Shore Trips and Tours - Tauranga

[jshli]

Has anyone used this company for tours of Tauranga? They have very good reviews and offer the tour we are interested in, but according to their website, if we miss the ship, they will help in arranging transportation to our next port, but will not be responsible for the cost. They claim that they have never missed a ship in the 15 years they have been in business and have received a Certificate of Excellence Award from Trip Advisor. I would appreciate any feedback.

Edited February 24, 2019 by Host Bonjour
need location to attract interest

[GUT2407]

Never used them, but ant tour co that services cruise ships will be careful to get you back on time, they’d soon go broke otherwise.

[mr walker]

We have tours for our upcoming NZ cruise (Radiance OTS 24-Jan) booked thru Shore Trips and Tours ( and others). My understanding is that they are tour "sellers", not the actual tour operators, so similar to Viator etc. We have been emailed vouchers and instructions on how to find our tours after we get off the ship.

 

We have used independent tour companies in NZ previously &, as Mr Gut says, the tour companies are ultra aware on timing, and that they would have big problems if they caused people to miss the ship. 

[kurgan]

On ‎1‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 7:22 AM, jshli said:

Has anyone used this company for tours of Tauranga? They have very good reviews and offer the tour we are interested in, but according to their website, if we miss the ship, they will help in arranging transportation to our next port, but will not be responsible for the cost. They claim that they have never missed a ship in the 15 years they have been in business and have received a Certificate of Excellence Award from Trip Advisor. I would appreciate any feedback.

We used this company recently for tour to Rotorua and Polynesian spa, all was  smooth, had no problem.

[jshli]

Thank you.

[Cruise___master]

Yes, make sure you are going through the actual tour operator themselves. They have their reputation at stake so will not sell you a tour they know will not meet your sail time. The agents don’t care and will sell you anything under the sun. When something goes wrong, they will just blame the tour operator! 

[simpsol]

I wasn’t going to post until another condescending email arrived yesterday.  We had an issue with one tour.  If you have a problem and try to address it, the reply emails are belittling and condescending.  Attitude seems to be customer is always wrong.  Details don’t matter.  My beef is the arrogance of the replies.  Which btw I expect another one on here as they assured me they would respond.  Professionalism is not their strong point 

[GUT2407]

26 minutes ago, simpsol said:

I wasn’t going to post until another condescending email arrived yesterday.  We had an issue with one tour.  If you have a problem and try to address it, the reply emails are belittling and condescending.  Attitude seems to be customer is always wrong.  Details don’t matter.  My beef is the arrogance of the replies.  Which btw I expect another one on here as they assured me they would respond.  Professionalism is not their strong point 

I’m not sure I understand who or what you are referring to.

[simpsol]

43 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

I’m not sure I understand who or what you are referring to.

The tour group - Shore Trips and Tours.  And my experience with them when I encountered a problem 

[matamanoa]

We used them in Dunedin and had a wonderful day - no problems

[simpsol]

Yes they were fine on the other tours we had with them.  My point is simply if there is an issue, their customer skills are sorely lacking. 

[Swissmiss6253]

We have used them a few times, the tours were fine, no complaints.  They ran tour we were closest to the last back on the ship with though. The driver/tour guide was so enthusiastic about showing us his beloved NZ that he kept throwing in another place to go well past the time the tour should have ended.  At 5pm when the last on board was 5:30 pm he said we had time to go to one more place and see his favourite beach, we all revolted and said we had to get back to the ship.  We got back on at 5:15 so he was probably right but we were all very stressed!

[dkata]

We had booked with Shore Trips and Tours at Tauranga for Hobbiton and Rotarua, but our ship encountered a cyclone and had to cancel that port stop. The company knew before the passengers did that the ship wasn't going to make the port call and emailed to tell us and gave us a full refund, no questions asked. We had great customer service for that incident!