styme123

10 minutes ago, Bob++ said:

Many independent operators will make up groups for you. You book two seats in a minibus and they hope to find enough people to make it profitable. In these cases, you will always get your deposit back if it fails, but then you are left with no tour.

Obviously, the safest way is to book a tour for just you, or maybe include people you know and trust, rather than random strangers. Otherwise, the only reliable way is to get full payment up front.

My husband and I don't know anyone else on the cruise and it's just him and I going together. It seems like the more popular tour companies on Trip Advisor only want the one person booking it in full. I guess since their tours book well they don't want to deal with it. I wonder if it's a good idea to go with a smaller less reviewed tour company as they may be more willing to be flexible.  

1 hour ago, geoherb said:

We did not book any small group independent excursions. I'd also be worried about getting stuck if someone flaked out. We booked a couple of excursions with reliable tour companies. They offered products similar to what Princess has but at a better price. For instance our excursion from Invergordon took us to Urquhart Castle, a cruise on Loch Ness, the Clava Cairns, and Cawdor Castle for less than half the price that Princess offered.

Since you booked directly with the company how many people were usually on the tour with you? I think that's the benefit of getting the groups together they are often 8 people. I'm sure it was less than the cruise ship bus anyway.

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

1)check  the policy if the ship does not make port what the refund policy is?

 

2) see if the tour guide  will accept payments from each person/couple in the group  or if one person needs to put up the finds in advance

if one person  needs to put up the funds ahead of time  make sure you collect from the others  as soon as you can well before the tour date  with the understanding if they cancel ..too bad  unless you can find   replacements for the tour  (tough love approach)

JMO

 

How do you feel about being on the other side and giving your money to someone else who was the primary booker. How do you know they aren't going to cancel their cruise and thus your now out of luck and scrambling around to try and find something else if possible, or worse trying to get money back from someone you've never met. I don't know if it's just the New Yorker in me I'm always on skeptical 😨 

It's great to see all of these posts about all the tours that you guys have booked on the BI. I'm going to BI this summer and have been looking into booking independent shore excursions. I prefer to stay away from the big bus tours offered by the cruise ships. I'm kind of new to the whole independent booking thing. Any advice on how to keep from being responsible for extra money on a tour if someone backs out of a spot. I worry that if I book the tour and pay for it and someone canceled I have to pay for their portion. I do see that some tours will let you pay most of the price the day of but more of them seem to want it up front. Any suggestions? Have you ever gotten burned? Anything I should be mindful of when dealing with the excursion companies themselves?

32 minutes ago, Cindy said:

 

I think it was just Tour 9 - From Port. The details of what we visited that day were up to us.

That's nice that you could decide where you wanted to go. I'm kind of apprehensive to be the primary booker for that and have someone cancel. I was thiking with the 16 person one, we are all individuals. On a side note, I'm spending the next 2 days off starting to research all the ports for the cruise. I've read and bookmarked your review a few months ago so I'll be reading through it again for ideas. Thanks again for posting it. Warning, I might have a few questions for you if you don't mind 😉     

14 minutes ago, Cindy said:

 

I didn’t have to pay upfront...when I booked Overlord only required a credit card to guarantee the reservation. Since I knew 3 of the 5 people who joined us I felt comfortable guaranteeing the reservation.

 

I think 16 people in a mini bus would be manageable for a less risky option, and it might be more comfortable than 8 plus a driver/guide in a mini van! I wouldn’t recommend doing it by yourself...the port in Le Havre is a L-O-N-G way from the important war sites, with the potential for a lot to go wrong. I also thought our guide Rethro was integral to the experience. I learned a lot, and he really made history come alive.

 

As for the “Dublin Deadbeats,” I’m still stunned at their audacity. I’ve always had great luck and experiences filling tours on my roll calls, so I was just flabbergasted that they backed out at the 11th hour without offering to pay their share. I could tell they knew they were in the wrong by the way they tried to avoid me the rest of the cruise.

Do you remember the "name" of the tour you went on with Overlord? They have a few different types.

3 minutes ago, cathi007 said:

But there are sanitation stations at every entrance, you should not need the washy washy lady to wash your hands, it's common sense

I didn't mean that I needed someone to help or remind me to wash my own hands but noting more so how most people just passed her up and didn't wash theirs and now we are eating at the same buffet. Where on Princess you had to wash your hands or you couldn't enter. I was just noticing some of the extra precautions one cruise line took over another.

On 10/19/2018 at 8:23 PM, Cindy said:

 

As of July 2018 they didn’t change it. I know Overlord recommends the organizer getting payment in advance because the price is €980 regardless of the number of people. It could get expensive fast at that price if people backed out at the last minute without fulfilling their obligation. That’s not something I ever thought too much about before, but after having two couples cancel a Dublin tour less than an hour before we left I may not be so trusting in the future. They caused the four of us who send to incur double costs for the day.🤬

I like the idea of getting groups together from your roll call but I'm worried about the same thing that happened to you in Dublin. I looked at the other Overlord tours quickly and there is one for a van of 16 that you pay for individually. I wonder if that's a safer route to go as I don't want to shell out 980 euro if people back out.

In the buffet there was only one washy washy lady for the whole area. So only one entrance coming off the elevator had her there. Nothing for those coming from the pool area at all or other areas. Most people that did come in that entrance with the washy lady just walked past her. Since the buffet is opened to the tables where people are sitting you can go back and forth never washing your hands 🤮. At the tables the silverware wasn't always clean we needed to get some from other tables a few times. The arm chairs were stained and wet often. At the coffee/water/juice station their were often people using there own cups/yeti's to fill directly from the spouts, again no one there to supervise. On the Crown Princess their set up at the buffet was a bit better. There was only one entrance to get into the buffet area and there was someone always stationed there right by the plates. There were walls going along the whole buffet area, so in order to get off the line so to speak you had to walk all the way to the end. They even had someone at that end in case you tried to go through the exit side. 

I was on the Escape for the first time this summer and although I'm new to cruising I thought the food was pretty poor. I'm not a picky eater either. We had 3 free specialty dining nights and I'm glad they were free because I wouldn't have paid the $25+ a plate they were charging. The food at Taste was better. The buffet food was very average to okay, good for grabbing something fast. The cleanliness of the buffet was lacking as well. There was no one being made to wash their hands as they came in depending on where you entered. The tables were dirty and the seats were wet from people sitting in them with wet bathing suits. There were a bunch of other instances that happened on our cruise so I probably won't cruise with NCL again.

Does anyone know if you can resell Tattoo tickets if you cancel your cruise? I know they don't give refunds.

Lets see Juneau Alaska what to do???

 

 

Take the bus to Mendenhall glacier

Have Lunch at Tracys crab shack

 

Take the tram up Mt Roberts

 

 

 

Sounds like that would have been a nice day

These were all the things we did in Juneau without making any prior arrangements. We walked off the ship and the buses were all there waiting to go. Hopefully you found something fun to do that day. The Glacier was amazing!

I wonder if you had a regular balcony but bought the spa packages separate before sailing, would that deter them from giving you an upgrade to the spa Haven?

Agreed. Shore-side concierge is great on the phone. Nothing is ever how I request in the room. I have a CPAP and always ask for distilled water, and always end up having to ask for it when I board.

I too have a cpap and called twice to make sure we had water and the extension cords. Even getting an email saying all good. Got to ship the water was there but no extension cords. A few hours later the bring a surge protector in:( They didn't have any extension cords???? We ended up with a 50 foot big orange construction type one where the metal housing case sat on our counter all week :confused: Note to self bring my own cord next time.

Cruising has changed over the years. Regardless of cruise line.

 

Food quality has declined. Entertainment is different now than before. Before we had people we recognized by name from TV, Vegas and/or the movies.

 

Prices of drinks were very inexpensive. Now you buy a bev pkg at $70/day on Princess. Other lines charge less and others charge more.

Specialty restaurants were non existant.

 

Yes, the cruise price is the same. Now you pay for what you desire instead of it being all inclusive. That is good!

 

Service is not the same on any line. They have cut the amount of staff in the dining rooms, bars, cabins and entertainment staff.

 

Why if people voice their dissatisfaction, do we blame them? Unless you experienced their event, then you can't say they ar complainers.

 

We have eaten in the steak house and our steaks were well done even though we asked for medium rare. Our friends were cooked properly, well done.

So, example, same time, same place, same meal. One Ok, other disaster.

 

Some people never complain/find fault and everything is the best we ever had.

 

Others give you their honest opinion. Nothing is always perfect or the best. Impossible!

 

Others are treated as Kings and Queens on their cruise. LOL

 

It is all in the eyes of the beholder!

 

Again, ALL CRUISE LINES HAVE CHANGED AS WE HAVE, TOO!

Well said. I'm very new to cruising so I can't really comment on how the industry has changed, but I think others who have commented on aspects that they didn't like or how their experiences were less than what they were expecting are valid as well. I don't think they are complainers or nit picking. There are often times where small things can be very irritating to one person but yet to another not a big deal. For some those small things can add up over a period of time that they are on the ship and in the end it will leave them with a negative view of that cruise line. For example, some people care about how often the room steward makes up the room or if they come in for turn down service. Me I don't care, I prefer them not to be in my room everyday and normally just ask for fresh towels and make the bed up every now and then. What was more of a big deal on my last cruise was dealing with smoke, the food and not being able to access certain activities or amenities because they were either too crowded or not working. Others may comment and say did you speak to anyone while you were on the ship and my answer was yes and no. Yes, I did complain when their were now loungers in the spa and the sauna was broken a few times. Was there any change or the situation rectified, no. To me that sends me a signal, you aren't really concerned about the satisfaction of the passengers or I'm not getting what I paid for. My thinking was if I paid $400 for 2 spa packages to use the spa sauna everyday and it's broken 2-3 days out of 7, shouldn't their be some kind adjustment? Something besides an "I am sorry, try back later" Could I have yelled and screamed about it louder maybe, but that's not really me or I shouldn't have to go to that level to get things changed. Now the smoke and the food I didn't say anything because what are they going to do close off the whole casino or go to every balcony to see who's smoking? As far as the food, I doubt the waiter and waitress can change the entrees and make them taste better or change out the overall food at the buffet. So I just make mental notes and decide if I will cruise on that line again or if I will vacation on a cruise ship in general.

Being new to cruising my initial impression/complaint is that the cruise lines market an image about how "everything is perfect" "made just for you" "you'll be pampered" "get this package and have an even better experience, you deserve it"..... blah blah to justify the price of the cruise or the extra charges for this and that and lure you in. When in reality not so much. They fall pretty short on the delivery of the hype ;)

You guys are my heroes! I wish I could be organized in my everyday life. Since I spend so much time obsessing and planning, I let everything else go to pot. I need to get better at multitasking. :-)

No luck at all, I have sailed out of NYC 4 times, our 5th is coming up soon. We do the same thing every time. Self walk-off, get it line at 7am and we are driving away by 8:15

Yeah we did the self walk off too. It was our first time on Escape, so I thought the 8:40 time was early enough I guess not :(

Hi guys. Just got off the escape today. The reason for the delay was a USPH inspection and a full crew immigration check. Even though it was delayed, we still got to Bermuda on time. It was a great time!

Hope you had a great time:DWe just got off the week before.

Today we got on line 7:20...disembark started 7:45 we were on the street 7:55...well worth leaving that early. We carried our own luggage, 1 carry on each.

The line was smaller through the Manhattan Room VS forward. There were 2 lines.

Lucky! I guess an hour early makes all the difference from when we left at 8:20, on the street 10:20:(

I was curious if everyone is planning obsessed with other events or in their day to day lives or is it just for cruising/traveling?

Thank you for the replies, they are very helpful. Did you all feel like you saw enough or had enough time in most of the ports to make it worth your while to cruise there versus a land tour.

Not certain which ports are included on your voyage. In general our experience with Cobh, Dublin, Belfast, Greenock and LeHarve is that you can walk right off the ship pretty soon after authorities provide clearance. At tender ports anyone on a Princess tour beginning right after docking have to report to the location indicated on the tour ticket. These passengers have priority for tenders. All others report to one of the DR's to get their tender tickets. First to arrive get the lower tender ticket numbers. It is one ticket per person. All members must arrive at the DR to pick up their own ticket. For example, a wife can not get two tickets one for her and one for her husband who will arrive later. The husband must be there. Captain's Circle Elite and Full Suite passengers have priority tender boarding. They normally report to the same DR and are placed in a separate line.

We leave from Southampton, Guernsey (St Peter port), Cork (Cobh), Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Kirkwall, Edinburgh, LeHarve

We did the British Isles cruise in June and used shared private tours everywhere. First of all don’t worry about port times, the tour operators keep very careful tabs on your ship arrival and departure times and they will advise you what time you should be there and exactly where to meet the vehicle and guide spelled out very specifically in the confirmation email. In most cases the meeting time was about an hour after docking. And when you disembark they were waiting to meet passengers with sign in hand. We were the only ship in port for all ports except one, so these operators know exactly what is going on, and on arrival day they track the ship and know what is going on so don’t worry!

 

As far as the previous comment about paying, most require payment in advance (used PayPal) but all companies we used had a clause saying if the ship wasn’t able to make the port we got a full refund less a small handling charge. I liked being able to prepay and not having to carry large sums of currency around. We prepaid everything we could and also had private transfers to from airport and central London to the ship and I opted to prepay these too. It was just easier. We had one operator for a truly private tour that did not require prepayment but required payment in cash (in this case in £) at the end of the tour. Unfortunately the ship did not make the port due to weather.

 

Private and shared private tours worked out great for this cruise, cost a fraction of ships tours and mostly smaller vehicles and we saw more by avoiding the big cruise line buses. We were taken to small towns for our lunch break and ate in charming small restaurants with locals and excellent food. And in all cases we were back to the ship at least 1 1/2 to two hours before all aboard. Our tendering experience was not bad, about a half hour wait to get back.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thanks for the info. I guess the guides do it all the time so they know when we should get in. Did you ever worry that much about missing the ship with the private tours? I plan on using private guides versus Princess ones as much as I can. Any recommendations on who to use or avoid since you went already? I'm going to do the transfer from London also as we are going to stay a few days before the cruise. I'm already signed up to my roll call also.

Styme123

I suggest you look through the posts on this board and also royal princess roll calls for British isle cruises. There is so much information on them. I will say if you wish to do titanic museums in Cobh and Belfast you book before you go as they are timed slots. Any more info contact me

Yeah I've been reading A LOT ;pof the posts on the BI and Princess threads. That's why I figured I'd ask about the ports since I was going to start looking into excursions. I just didn't want to tell an excursion company that I will meet them at a specific time and it not be realistic. I wouldn't want them to just leave thinking I didn't show up when it was just getting off the ship.

I'm booked on a BI cruise next Aug. Any tips or suggestions on how to plan the timing of private excursions? So say the itinerary states we get into a port at 7:00am what time should I think about booking? I'm not sure how long it takes to realistically get off the ship. I know some ports are tendered I would imagine that's longer but never did a tender port. We don't have too long in most ports so I want to utilize as much time as I can.