Lesson Learned - Booking 3rd Party Tours

See my post at https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2638125.

Ugh! I would have been panicking. Thanks goodness you made it back. Thanks for the heads up.

The last thing we want on vacation is stress. For this reason we have stuck to booking through the cruise line.

On one such tour we arrived back at the port 25 minutes after the scheduled departure time. All the port equipment except for one gangway had been put away. Our bus pulled right up to the gangway and we boarded. We immediately took the elevator to our cabin which faced the gangway, took a look off our balcony, and by that time the gangway had been pulled back.

We had no stress knowing this was a princes booked tour.

As you said, know your tour operator, at least by reputation.

The only time we've been late was on a cruise line sponsored excursion--and the tour company totally lied to the cruise line. They used the excuse that there was a traffic jam. Indeed there was, but we hadn't encountered it yet. Reality was that they allowed 2 hours for what was listed as a 3 hour drive! But since it was a cruise line excursion, all was well.

We have often booked with independent operators...but check the out before booking!

From your review I think the important take-away is not to go on a tour without knowing the name of the operator and be able to look at reviews. Sadly you had a horrible experience.

Occasionally I organize small tour groups on a CC roll call but always provide all the details and copies of my communications with the operator.

Interesting threads, especially the linked one. The part that really caught me was in the original Carnival thread linked here; I'm actually impressed with how Carnival was trying to accommodate, even though the contracts are clear; that's encouraging. I guess whether it is a passenger's fault or not, it is no "fun" for a ship to leave passengers behind.

Which leads to my question - we're on two independent tours during our coming BI Royal Princess cruise. We went with very well-regarded and listed companies from these boards, and the itineraries are well set to be able to "call an audible" in case of trouble and spend the last few hours nearest the port.

But... While I know we're on our own, a few questions in case ANYONE knows:

1) Is there any way to associate a cell phone # with your onboard account that the ship could use to contact in an emergency?

2) Can that # be changed on embarkation (we will be getting UK/EU SIMs with new #s when we land in London before the cruise)?

3) Is there either a direct (unlikely) or routable method of calling the customer service desk on the Royal when in port, or even local #s for the port to pass a message to the ship?

These are obviously worst-case-scenario things, but we're actually rather interested just to know.

And, as you were rudely informed, you don't have to be back on time. You have to be back before the last cruise line sponsored excursion. On many islands, there is one main road, and if it is blocked, no one gets back. That's not good, but it provides some relief to those in the tie up....if their vehicle can't get thru, neither can the cruise line's.

I'd think the Purser's Desk would have access to a phone number to call you. It'd be the one you enter in the Personalizer. You can ask for the ship's number once you're onboard and see what they give you. I'm sure they won't be too anxious to give it out or they'll end up having lots of people calling late that can't make it back to the ship for one reason or another.

It might be better to have the cell number of someone you know, or have met, onboard. Ask them to check their cell phone maybe an hour or so before the ship leaves. If there's a problem, they can contact the Purser's Desk who will in turn contact the necessary ship personnel. If the ship needs your direct number, they can get it from your contact.

This is a round-about way of getting the ship - look under "Contact Phone Numbers": https://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/onboard/in_touch.jsp

Every port day Patter lists the "Ship's Agent." This is the party you would contact for any emergency while in port, including an inability to get back to the ship on time. They will contact that ship for you.

And I'd rather rely on a family member who is on board!

I recently read a roll call where a couple posted a list of tours that they were recruiting for in about five ports. They requested that folks e-mail for details. As I'm not on that sailing I did not do so. How common is this?

I recently read a roll call where a couple posted a list of tours that they were recruiting for in about five ports. They requested that folks e-mail for details. As I'm not on that sailing I did not do so. How common is this?

How common is it for people to try to put together a group for a "private" tour? It happens quite often, especially in far away ports like Japan. If a tour needs 8 people to be a "go," and there are two interested, they may well "advertise" on the roll call thread to see if others are interested. But they should supply all the information about the excursion, specifically who the operator is so you can research that company on your own.

I recently read a roll call where a couple posted a list of tours that they were recruiting for in about five ports. They requested that folks e-mail for details. As I'm not on that sailing I did not do so. How common is this?

Not uncommon. Sometimes people arrange a tour privately which has more space than they are filling and they are looking for others on their cruise to fill the tour and share the cost. This can be done openly on the board but that makes for a messy roll call so people often ask to be emailed and do the connection off the board. I did it this year to share cost of a rental car for a days touring. Had a number of responses and after communicating with one couple we agreed on an itinerary and are planning to travel together for that day. This works best for small groups as it is easier to plan what everyone wants to do.

AHA - thank you _so_ much. We'll be adding that # to our cell phone each morning. Our only other cruise was over a decade ago, and we had a toddler with us, so our excursions were never far from the ship :-)

Hopefully never needed, but we try to over-prepare. And I have to say, Cruise Critic might be the most dangerous and addictive site for those who try to over-prepare...

Every port day Patter lists the "Ship's Agent." This is the party you would contact for any emergency while in port' date=' including an inability to get back to the ship on time. They will contact that ship for you.

 

And I'd rather rely on a family member who is on board![/quote']

Thanks for sharing and the warning on this particular tour operator. A reminder to thoroughly research any tour operator along with their guarantee to get you back to the ship on time.

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But they should supply all the information about the excursion' date=' specifically who the operator is so you can research that company on your own.[/quote']

What struck me about the "recruiters" was that there were no internet links provided on CC to check prior to an e-mail contact. Just found it odd and something I had not seen before.

I occasionally organize and participate in small group tours and vehicle sharing but always have had a website to check before getting in touch by e-mail.