Stay away from Carnival Excursions

[MrsMSD]

Just back from 7 days on the Conquest. Loved this ship and all the ports. DH and I usually do our own thing in port, but on this Cruise we booked an excursion in St. Thomas thru Carnival. It was the St Thomas Ultimate Island Experience. The first half was good...we were taken by bus (No A/C and the speaker didn't work) up into the hills which afforded us some exceptional views of the Island and then on to the beach at Magen's Bay for 2 hrs...this beach was breathtaking -the water was crystal clear, then we were picked up...and this is where it went terribly bad. We were taken to Blackbeards "castle" and left there and told to go to a cafe, about a mile away and meet the carnival rep. After the initial hellos and a history lesson, we were left to wander and try to find our way back. Asking people where this cafe was...the locals had never heard of it. Finally find it after walking almost an hour..it's a boarded up building which is no longer open. It get's better,,,we find out from the cab drivers in the area, that we should actually be across the very busy street for our transport back to the ship, finally someone walks up 5 mins before they were supposed to meet us. We get on a ferry and the tour guide had the nerve to tell us there were drinks for sale during this 10 min ride. This was not a happy group. How do you just drop a group of people off in a foreign country and leave them. this was soooo not worth $60 a person. The next day in Puerto Rico, we got a great tour of the city for $20 pp..saw Old and New San Juan, the Fort and the beach--on a bus with a/c and our guide never left us! Sorry Carnival, no more of your excursions.

[christmas]

Just back from 7 days on the Conquest. Loved this ship and all the ports. DH and I usually do our own thing in port, but on this Cruise we booked an excursion in St. Thomas thru Carnival. It was the St Thomas Ultimate Island Experience. The first half was good...we were taken by bus (No A/C and the speaker didn't work) up into the hills which afforded us some exceptional views of the Island and then on to the beach at Magen's Bay for 2 hrs...this beach was breathtaking -the water was crystal clear, then we were picked up...and this is where it went terribly bad. We were taken to Blackbeards "castle" and left there and told to go to a cafe, about a mile away and meet the carnival rep. After the initial hellos and a history lesson, we were left to wander and try to find our way back. Asking people where this cafe was...the locals had never heard of it. Finally find it after walking almost an hour..it's a boarded up building which is no longer open. It get's better,,,we find out from the cab drivers in the area, that we should actually be across the very busy street for our transport back to the ship, finally someone walks up 5 mins before they were supposed to meet us. We get on a ferry and the tour guide had the nerve to tell us there were drinks for sale during this 10 min ride. This was not a happy group. How do you just drop a group of people off in a foreign country and leave them. this was soooo not worth $60 a person. The next day in Puerto Rico, we got a great tour of the city for $20 pp..saw Old and New San Juan, the Fort and the beach--on a bus with a/c and our guide never left us! Sorry Carnival, no more of your excursions.

 

Wow. I would demand a refund! I bet John Heald would be interested to read this.

Edited May 6, 2014 by christmas

[shoppingfever]

I hope you complained to Carnival and left John Heald a message on his fb in regards to your experience. I would have asked for my money back for that excursion.

[ItsAllAboutTheSass]

Just back from 7 days on the Conquest. Loved this ship and all the ports. DH and I usually do our own thing in port, but on this Cruise we booked an excursion in St. Thomas thru Carnival. It was the St Thomas Ultimate Island Experience. The first half was good...we were taken by bus (No A/C and the speaker didn't work) up into the hills which afforded us some exceptional views of the Island and then on to the beach at Magen's Bay for 2 hrs...this beach was breathtaking -the water was crystal clear, then we were picked up...and this is where it went terribly bad. We were taken to Blackbeards "castle" and left there and told to go to a cafe, about a mile away and meet the carnival rep. After the initial hellos and a history lesson, we were left to wander and try to find our way back. Asking people where this cafe was...the locals had never heard of it. Finally find it after walking almost an hour..it's a boarded up building which is no longer open. It get's better,,,we find out from the cab drivers in the area, that we should actually be across the very busy street for our transport back to the ship, finally someone walks up 5 mins before they were supposed to meet us. We get on a ferry and the tour guide had the nerve to tell us there were drinks for sale during this 10 min ride. This was not a happy group. How do you just drop a group of people off in a foreign country and leave them. this was soooo not worth $60 a person. The next day in Puerto Rico, we got a great tour of the city for $20 pp..saw Old and New San Juan, the Fort and the beach--on a bus with a/c and our guide never left us! Sorry Carnival, no more of your excursions.

 

You are from Atlanta. St Thomas is not a foreign country.

[kona_wahine]

I would complain also. But, one bad apple doesn't ruin the whole bunch. We have been on some very good carnival excursions.

[atate75]

You are from Atlanta. St Thomas is not a foreign country.

 

true :D

[OCruisers]

I would complain also. But, one bad apple doesn't ruin the whole bunch. We have been on some very good carnival excursions.

 

Agree. Some excursions through Carnival are better than others. :)

LuLu

[MrsMSD]

true :D

Out of my entire post..that's your only response...St Thomas is not a foreign country. Ok-- got it, but regardless if it was St Thomas or Barcelona, the lack of customer service was the issue.

[092306]

Wow, that's a pretty bad excursion, sorry that happened. Hope you let the shore excursion staff know and you were compensated. We've had positive experiences with Carnival excursions, guess you never know.

[kirnerxubixu]

I would have asked for my money back for that excursion.

[LostPuppy]

Just back from 7 days on the Conquest. Loved this ship and all the ports. DH and I usually do our own thing in port, but on this Cruise we booked an excursion in St. Thomas thru Carnival. It was the St Thomas Ultimate Island Experience. The first half was good...we were taken by bus (No A/C and the speaker didn't work) up into the hills which afforded us some exceptional views of the Island and then on to the beach at Magen's Bay for 2 hrs...this beach was breathtaking -the water was crystal clear, then we were picked up...and this is where it went terribly bad. We were taken to Blackbeards "castle" and left there and told to go to a cafe, about a mile away and meet the carnival rep. After the initial hellos and a history lesson, we were left to wander and try to find our way back. Asking people where this cafe was...the locals had never heard of it. Finally find it after walking almost an hour..it's a boarded up building which is no longer open. It get's better,,,we find out from the cab drivers in the area, that we should actually be across the very busy street for our transport back to the ship, finally someone walks up 5 mins before they were supposed to meet us. We get on a ferry and the tour guide had the nerve to tell us there were drinks for sale during this 10 min ride. This was not a happy group. How do you just drop a group of people off in a foreign country and leave them. this was soooo not worth $60 a person. The next day in Puerto Rico, we got a great tour of the city for $20 pp..saw Old and New San Juan, the Fort and the beach--on a bus with a/c and our guide never left us! Sorry Carnival, no more of your excursions.

So what was the response from guest services after you returned to the ship and complained?

[EZ4]

So what was the response from guest services after you returned to the ship and complained?

 

They gave her a link to CC. :p

[Sarah@Sea]

Our RCL excursion in St. Thomas was also on an open air, no AC vehicle. So that part isn't specific to Carnival.

 

The other issues you had, I would have been at the excursion desk demanding a refund as soon as I got back on board. :mad:

[USNUZULOOSE]

I would still let someone know. That is not right, no matter where you are.

[CdrescherRBL152]

Hate to say it but I think we are missing part of the story. As OP had this trullly bad time but the only ones to hear the complaints are on CC. Now it does sound like you had a bad guide, unless someone tells Carnival about it nothing they can do to correct it.

 

And will pass along the same info I have in the past about excurissions. There is always a chance you will have a bad guide weather it is a Carnival backed trip or a private one. THe one thing you don't have to worry about on a Carnival excurission that you do on a private one, is getting back to the ship. As a group of about 20 found out on our cruise to Panama in 2012, We did the Panama canel trip, bus ride to Panama City then ferry ride halfway back thru the canel, then bus it the rast of the way to the ship. We were on the last bus to leave for the return, got a police escort thru Colon. As the ship was pulling out to vans carring about 20 pulled up to the peir. Had done a simular excurision thru a private company. Although Carnival has to wait for their excurissions they don't wait on private ones. Nor does any cruise lines due to the high cost of leaving late.

[loxley]

So the OP has a bad experience with a part of their ship sponsored excursion and now every one should avoid ALL ship sponsored excursions? An excursion that was so awful nothing was even mentioned while on the ship? There is something in this story that sounds..... lets say fishy.

 

I can think of a lot of reasons to avoid ship sponsored excurisions, but this is not one of them.

[navyvet8395]

you are from atlanta. St thomas is not a foreign country.

 

lol... True..

[navyvet8395]

Good or bad, I will book though Carnival due to the insurance that in case of a screwup or breakdown the ship will wait for you...

[AJI2596]

I always read the reviews online before booking an excursion.

 

What do the reviews say on carnival?

[LambKnuckles]

So what was the response from guest services after you returned to the ship and complained?

 

PLEASE!!! This is where the customer service can help you, when you're back on board!!! Did you get a refund? Did they say anything???

 

PLEASE don't just use this forum to complain, but let someone who can make a difference and help you, do just that!!!

 

It's a great warning about THAT excursion, but we also want to know "the other side of the story!!"

[bunchesofun]

We have done 6 Carnival arranged excursions and one private one. They all went well with no problems. You must realize that Carnival does not RUN the excursions. They contract with local tour companies to provide them. If you do not tell Carnival directly, and promptly, what the problem(s) are they will not be able to address it. I'm sure they had no idea you would be left to fend for yourselves. And I'm almost as sure that if they got enough complaints either the situation would be fixed, or the tour company dropped from their excursion list. Sorry you had that experience, but I would not let it put you off taking ship sponsored tours.

[beachbum53]

To the OP, keep in mind that the excursions that are booked through Carnival are not owned by Carnival. The excursion operators are contracted by the cruise line. If the excursion operator gets enough complaints, they will be dropped by the cruise line. You and everyone in your group on that tour should have gone to the Guest Services Desk and/or the Excursion Desk to file a complaint. As others have said, there's a good chance you would have received a refund, and very possibly Carnival would have cancelled their contract with the company. I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but complaing about it on here won't change anything. We've always had good experiences with the excursions we've booked through Carnival.

[pe4all]

I hope you voiced your concerns to the shore excursion desk staff and/or guest services. We usually book one or two CCL excursions per cruise. We did have a problem on one (dune buggies in GT - they kept breaking down.). The shore exc. staff refunded 50% of our fee- $200. Some tours are better than others. iIf you get a post-cruise survey you can write up the excursion there also. CCL. Has actually contacted us about some things we have written on them. Or send a letter to CCL and see what happens.

[LibbyJanesMommy]

. The next day in Puerto Rico, we got a great tour of the city for $20 pp..saw Old and New San Juan, the Fort and the beach--on a bus with a/c and our guide never left us! Sorry Carnival, no more of your excursions.

 

Would you mind sharing who this excursion was with? I'm trying to find a decently priced Puerto Rico tour :)

[babsee101]

Would you mind sharing who this excursion was with? I'm trying to find a decently priced Puerto Rico tour :)

 

Me too! :)