Booking excursions through Viator

[Cruisefanatic71]

I wanted to inquire if anyone has used Viator for their Alaska excursions when in port? What was your experience with them? Was it easy to navigate pickup or meeting locations for your excursion? I usually either do a self guided tour of the port we sre at or I look for private tours at the port. I have been looking at the Viator website and they have some excursions that I am thinking about purchasing. Thank you for all your input. 

[martincath]

Viator just resell other people's tours, and usually at a markup - if you were visiting Foreign Lands with language issues, perhaps the comfort of an English language site and a contact number would be a benefit, but all that it does on your 'home turf' is add an extra layer of Things That Can Go Wrong at worst, and Delays Reaching Anyone at best (because you have to call them, not the tour provider, if there's any issue).

 

So if you have found a tour on Viator you like, try to simply Copy and Paste a chunk of the tour description into Google - they're incredibly lazy and generally just copy the actual tour providers spiels word for word, so you should find the folks running the tour very easily, then be able to book directly! Even if it's a tour they are not marking up, all the funds will go direct to the folks running it instead of padding the purse of the middlemen...

[Coral]

I prefer to book direct and not towards booking companies like Viator.

[CruiserBruce]

Book through one of the many recommended vendors directly. Better for everyone. 

[Coral]

20 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Book through one of the many recommended vendors directly. Better for everyone. 

I agree so the vendor doesn't have to give up a %.

[disneyochem]

Short answer to your question is that I don’t have much experience with Viator in Alaska—I’m using them in Alaska for the first time next summer.  I usually book directly or DIY.  My experience with Viator in other parts of the world (3x) have been positive—-Costa Rica, Roatan, Mexico

 

When I do use Viator,  I use ‘book now, pay later.’  I like not having to put a chunk of change down on an expensive excursion a year or more in advance.  Sometimes my hubby or traveling companions will change their minds about going on an excursion.   For example, we have an Anan bear tour booked for August 2024.  I called the vendor—they required payment in full when booking with no refund.  The same tour was offered on Viator—I booked the day/time I wanted with no money down.  Cost for four (hubby and kids) is about $2000. (One of my daughters is not sure if she’ll be comfortable with flying in the small plane.  She’s a bit of a nervous flyer so I don’t want to commit $500 if she ends up not going.)
 

[donaldsc]

Besides all the other issues mentioned there is another really big problem w Viator and w any other tour consolidator - they always book tours that they do not actually have guides for at the moment that you book the tour.  This is probably not a problem in AK but it can be a problem in other places.  What happens is that when Viator accepts your booking they then go out and try to find a guide.  If they can't find one they send you send you emails saying that they are still looking and repeat this process until you get the e-mail that says "sorry that we couldn't find a guide so your booking is cancelled."  This happened to me several times when I was trying to get tours for my Japan trip.  Luckily I realized what was happening and went ahead and got guides on my own.

 

I will emphasize another important thing is that you should always try to book with a guide or guide group where you can communicate directly with the guide.  When you book w Viator and have questions this is what happens - you call or chat w a person at Viator who has no idea exactly what you are asking because they don't  know anything about the place that you are visiting; the rep contacts the guide or guide company but since they don't know about the area where you are going they get the question to the guide wrong or confusing; the guide hopefully gets back to Viator at some indefinite time in the future; at a later time the Viator rep gets back to you or maybe he never gets back to you and the answer that you get is useless.  

 

Here is another thing that you are probably unaware of which is related to my comments in the first paragraph.  Especially for Anan Viator is almost certainly selling you tours that they do not have now and may never get.  The way Anan works is that sometime in February 2014 the US Forest Service will allott permits for the upcoming year.  There are only 60 permits issued for each day and there 19 companies looking for permits so most of the companies will not get many spots.  Island Wings which is one of the companies that does cruise company Anan tours got only 60 permits for the ENTIRE summer.  We have done 4 Anan trips w Breakaway which operates out of Wringell and they got about 400 for the ENTIRE summer.  I am sure that some of the companies do some trading of spots but there is no way that Viator can or should be "selling" you spots that they don't have now or even know if they will be abet to get.  Why should Breakaway or Island Wings sell spots at a discount if they can use them for their own tours.  If they do not sell them at a discount but at their current market value Viator is going to have to charge a very high price for Anan tours as compared to the price you could get them for w a tour company. 

 

Remember that there are only a total of 3120 Anan slots available for the entire summer spread over about 2 months and 19 permit holders.  Bottom line is that I will not say that Viator is lying to you but they are leaving out a lot of the story.

 

I do hope that you do get to visit Anan.  It is a great place to visit.

 

DON

 

 

[disneyochem]

1 hour ago, donaldsc said:

Besides all the other issues mentioned there is another really big problem w Viator and w any other tour consolidator - they always book tours that they do not actually have guides for at the moment that you book the tour.  This is probably not a problem in AK but it can be a problem in other places.  What happens is that when Viator accepts your booking they then go out and try to find a guide.  If they can't find one they send you send you emails saying that they are still looking and repeat this process until you get the e-mail that says "sorry that we couldn't find a guide so your booking is cancelled."  This happened to me several times when I was trying to get tours for my Japan trip.  Luckily I realized what was happening and went ahead and got guides on my own.

 

I will emphasize another important thing is that you should always try to book with a guide or guide group where you can communicate directly with the guide.  When you book w Viator and have questions this is what happens - you call or chat w a person at Viator who has no idea exactly what you are asking because they don't  know anything about the place that you are visiting; the rep contacts the guide or guide company but since they don't know about the area where you are going they get the question to the guide wrong or confusing; the guide hopefully gets back to Viator at some indefinite time in the future; at a later time the Viator rep gets back to you or maybe he never gets back to you and the answer that you get is useless.  

 

Here is another thing that you are probably unaware of which is related to my comments in the first paragraph.  Especially for Anan Viator is almost certainly selling you tours that they do not have now and may never get.  The way Anan works is that sometime in February 2014 the US Forest Service will allott permits for the upcoming year.  There are only 60 permits issued for each day and there 19 companies looking for permits so most of the companies will not get many spots.  Island Wings which is one of the companies that does cruise company Anan tours got only 60 permits for the ENTIRE summer.  We have done 4 Anan trips w Breakaway which operates out of Wringell and they got about 400 for the ENTIRE summer.  I am sure that some of the companies do some trading of spots but there is no way that Viator can or should be "selling" you spots that they don't have now or even know if they will be abet to get.  Why should Breakaway or Island Wings sell spots at a discount if they can use them for their own tours.  If they do not sell them at a discount but at their current market value Viator is going to have to charge a very high price for Anan tours as compared to the price you could get them for w a tour company. 

 

Remember that there are only a total of 3120 Anan slots available for the entire summer spread over about 2 months and 19 permit holders.  Bottom line is that I will not say that Viator is lying to you but they are leaving out a lot of the story.

 

I do hope that you do get to visit Anan.  It is a great place to visit.

 

DON

 

 

I’m fully aware of what it takes to go on an Anan bear tour —haven’t gone as much as you but we’ve gone twice before!  I think we should be okay.  Viator didn’t confirm the tour until the tour provider confirmed our spots.  I called the tour provider afterwards to make sure we were booked.  They say they have us confirmed on our date.  We used this provider previously so am pretty confident they’ll get the permits/slots to visit.