Please Princess, you can do better with excursion administration...

[Rusty]

Having been on HAL and Princess cruises(both owned by Carnival), why does Princess adhere to illogical administration of excursions vs. HAL's quite sane concept?

 

-HAL excursions:Note: HAL tickets once purchased, are charged to your credit card/account on the day that you book the excursion. Tickets for your excursions are delivered to your stateroom with time of the excursion, ticket number and "meeting" time and place. At the stated meeting time, you appear at a designated area to pickup your boarding passes for your bus/excursion. The meeting place is usually the main showroom. The meeting times are spread out so that there are few long lines. Then you go directly into the showroom and wait for your number/color to be called and then head for the bus/excursion.

 

No long lines. No confusion. A sane and safe way to handle a huge number of people.

 

-Princess excursions:Note: Princess tickets are not charged to your credit card/account until you are onboard and about 48 hours before the tour leaves, unless you request otherwise. Tickets for your excursions are delivered to your stateroom with time of the excursion, and "meeting" time and place. Notice--no actual ticket number is used. At the stated meeting time, you appear at a designated area to pickup your boarding passes for your bus/excursion. The meeting place is usually a very small enclosed bar/lounge area. Everyone shows up at the same time. Lines can be huge, snaking around hallways, corridors, even outside decks. Passengers have trouble finding the beginning and end of the lines. No Princess reps in sight. When you finally get to the small area to pickup your boarding pass/excursion for your tour, you must wait in this small area. Obviously everything backs up, passengers are getting annoyed, and there can be mass confusion. Then you wait to "hear" your group number/color called and you then proceed to the showroom, sit and wait gain until your group number is called to board your bus.

 

Long lines. Much confusion. Not a very sane nor safe way to handle a huge number of people.

 

My suggestions: Use the HAL model above, BUT on your ticket delivered to your cabin have the "boarding pass" number/color already printed on that ticket(based on when you booked the excursion-either on line, on board or last minute). No intermediate steps. Your actual ticket would have all of the information on it including time of "meeting" and actual meeting place, which for very large groups(popular excursions) should be the largest showroom(s) on board.

 

Next step: When your boarding number is called a Princess rep leads you from the meeting place all the way to the bus, instead of passengers rushing to the nearest exit, running, pushing, etc. to get the "best" seat on the bus and after debarking, having no idea where their bus is.

 

Obviously this has always been a pet peeve of mine and probably leads to the most complaints by passengers who take excursions.

 

Please add your suggestions, corrections and together maybe WE can arrive at a sane and safe excursion administration and hopefully Princess will take note of these suggestions.

[Toto2Kansas]

Interesting.

When we book shore excursions through Princess, unless we have one that meets on the pier ( for which you just look for the staff member holding your tour letter/number, if the ship docks). We have always gone to the theater and they alert you to the seating area for your tour group, after they gave us a sticker with our tour number and letter for boarding, very civilized. When it was time for our tour, they lead us out in a line, which was as we were seated in the theater, and we went directly to the tenders to go ashore to meet our tour.

 

I have never had to meet in a small crowded lounge before and never had any problems at all with boarding the tour. Maybe we have been just lucky (again) all these years, but honestly, never a problem one. We found it very organized and care free.

 

Were these problems on a particular ship or have you been finding these things happening on all Princess tours on different ships?

[plantlady104]

I guess this occurs, but have been on both HAL and Princess and never met once in a "meeting room". Tickets for both simply had us meeting on the pier area and then find the vendor/sign to identify the tour. Noticed no difference between HAL or Princess, and excursion ticket was all we needed for the vendor.

[rdsqrl]

OP, I have no idea what the heck you're talking about. I've never needed a boarding pass or a ticket number on a Princess excursion, and I've never had a tour meet anywhere other than dockside (although I do hear, as Toto has said, that some meet in the theatre, which is a far cry from a "very small bar/lounge"). With all your talk about ticket numbers and boarding passes, it sounds like you're mixing up your Princess shore excursion experience with your latest experience flying Southworst -- er, Southwest!

[KAWS]

We did a cruise sponsored excursion with Princess in July and we all met in the Casino. We had vouchers left in our room for the excursion and that's all we needed for our excursion. No extra ticket was issued.

 

When the rep came at the appropriate time we left and all got stickers on the way out. Very organized and we were off the ship and directed to our excursion very efficiently.

[billet]

It would help if the OP said which ship this occurred so that everyone can relate to it better. I must admit my experience with tours has always been to meet either on the dock or in the princess theatre and there has never been any chaos.

[OCruisers]

Rusty ..... Would REALLY like to know on which Princess ship you had this problem. Seems things didn't work well.

 

We have been on MANY Princess cruises (last, in February of this year) and our shore excursion tickets were in our cabin the same night we sailed ... with all of the info on exactally where to meet.

 

For us doing different cruise lines is fun and have never had a problem with shore excursions booked thru Princess, Celebrity, or HAL. :)

[newfirsttimer]

Recently returned from the Emerald Princess and had booked nearly all excursions with the ship. The tickets issued said to meet in the Princess Theatre, however, the only way to enter the Theatre was through the Wheelhouse Bar and that is where Princess held ALL their tours and only called groups by tour #. The lounge was overpacked, the lines ran outside and down the hall and there were no Princess reps in the lounge at all. It was total mass confusion. When it was time to call a tour, there were two people on the exit door handing out colour coded stickers for bus #'s and once obtained, you had to go and sit in the Theatre until your bus was called. People were then escorted to deck 4 for disembarkation, by bus number. While I was most upset with this method on the very first day, it became apparent that it was in fact a very good way to control the flow of tours. The problem arose when people arrived in the lounge area well before their appointed time and causing tremendous overcrowding. Princess really should have had more people in the lounge giving out directions.

[Pam in CA]

Rusty, I now have 67 days cruised on HAL and MUCH prefer the way Princess handles booking and paying for tours. I hate having to pay 100% at the time of booking and if I want to cancel once onboard, it's non-refundable unless you book another HAL tour in the same port. That to me is a deal-killer.

 

I also hate that when you go to the meeting place for a HAL tour, even if you're early, you are forced to sit in the theater until they call your tour to come up to get your sticker. Ugh! The lines to get your sticker go through the theater and out the door. Double-ugh! Often, there is absolutely no place to sit in the theater (and it's MUCH larger than the Wheelhouse) and if there are any delays, you're forced to stand and wait just to get your sticker and wait again to exit the ship. VERY poorly done. I am astonished that you think this is an improvement over Princess.

[Dachsie5]

We did a cruise sponsored excursion with Princess in July and we all met in the Casino. We had vouchers left in our room for the excursion and that's all we needed for our excursion. No extra ticket was issued.

 

When the rep came at the appropriate time we left and all got stickers on the way out. Very organized and we were off the ship and directed to our excursion very efficiently.

Hi

We had the same smooth experience on Princess. No confusion at all. We just met at the specified time in the specified place, got our tour "badges" and walked off the ship. Another experience, we met on the pier. Very smooth and organized.

Patty

[hughdm]

Haven't sailed on HAL, but I too have admired how Princess charges for and organizes their excursions. I particularly like that you aren't charged until you go and that it goes onto your on-board account. Many of the tours we have done on Princess meet on the pier, This enables us to go ashore and wander or shop and then be at the muster point at the right time. I hope this stays the norm.

[Coral]

I have sailed on both lines (and like both lines) but I much prefer how Princess handles shore excursions. I don't like to pre-pay for them in advance.

 

Ironically - I have only done one excursion with HAL and it got screwed up. I ended up being over an hour late getting back (from a simple boat ride in Cabo) and almost missed meeting with friends that I had planned. I wrote a quick note to the excursion desk saying that it would have helped if we had stayed on time as I had planned to meet friends. To my amazement - they refunded my money (which I wasn't looking for - I just wish they had stayed closer on time). They didn't need to do that.

[Rusty]

The long cruise I'm referring to was on the Sapphire Princess from Alaska to Bangkok in 2007. Maybe it was just this cruise and hopefully Princess has improved during the past 3 years. Although if you read CC "Newfirsttimer" reply, that's some of what I had experienced.

 

It did not mean to imply that HAL has the best excursion administration, but it did seem better than Princess. BTW-I am a Platinum member of Princess and it continues to be my favorite cruise line.

 

The reason for this post was to get suggestions to make things better for all of us.

[Pam in CA]

Ironically - I have only done one excursion with HAL and it got screwed up. I ended up being over an hour late getting back (from a simple boat ride in Cabo) and almost missed meeting with friends that I had planned. I wrote a quick note to the excursion desk saying that it would have helped if we had stayed on time as I had planned to meet friends. To my amazement - they refunded my money (which I wasn't looking for - I just wish they had stayed closer on time). They didn't need to do that.

That reminded me of a tour we took through HAL in Tunesia last October. It was a camel ride in the desert and we had a 3 1/2 hour ride in a small van to the oasis. I was sitting next to the driver and he had Arabic music blasting the entire way, was massaging his privates constantly and bouncing up and down. I was with a girlfriend and another couple, and we were extremely uncomfortable; we were the only ones in the van. The camel ride was great but getting there and back was awful. When I went to the HAL desk afterwards and explained our experience, the only response I got was, "We can't do anything because we won't be back there for another year." End of story. They were less than sympathetic that we'd been stuck with a pervert.

[Coral]

That reminded me of a tour we took through HAL in Tunesia last October. It was a camel ride in the desert and we had a 3 1/2 hour ride in a small van to the oasis. I was sitting next to the driver and he had Arabic music blasting the entire way, was massaging his privates constantly and bouncing up and down. I was with a girlfriend and another couple, and we were extremely uncomfortable; we were the only ones in the van. The camel ride was great but getting there and back was awful. When I went to the HAL desk afterwards and explained our experience, the only response I got was, "We can't do anything because we won't be back there for another year." End of story. They were less than sympathetic that we'd been stuck with a pervert.

 

It was probably the difference of one tour manager over another. While annoyed at being delayed - it was nothing like what you went through. If it had been serious - I would have personally gone to the shore excursion desk like you did. Sorry they didn't take your comments sooner.

[houch]

Interesting.

When we book shore excursions through Princess, unless we have one that meets on the pier ( for which you just look for the staff member holding your tour letter/number, if the ship docks). We have always gone to the theater and they alert you to the seating area for your tour group, after they gave us a sticker with our tour number and letter for boarding, very civilized. When it was time for our tour, they lead us out in a line, which was as we were seated in the theater, and we went directly to the tenders to go ashore to meet our tour.

 

I have never had to meet in a small crowded lounge before and never had any problems at all with boarding the tour. Maybe we have been just lucky (again) all these years, but honestly, never a problem one. We found it very organized and care free.

 

Were these problems on a particular ship or have you been finding these things happening on all Princess tours on different ships?

 

Same for us and we always do Princess tours. On the Emerald we did have to go through the Wheelhouse bar but the lines moved timely.

 

I would hate to have to pay for the tours when I booked them as I usually book them as soon as I can, around 120 days out. I think it's perfect that they add them to your shipboard account. I usually book for our group so we are assured of all of us being together. Then we have the tour office divide them to each ones account. Works great for us and woundn't want it any other way.

[grandmato4]

It is always interesting to me how different people view the same thing. ;) In my book that doesn't neccesarily make one view right or wrong just different.:) The one thing we really like about booking Princess excursions is the fact that our credit card is not charged until we are on the ship and can easily cancel and/or change excursions before sailing without having to think about our credit card being credited for the cancelation. We much prefer the way Princess allows us to book now.

 

We've only experienced something similiar to what you've described once on Princess and that was on our Coral cruise when we were going to tender in Gatun Lake for excursions only we didn't feel the problem was created by Princess, but rather by all the people that decided they needed to be waiting in the Wheelhouse Bar LONG LONG before the time they had been instructed to actually be there and then weren't happy they had to actually wait until their appointed time or just a few minutes longer :confused: ;) We take a lot of patience with us on cruises so attempting to weave our way though the crowd to get to where we needed to be to get what we needed to get into the theater to wait for our call for the tender wasn't a terribly big deal to us but we did observe a few that must have forgot to pack their patience that trip:eek:be rather unhappy. Once inside the theater more than enough comfortable room waiting the few short minutes to board our tender.

 

Most often we've just met our tour group on the pier at the appointed time and location which is never a problem and often preferred as someone else said, when we had enjoyed the time before needing to be there to wander around the pier area.

[Toto2Kansas]

The long cruise I'm referring to was on the Sapphire Princess from Alaska to Bangkok in 2007. Maybe it was just this cruise and hopefully Princess has improved during the past 3 years. Although if you read CC "Newfirsttimer" reply, that's some of what I had experienced.

 

It did not mean to imply that HAL has the best excursion administration, but it did seem better than Princess. BTW-I am a Platinum member of Princess and it continues to be my favorite cruise line.

 

The reason for this post was to get suggestions to make things better for all of us.

 

Rusty, I am going to say that of coarse this 'can' happen, but rarely does with Princess, at least from our experiences, and usually booking at least one, if not several, Princess tours on each sailing. I can't remember ever having something like this happen with a ships sponsered tour. So, with any luck at all, what you experienced was more or less an isolated problem that may happen again, but odds are in your favor of it not. Sorry you had such a bad experience, and I hope this type of thing won't happen to you if you sail with princess again.

[Richard]

OP, I have no idea what the heck you're talking about. I've never needed a boarding pass or a ticket number on a Princess excursion, and I've never had a tour meet anywhere other than dockside (although I do hear, as Toto has said, that some meet in the theatre, which is a far cry from a "very small bar/lounge"). With all your talk about ticket numbers and boarding passes, it sounds like you're mixing up your Princess shore excursion experience with your latest experience flying Southworst -- er, Southwest!

 

I could not agree with you more...Never had a problem meeting for a tour and always met on the pier as you said. I don't know what ship the original writer was on but maybe the Captain was named Kirk and the engineer was named Scotty.

Richard

[can786]

I have often had tours meet in the theater but have rarely encountered long lines or any kind of chaos. I much prefer not being charged for my tours until onboard since this gives me the option of changing my mind right up to the closing time for the excursions for any particular port. I have always felt that Princess handles the logistics of getting several hundred (or thousand) people off on excursions very well.

[kooljamming]

We did an excursion with Princess recently. They told us to be meet in the Wheelhouse bar at 8:30. To my dismay they meant 8:30 and marched us out at 8:35. I was busy with other things and was hoping for the long lines and delay. Please blame the efficiency of Princess tour coordinators for the incomplete Golden Princess obstructed view album.

[DGSFlorida]

I would say Princess is doing a fairly good job of accommodating large tour groups, but I must admit they have a major advantage over HAL. There are significantly less electric scooters, wheelchairs, and walkers on Princess, so much less "parking space" is required! Someone told me once that a lot of older people cruise on Princess. I reminded them that the older folks' parents cruise on HAL.

[across the seas]

British Isles on Crown Princess Aug 12-24/09

 

We booked the Tattoo and yes our "tickets" were in our cabin on arrival, however, we were then given a letter explaining where and when to meet for the tenders. On arrival at 5:00 @ the Princess Theatre, our designated meet time, hundreds of passengers had jammed the entrance way to the theatre and no one was getting in. Everyone was pushing and shouting, on this tour the "actual ticket" had to be picked up at that time along with the tender sticker. It was absolute chaos, princess staff was overwhelmed and it appeared no one would move away and let the process begin. After obtaining our envelope with the tickets, our tender sticker, then we entered the theatre and everything from that point on went smoothly. This was the worst I have ever seen, not just Princess' confusion but the passengers who for some reason did not abide by the instructions given. Time and place was by deck, Aloha/Baja being the first in the time slot, etc. There was actual yelling and grabbing at the Princess Reps and some very ugly behaviour resulted. We still can't figure out why the tickets were delivered that way.

 

But.....this was the only time in a dozen Princess cruises that any tour was ,in any way, less than well organized.

[spongerob]

The only time I've seen anything remotely close the confusion described has been at a port where everyone had to tender ashore, and conditions were a bit "iffy", causing delays. People were getting cranky, many were having difficulty trying to board the tender provided by the Mexican authorized which really wasn't suitable for the task, and there were the inevitable people trying to force their way to the front of the line waving their black cards. The tour staff were doing their best, but they were in a no-win situation and fell even further behind schedule when two people in powerchairs insisted that they be permitted to board in spite of being warned that it might be unsafe for them. They could not walk on their own and it took 20 minutes and 6 deckhands to get them on the tender.

 

People complained about how "disorganized" the tour staff was. They had no idea of the difficulties and effort that was made to get everyone ashore. It would have been easier just to cancel the port call. So, instead of congratulating the staff for the extra effort requried, all they got were complaints.

[mii]

I guess I have been lucky in that on all of our shore excursions never had the problems the OP has had. We are simply sent to the theatre in a certain area and when it was our time to go we simply got up and followed the rep to the dock. I also like making payment at the time of the excursion. I have been on Celebrity where we had to pay ahead of time and fortunately we have never had to cancel a excursion. I wonder how long it would take if we had decided to cancel to get our monies back on that excursion.

 

Marilyn