What is the worst excursion you have been on?

[pamrose228]

That’s standard procedure.

 

 

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Carnival never confiscated my three bottles of gold patron and dozen or so assorted double shot bottles. Never understood why but since Styx was live onboard concert was great.

 

 

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[HeidiHo]

Never been on a "Bad" excursion, cruise line or private tour operator. some have been better than others but I've never been disappointed. My husband however, went deep sea fishing at Grand Turk and was disappointed. I suspect it was mainly because he didn't catch anything (and neither did most of the others on the tour) but you can hardly blame it on the tour operators. That would be like blaming the tour operator for bad weather.

[dverzic]

The worst was an excursion in Rome. The actual trip was great, but the guide was awful. We couldn’t hear her and even though people asked her to speak up, she wouldn’t. (And I was in my twenties so I wasn’t hard of hearing.) Then, when we were at the Colosseum she had the bus pick us up in a different place than what had been originally stated. It wasn’t a problem for me, but there was an elderly couple who couldn’t walk that far. Everyone begged the guide to pick them up where originally planned but she refused, so we ended up sitting in a bus without air conditioning (in August) while we waited for the couple to finally make their way to us. The only bright spot was that no one tipped the guide at the end of an eight hour tour. Hopefully she learned her lesson.

 

 

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[volmoma]

Our worst excursion was in Cozumel where we visited a tequila company and bought $300 worth. Then the cruise line confiscated it and we couldn't drink any till we got home.

 

 

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DUH????? I’m confused, this has been the norm for EVER..

 

 

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[CruiseMstr]

Mine was a wasted day traveling to Tulum Mayan ruins. First, a long ferry ride from Cozumel to Playa deCarmen, then they paraded us through the streets to the bus. Then a long bus ride, where we had to stop at a souvenir shack, that must have been a relative of the bus driver, then finally to Tulum. And the ruins after that long hot journey was disappointing, and expensive tour. Never again!

I think a runner up would be to a beach with lunch in Falmouth. Booked through RCCL, the beach was crappy, with no umbrellas for shade offered, and lunch was sparse, and nearly gone by the time we got up to buffet from the long line.

 

 

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The Tulum tour was one of our best excursions. Then again I appreciate history.

 

 

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[ontheweb]

How about an excursion you and your DW looked forward to and then never happened? We were looking forward to an excursion to Arles from the port of Marseilles. And then it was cancelled because not enough had booked it despite the what is it 6000 or so passengers on the NCL Epic. They had no problem taking our credit card payment way in advance of the excursion, and then would not provide it.

 

After I complained they substituted a more expensive excursion at no extra cost to Avignon which was somewhat interesting and somewhere else (the name of which I cannot remember because it was so boring, only shopping opportunities.)

[Alaskan Joe]

I have enjoyed reading some of the best excursions, so a different take on that thread is "What is the worst excursion you have been on?"

 

I would say the worst for us was in Grand Turk. It was about our third time there and we had our kids. We decided to go through Carnival and booked the Power Snorkel tour which was not cheap. We met at the dock to board a small boat. They probably took us about 3000 feet, to the other side of the ship about 200 yards off shore. They gave us our Sea Do powered device and we were only in the water 30 minutes!!!! It was at that time that I swore off Carnival sponsored excursions!:mad:

 

My DW and I have swore off excursions period. We feel for what you pay for these excursions and what you get just does not add up. I am not saying we do not have fun on some of them ie; panning for gold in Alaska was cool, swimming with the dolphins in Cozumel was fun, King Salmon fishing in Alaska all of it great, but worth the money?? We do not think so.

[ABQrobin]

We haven't really had a bad one, just picked one that wasn't right for us.

 

#1. our trip on Glory got diverted due to a hurricane...so everyone onboard was scrambling to book new excursions in new ports. We waffled for a few days onboard and by the time we went down to desk to book, most things were full. We took the Roatan Top 10 as it went to Iguana Farm (something I was dying to do) but didn't realize that it would also be mostly a shopping trip at lots of stores (Cameo, junk store, chocolate shop, etc) and then a beach. We didn't take swimsuits so had to sit in shade for over an hour while everyone else enjoyed beach stop. Dancers were horrible, demo of making food was horrible.... we just hated most things except the iguanas and the rum factory. Restaurant at beach really didn't have a menu of more than snacks and so we couldn't even eat a nice lunch. As I said, more a stupid pick by me. We should have just stayed at Mahogany Bay beach and saved the money.

 

#2. Grand Turk snorkeling. Too many people, like 50 or so, and half kids. Impossible getting on and off boat, water was rough, people screaming for help as they really didn't know how to snorkel. Couldn't get back on boat as people were standing on ladder and wouldn't move. Just a huge mess. Another one we wish we had stayed in port and just relaxed. They did collect conch shells and make some killer ceviche for everyone to eat onboard, but that was the best part. Rest was just a mess.

 

robin

[carrieluvsgreg]

The first cruise we ever went on we booked all excursions thru the ship...

The snorkeling we did in grand cayman was such a disappointment.... especially now that I’m aware of sting ray city!

 

 

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[ILCruzr]

We have two:

 

One was in Cozumel. We had booked the Cancun tour to take us from Coz to Cancun. Well that got canceled, so we decided on the Playa Del Carmen shopping/city tour. That tour was the biggest waste. We thought we would be taking the ferry over to the mainland and then hopping on a bus to see the area and then coming back to shop. Well, we got ferried over and then sent to some hotel with a very rocky beach where we were told to be for the next 2.5 hours. We didnt bring swin suits and so we just sat in the sun and shade. Finally we begged the guide to let us go early to see something because he said the bus part was excluded. We ended up walking down 5th avenue in Playa which was nice, but the tour turned out to be a dud. We went back on the ship, complained and a got a refund. So bad.

 

The second was in Aruba. We booked an independent tour and when we got there, the tour guide said they couldn't fill up the tour so they canceled it. We were supposed to be on a private tour anyways and he said no. Mad we ended up finding a tour to do, but then we saw our originally tour company drive by with a full van! It was like WHAT THE HELL? Our tour was lame. They took us to some rocks (where we had to stay put for an hour bc our van driver had expired insurance), some church, and a lighthouse. It was an ugly island with rude people and I haven't been back to Aruba since.

[Can'tWait2SetSail]

Mine was a excursion to Pearl Island in Nassau. The best part of the excursion was the boat ride to and from the island. Once on the island you were trapped, and there was nothing to do.

 

Ha! We did something like this when we were on a land vacation to The Atlantis, but the place we went was called Rose Island.

[cruzeluver]

In 20 or so cruises we have been fortunate to have only had one bad excursion experience.

 

Fury Catamaran in Cozumel. Truly awful. Snorkeling was poor at best, the area we were taken to was so close to the cruise ships we could have almost swam over, no coral at all and virtually no fish, plus poor visibility. The beach they took us to after was nothing to write home about, but was ok. The boat trip back turned into a floating frat house with people get falling down stupid drunk, highly encouraged by the juvenile crew.

 

We have snorkeled all over the Caribbean, Bahamas and Mexico but this was by far the worst. Just terrible.

[Jelly_Toast]

Cozumel by Land and Sea. It was basically a way to sell things to tourists. First chocolate and then tequila. Constant reminders to tip. I was hoping for a bit more local information, but the bus zipped through the streets and there was very little history. The guy at the tequila place actually stood by the tip jar as we left to remind us repeatedly of how many kids had had to take care of. We did buy a bottle of tequlia and learned when we got home that we paid more than we were quoted. That was our fault for not working out the exchange rate ourselves I suppose.

 

Then a ride on a semisub which was horrible. There were few fish, only one side of the boat had anything to look at during any one time and the seasickness I experienced was terrible. This part of the tour lasted probably 60 minutes at least and maybe 10 of that was actually viewing fish which were just the same one type over and over. I could not wait to get off that boat, it was the absolute low point of the entire cruise.

 

I get that tourism is a main source of income and of course they want people to purchase items while in port, but this just felt like a blatant cash grab.

[coevan]

My excursions have mostly been ship excursions and they were all a lot of fun. I always read lots of reviews before booking anything. I don't think booking a tour with the ship automatically means it will be bad.

 

My worst excursion was a tour in Jamaica. It wasn't booked through the ship. We caught the tour after walking through the port area. The tour guide was very good, but it was just a depressing tour through mostly slum areas. We did stop at the beach for a few minutes. It was very interesting to learn about the area, but not something I would ever do again for fun. I have no desire to ever visit Jamaica again.

 

 

 

Montego Bay and Negril are worlds apart. Our land based trip was one of our best vacations, absolutely loved Negril, the people, food, and the beaches were fabulous

[grammymarcia]

The "worst" excursion for us was Cinque Terre. It was clear the tour said it was strenuous, but that didn't deter a few people that clearly decided to book it anyway. It involved buses, rail and a boat and a lot of walking. The scenery was breathtaking, but it was so much waiting for some to catch up. If you go, just DIY all you need really is a train schedule. We actually skipped one village. There were a lot of people that complained, Carnival did refund 50% of the cost.:o

[SmittyCo]

Ours would be a "beach day" in Progresso. It basically was a pool at a condo with someone doing a BBQ and walking around with a liter of Sol beer filling up cups. We stay on the boat if we have to go to Progreso!

[PAPERBKWRITER]

Our worst excursion was in Cozumel where we visited a tequila company and bought $300 worth. Then the cruise line confiscated it and we couldn't drink any till we got home.

 

 

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Its called the rules. Surprised you didn't know you weren't allowed to drink liquor bought on shore on the ship.

[mskaufman]

The "worst" excursion for us was Cinque Terre. It was clear the tour said it was strenuous, but that didn't deter a few people that clearly decided to book it anyway. It involved buses, rail and a boat and a lot of walking. The scenery was breathtaking, but it was so much waiting for some to catch up. If you go, just DIY all you need really is a train schedule. We actually skipped one village. There were a lot of people that complained, Carnival did refund 50% of the cost.:o

 

We did a C.T. tour and things worked perfectly. The cruise tours had their own ferries between towns and when it came people got on from multiple ships. Had free time in each town to do our own thing. Too bad yours didn't work out.

[pghsteelerfan]

None that we did really stands out as the "worst" excursion, but from past experience we try to avoid snorkel/beach breaks that only allow for 90 to snorkel/enjoy the beach. We've done the St. John Trunk Bay snorkeling excursion, which was a four hour tour that allowed 90 minutes at Trunk Bay (the rest was getting to and from Trunk Bay). With the 90 minutes, we basically had to choose what we wanted to do, snorkel or enjoy the beach. We chose snorkeling and I was able to grab a few pictures of Trunk Bay before we left. But we still enjoyed it and loved the scenery (Trunk Bay IS gorgeous, postcard gorgeous) but I just wish we had more time to enjoy the snorkeling and the beach.

[crusinpsychRN]

The Tulum tour was one of our best excursions. Then again I appreciate history.

 

 

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It was 112 degrees when I went to Tulum.

[LouisianaCruiser4200]

Our worst excursion was in Cozumel where we visited a tequila company and bought $300 worth. Then the cruise line confiscated it and we couldn't drink any till we got home.

 

 

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We did this tour and loved it. Not sure why you were mad they took the tequila? They don’t let you bring on alcohol anytime

[LouisianaCruiser4200]

Cozumel by Land and Sea. It was basically a way to sell things to tourists. First chocolate and then tequila. Constant reminders to tip. I was hoping for a bit more local information, but the bus zipped through the streets and there was very little history. The guy at the tequila place actually stood by the tip jar as we left to remind us repeatedly of how many kids had had to take care of. We did buy a bottle of tequlia and learned when we got home that we paid more than we were quoted. That was our fault for not working out the exchange rate ourselves I suppose.

 

Then a ride on a semisub which was horrible. There were few fish, only one side of the boat had anything to look at during any one time and the seasickness I experienced was terrible. This part of the tour lasted probably 60 minutes at least and maybe 10 of that was actually viewing fish which were just the same one type over and over. I could not wait to get off that boat, it was the absolute low point of the entire cruise.

 

I get that tourism is a main source of income and of course they want people to purchase items while in port, but this just felt like a blatant cash grab.

 

They must’ve changed this up since you took it (after some good feedback) tipping-the only time tips were mentioned is at the very end. The tour guide pointed out the driver and guide did not share tips.

At the tequileria, they never mentioned tips.

At the chocolate factory, they had lots of informational pieces and only at the end said you could buy chocolate.

Thankfully for us, the semi sub tour wasn’t full so we all got to sit on one side and see the reef, plus they fed the fish so there were fish aplenty

[LouisianaCruiser4200]

The "worst" excursion for us was Cinque Terre. It was clear the tour said it was strenuous, but that didn't deter a few people that clearly decided to book it anyway. It involved buses, rail and a boat and a lot of walking. The scenery was breathtaking, but it was so much waiting for some to catch up. If you go, just DIY all you need really is a train schedule. We actually skipped one village. There were a lot of people that complained, Carnival did refund 50% of the cost.:o

 

It sounds mean in a way, BUT there are way too many people taking tours they simply should not be taking. We went to stingray city in Grand Cayman last week. Of course, you had to get on and off a boat in the sea which is not easy. There were multiple extremely overweight people who had trouble getting on and off. One lady (who was well in excess of 350lbs) pulled the tour guide into the water as she was trying to help her out.

[cruisinggaga]

The tour in St Kitts. I found it to be a little boring. Seams like we spent a majority of the time in the van driving.

 

 

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[pc_load_letter]

This thread is cracking me up. We didn't think that much of Freeport when we were there.

 

Another time, on Carnival out of Charleston, we went to some "private" island when at Nassau. The boat ride was about an hour to get there. We almost capsized when everyone was all on one side of this small boat. Boat didn't start making it even longer. Island was okay and I tried to make the most of it by snorkeling (which was nothing but sand), then it started to rain, "lunch" was a boxed lunch of some kind of sandwich, then an hour back.

 

The college girl that needed to be carried back on board looked to have had a better time.

 

In the Mediterranean, I was kinda of "meh" on Cannes.