Issues of courtesy on a river cruise

[Hydrokitty]

That's what butlers are for, Scenic style no need to leave your cabin at all, whatever your early morning preference delivered with a smile at whatever time you require. Mind you I like an early morning coffee and walk on the deck as well. Here's to good coffee and great cruising.

 

You British are so sophisticated!!! I'd love a butler to get me coffee before I get out of bed every morning and the people in my world would be very grateful to him too.! :D

[pinotlover]

Kenster;

 

We had a lady on our last tour that the tour guide very sternly recommended that she not take our tour and join the slow group. The lady refused the advice, and a couple of we guys had to carry her up a long set of stairs, and then the group had to wait for her to rest for about 15 minutes before we continued the then abbreviated tour. The same lady continued to take the slow groups on upcoming tours, and many of us opted not to get in her group.

 

Does a tour company have the ability to refuse any cruiser from joining a specific tour group?

[Hydrokitty]

Kenster;

 

We had a lady on our last tour that the tour guide very sternly recommended that she not take our tour and join the slow group. The lady refused the advice, and a couple of we guys had to carry her up a long set of stairs, and then the group had to wait for her to rest for about 15 minutes before we continued the then abbreviated tour. The same lady continued to take the slow groups on upcoming tours, and many of us opted not to get in her group.

 

Does a tour company have the ability to refuse any cruiser from joining a specific tour group?

 

Interesting dilemma....while I'm sure the cruise director has the right to refuse to allow a passenger to join a group that was obviously beyond his/her capabilities...the bigger question is would they? They depend on passenger gratuities so that leaves them with lose/lose situation. I totally get your frustration and the fact that passengers had to carry her up a flight of stairs is way beyond inconsiderate in my opinion. But I am a little confused by your last sentence in that paragraph...if the same lady continued to take the slow group on upcoming tours, why would many of you be in her group to begin with? ..... or was this one of those cyber space corrections that changes what you said/meant to say?

[pinotlover]

OOPS!

 

I meant to say the Lady continued to refuse to join the slow groups and continued on the regular tours!! That's why we, and many others, avoided her bus from then out! I thought the Lady was extremely rude (which she also demonstrated in other manners!:mad:) and the cruise line was wrong by continuing to allow her to slow the other groups down so severely, when they know they have a problem child.

[Kenster]

Anyone who impedes the enjoyment of the rest of the group can, and should be excluded from the activity, especially when there is an alternative. And anyone who requires physical assistance from tour director, the local guide, or other travelers should be considered not capable of travel. I've know travelers to be sent home because they were not physically capable of taking part in the tour without the assistance of someone not traveling with them. People actually come on bus tours that are not even able to manage the steps getting on and off the motor coach.

[caviargal]

OOPS!

 

I meant to say the Lady continued to refuse to join the slow groups and continued on the regular tours!! That's why we, and many others, avoided her bus from then out! I thought the Lady was extremely rude (which she also demonstrated in other manners!:mad:) and the cruise line was wrong by continuing to allow her to slow the other groups down so severely, when they know they have a problem child.

 

I agree and we had that same experience. The CM needs to step in at the point where one guest is affecting the enjoyment of others in a negative fashion.

[Hydrokitty]

I agree and we had that same experience. The CM needs to step in at the point where one guest is affecting the enjoyment of others in a negative fashion.

 

I totally agree with you all...I just think it would be very hard for a TM to do. It puts them in a very awkward position....Kenster since you were/are in the business....how do you handle sending someone home or refusing to allow them to participate without causing really hard feelings...you know the kind where people look to get even...

Edited November 18, 2015 by Hydrokitty

[nancyevans]

IMO, fellow passengers are under no obligation to carry someone upstairs as part of a tour. Who would have been at fault if you had dropped her? Who's going to compensate you if you strain your back? She should have been left at the bottom of the stairs and a tour guide or crew member should have escorted her back to the ship.

[Hydrokitty]

IMO, fellow passengers are under no obligation to carry someone upstairs as part of a tour. Who would have been at fault if you had dropped her? Who's going to compensate you if you strain your back? She should have been left at the bottom of the stairs and a tour guide or crew member should have escorted her back to the ship.

 

Really good point! She should have been left at the bottom of the stairs, unless the tour did not go back down. Question that keeps occurring to me though is why doesn't the tour guide or tour manager call a taxi to take this woman to the next stop on the tour? It seems that would solve everyone's problem without interrupting the tour for the others, nor depriving the selfish (because that's what she is) passenger.

[Canal archive]

What an awful dilemma, we had a gentleman on our last cruise who used a motorised scooter and would not allow his challenges to incomodiate anyone which of coarse ensured that the rest of us made allowances and he therefor joined in everything, mind you I was in awe of what he and his wife achieved. In our several years of river cruising we have rarely met any impolite or obnoxious fellow passengers, although one comes to mind and she was well and truly put in her place by an awesome Australian really made me wish us Brits weren't quite so reserved, oh and I'm really sorry about this one an American who insisted on a loud business phone call during a presentation by one of our superb guides on board our ship again resolved by an Australian, I am so glad I was not the Americans PA!

I do think it is most probably possible for a CD to have a word on the side to a recalsagent passenger but some but not all might wimp out, although most CD's are direct employees of the river boat companies.

CA

[TravelerThom]

...One of my pet peeves, the solution to which seems simple and obvious. When crossing a street, some folks hit the other side walk and just stop allowing others nowhere to go and requiring them to stand in the street or "fight through" to find a safe place to stand. How hard is it to keep walking to allow space for others?

And when touring with a guide in a museum don't stop and block the entrance to the next gallery. Once I asked someone to please move on into the room (which had plenty of space on the far side) and was told that it would be impolite to push past the people in front of him. My reply "And you think it is polite to leave fourteen of us out in the hall where we can see and hear nothing?:mad:" Talk about clueless - reminds me of the woman on a plane who refused to turn off her cell phone, ignored the flight attendant requests, ended up slugging an Air Marshall, and her defense in Federal Court was that it would have been impolite to cut her friend on the phone short:eek:.

[Mark_T]

This is one reason I do love the 'Vox' devices used on some of the cruise lines so you can always hear what is being said even when you can't (or don't want to) be close to your guide.

 

It is always a fine line between being as inclusive and enabling as possible for those with mobility issues vs maximizing the experience for the rest of the group.

 

I suspect that this is more of an issue on river cruises than ocean as there are more walking based tours and to be honest it is only on the walking tours on ocean cruises that I can recall having similar concerns.

[id4elizabeth]

Regarding loud noises in hallways and loud TVs. We always take a white noise sound machine with us. It's the first thing that goes into the suitcase. Some are quite bulky and take up a lot of room, but some are made for travel. The sound is not quite as good, but good enough to block out most obnoxious noises.

[Kenster]

Better than a bulky sound machine, simply download an app called "Ambiance" and choose from dozens of background noises: white noise static, rain on a metal roof, babbling brooks, waves crashing on the beach, etc. Then just play it through your iPhone, iPad, or similar device. I spend over 150 nights each year in hotels. I employ 'Ambiance' every night.

[JVilleGal]

Regarding loud noises in hallways and loud TVs. We always take a white noise sound machine with us. It's the first thing that goes into the suitcase. Some are quite bulky and take up a lot of room, but some are made for travel. The sound is not quite as good, but good enough to block out most obnoxious noises.

 

On a River Cruise?? We never had obnoxious noises. Occasionally someone talking in the hall as the entire ship is heading to bed.... But no noises on the river !

[caviargal]

On a River Cruise?? We never had obnoxious noises. Occasionally someone talking in the hall as the entire ship is heading to bed.... But no noises on the river !

 

The Danube has lots of locks and some were noisy AND bumpy to transit. Other than that, only inconsiderate people in the hallway who did not use their inside voices and should have.

[JVilleGal]

The Danube has lots of locks and some were noisy AND bumpy to transit. Other than that, only inconsiderate people in the hallway who did not use their inside voices and should have.

 

As I recall from September there were 68 locks we went thru. River noises are a part of the experience! As far as fellow passengers we had a great bunch of travelers and I would travel with any of them again.

[Kenster]

Talking loudly in the halls late at night doesn't necessarily make them rude and obnoxious, just a little thoughtless or oblivious. The white noise app we use helps a lot-even masking most of the noises while in the locks.

[Hydrokitty]

On a River Cruise?? We never had obnoxious noises. Occasionally someone talking in the hall as the entire ship is heading to bed.... But no noises on the river !

 

That's been my experience too...and I've never heard a tv from the next room on a river cruise either. I did hear it on Celebrity...our neighbor was a lovely couple who listened to the Evening News every night at 10 p.m. Unfortunately he was very hard of hearing and his wife apologized to me when we were both on our balconies and "hoped the loud tv wasn't keeping us up".... I told her as long as they didn't watch the "Late Show" it wasn't a problem and it wasn't. But then we could sleep later on the Celebrity than we can on a river cruise but Vantage walls seem to be very well insulated because the only sound we can hear from our neighbor is the toilet flushing and then only if we're in the bathroom at the same time! :D

 

What wakes me up going through the locks is the bright light and occasional loud clank or bump....and while it will rouse me from a deep sleep it doesn't really wake me up.

[Cyber Kat]

The Danube has lots of locks and some were noisy AND bumpy to transit. Other than that, only inconsiderate people in the hallway who did not use their inside voices and should have.

 

We won't be on the Danube, but I've heard there are locks on the Rhine as well - I hope I wake up to experience this!

 

I do take earplugs with me though.

[caviargal]

We won't be on the Danube, but I've heard there are locks on the Rhine as well - I hope I wake up to experience this!

 

I do take earplugs with me though.

 

The Danube has many and for us, they lost their charm after about the 20th one, especially those in the middle of the night as I am a very light sleeper. There were far fewer on our Rhine cruise but you will certainly be able to have the experience.

[Cyber Kat]

The Danube has many and for us, they lost their charm after about the 20th one, especially those in the middle of the night as I am a very light sleeper. There were far fewer on our Rhine cruise but you will certainly be able to have the experience.

 

LOL - I can see that after 20 they lose their novelty, but I do want to be awake for one or two at least!

[Hydrokitty]

LOL - I can see that after 20 they lose their novelty, but I do want to be awake for one or two at least!

 

You should have some advance notice of when locks are coming up. If you don't do any during the day I would suggest that you leave your earplugs off and/or your drapes open 2-3"...that way if the "bumps" don't wake you the lights might. It really is fun to watch them go through but after 20 or so locks it gets kind of ho-hum. What you could do is tell your TM that you really want to be awake to go through at least one lock. He/she should make a note of that and make sure you know when they're coming.

Edited November 19, 2015 by Hydrokitty

[orangebeach8]

We have been on 3 river cruises. I am a slow walker due to limited lung capacity. Avalon made wonderful accommodations for slower guests...Viking not so much. I filled out a form at the beginning of the cruise stating slow walking and the need for more leisurely tours. Nothing became of it and nothing different was offered.

[id4elizabeth]

Kenster - thanks so much for the info on the "Ambience" app. I'll have to get that!