Horrible experience with Tour not being cancelled

[barbie5401]

Before I start - Celebrity refunded half of the cost. However, my question and concern - who is responsible when the weather is very dangerous and the tour is not cancelled.

 

We took this past weekend (Saturday) a tour to Tulum from Coz, okay it was pouring rain, the seas were rough, the ship (MILLIE) was rocking and the Tour Desk told us the tour is still on because the Tour Operator said so. We board the ferry and as soon as it took off, it was like we were on Space Mountain in Disney - everyone got sick. When the ferry was coming into dock, it couldn't because of the horrible waves, current - it took another 20 minutes to tie up the ferry. The bus ride to Tulum was uneventful, expect no one wanted to ride the ferry back. We got to Tulum - walked around with umbrellas, ponchos, muddy shoes, wet clothes, we couldn't even tour Tulum because we couldn't walk on the path we had to walk on the grass. After about 15 minutes I spoke with the Tour Operator and said this is a health hazard and he stopped the tour. We got back on the bus and they dropped us off in Playa del Carmen instead of downtown because downtown was flooded. Supposed to be back on board by 6:30 due to the delays I didn't get back to the ship until 8:10 and the all aboard was set for 8:15!

 

Okay whose responsibility is it? Tour Operator or Celebrity. I personally was shocked that they let us go out in that weather.

[sailaway211]

My daughter and I did a tour once in the pouring rain. Everything was flooded.

The roads were being washed out by the rains. They would not cancel. I was not happy. Other folks were trying to make the best of it. Ironically it was a

tour of the rain forest and falls in Guatemala. We were muddy and soaked! I will say it is a tour I won't forget anytime soon. It was pouring out so hard they had to bring the tour bus right up to the gangway ramp on the ship for us to board.:eek:

[Idahobaker]

Before I start - Celebrity refunded half of the cost. However, my question and concern - who is responsible when the weather is very dangerous and the tour is not cancelled.

 

As far as I know, Celebrity has a disclaimer that they are acting as an agent (and collecting a good fee, no doubt) for the tour operator. And, they also have a policy of refunding only if the tour is cancelled. Depending on how much you paid for the tour, it might have been wiser not to get off the ship. I'm glad you got at least half back.

[barbie5401]

The tour cost $93 but I am just having a problem with the idea that Celebrity would want to take the risk and having someone get hurt. After over 148 cruises - this is the first time this has happened.

[Orator]

As it was once explained to me: The tour operators are independent contractors that pay a commission to Celebrity for offering their tours. It is the tour operator who makes the final decision to go or not to go. It may not be just weather. A tour might have a minimum numer of participants to go; however, the operator may wave that requirement. I once experienced this. At times Celebrity may make a partial refund. The refund is usually equal to their commission. I had this happen when a 5 hour tour was cut 1 hour short because the guide just wanted to go home.

[mcrcruiser]

Because of the cruise lines disclaimer is the very reason we only do tours which we book ourselves . not only do we get our tours for less cost ;but ,we are in control ;):D

[Denny01]

It rains A Lot there - that's why it is so lush. We had rain on our 1st cruise there and our girls were soaked during their tour, but they had fun. We got a lot of rain when we went to Tulum on another cruise. Just part of Central America and the 'rain forests'! Heck, on one port call there, the water in the town was just below my knee!

 

As to who is responsible, the tour people are responsible for their tour, but as you saw, Celebrity remitted you some of the tour money so they are in the 'loop'. Not sure what you are getting at on who is responsible, I don't think Celebrity makes specific calls on tours going, unless they decide it is unsafe to leave the ship - and as to the conditions for the tour, since they aren't ashore and have a good feel for what is going on, it wouldn't work too well.

 

We had a snorkle trip out of Bellese (Sp?) - it was rough with lots of wind and strong currrent. They stopped our diving early and we headed back. The tour company canceled the rest of the dives that day. Celebrity wouldn't have any way of knowing what the specific situation is for all the tours that go - the tours head out in many directions, in many venues and so on.

 

Enough sea stories (get it?!?). Your question about who is responsible...is it over you wanting a full refund, or more towards if Celebrity should have canceled the tour themselves. I assume that even though you had a rough ferry ride, the ship still had their shuttles going and so on. And you might have been upset about your tour going, but there would be a Ton of people upset their's was cancelled over 'a little rain' (thats what someone who wanted to go would say and accuse Celebrity of trying to keep them onboard to make more money on the ship - that comes from posts of people upset their tour was cancelled, or a port was not made - its funny, every time someone misses something, it somehow turns out that was the Whole Point of going on the cruise and they want a full refund for the cruise because it is now runied!).

 

Den

[Denny01]

The tour cost $93 but I am just having a problem with the idea that Celebrity would want to take the risk and having someone get hurt. After over 148 cruises - this is the first time this has happened.

You've made 148 cruises and this is the first time you had bad wx on a tour? Heck, we've missed ports, had wx so bad we told our guide to end it (was a private tour and that was nice to be able to do that), and had the three experiences I'd listed before. We've cancelled a few tours on our own after stepping out on the balcony and deciding it wasn't worth it and ate the cost because we cancelled the day of the tour...and that is after only doing 20 or so cruises.

 

If I were you, I'd feel Very Very lucky and accept that you finally had a bad tour.

 

Den

[rice7r]

It sounds like it was a lot of fun. I would have enjoyed it.

[Gracie115]

Sorry you had the rainy day, the seas were very rough the day we went into Tulum too...but I don't understand not being able to see Tulum as it's spread out all over and while there is "a path" it's only used for the first portion of the tour and then you are left on your own to explore, we rarely followed the path, looking back at our pictures I have none that involve the path....

 

When we came back there was lousy weather, a fatal car accident that had us late coming back to Costa Maya....and while I don't use many ship sponsored excursions anymore thank goodness we did that day as X had to have a special shuttle sent in for our group to get us back to the ship!! Had we been on our own I'm sure we would have been left....

 

I know you're upset but I have to agree with Denny if this is the first time in 148 cruises that you had this kind of experience you are lucky!!

[tserface]

Don't mean any disrespect, but Space Mountain is my favorite ride at Disneyland (did it 3 times last week).

 

Still, it would be nice if the tour operators would be more aware of what's going on and it was nice for =X= to refund half the cost at least. I think this was the tour guide's call.

 

Tom

 

Before I start - Celebrity refunded half of the cost. However, my question and concern - who is responsible when the weather is very dangerous and the tour is not cancelled.

 

We took this past weekend (Saturday) a tour to Tulum from Coz, okay it was pouring rain, the seas were rough, the ship (MILLIE) was rocking and the Tour Desk told us the tour is still on because the Tour Operator said so. We board the ferry and as soon as it took off, it was like we were on Space Mountain in Disney - everyone got sick. When the ferry was coming into dock, it couldn't because of the horrible waves, current - it took another 20 minutes to tie up the ferry. The bus ride to Tulum was uneventful, expect no one wanted to ride the ferry back. We got to Tulum - walked around with umbrellas, ponchos, muddy shoes, wet clothes, we couldn't even tour Tulum because we couldn't walk on the path we had to walk on the grass. After about 15 minutes I spoke with the Tour Operator and said this is a health hazard and he stopped the tour. We got back on the bus and they dropped us off in Playa del Carmen instead of downtown because downtown was flooded. Supposed to be back on board by 6:30 due to the delays I didn't get back to the ship until 8:10 and the all aboard was set for 8:15!

 

Okay whose responsibility is it? Tour Operator or Celebrity. I personally was shocked that they let us go out in that weather.

[ghstudio]

When you book an excursion, it's pretty clear that it goes rain or shine. The only time that everyone has an obligation to cancel is if it becomes unsafe to do the tour...and in that case although Celebrity claims it has no responsibility, it really would be questionable if someone was hurt and it was clearly unsafe.

 

You really would have to look at each case specifically and objectively, but i think the criteria is whether the tour was unsafe, not whether it was uncomfortable.

 

I suspect I would have stayed on the ship...after all just because I bought a ticket doesn't mean that I give up my responsibility to look after me.

[atb]

We had booked a tour in Quebec - that could not do all of the itinerary because of snow. After we all boarded the bus, they explained the change. Our choice was to continue with the tour as changed. Or get off the bus, and get your money back.

The part we were interested in was still in the schedule, so we went - got stuck in the snow at the vineyard, but we had a great time.

Too bad the OP's tour operators didn't offer them a choice.

[TMLAalum]

I was planning on booking our Tulum + Beach Break excursion this evening! Now will have to think twice...

[jagoffee]

Was it a tender that took you to the port or was it the tour operator's ferry? From my experience it is not uncommon for a port stop to be cancelled because it was not safe to operate the tenders.

 

IMO it is very reasonable to except a full refund when the tour guide decides to stop the excursion before you got to tour the Tulum ruins. I would think that it was the main and only reason to take the tour. Perhaps you can appeal to the main office for a refund since you did not get to tour the ruins. Of course if the tour of the ruins was just shorten you might not be able to get a full refund. In that case a half refund could be considered fair.

 

The bottom line is that I do not think that Celebrity makes the call on the cancellation of a tour except that if it involves a ship tender/missed port. I would even think that it is the tour company that decides whether to cancel due to a low number of bookings.

[mom23guys]

I was also on this sailing and I was amazed that they made an announcement that there was still room on the Tulum trip. I've been to Cozumel a number of times and I know the ferry route can get rough but last Saturday the weather was ridiculous. The seas were 12-15 feet and the wind was blowing at 30-35 knots according to the captain. The rain was coming down in tropical torrents. There was a tropical low that was trying to get organized into a tropical storm. Heck the ship was rockin and rollin so it's hard to imagine what the ferry would do. I was even surprized that we didn't have an itinerary change to avoid the Yucatan altogether.

[CathyCruises]

I am amazed that people book this cruise this time of year! It is the worst weather of the year! No surprises that the weather sucked, but I AM surprised they didn't cancel the tour, sounds like a huge liability. I wouldn't have gone even if I had paid for it.

[royalcruz]

There's no way that I would go in that kind of weather. Even if it was safe, it would not be a pleasant trip. Of course the tour operator should have cancelled but then they would not have made any money that day. We lost $300 last summer on a privately booked evening segway tour of Paris because it was too cold out and I wasn't going to be able to enjoy it. It was the end of June and we expected temperatures in the 60s at night but it dropped down into the low 40s! We book tours in advance because we want a reservation, but there is always a gamble. I'd rather gamble on prepaying for a fun day of memories than in the casino!

[sandravb79]

I was planning on booking our Tulum + Beach Break excursion this evening! Now will have to think twice...

 

Why? because one person is posting about a bad experience?

We did the Tulum + beach break through Celebrity a couple of years ago. It was a wonderful tour. The ferry ride was rough, but I had read about that numerous times on these boards, so we took medication against getting seasick and while it still wasn't the most pleasant ride, we did fine and didn't get sick.

Tulum was beautiful and the beach break was very relaxing.

Of course, we went in April and not during the worst time of the year to visit that part of the world.

[black forest]

We were at Cozumel last February with the Glory. Had the tour to Tulum booked. Due to bad weather, Carnival offered everyone to cancel and get the money back. Two years before we took the ferry to Playa del Carmen on a sunny day and we got seasick. So we gladly accepted.

[barbie5401]

Thank you for your input - I am very happy with the refund I received. My main point which probably got missed was I thought that Celebrity would be more responsible for it's passengers then to let a tour operator give the "final" call on whether a tour is a go or not. The Captain explained how rough the seas were - just surprised Celebrity didn't cancel.

 

I too have been on many cruises where the ports are cancelled, etc. but this is the first time, I felt I was in danger on the ferry going across the water (not tender) and was extremely afraid to know that that was the only way to get back.

[wvufan]

Usually never a clear cut case of whether to cancel a trip or not due to weather. We were in Hawaii and rented a car and had a fantastic day at Wiamea (sp?) Canyon. There were about 400 passengers who were supposed to go on ship spnsored tours on buses to the Canyon that day and they cancelled them all due to threat of rain and possible hazardous conditions. I suspect most of those people were furious because the ship was too cautous.

 

The OP noted that they told the tour operator that it was too dangerous and the trip stopped right then. I guess that their policy is to go unless someone complains, and then it is a liability issue.

 

I though the ship was generous to refund 50%, which was probably what the ship's cut was.

 

Ship happens.

 

OOOEEE :D:D Bob and Phyl

[Hatteras51]

A few years ago I booked a boat tour out of Nassau. They were having a terrible thunderstorm that morning. I checked with the excursions desk just a few minutes before the excursion time to see if it had been canceled. I was told that the tour operator felt it was safe and I said that I wasn't feeling too safe about it. I was very surprised and pleased that excursions desk offered me a refund to cancel, since I knew the no refund policy. This was on Royal Caribbean.

[letsgo39]

Good reason to never pay for a tour in advance,therefore take private tours only or do it yourself. Sorry it was such a bad experience.

[Redtravel]

I've been on many boat trips that were like roller coasters. Some that I wished I had never taken. I've gotten soaked, but not hurt. The essential question is: Was it safe? Bad weather, getting wet is not fun. Was your safety at risk? If so, then Celebrity should take responsibility. If not, then you should decide if the trip is worth taking. I have been on excursions on cruise ships that were cancelled for safety reasons. I've been on excursions when buses broke down...and we missed most of the tour. Sure we were unhappy. Celebrity refunded our money. In the future, do not book ahead until you know the weather conditions.