RC Excursions Cancelled

[MrsHFQ]

On our latest cruise on Independence we had 3 RC excursions cancelled whilst on board (one with less than 24 hours notice). Last year we had 2 cancelled, before that , none. Is this a new trend or have we just been unfortunate?

[blackshirt]

Not a trend, just your bad luck.

[CruiseWendy]

I had two excursions cancelled on my cruise last month, all due to weather. Luck of the draw really!

 

[MrsHFQ]

7 minutes ago, CruiseWendy said:

I had two excursions cancelled on my cruise last month, all due to weather. Luck of the draw really!

 

None of ours has been to do with weather - just lack of participation - that's why I wondered if it was a trend. We were told it was bcause of the younger demographic on our cruise (school holidays, lots of children).

[njkruzer]

Several years ago a transfer from Harwich to Heathrow with a stop in Windsor was cancelled.  Had to take a different transfer, not as interesting.   Not much choice.

[rhuntington3]

Ouch.  That's too bad.

[Merion_Mom]

It's just your bad luck, but that's REALLY bad luck.

 

I hope that the rest of your cruise was wonderful.

[papaflamingo]

14 minutes ago, MrsHFQ said:

None of ours has been to do with weather - just lack of participation - that's why I wondered if it was a trend. We were told it was bcause of the younger demographic on our cruise (school holidays, lots of children).

It might be a bit of a trend only because more and more are booking third party tours and not cruise line tours.  There are generally some wonderful tours offered in many ports that are both cheaper and smaller groups and better itineraries.  We do third party as much as possible.  You  just need to research them a bit.  Go on the ports of call section and see what people are saying about the tours in the ports you are interested in.  Also check other websites and get a feel.  Ask around these boards.  I bet you can get an equivalent tour to the one you had cancelled, for equal or less money, and a better overall tour. 

[MrsHFQ]

15 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

It's just your bad luck, but that's REALLY bad luck.

 

I hope that the rest of your cruise was wonderful.

The rest of the cruise was indeed wonderful! We booked our next one on board 😊 - different ship (Anthem), never sailed on her before. We would be more than happy to book Independence again but she isn't sailing out of Southampton next year

[livylotte]

Our excursion for today was cancelled.  This has never happened to us before.

 

We are currently in Marseille.  With just over 24 hours notice our tour to Provence today was cancelled. I found a note on our cabin door telling us it was cancelled due to lack of participation.  Now, I'm mostly a positive person and so I shrugged my shoulders and had a look for an alternative.  The one suggested to me by RC was very similar except it wasn't so similar in price.  Back when I booked this tour I paid £53.95 per person  (8 hour Luberon Villages, Secrets of Provence).  The alternative they suggested was (7.5 hour Villages of Provence)  this was USD 129.75 per person.  I am finding it hard to believe that they sold 2 coaches (yes I saw them) of the latter yet were short of bookings for the former.  What I do think is that they sold the one I booked too cheap so they pulled it and then tried to upsell people to the more expensive alternative.  

 

We were offered 20% discount but even so it was way too much to pay.  In the end we booked a short 4 hour  scenic trip into Marseille and wandered round the port for l hour.  We were back onboard for lunch.  A disappointing day - but we made the most of it.  It has been scorching hot today so maybe not a bad thing to be back on board out of the searing heat.  

 

Captain has just sounded the horn and we are pulling out of port early so I'd better post quick before my connection goes.  

Edited August 25, 2019 by livylotte

[Merion_Mom]

44 minutes ago, MrsHFQ said:

The rest of the cruise was indeed wonderful! We booked our next one on board 😊 - different ship (Anthem), never sailed on her before. We would be more than happy to book Independence again but she isn't sailing out of Southampton next year

My prediction:  You will love the Anthem.  I do.  😄 

[travelplus]

51 minutes ago, livylotte said:

Our excursion for today was cancelled.  This has never happened to us before.

 

We are currently in Marseille.  With just over 24 hours notice our tour to Provence today was cancelled. I found a note on our cabin door telling us it was cancelled due to lack of participation.  Now, I'm mostly a positive person and so I shrugged my shoulders and had a look for an alternative.  The one suggested to me by RC was very similar except it wasn't so similar in price.  Back when I booked this tour I paid £53.95 per person  (8 hour Luberon Villages, Secrets of Provence).  The alternative they suggested was (7.5 hour Villages of Provence)  this was USD 129.75 per person.  I am finding it hard to believe that they sold 2 coaches (yes I saw them) of the latter yet were short of bookings for the former.  What I do think is that they sold the one I booked too cheap so they pulled it and then tried to upsell people to the more expensive alternative.  

 

We were offered 20% discount but even so it was way too much to pay.  In the end we booked a short 4 hour  scenic trip into Marseille and wandered round the port for l hour.  We were back onboard for lunch.  A disappointing day - but we made the most of it.  It has been scorching hot today so maybe not a bad thing to be back on board out of the searing heat.  

 

Captain has just sounded the horn and we are pulling out of port early so I'd better post quick before my connection goes.  

Honestly I think Royal should not charge you any more to select a new Excursion and even throw one in that includes a meal.   If its cancelled due to lack of participation that is out of your control and if its due to weather well that is good that they consider your comfort  and there should be alternatives to switch to but you have to be prepared for these cancellations.

 

At the very least Royal could offer you the refund plus additional OBC and you can either spend a day on board or get off shore and hire a Taxi for a tour.

 

Usually there are independent tour operators off shore who want to take you on a private tour. See about negotiating  a fair price and just go off ensuring you will be back well before the "All Aboard Time".

Its Bait and Switch if Royal sold the tour way to cheap and then try to upsell  you. You should be "Price Protected" on the new tour. 

 

Hope it works out.

 

Edited August 25, 2019 by travelplus

[MrsHFQ]

On 8/25/2019 at 5:50 PM, livylotte said:

Our excursion for today was cancelled.  This has never happened to us before.

 

We are currently in Marseille.  With just over 24 hours notice our tour to Provence today was cancelled. I found a note on our cabin door telling us it was cancelled due to lack of participation.  Now, I'm mostly a positive person and so I shrugged my shoulders and had a look for an alternative.  The one suggested to me by RC was very similar except it wasn't so similar in price.  Back when I booked this tour I paid £53.95 per person  (8 hour Luberon Villages, Secrets of Provence).  The alternative they suggested was (7.5 hour Villages of Provence)  this was USD 129.75 per person.  I am finding it hard to believe that they sold 2 coaches (yes I saw them) of the latter yet were short of bookings for the former.  What I do think is that they sold the one I booked too cheap so they pulled it and then tried to upsell people to the more expensive alternative.  

 

We were offered 20% discount but even so it was way too much to pay.  In the end we booked a short 4 hour  scenic trip into Marseille and wandered round the port for l hour.  We were back onboard for lunch.  A disappointing day - but we made the most of it.  It has been scorching hot today so maybe not a bad thing to be back on board out of the searing heat.  

 

Captain has just sounded the horn and we are pulling out of port early so I'd better post quick before my connection goes.  

That's interesting. As we booked online before our cruise, we got the excursions at a much cheaper price than they were onboard, so maybe there is an element of RC pricing excursions too cheaply then hiking the price way up so people are put off booking then they can cancel the excursion due to lack of participation.

 

You did well to be offered 20% off - we were only offered 10%, which we felt was WAY too low.

 

I have also noticed that RC tend to offer one or two almost identical excursions at the same port rather than a wider breadth of different experiences.

[MrsHFQ]

On 8/25/2019 at 4:57 PM, papaflamingo said:

It might be a bit of a trend only because more and more are booking third party tours and not cruise line tours.  There are generally some wonderful tours offered in many ports that are both cheaper and smaller groups and better itineraries.  We do third party as much as possible.  You  just need to research them a bit.  Go on the ports of call section and see what people are saying about the tours in the ports you are interested in.  Also check other websites and get a feel.  Ask around these boards.  I bet you can get an equivalent tour to the one you had cancelled, for equal or less money, and a better overall tour. 

I have looked at some 3rd party tours doing the same thing that the RC excursion is doing and have found them sometimes to be more expensive than the deal that RC have been offering, but I will look again for our next cruise to see what I can find. We did have 3 brilliant RC excursions (and 2 that were ok/good) on our latest cruise - the brilliant ones were down to amazing guides/drivers

[spookwife]

our Christmas Day  tour in Nassau was canceled.. because the tour operator never showed up.   we had opted to do a ship's tour( not our usual MO)  because we knew most of the shops and attractions would be closed.  all the other tours went on as scheduled.   ours  and one other by the same operator was canceled and of course being a Major holiday they were unable to throw something together last minute.  we had the refund credited as OBC before dinner.  I felt sorry for the CD and his staff who really tried very hard to make it right  yet were getting screamed at by angry pax.