Seavis requiring a deposit. Advice please!!

[jsjjkelly]

Hi all!

 

We are headed to La Romana on the Breeze in June. I booked Seavis back in February, so in preparation for our cruise, I emailed all our excursions to make sure they had our reservation and everything was good to go. I received this email from Seavis:

 

 

thanks for your mail. Yes everything is set up and confirmed for the 10 of you on June 11.

I just have a small question, would it be possible to make a deposit of 25% on our paypal account? Lately we have a lot of no shows and as you are a bigger group, we need a deposit to reconfirm everything. I hope you understand.

Our paypal account is : seavistours@yahoo.de

Please deposit US$ 180 and as soon as we received your deposit, I will reconfirm everything.

Thanks for your understanding.

Kind regards,

 

 

Ingrid

Seavis Bayahibe

 

 

Any thoughts? It seems kind of fishy to me, in that we aren't even a group of 12 that they give the 10% discount too. But we're big enough to require a deposit, yet their website says no deposit required, and no cancellation fees.

 

What would you do?

 

Thanks in advance!

Shawn

[Isa65]

I would cancel and book with Pro Excursions. No deposit, nicer beach area, no minimum number of guests. Great day guaranteed.

[jsjjkelly]

I would cancel and book with Pro Excursions. No deposit, nicer beach area, no minimum number of guests. Great day guaranteed.

 

Do you have an email/website for them? If things go badly, I may need to use them!

 

Thanks!

Shawn

[Isa65]

http://www.proexcursionsbayahibe.com/snorkling-tours/tours/la-romana-sea-excursions-for-cruise-ships.aspx

 

We went with them last week and just had an excellent day.

[jsjjkelly]

So I'm posting this here, maybe this issue comes up with them again? Someone on our roll call said she did the same thing a few weeks ago, and they reconfirmed without asking for a deposit. I have a group of 10. They only give discounts for groups of 12 or more. So I was pretty taken that she would require a deposit when we aren't even large enough for the discount.

 

I replied I'm sticking to the terms listed on her website, and the terms when I signed up. No deposit. No cancellation fee. I'll pay when we get there. And the issue is, practically our WHOLE ROLL CALL is going to Seavis. She's not requesting deposits of them!

 

This was her response :

 

Hello Shawn,

oke, no problem. The thing is that the last couple of times we had a Saona Special, there where a lot of no shows. A lot of times, we are full in advance and we have to tell people that there are no spots available anymore.

When the day of the tour a group does not show up, we losse a lot and other people could have gone.

That is why we try to get a deposit so we are sure the group is coming. But never mind, you made a reservation a long time ago and everything is confirmed, so oke, just pay the day of the tour. We didn't want to bother you.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

We will make sure you are going to have a nice day.

Once again sorry for the confusion. So everything stays the same with your reservation.

Looking forward to meeting you June 11.

Kind regards,

 

 

Ingrid

[jsjjkelly]

http://www.proexcursionsbayahibe.com/snorkling-tours/tours/la-romana-sea-excursions-for-cruise-ships.aspx

 

We went with them last week and just had an excellent day.

 

Thanks for this. I'm going to keep it with me just in case this doesn't work out. I'm glad you had such a great time with them!

 

Shawn

[MDSue]

We had over 100 people reserve this excursion in March; 85 alone from our roll call group. They have to reserve enough boats and crew for the amount of expected guests. I can see how a lot of no-shows could be costly for them.

We were not asked for a deposit, but I can understand their dilemma. They are an excellent tour company and I highly recommend and trust them. However, I can see how it would be difficult to collect a deposit from a bunch of individuals also; especially if it is other roll call members.

It's too bad that so many people are reserving and not bothering to cancel if they change plans- kind of ruins it for everyone else:(

[jsjjkelly]

We had over 100 people reserve this excursion in March; 85 alone from our roll call group. They have to reserve enough boats and crew for the amount of expected guests. I can see how a lot of no-shows could be costly for them.

We were not asked for a deposit, but I can understand their dilemma. They are an excellent tour company and I highly recommend and trust them. However, I can see how it would be difficult to collect a deposit from a bunch of individuals also; especially if it is other roll call members.

It's too bad that so many people are reserving and not bothering to cancel if they change plans- kind of ruins it for everyone else:(

 

I completely understand where they are coming from. We've done other excursions where we've paid deposits, but there's always been a refund disclaimer, or rule, or whatever you'd like to call it. To just randomly choose people to ask for deposits for just isn't right either. They need to make concessions for things not under our control, like the ship not docking there or something, including a way to give the deposit back in those scenarios.

 

And you're correct. It certainly isn't right for people to no show. It's a shame that people are doing it.

 

:-)

[dianel720]

This is directly from Seavis -

 

this is what i have copy pasted from our website: Deposits:

In some cases we'll ask you for a deposit. On most port days we will be fully booked and we have to disappoint cruisers who try to book .... But we also have a relatively high number of 'no shows': people with a confirmed booking who - without any notice- don't show up on the day of the tour. 'No shows' are a great expense for us (we've prepared the boats, the food, etc), but foremost: the people we had to refuse earlier could have joined the excursion..... For this reason we might ask groups larger then 8 people for a deposit of 20%. In case you can't join the tour, just phone us or send us an email and we will refund the deposit immediately.

[dianel720]

Myself and a bunch of our roll call group took this Seavis excursion last Tuesday, May 14. They are a great bunch of people and very easy to work with. They put out a lot of food and alcohol once you get to the beach - which by the way is beautiful. Any no shows are very costly to them. The tour guides are excellent and very knowledgeable. Asking for a small deposit shouldn't be a show stopper for booking this excursion. In all my cruises and ports of call, this was the best excursion I've ever done.

[pacarolinagirl]

I was going to post the same thing "daniel720" did. :)

 

I can tell you without a doubt, they aren't a "fishy" group, etc. We just did this tour last week & we HIGHLY recommend them. They are a first rate company in my book. They will be expanding to South Africa in Sept. I can see why they need deposits if they are starting to have a lot of no shows...that is a big expense to them.

 

I would gladly book with them & even prepay for the entire excursion...they were that good. Have fun!!!! :)

[JenMJM]

I was going to post the same thing "daniel720" did. :)

 

I can tell you without a doubt, they aren't a "fishy" group, etc. We just did this tour last week & we HIGHLY recommend them. They are a first rate company in my book. They will be expanding to South Africa in Sept. I can see why they need deposits if they are starting to have a lot of no shows...that is a big expense to them.

 

I would gladly book with them & even prepay for the entire excursion...they were that good. Have fun!!!! :)

 

We went on this excursion with Diane and pacarolina, and they are right - we had a great time! I echo previous posters' comments about it becoming necessary for their business to require deposits. We had a huge group, but I think we all showed.

 

We chose this company because they had already been "tried and tested" by a couple other cruising/roll call friends of ours. Very happy with our experience last week.

[jsjjkelly]

This is directly from Seavis -

 

this is what i have copy pasted from our website: Deposits:

In some cases we'll ask you for a deposit. On most port days we will be fully booked and we have to disappoint cruisers who try to book .... But we also have a relatively high number of 'no shows': people with a confirmed booking who - without any notice- don't show up on the day of the tour. 'No shows' are a great expense for us (we've prepared the boats, the food, etc), but foremost: the people we had to refuse earlier could have joined the excursion..... For this reason we might ask groups larger then 8 people for a deposit of 20%. In case you can't join the tour, just phone us or send us an email and we will refund the deposit immediately.

 

Trust me, It would have been entirely ok with us to require the deposit when I first booked in February. But when I went to make sure it was all ok since our cruise is coming up- not changing our group in any way- THEN she asks for a deposit?? It's just not right. I can understand why they would want one, but they should ask from the beginning.

 

We've done plenty of excursions where you have to pay a deposit and we've had no problem paying them. I felt, and still do feel, you can't change the rules half way through. You either ask at the beginning, or don't require one at all.

 

I've heard great things about them too. That's why we booked with them! It's good I hear we should have a great time!

 

:-)

Shawn