Excursion Frustration

[judi666]

I read so many complaints from people about passengers going on excursions that were too physically taxing and holding others up. I tried to be careful in choosing ones I thought I could handle.  Some of the descriptions have changed since I originally booked them, and have new ones now that I am on board Explorer. 
First one I did was a 2 and just very slightly difficult for me. I told the guide I was walking back to the bus at the meeting point instead of waiting for the whole group to return.  I noticed a few others did this as well.  No problem at all except, there were people late as usual. My FitBit tracker clocked in at 2.3 miles of walking.   Fast forward to the next  excursion rated as a 1.  First there was an over 1/2 mile  walk to the bus.  Getting to the destination with our absolutely incoherent and rude guide we walked 1 3/4 miles thru narrow streets at a fast pace with basically no stopping or narration on what we were seeing. It was a beautiful place with many photo opportunities, but if I paused to do so, was falling behind. Several people seemed frustrated and were struggling.  We had a Regent rep with us and to her credit, she did try to slow him down. Not that he paid the slightest heed.  We get back to the beginning of the walk and the guide starts going around again for round 2. Not every one noticed this, but those of us who did, mutinied.  Explanation was we had to go back and see something we missed.  So another 1/2 mile. The “thing” was closed and we stood around for 20 minutes while the “guide” argued with someone. Back to the bus... the rest was ok.  The total as per my Fitbit ( with another half mile from the bus to the ship) was over 3 miles of walking.   I can do it, but not every day.  If that was rated a 1, I’m unclear what to do about the rest of my included tours.  I have talked to the destination services, who were not exactly helpful about what I can expect. I don’t want to hold others up, but feel that considering the cost of the cruise, something should be available for those who find difficulties in walking considerable distances.

 

 

[Camillus112]

This situation is not exclusive to Regent.  In another line, and in lovely Valetta, the ship's excursion guide raced, not walked, through the streets talking, without even looking back to ensure she had followers!  DH and I can sprint, but we felt bad for those who stopped following and entered cafés, or got transportation back to the ship.  We made sure to notify guest services of the incident.  Although some received compensation, they were not happy  to have missed a lovely visit.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I hope you gave good feedback about the excursion to the Destinations people.  Bad review for the guide, and bad review for the organization of the tour overall.  Where was this?  Some stops just don't seem well organized, perhaps because the tourist infrastructure is lacking?  No excuse, it's happened to us, and we "live and learn".

 

We are also very dependent on accurate ratings for these tours, so all we can hope is that feedback from pax will make this system work better.

[Camillus112]

Wendy, this was a walking tour of historic Valetta, which would have been perfect if the guide had not been in such a hurry.  I notified both Destination/Guest Services and included my comments in the cruise evaluation.  

[rcandkc]

11 minutes ago, Camillus112 said:

Wendy, this was a walking tour of historic Valetta, which would have been perfect if the guide had not been in such a hurry.  I notified both Destination/Guest Services and included my comments in the cruise evaluation.  

My sons walk fast without realizing it and I have short legs and RA.  I have taught them that I can walk but not at their long legged pace.  In my opinion, the tour guides should go a moderate pace and if they stop occasionally to talk or look around the stragglers can catch up.  

[Floridiana]

1 hour ago, Camillus112 said:

... if the guide had not been in such a hurry.  I notified both Destination/Guest Services and included my comments in the cruise evaluation.  

 

Good move. I have experienced similar 'running' guides and don't like them at all. No time to look around and take pictures. We were recently in Mdina,  Malta and saw a tour group from the Regent Voyager. One lady 'rebelled', said she was going back to the bus. They were walking from the bus parking lot to the entrance bridge. Our guide walked at a leisurely pace and gave us some free time with a meeting spot for those who wanted it.

[ronrick1943]

I agree, without letting Regent know, they can't correct it.  Always (within reason) you should let Regent know, now if everything is wrong it may be you and not Regent.  Just saying...........

[Gcto]

it's mostly the guides who are hired by the local tour company and "do their job", but nothing more. We've experienced a tour in Santa Marta, Columbia where we had the regular Regent tour group distribution. Some where younger, some where older, some were very mobile, others not so. Our guide was a speed walker, which was not a real problem for the first part of the tour, but then an older couple fell back and had problems following up. The rest of the group started to also spread out with the tour guide leading (racing) ahead. We tried a few times to slow him down, but nothing changed. My wife stayed with the couple while I was walking ahead, trying to keep track of the guide and others, than racing back to tell her where they went. 

Fortunately, I had a city map and could also find our way to the bus. When we got there, he complained that we were late and I asked him what he expected us to do ? He had no answer. 

Back to the ship, I told destination about the incident with bus number and tour guide name (first name only ). Not sure what happened...

[JMARINER]

You should ask to speak to the Shore Excursion MANAGER. I think that you explained your situation in a cogent manner and the Manger should address your concerns personally. He (she) might not know of the extent of yours and the other passengers displeasure and difficulties with that tour operator or that particular guide.  Maybe it was a new operator for Regent; of maybe an old one that  needs to be changed.

 

J

[Camillus112]

Just to clarify, in my particular case, it was not with Regent...my first Regent cruise will be in February and am looking forward.

[mj_holiday]

When I book excursions, I make sure that I am booking at the one or two level.  On our last cruise I kept track of what the rating was and when we got onboard I double checked the ratings.  Some of the ratings were increased, but no notification as to this change, even though they had made annotations about other changes to varies excursions.  Even two different tours at different ports that have a one rating can end up very different in the effort required.  This makes it very difficult for someone trying to not get on a tour that they cannot keep up with.  On two tours we had on our last cruise, DH and I spoke up.  One because suddenly there was a lot (I mean a lot) of steps (not in the description) and the other because the guide was going just too fast and didn't check to make sure everyone made it through a light (very large city) and then other people spoke up.  It seems people are hesitant to speak up because there is a lot people that get upset if someone on the tour slows the group down.  I did report the changes of difficulty on our cruise survey.  I am not sure what the solution is.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

19 hours ago, Camillus112 said:

Wendy, this was a walking tour of historic Valetta, which would have been perfect if the guide had not been in such a hurry.  I notified both Destination/Guest Services and included my comments in the cruise evaluation.  

Thanks.  We did a similar tour a couple of years back, of Mdina, and the tour guide was great, too bad yours was rushed.  It also was not with Regent, btw.

 

17 hours ago, Gcto said:

it's mostly the guides who are hired by the local tour company and "do their job", but nothing more. We've experienced a tour in Santa Marta, Columbia where we had the regular Regent tour group distribution. ...

 

We had a bad experience at a stop in Santa Marta as well, although it was not in the city, but in a national park.  

 

I suspect that in these cases, the guide is trying to "cover" the route and the sights they've contracted to show us.  And no doubt they would get in trouble with their bosses if they routinely didn't.  So this is a disconnect of some kind.  I know in Santa Marta, we had to practically force our (very nice) guide to truncate our tour, but before he'd do that, he had to check with his bosses and probably with Regent.  In that location I believe it's mostly a matter of lack of tourist infrastructure and lack of experience.

[poss]

I'm getting pretty worried about this "can't keep up" thing.   Like others, I always check carefully the difficulty rating (thanks for the reminder to check again when on board), but I've found that those ratings are often "off" (in both directions).   I know how angry some people get when someone can't keep up — there's sure been plenty of talk (venom, almost) about that on the Regent board —  and I worry a lot about inadvertently becoming one of the "monsters."    Indeed, I've found cruising a bit less fun since we're no longer able to participate in the kinds of activities we used to most prefer.    Still feel very lucky to be able to take a cruise, but since we're not the stay-on-ship kind of people, it's definitely not the same.   But then what is?    

[wripro]

PRIVATE TOURS. That way you control everything including where, when and especially HOW you will visit sights. One of the main reasons Regent's included tours, to me, are a waste of money.

[SWFLAOK]

Regent does a better job than many other cruise lines of describing the difficulty of the excursion, and what that difficulty is. I have an extreme fear of heights so I look for that in the excursion description. If I see it,  I look for reviews to see if others had problems. There are sometimes changes once you board in the information given you in your cabin, so that is the time to cancel if it's changed to more difficult, or sign up if it's been changed to easier.

We're mid 60's in reasonably good shape and can easily walk 4 or 5 miles on trails in Florida which are mostly flat, with hot and humid conditions. Before our Med Cruise, I did the 10 flights of our condo stairs every other day for 2 months since we expected to walk many steps on our excursions.

We had no problem doing the excursions that were listed as strenuous on our Med cruise, despite the extreme temperatures in July. There were many people who struggled, even with flat walking in Florence, and we could predict who they would be while leaving the ship since they found getting from the ship to the bus as a strenuous walk in the summer heat. Some of them held the tour up and prevented us from seeing everything we expected. Others relented and paid for transportation back to the ship, which the guide arranged for them.

I think wipro has a good suggestion with the private tour. It might cost more, but you can see what you want at your own pace, and get off the ship for at least half a day.

[Floridiana]

Racing through an interesting area is never a good guide job. And that has nothing to do with the fitness level of the participants.

[judi666]

On 11/17/2019 at 10:53 PM, ronrick1943 said:

I agree, without letting Regent know, they can't correct it.  Always (within reason) you should let Regent know, now if everything is wrong it may be you and not Regent.  Just saying...........

What an amazingly negative post!  I explained in detail and mentioned a Regent rep was with us and I did talk destination desk.  I wanted to have the best info so as not to be an inconvenience to others. BTW I have been on several other excursions since that one. 3 were rated a 2 walker and I had no trouble with them. Today I did a 3 walk rated tour, as was a 4x4 excursion. I drive a 4x4 vehicle and could not see anything in the description or video that would cause a problem.  The tour itself was very good and never left paved roads. The walking involved was less than 1/3 mile.  The only small issue I had was there was no mention of a very high step to get in the vehicle. I’m only 4’10”

so it was a bit high. The driver had a stool

and helped me in and out. I wasn’t the only one and I’m sure I didn’t inconvenience anyone. My issue is with not being able to trust the rating system.  

 

 

[judi666]

On 11/18/2019 at 4:55 PM, poss said:

I'm getting pretty worried about this "can't keep up" thing.   Like others, I always check carefully the difficulty rating (thanks for the reminder to check again when on board), but I've found that those ratings are often "off" (in both directions).   I know how angry some people get when someone can't keep up — there's sure been plenty of talk (venom, almost) about that on the Regent board —  and I worry a lot about inadvertently becoming one of the "monsters."    Indeed, I've found cruising a bit less fun since we're no longer able to participate in the kinds of activities we used to most prefer.    Still feel very lucky to be able to take a cruise, but since we're not the stay-on-ship kind of people, it's definitely not the same.   But then what is?    

I agree. There has been so much vitriol about the excursions, I have tried to be ultra careful. It has definitely taken some joy out the activity. Regent is a very nice cruise line, but not quite the heaven on earth that many who regularly post would have you think.  I think for many people ( myself included ) private small

tours are a better answer.  It’s too bad the excursions are not an option, as are several other things, like the BC air, precruise hotel and transfers etc.  

[ronrick1943]

2 hours ago, judi666 said:

What an amazingly negative post!  I explained in detail and mentioned a Regent rep was with us and I did talk destination desk.  I wanted to have the best info so as not to be an inconvenience to others. BTW I have been on several other excursions since that one. 3 were rated a 2 walker and I had no trouble with them. Today I did a 3 walk rated tour, as was a 4x4 excursion. I drive a 4x4 vehicle and could not see anything in the description or video that would cause a problem.  The tour itself was very good and never left paved roads. The walking involved was less than 1/3 mile.  The only small issue I had was there was no mention of a very high step to get in the vehicle. I’m only 4’10”

so it was a bit high. The driver had a stool

and helped me in and out. I wasn’t the only one and I’m sure I didn’t inconvenience anyone. My issue is with not being able to trust the rating system.  

 

 

 

Sorry, I wasn't talking about you.  I've had some bad tours myself-in fact once we got off the Van and took a taxi back to the ship 

and talked to DS.  I've also seen people complain about nothing-just because.  I should have made them two different comments.  Again sorry the way I worded it.

[poss]

What was the "amazingly negative post"?     I didn't especially feel that any of the recent posts were negative, let alone "amazingly negative."    Just curious.

[califsealion]

I did find the whole excursion choosing process with my mom difficult.  I was specifically going for the seated tours, but there were times the other tours (the level 1 and 2 tours) almost sounded easier on paper.  One of our seated tours turned into a level 2 tour once we were on the ship.  I had a difficult time getting an answer about why the change took place, I guess I should have talked directly to the manager.  In the end, it was cold that day, so my mom opted to stay behind...

[judi666]

7 hours ago, poss said:

What was the "amazingly negative post"?     I didn't especially feel that any of the recent posts were negative, let alone "amazingly negative."    Just curious.

One was opining it may have been my fault for complaining. Poster did apologize as misstated what they meant.

[judi666]

8 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

 

Sorry, I wasn't talking about you.  I've had some bad tours myself-in fact once we got off the Van and took a taxi back to the ship 

and talked to DS.  I've also seen people complain about nothing-just because.  I should have made them two different comments.  Again sorry the way I worded it.

Thanks I just took it the wrong way.

[flossie009]

When on a Regent cruise we try to remember to give feedback in person to Destination Services - both positive & negative.

This includes noting if the description, including walking person symbols, is inaccurate. 

[DeepFreeze63]

This morning I selected on-line our excursions for the July 2020 cruise on Explorere to Iceland/Greenland. I identified our preferences from a Regent Pdf description they emailed us when I requested such 3 days ago. Yes, it had the "walker" icons BUT it ALSO had a final paragraph, for each excursion offered, that stated the approximated mileage and/or duration of the walking PLUS any significant steps or inclines. In summ,ary, my OPINION is that Regent does a good job in alerting people - if they make use of the info.

I also think that Regent's use of NCL tour vendors has been a negative.