Has anyone used "Get Your Guide" for a shore excursion?

[islandwoman]

Has anyone used "Get Your Guide" for a shore excursion? 

How was their charge coded on your credit card - travel or a different category?

 

Were you happy with Get Your Guide's service?

[GeezerCouple]

7 minutes ago, islandwoman said:

Has anyone used "Get Your Guide" for a shore excursion? 

How was their charge coded on your credit card - travel or a different category?

 

Were you happy with Get Your Guide's service?

 

First, we have not used this service...

We prefer independent/private excursions, so we almost never take the excursions offered by the cruise ship.

(Sometimes, we'll see if others on our Roll Call might be interested in joining us, such as if we charter a large catamaran.)

 

But we do *not* want to go through some third party.  We prefer to deal/plan with the actual guide or group.

 

We usually start by Googling something like

"Private tours, <location name>" and start reading.  Many of those are obviously not the actual guide service.

 

Then we email the ones that look interesting, telling them when and where and also what WE want to do/see/etc.

Some never write back, and that tells us what we need to know. 😉 

Others may send a form reply.

And then there are those who respond showing they read what we wrote and can help us or even have suggestions.

 

NOTE:  Before ending the planning, we always ask something like, "Give what we've written already, is there anything else that you would recommend for us that we might not be aware of?"

Even if they respond something like, "Well, you'd got the high points of the area already!", at least we know they are responsive.

 

We've had some really good experiences.  A guide for the Vatican had done his Ph.D. dissertation research in the private archives of the Vatican, so he really knew his way around.   A second day was spent with him at the Roman ruins.

 

Enjoy!

 

GC

[NotADopey1]

We used Get Your Guide in New Orleans. The tour was fun and the guide structured the tour to the small group.  Some were more ambulatory than others. We will do another tour through GYG. I don’t remember how the charge was categorized.  

[Nitemare]

I agree wtih @GeezerCouple.  GYG is a third party provider and we try to avoid those, especially in places like Iceland where weather can always affect your plans.  Trying to communicate to a provider thru a third party when time is of the essence is much more difficult than dealing with them directly.

 

I know with the other third party that starts with "V" that you can usually see the actual provider on their website.  Not sure if it's the same with GTG, but I'd try to figure out the actual provider and book directly.

 

[edinburgher]

On 6/26/2024 at 12:16 AM, islandwoman said:

Has anyone used "Get Your Guide" for a shore excursion? 

As others have alrady explained, Get your Guide is a middleman just like "V" so you may not know which tour providor you are actually booked with unless you can find it with internet searching.

 

And as the providor has to pay a commission to a middleman earning  less from the booking, booking directly with them means they actually benefit.  This is important for providors, especially so if they are smaller companies or individuals.

 

Do check their cancellation policies in their " Ts and "Cs" as they may not suit cruise passengers and the actual providor may have more favourable ones.

Edited Friday at 10:22 AM by edinburgher

[backbiter]

We booked an excursion with them to Halong Bay, Vietnam earlier this year. Did a fair bit of research online before booking, and the communication with the tour operator (based in Hanoi) was excellent. The tour itself was outstanding and tremendous value.