$500 deposit for ATV excursion

[corky441]

My husband and I are booked on the Serenade of the Seas 10 night Southern Caribbean cruise next April.

 

I've been looking at the shore excursions offered and I've found that both ATV excursions are requiring a $500 per person damage deposit

 

I've never had to put down a deposit when doing this type of excursion before.

 

Has anyone else experienced this ?? If you have, how did it work out ?

[Waterluv]

I’m glad you asked this question. We sail on the Allure this Sunday and we normally always do ATVs or the buggies but I saw the $500 deposit so $1000 for us and I have never seen this requested or done it in the past. We opted to pass and chose something else it just seemed weird I know you are responsible if you cause damage that’s standard but it made me think that maybe they tend to find damage where there is none 🙄 I definitely don’t want to waste time arguing with a vendor while on vacation. I’m interested to hear from others with actual experience.

[twangster]

Very normal in Colorado for ATV rentals.  Normally a hold on a credit card.

 

 It’s very difficult to get money out of people after damage is done.   Start walking away and leave the country within hours.  Put yourself in the tour operator’s position.  

[gatour]

Back in the day, rental car companies would run scams, where after checking a car back in they would say you caused damage, even though the car was already damaged.

 

Whenever picking up the car...

 

I would make the agent check out the car with me, documenting any defect no matter how minor.  We would both initial off on the damage. I would even take photographs of the car.

 

If you want to rent an ATV, I would suggest you do the same.

[Merion_Mom]

Damage to you or damage to the vehicle?  😉 

[cruisegus]

There are plenty of ATV companies out there on the Caribbean Islands that DO NOT ask for any kind of deposit for damage.

I am assuming that this is an excursion through the ship, if so, In my opinion shame on Royal for allowing one their tour operators to do some thing like this, they should drop that operator like a hot potato.

That is what these ATV companies should have insurance for, its not like their Cadillac's and cost 50-60K

[Bases5]

15 hours ago, corky441 said:

My husband and I are booked on the Serenade of the Seas 10 night Southern Caribbean cruise next April.

 

I've been looking at the shore excursions offered and I've found that both ATV excursions are requiring a $500 per person damage deposit

 

I've never had to put down a deposit when doing this type of excursion before.

 

Has anyone else experienced this ?? If you have, how did it work out ?

Where is this particular excursion at ?

[brillohead]

I would ask if they will take a credit card number hold for the deposit, rather than having to pay cash up front and get refunded afterward.  

This is similar to a hotel having a credit card number on file "for incidentals" even if you pay cash for the room rate or have a prepaid room -- if something comes up, they have a way to cover the cost.  

[springfire]

We have done ATV tours a few times in the caribbean and we have never been asked to pay a $500 deposit or anything approaching that.

[Bases5]

San Juan ATV 

 

Permit or learner driver license not permitted to drive. One (1) person per vehicle; no passengers. All drivers must present a valid driver's license and an active credit card for a $500 (refundable) damage deposit in the event of an incident caused by the driver's negligence resulting in property damage to vehicle/vessel or other structures. Guests must bring Visa or Master Card for damages deposit hold before the excursion. Guests must be of legal age to consume alcohol.

[not-enough-cruising]

10 hours ago, cruisegus said:

There are plenty of ATV companies out there on the Caribbean Islands that DO NOT ask for any kind of deposit for damage.

I am assuming that this is an excursion through the ship, if so, In my opinion shame on Royal for allowing one their tour operators to do some thing like this, they should drop that operator like a hot potato.

That is what these ATV companies should have insurance for, its not like their Cadillac's and cost 50-60K

“shame on Royal”?  I am sure Royal Caribbean knew of the vendor’s security deposit policy when they were granted the contract. Why would you drop a vendor “like a hot potato” for taking steps, very much in-line with the industry?

If the security deposit is a deal breaker I would look for another vendor (actually I would have already looked at another vendor because I rarely book ship sponsored excursions) 

[cruisegus]

6 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

“shame on Royal”?  I am sure Royal Caribbean knew of the vendor’s security deposit policy when they were granted the contract. Why would you drop a vendor “like a hot potato” for taking steps, very much in-line with the industry?

If the security deposit is a deal breaker I would look for another vendor (actually I would have already looked at another vendor because I rarely book ship sponsored excursions) 

Then Royal Caribbean should review their policy on vendors they use, this is VERY out of line for this industry.  As proof of it being "out of line for this industry" you have to look no further to the posts in this thread confirming that none of the posters have ever encountered this when booking this type of excursion, either through the cruise line or on there own. 

 

In my opinion it is best not to mislead new cruisers into thinking this is a common practice or even acceptable.

Edited August 18, 2019 by cruisegus

[bplazo]

We never book excursions through the ship.

[RG306]

Never have nor would I ever pay that kind of deposit.  At most, we've had excursions that sell additional insurance for $25-50 per vehicle.That would be more reasonable. 

[not-enough-cruising]

3 hours ago, cruisegus said:

Then Royal Caribbean should review their policy on vendors they use, this is VERY out of line for this industry.  As proof of it being "out of line for this industry" you have to look no further to the posts in this thread confirming that none of the posters have ever encountered this when booking this type of excursion, either through the cruise line or on there own. 

 

In my opinion it is best not to mislead new cruisers into thinking this is a common practice or even acceptable.

I guess it depends where you are coming from (geographically) in my area this type of “credit card hold” is 100% normal. $500 isn’t even that bad, we regularly go to a lake in our area and rent a houseboat for family outings and put down anywhere from $5000-$7500 security deposit on our card. 

We rented an RV in 2017 for a road trip Grand Teton National Park and had a $5000 damage deposit hold placed on our card. 

[cruisegus]

3 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

I guess it depends where you are coming from (geographically) in my area this type of “credit card hold” is 100% normal. $500 isn’t even that bad, we regularly go to a lake in our area and rent a houseboat for family outings and put down anywhere from $5000-$7500 security deposit on our card. 

We rented an RV in 2017 for a road trip Grand Teton National Park and had a $5000 damage deposit hold placed on our card. 

I can now see why you may think it is somewhat normal, but both of the examples that you use are very high dollar items and a little more unique.  Houseboat I"m sure is in the $100k range as I know almost any RV is (not talking a towed trailer but an actual RV).  Again I would have been a little surprised that those companies didn't just offer an insurance option, or maybe the security deposit is if you decide to self insure. 

 

Remember we are talking here about relatively cheap ATV,s here, just looked at new one on web, $8000-12000 for major name brands.  Yes there is some freight charges to get them to an island, but still on the relatively cheap side.  Besides on the tours I have been on, most are not even nearly new vehicles.  We will be doing our 4th ATV type tour with-in the last 2 years at Cozumel this time in Nov and none of the companies have asked for a security/damage deposit yet. 

 

So I'm still thinking this is out of the normal.  But who knows it could be the NEW normal.  The good thing is we will know as issues like this continue to surface on these forums.

[parrotfeathers]

On 8/17/2019 at 8:22 PM, gatour said:

Back in the day, rental car companies would run scams, where after checking a car back in they would say you caused damage, even though the car was already damaged.

 

Whenever picking up the car...

 

I would make the agent check out the car with me, documenting any defect no matter how minor.  We would both initial off on the damage. I would even take photographs of the car.

 

Other side of the coin--I noticed when I took my car in for service in another bay there was a tech taking a video of the car beside me.  I asked why they did that to that car and he said every car was completely videoed before it went to the back.  

[brillohead]

4 hours ago, cruisegus said:

Then Royal Caribbean should review their policy on vendors they use, this is VERY out of line for this industry.  As proof of it being "out of line for this industry" you have to look no further to the posts in this thread confirming that none of the posters have ever encountered this when booking this type of excursion, either through the cruise line or on there own. 

 

In my opinion it is best not to mislead new cruisers into thinking this is a common practice or even acceptable.

Actually, I've been researching excursions for ports of call on five of my upcoming cruises, and I have certainly seen mention of security deposits for ATVs, scooters, and motorcycles.  

If I recall correctly, it was more common for rentals where you went off on your own with the vehicle, versus the "follow the leader" type excursion where you're basically a kindergartener on a school field trip.  But I definitely did see mention of security deposits more than once in my research.