Where do I post a Shore Scam warning?

[Arzeena]

I booked for an excursion in Belize. 1) the operator took a different couple in our place. It's a long story, I ended up getting another excursion (while on shore), but this was disgusting. The entire set up was a scam to take money for no service and no guarantee. (luckily not much money was scammed... but $10 per person can add up.

 

I would never use shoreexcurioneer again... seriously. They lied.

 

Sorry this happened to you.

We have used them a couple of times and been happy with the service. No complaints.

[Happycruiserhw]

Thanks for the link.

 

Super confusing. This review says absolutely nothing about this company you are so unhappy with, and you rate excursions highly.

 

You seem rather concerned over my posting this thread. I posted my overall experience and wanted a question answered. Are you a Shoreexcursioneer defender or lurker?

 

The more you post the more I think you have a personal thing at stake on this

[Happycruiserhw]

Sorry this happened to you.

We have used them a couple of times and been happy with the service. No complaints.

 

I'm glad you have. Maybe it was just bad luck for me, but I won't use them again. Just chalking it up to experience.

[Happycruiserhw]

FYI:

In general I don't reserve shore excursions online (what was I thinking??) but I thought after reading a few good reviews about this particular online reservation system (shoreexcursioneer (dot) com) that my experience would have been at least Ok... Wrong.

 

I travel frequently, so should have known better. Still, it was a last minute reservation, had a small deposit, and I received confirmation of my shore excursion for Belize. So, I thought... ok. I'll try this. The fine print in their document indicates that they would give a refund if the ship is delayed or misses port. However, they have no refund policy if someone else takes your reservation. In my situation, the excursion was apparently delivered to a different group or couple - and the operator (Belize Jungle Trek) took off while claiming I never showed up. My guess, he took others because he negotiated a better deal.

 

 

So, after being stood up, I contacted the Shore Excursioneer folks and was told they would investigate. Apparently, they spoke with the operator who stated I was late, that the tenders started delivery from the ships at 8 AM. This is false. The JADE arrived at 9 AM. My reservation was for 9:15 to 9:30AM (which, admittedly, was cutting it short). If you check the itinerary for the JADE, the scheduled arrival for JADE was at 9 AM (not 8 AM). Several days later (after emailing shore excursioneer), I finally spoke directly with the operator, and he stated that he never received notice of my reservation. (I have no idea which story is true...)

 

So... either the operator was lying.... Shore Excursioneer was lying... or there was miscommunication and incompetence in reservation communication.

Either way, it's not good. It was a mess.

 

NOTE: The ship was slightly late and the tenders were late. (the tenders did not begin transfer till after 9 AM). This of course puts arrival in port on a tight schedule since the ship was someway out in the bay. But I don't consider this an excuse to leave or take another couple on the tour.

 

*** so, NOTE ***

1) You DO NOT GET A REFUND if the ship is late or the tenders are late. (regardless of their policy)

2) you cannot trust this particular Tour operator to keep your reservation ( of course, he might not have ever received the reservation).

3) Shore Excursioneer will not honor refund policies.

 

So...at the very least, this reservation was an incompetent mess.

 

The Good news:

Luckily, the deposit was small (about $10/ per person) but this can add up for a larger group.

AND -I was able to negotiate a nice private island snorkel all inclusive while onshore (which I should have planned to do to begin with).

 

In any case, I just want to let others know that this group (Shore Excursioneer) is not reliable as a reservation source and to use caution when using their system. It's far better to go ashore and negotiate excursions directly with the tour operators directly.

 

FYI

[mitsugirly]

So sorry this happened to you. This has happened to me before and I know the frustration with it (although not with the same company or same port).

 

You say you are an experienced traveler, so I just had to point out (for future reference).... Since Belize is a tender port, you have to plan for this. If your ship is not arriving until 9am, there is NO WAY you could ever make a 9:15 tour appointment. It just can't be done. The tenders take 20-30 minutes (depending on the sea/waves) to get from the ship to the port and it also depends the location you are docked in the water at. Second, once the ship arrives, if it arrives at 9am, they still have to get clearance to go ashore, just like you would had you pulled directly up to a dock. Third, I know you have to get tender tickets to go ashore and unless you are on a certain scale of latitudes or VIP getting priority tender, then you are forced to wait. They allow all the people that purchased their (the cruise lines) excursions off the ship first, then the VIP/latitudes people next. Then the "general public" people next. This could really put you far behind on the list to get off the ship. You have to account for this when booking something.

 

Hopefully if you ever go back to Belize, you will take all this into consideration (and of course not book using a 3rd party).

 

Once again, so sorry you had to deal with this. I know where you are coming from and learned my lesson as well. It's not fun. :(

[6rugrats]

You seem rather concerned over my posting this thread. I posted my overall experience and wanted a question answered. Are you a Shoreexcursioneer defender or lurker?

 

The more you post the more I think you have a personal thing at stake on this

That's just a ridiculous statement.

 

Appears you showed up late by your own admission. The terms and conditions of bookings with this company state if you don't meet at the designated place and time, you are not due any refund. You can hardly blame a tour company if you were late.

 

If you feel you were incorrectly billed $10, you can dispute the charge with your credit card company.

Edited January 20, 2016 by 6rugrats

[Happycruiserhw]

Thank you all, for all the kind words and well meaning advice.

 

Question answered. And that was the point of the post.

 

Now back to life and work.

[mitsugirly]

That's just a ridiculous statement.

 

Appears you showed up late by your own admission. The terms and conditions of bookings with this company state if you don't meet at the designated place and time, you are not due any refund. You can hardly blame a tour company if you were late.

 

If you feel you were incorrectly billed $10, you can dispute the charge with your credit card company.

 

 

LOL rugrats...I have to say I liked your original statement prior to editing. ;)

[Happycruiserhw]

Strangely enough...

Come to think of it, is there any place to post general warnings on Cruise critic? Just wondering. Maybe not?

 

That WAS the main reason I posted here.

 

So, is there a place to post general warnings? If not, it's fine. that was the point of the post. LOL

[mitsugirly]

Strangely enough...

Come to think of it, is there any place to post general warnings on Cruise critic? Just wondering. Maybe not?

 

That WAS the main reason I posted here.

 

So, is there a place to post general warnings? If not, it's fine. that was the point of the post. LOL

 

Usually you just post it in the section where it happened, like you did in the Belize section. That way anyone searching that section will see it. :) There has never been a certain "warnings" section on the boards that I have ever been aware of.

[Happycruiserhw]

Usually you just post it in the section where it happened, like you did in the Belize section. That way anyone searching that section will see it. :) There has never been a certain "warnings" section on the boards that I have ever been aware of.

 

Thanks. that's really all I needed. :)

 

thanks for helping.

[Cruisin' Chick]

There is never any guarantee that a ship will dock or anchor by the time listed on the itinerary info. For booking any excursion that isn't through the ship, this is important to remember for an excursion in the morning. If an operator is taking bookings from various sources (different ships and also non-cruise ship parties), why would they hold up leaving for the tour or adventure for two people who didn't show up on time? Not fair for the others on the same tour if everyone else is there on time.

[lisajm]

I also had a very bad experience with shoreescursioner in Belize. Last year we booked 2 excursions with them 1 in Belize and 1 in Roatan.

 

The tour for Belize was suppose to be the ruins and a tour of the Belikin brewery. We arrived on time and were taken to the little pier where the rest of our money was collected and were directed to have a seat and wait for our tour operator. We waited and waited. Ended up waiting 2 hours past the time our tour was supposed to start. Everybody else had left for their tours except for one other couple and us.

 

We became antsy and started asking for a refund. The reply was the lady with the cash box had already left for their main office.

 

Finally the lady came and rounded up the four of us for our tour and escorted us to a boat. I told her that a boat ride was not listed for our tour. She said because we had to wait so long it was a bonus, and we would have the rest of the tour as advertised.

 

Well, 4 hours down and back the River Wallace, and we were not happy. At the end of the tour she gave us some water, but we were all parched. DD and I did not come prepared for a boat ride ( no sunscreen, etc).

 

At the halfway point the tour operator got a "call", and she informed us that the Belikin tour was no longer offered and that is why the substituted the River Wallace tour. We were very upset, because the company, the lady who took our money, and the tour operator were all aware of this, but took our money anyway. We felt like we had been kidnapped (ok, only slightly)

 

When we got to our ground transportation. All of us had to used the restroom, but were told there were no restroom facilities anywhere near and that we would have to wait an hour until we arrived at the ruins.

 

I insisted and the lady did stop at a gas station.

 

When we arrived at the ruins we were told that we had fifteen minutes to tour and then we would have to depart in order to make it back to the pier on time.

 

The tour's offices were not near the pier, and we did not have time to express our anger there.

 

The next day we docked at Roatan. DD and I went to meet with the tour operator and explained our situation and that we wanted to cancel. The lady that we were talking to called her mother (the owner of the tour service). She was mortified at what had happened the day before. She explained that shore excursioner uses local venders. She emailed the company for us and explained what had happened the day before.

 

She also gave us her personal guarantee that her company would deliver as promised. We had a driver for the day for a personal tour. It was a fabulous experience. The owner called the driver several times that day to check on us. At the end of the day we spoke to her and gave her assurances that we did indeed enjoy our tour, and that the driver took extra care.

 

Long story short I did not follow up with them, because the day we arrived in Miami, my mother passed away. As soon as I was back home I had to pack again and go to Indiana to make funeral arrangements.

 

We are going back to Belize this year, I really wanted to just stay on the ship, but DD and her BFF want to try cavetubing and they have made arrangements with another company. I will NOT be using shoreexcurionser again.

[Happycruiserhw]

There is never any guarantee that a ship will dock or anchor by the time listed on the itinerary info. For booking any excursion that isn't through the ship' date=' this is important to remember for an excursion in the morning. If an operator is taking bookings from various sources (different ships and also non-cruise ship parties), why would they hold up leaving for the tour or adventure for two people who didn't show up on time? Not fair for the others on the same tour if everyone else is there on time.[/quote']

 

Hi, Cruisin' chick,

Yes. I understand. I showed up by 9:30AM (this was technically within the reservation time given me by the operator- so should not have been a problem)

As an aside, I did wonder about the ship's time and port time, so checked with the time. Belie was on central time (US) - which was the same as on the ship.

 

So... as I indicated above, just live and learn.

I won't book again with this online group. But I will check Cruise Critic more often for port suggestions! :) I had neglected to do so this last trip -- which only goes to show you that experience is no guarantee for good luck. :)

Edited January 21, 2016 by Happycruiserhw

[Happycruiserhw]

I also had a very bad experience with shoreescursioner in Belize. Last year we booked 2 excursions with them 1 in Belize and 1 in Roatan.

 

The tour for Belize was suppose to be the ruins and a tour of the Belikin brewery. We arrived on time and were taken to the little pier where the rest of our money was collected and were directed to have a seat and wait for our tour operator. We waited and waited. Ended up waiting 2 hours past the time our tour was supposed to start. Everybody else had left for their tours except for one other couple and us.

 

We became antsy and started asking for a refund. The reply was the lady with the cash box had already left for their main office.

 

Finally the lady came and rounded up the four of us for our tour and escorted us to a boat. I told her that a boat ride was not listed for our tour. She said because we had to wait so long it was a bonus, and we would have the rest of the tour as advertised.

 

Well, 4 hours down and back the River Wallace, and we were not happy. At the end of the tour she gave us some water, but we were all parched. DD and I did not come prepared for a boat ride ( no sunscreen, etc).

 

At the halfway point the tour operator got a "call", and she informed us that the Belikin tour was no longer offered and that is why the substituted the River Wallace tour. We were very upset, because the company, the lady who took our money, and the tour operator were all aware of this, but took our money anyway. We felt like we had been kidnapped (ok, only slightly)

 

When we got to our ground transportation. All of us had to used the restroom, but were told there were no restroom facilities anywhere near and that we would have to wait an hour until we arrived at the ruins.

 

I insisted and the lady did stop at a gas station.

 

When we arrived at the ruins we were told that we had fifteen minutes to tour and then we would have to depart in order to make it back to the pier on time.

 

The tour's offices were not near the pier, and we did not have time to express our anger there.

 

The next day we docked at Roatan. DD and I went to meet with the tour operator and explained our situation and that we wanted to cancel. The lady that we were talking to called her mother (the owner of the tour service). She was mortified at what had happened the day before. She explained that shore excursioner uses local venders. She emailed the company for us and explained what had happened the day before.

 

She also gave us her personal guarantee that her company would deliver as promised. We had a driver for the day for a personal tour. It was a fabulous experience. The owner called the driver several times that day to check on us. At the end of the day we spoke to her and gave her assurances that we did indeed enjoy our tour, and that the driver took extra care.

 

Long story short I did not follow up with them, because the day we arrived in Miami, my mother passed away. As soon as I was back home I had to pack again and go to Indiana to make funeral arrangements.

 

We are going back to Belize this year, I really wanted to just stay on the ship, but DD and her BFF want to try cavetubing and they have made arrangements with another company. I will NOT be using shoreexcurionser again.

 

I will return to Belize again. If it was not for the trip on shore negotiated with "Belize Eco-Excusion Adventures" - (I paid cash - so no cc reciept) I think that was the name of the private island group --

If I had not had such a fabulous experience with them, I would never wished to return to Belize.

[jennmaybe]

I hate that happened to you, but it makes me feel better about our decision to never pay for an excursion or even a deposit for an excursion beforehand. We always pay in cash and never before we arrive for it. :)