generic shore excursions" the day the ship arrives. Why do I ask this? When there is a problem, is there a person in Cunard that knows someone in Corsica (lets use that city for an example only ) and can call and say hey we get complaints about tour XYZ when the ship was in last week, whats the problem?, or is the complaint isolated far from the company by several layers of other companies, and the customer service reps passivate you by talking about your problem, but nothing changes??

My instinct is that the customer service 1-800 types are far away from the day to day details and far away from getting your complaint addressed-but thats just an instinctual thing. Cunard has reps on some shore excursions but I don't think all. as I have posted otherwise, we did not like some of the shore excursions, and the hotel to ship transfers.

My experience is that the tour office is very interested in feedback and the crew member who accompanies each tour gives feedback to the office as to any technical problems or points that the ship needs to be made aware of. There is a crew member on each tour but not necessarily each bus on a tour.

Of course if you have a particular complaint or comment or even compliment, the desk back on the ship is there for youth avail yourself of.

Best done at the time rather than after the cruise is over I would suggest....possibly a bit late then for anyone to do anything about.

.. we did not like some of the shore excursions, and the hotel to ship transfers.

Yes, I read over your postings regarding bus and taxi transfers. It seems that some of the shore based reps were not sure of the baggage charges themselves.

What I do know is that Cunard makes money from the transfers and shore excursions so it is in their interest to contract qualified, competent operators or word would get around and nobody would book them. What did the shipboard tour desk have to say? They're more in a position to handle the local operator than some call center rep.

(From your postings it looks like nothing went right for you so you've probably taken your last Cunard voyage.)

we liked all the shipboard stuff.

It was the shore excursions that could have been a LOT better run.

we cancelled two before the cruise as we thought the excursions were just basically bus rides to a "this is our only attraction" attraction.

we were glad we had cancelled the two.

Most port stays are one day and tthats when the tour is, by the time you get back to the ship, the ship leaves and there is nothing the cruise desk can do.

My first evening on the ship I had 3 different times on papers in my room for the next mornings tours, pick up the in room phone and call the tour desk no one there.

I never understand why anybody books overpriced ship excursions. It practically every port of call they can easily be arranged with a local operator with just a very few exceptions.

I never understand why anybody books overpriced ship excursions. It practically every port of call they can easily be arranged with a local operator with just a very few exceptions.

I agree but always make sure you leave plenty of time to get back to the ship or it WILL go without you if you are late..

Janecambridge, you have hit the nail on the head as it were. Yes you can certainly get cheaper deals once the ship has berthed, but you had better ensure that they get you back to the ship in time for departure.

Possibly paying the extra between a local rate and the ships excursion rate, almost amounts to something of purchasing insurance, inasmuch as any ship organised excursion will guarantee that the ship will not depart without you, BUT, that is certainly not the case if you make your own arrangements and that fact is more than alluded to in the Cunard excursion details.

I am aware that a couple on one of our previous cruises to Norway, did their own thing on shore and did not get back in time for the departure time. The ship sailed and upon contacting the local ship's agent, they managed to make arrangements for the couple to re-join the cruise two days later, but at their own expense and of course having lost two days cruising.

Yes. it irks me sometimes at the prices charged for shore excursions, but all aspects have to be considered.

The tour staff onboard do listen to feedback and pass it on. Unfortunately, in some ports the tour companies pay no attention and continue to do the same tours. It's particularly a problem in small, less visited ports, where there's little or no competition for the contract with the Cruise line.

I never understand why anybody books overpriced ship excursions. It practically every port of call they can easily be arranged with a local operator with just a very few exceptions.

I can only speak for myself and my own comfort level. I don't want to take the time to vet private local operators nor would I take the word of anybody on an internet board. Nor would I trust Madame Superorganizer at a M&G who needs a minimum count for her tour. Ship sponsored tours also make sense when the tour will take almost the entire time in port. No anxiety about local traffic as was our case in Cherbourg while returning from the American Landing Beaches tour. Our operator called the ship about our delay. Gangways were pulled just after we boarded. Rumor had it that two people didn't make it back to the ship for who knows what reason.

One reason a ship's tour is more expensive is that the cruise line requires operators to carry massive amounts of liability insurance. (We Americans tend to be very litigious.) Do private tour operators carry liability insurance? Of course many of them indeed do. But some don't. Hence the need to vet these operators in advance.

I can only speak for myself and my own comfort level. I don't want to take the time to vet private local operators nor would I take the word of anybody on an internet board. Nor would I trust Madame Superorganizer at a M&G who needs a minimum count for her tour. Ship sponsored tours also make sense when the tour will take almost the entire time in port. No anxiety about local traffic as was our case in Cherbourg while returning from the American Landing Beaches tour. Our operator called the ship about our delay. Gangways were pulled just after we boarded. Rumor had it that two people didn't make it back to the ship for who knows what reason.

 

One reason a ship's tour is more expensive is that the cruise line requires operators to carry massive amounts of liability insurance. (We Americans tend to be very litigious.) Do private tour operators carry liability insurance? Of course many of them indeed do. But some don't. Hence the need to vet these operators in advance.

We don't book independent tours. Often, we can sightsee at the port and don't need a tour. If we want a tour we go with a ship's tour. I keep hearing how much more expensive they are, but the few times I've been able to compare, the difference was slight. I remember taking the Sugar Train in St Kitts. The ship charged us $10 more than booking it direct on the website. But they also had a bus to take us to the train station. So some of the $10 savings would have been taken up by the cost of the taxi to/from the train.

We like the idea that the ship will wait for one of their tours. We've been in traffic in a few ports and were glad that we weren't on an independent tour. I hadn't thought about the insurance as part of the difference. That's a good point.