What is the worst excursion you have been on?

[dverzic]

I’ve noticed several complaints from people who weren’t physically up to the excursions they chose. I don’t think that’s the fault of the tour operators, but rather the fault of people who over estimate their abilities. I mean if you use a walker, don’t book something that is labeled as moderately strenuous. Or if you’ve just had surgery, don’t try jet skiing. It’s common sense.

 

 

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[kc58ab]

I’ve noticed several complaints from people who weren’t physically up to the excursions they chose. I don’t think that’s the fault of the tour operators, but rather the fault of people who over estimate their abilities. I mean if you use a walker, don’t book something that is labeled as moderately strenuous. Or if you’ve just had surgery, don’t try jet skiing. It’s common sense.

 

 

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Hadn’t had surgery...seems like common sense to note you have to be able to more or less do a straight lift of your body weight in the ocean in non shallow water ...Many people without an injury wouldn’t be able to do that. Had they done that I wouldn’t have booked it. Seems reasonable to think you would get on the jet ski on the edge of beach.

 

 

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[dvond]

31 cruises and never did 1 through the cruise line, always go on our own and research before, saves money and always works out great thanks to sites like this

[RedLightVegas]

Labadee, Haiti in RCCL. We did a beach day there and you're just shoved in on the beach like cattle. The buffet is gross, lines were long, the market was crowded and weird to walk through. Next time I'll just stay on the boat.

[applegam]

Aruba. All we saw was desert. No bathrooms the entire trip. Awful.

 

You should have done De Palm island on Aruba - one of our best ever.

[Keys2Heaven]

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. Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Sounds like the excursion was worth $300 and that's the ship policy about alcohol. No way you were hiding all of that in rum runners.

[Keys2Heaven]

There was this time when I ate termites in Belize.

[Keys2Heaven]

St Lucia was our BEST. We took Cosols tours and had a fantastic time!! Great fun they made a party of it. Water, soda, beer an rum punch was all included in the price, all you could drink. We had his driver Bumpy and he was hilarious.

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We used Fabian. We never ate and drank so much on a tour before. One of our highlights. Loved St. Lucia.

[Keys2Heaven]

Exactly this! I also find that with independent tours I am less likely to be delayed by others (for example smaller buses mean quicker on/off times, no waiting around in lines getting off or on)

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We've done a ship excursion maybe twice out of 6 cruises. Most of the time, we book independent after a LOT of research and communication with the tour operator. And, like someone else said, usually if we have enough time to do what we want via an independent operator and not worry about getting back to the ship.

[BranDivah]

Sounds just like Mahogany Bay. on Roatan We considered it our worse excursion ever. Not only was it wall to wall chairs and clamshells, but the chairs were so broken down it was impossible to sit in it comfortably. Also, the floats we rented smelled so bad from B O that there was no way we were going to use them. We stood in line longer to return everything than we spent on the beach!

I didn't pay for the beach chairs, but I totally agree with you on this one...plenty of places to sit in a chair but they were all so abused and rotting away...im surprised that we were able to sit in them. And while we found a lovely spot under a tree, we had absolutely no view due to rows and rows of clamshells. I'm glad I had already enjoyed the view from doing our own snorkeling at the end of the dock.

[tessa74]

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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We went on a private tour to Tulum. They handed out bags for seasickness when we boarded the ferry. Even though I had taken medication for seasickness it was the worst case of seasickness I have had. No fault of the tour operator but it was a terrible experience. I continued to be sick on the van ride and don’t remember much about Tulum itself.

 

 

 

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[suewheldon]

Our worst was a “beach day “ at a resort in Corfu with Princess. We were taken to an area on the crappiest bit of beach with the worst sun beds. Nowadays if we want to visit a beach we research the area and use cabs.

 

Our last cruise on Azamara we had only booked 2 ship excursions which were both cancelled. One in Nicaragua due to low numbers and the other in Cartagena when the captain decided to reroute due to bad weather.

 

 

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[sanger727]

It seems like most of the “bad excursions,” were ones that were booked privately. Not from the ship. This is a big reason why I only book through the cruise line. You have much more power if something goes wrong. I don’t mind spending a little extra for peace of mind.

 

 

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Completely disagree and not sure how many of these you’ve read. It’s at least 50/50 if not more for ship excursions. I’ve been on a handful of ship excursions and they were about what I expected. Saw every place they said we would see, crowded on big coach buses, mostly just a drive by to take a picture. When we did get out had to have the guide hold a number so we could identify them and stay with them, even though you could hardly hear them. Not terrible but never extraordinary.

 

I’ve had some extraordinary independent excursions however. Sting ray city in grand cayman w 1 guide for a group of less than 10. Not long after we got there the ship’s version showed up in a huge double decker boat and their guests just looked on trying to find a guide while we got to take tons of pictures holding, feeding, and kissing the rays.

 

ATV-ing in st Martin. We got there early but they had us wait and start out with the ships tour. We were disappointed. The group was huge and many were uncomfortable on ATVs; the group was constantly stopping to wait up for everyone. Then at the first stop another small group pulled up and the guide told us we were supposed to leave with them. Total of 5 ATVs in this group. Everyone was riding well and moving quickly so we were able to do a complete ride around the island including going up an off road hill to a great vantage point (only other way to get there was to hike). The ships group never would have made it up that hill.

 

It’s not just about saving money - it’s about having amazing experiences.

 

 

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[Daphne'sMom]

I will say that some of our "worst" excursions are also the ones that we recalled and laughed about many times later. They were a lot more memorable than the "eh that was nice" ones. Twice we have experienced our life flashing before our eyes while on a bus ride in Jamaica. Apparently from reading other posts this must be a requirement to get your license there.

[samiam0403]

I’ll caveat mine by saying we book with independent vendors these days, but in my early cruising days, I booked with the cruise lines. So my ‘worst excursion’ was over 15 years ago. Mine was Bamboo Beach Club in Jamaica - probably right when it opened. Beach was filthy, no bathrooms on the premises (we had to go next door to the public beach area), and service was terrible. The worst part: every time we’d walk to the bathroom, someone would offer us something in an escalating fashion - food, drink, pot, prostitutes, and finally a ‘little girl’. I was horrified. I consider myself a jaded and worldly traveler, but that was beyond awful.