Issues With Shore Excursion Best Price Guarantee

[aborgman]

3 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

The real question is whether the changes they did set them apart from the rest of the industry.  

 

Nope. As far as I can tell every cruise line has had a decline in service post COVID.

 

I'm not asserting that Carnival is unusual in their service decline, just that service has declined.

 

Now, comparing them with competitors makes them look worse - because while cruise line service has largely declined across the board, that is significantly less true for many land based vacation competition.

Edited Thursday at 07:21 PM by aborgman

[kdr69]

7 hours ago, young_k92 said:

I'm glad you are at an age where you enjoy the amusement parks of the sea. I, however, am 50 and remember the days of actual cruising. No, I work too hard for my money to forgive crappy service, 1 to 1-1/2 wait times for dinner, once daily room cleaning, poor ship upkeep, and a clientele that has devolved from Walmart of the Seas (I'm a Walmart person BTW) to Roadhouse-at-3am of the Seas. But thank you. You proved my point about Carnival cheerleaders quite well. The OP is 100 percent correct.

Why all the Royal Caribbean references(of the seas)? lol, I think most all of us work hard for our money btw.  Not sure how you would remember "the days of actual cruising" wasnt that in the 20's and 30's? 😉 I am a Cheerleader, a "Cruising" Cheerleader and if your done with a Cruise line based on one ship and one cruise then no matter what Cruise line you choose you will eventually be disatisfied. You will see the same comment on every other cruise line board - Im never sailing MSC again Im never sailing Princess again Im never sailing Royal again etc etc etc.    

[jimbo5544]

6 minutes ago, aborgman said:

 

Nope. As far as I can tell every cruise line has had a decline in service post COVID.

 

I'm not asserting that Carnival is unusual in their service decline, just that service has declined.

 

Now, comparing them with competitors makes them look worse - because while cruise line service has largely declined across the board, that is significantly less true for many land based vacation competition.

glad we got your view.  Comparing cruise lines to land based similarity is just plain foolish.  We have dragged that thru the mud before.  Nope right back at you.

Edited Thursday at 07:27 PM by jimbo5544

[kdr69]

6 hours ago, tdnosnhoj11 said:

It’s truly not the money. It’s the fact that Carnival has a practically impossible “guarantee” and isn’t honoring the guidelines. If they had a perfectly reasonable explanation, this wouldn’t be an issue for me. 

Am not sure i truly understand the explanation though.  Are you saying that they refused the guaruntee because you couldnt get off the ship in time?

[aborgman]

16 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

glad we got your view.  Comparing cruise lines to land based similarity is just plain foolish.  We have dragged that thru the mud before.  Nope right back at you.

 

Land based vacations are competition for Carnival just like other cruise lines are.

 

Foolish? Most people who sail on a cruise ship compared cruise lines to land based vacations in their decision making process.

 

Disney, all inclusive resorts, staycations - ALL are competition for cruising.

[firefly333]

I can buy the exact same excursion from rcl as carnival and carnival does not discount so it's cheaper thru royal. I just booked a excursion for bonaire today on royal for 30% off. I buy all mi e on royal 35% off year before last black friday 30% off. It is what it is. Carnival just doesnt do pre boarding sales like royal.

 

On the other hand I booked several on my journey cruise. I still want to feed the ostriches in curacao lol. The other 2 met in the theater and I didnt read the instructions clearly for feeding the ostriches. Supposed to meet at 9 am. I was there by 9:05 bus pulled away. For a extra $10 i did some submarine excursion instead. Since wasnt discounted, i didnt lose any money switching, the one I switched to happened to be $10 more full price.

 

They just dont discount. But it was nkce of them they allowed me to switch to 2 others. One was a beach excursion and I was dressed in jeans to go to the ostrich farm. People who went all liked it, good reviews. It's on my list for another time.sigh. .. I was the one who messed up though. The submarine imo wasnt terrific. Few fish and a few coral and stuff. But it was better than losing my money. They could have said too bad you snooze you lose.

[jimbo5544]

18 minutes ago, aborgman said:

 

Land based vacations are competition for Carnival just like other cruise lines are.

 

Foolish? Most people who sail on a cruise ship compared cruise lines to land based vacations in their decision making process.

 

Disney, all inclusive resorts, staycations - ALL are competition for cruising.

apples and orangutans.  I do not argue they are not competition, just totally different.

[jimbo5544]

2 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I can buy the exact same excursion from rcl as carnival and carnival does not discount so it's cheaper thru royal. I just booked a excursion for bonaire today on royal for 30% off. I buy all mi e on royal 35% off year before last black friday 30% off. It is what it is. Carnival just doesnt do pre boarding sales like royal.

 

On the other hand I booked several on my journey cruise. I still want to feed the ostriches in curacao lol. The other 2 met in the theater and I didnt read the instructions clearly for feeding the ostriches. Supposed to meet at 9 am. I was there by 9:05 bus pulled away. For a extra $10 i did some submarine excursion instead. Since wasnt discounted, i didnt lose any money switching, the one I switched to happened to be $10 more full price.

 

They just dont discount. But it was nkce of them they allowed me to switch to 2 others. One was a beach excursion and I was dressed in jeans to go to the ostrich farm. People who went all liked it, good reviews. It's on my list for another time.sigh. .. I was the one who messed up though. The submarine imo wasnt terrific. Few fish and a few coral and stuff. But it was better than losing my money. They could have said too bad you snooze you lose.

in a literal sense.

[firefly333]

11 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

apples and orangutans.  I do not argue they are not competition, just totally different.

For me as a solo I'm not I terested in a land vacation  u less I'm visiting relatives. 

 

For me doesnt matter what land vacations cost, I'm going to cruise. Not comparable as solo it wouldnt be fun to go alone to a romantic beach destination. I cruise because excursions I'm with others and on the cruise. I do excursions thru the cruiseline to have company.

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, aborgman said:

 

Did it? My January 2019 cruise they were still servicing rooms 2x per day.

 

No bacon every day is a post COVID decline in service.

Charge for room service is a post COVID decline in service.

Pizza not being 24 hours is a post COVID decline in service.
 

Servicing of cabins once per day started pre-covid. The price of pork and so bacon skyrocketed post-covid. Bacon is still available everyday on Carnival. Carnival was charging for many room service items pre-covid. Pizza is available 24 hours.

[sparks1093]

2 hours ago, aborgman said:

 

Did it? My January 2019 cruise they were still servicing rooms 2x per day.

 

No bacon every day is a post COVID decline in service.

Charge for room service is a post COVID decline in service.

Pizza not being 24 hours is a post COVID decline in service.
 

I can eat the bacon now, an improvement in service over what they used to serve even if it is every other day. They had little on their old room service menu that interested me. The new menu has a nominal charge but the food is really good and in can be delivered anywhere on the ship, including the pizza so I count that as an overall improvement. Yes, Carnival has made some changes but overall as I said I did not experience a decline in quality. 

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, aborgman said:

 

Land based vacations are competition for Carnival just like other cruise lines are.

 

Foolish? Most people who sail on a cruise ship compared cruise lines to land based vacations in their decision making process.

 

Disney, all inclusive resorts, staycations - ALL are competition for cruising.

Have you priced out a 7 day Disney vacation this decade?

 

They may compete for vacation dollars, but they aren't competition.

[teknoge3k]

Yes, the Magic isn't going to be a shiny new ship with everything in perfect working order. It's a 13 year old ship. Almost 4,000 passengers on it on a weekly basis, living in saltwater, it's going take its toll on anything. 

 

We sail Carnival, Royal and Norwegian. We just got off of an NCL ship week before last. Carnival isn't the only cruise line with issues. Comparing the 3, we always come back to Carnival because the service has been MUCH better on Carnival than the other 2. Every line has its flaws.

 

As far as the excursions are concerned, I can't really compare because we never do excursions through the cruise line. I do know however that some excursions in some ports pick you up closer than cruise line excursions. We always use a local for the excursions because it's a fraction of the price. 

[tdnosnhoj11]

8 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

But how much is it?

I’m curious to see where you’re going with this, so I’ll bite 😜 I originally thought $220, which was my misunderstanding because after taxes it would have been $146. 

[tdnosnhoj11]

8 hours ago, Pyxie said:

I agree that I would be frustrated in this situation too, but I'm not sure I'd completely write the cruise line off over it.

 

I did actually have this guarantee approved once, but it was pre-pandemic and I wouldn't be surprised if they are finding ways to be more stingy with it these days.

Oh I agree! This isn’t the only reason we’re writing it off. I’m not going to go into full detail about the issues we’ve had on our past two cruises, but it’s not about what’s been taken away. It’s about the care of the ships and staterooms and the spaces being renovated to accommodate kids (we have none). The food, onboard service, etc. are all still great. But we realized it was time for us to find something different and this situation is what drove it home for us. 
 

Edited to say - I also want to add, and I’m sure many say this same thing but I genuinely mean it, we are easy going people. We have never complained to guest services, we take everything in stride, we enjoy our vacations, we laugh about how it feels like our bed was found on the side of I-65. But those things do add up, and when you’re made to feel like you’re wrong for something that you are not in the wrong for, it really makes you feel it’s time to go. 

Edited Thursday at 10:54 PM by tdnosnhoj11

[tdnosnhoj11]

3 hours ago, kdr69 said:

Am not sure i truly understand the explanation though.  Are you saying that they refused the guaruntee because you couldnt get off the ship in time?

Correct! That was the first response. The second was that we have to walk ourselves to the meeting point rather than being led there. 

[aborgman]

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

Have you priced out a 7 day Disney vacation this decade?

 

They may compete for vacation dollars, but they aren't competition.

 

You couldn't pay me to go anywhere near the hell that is anything Disney, so no.

 

I did recently get back from an all inclusive in Belize, sailed on Mardi Gras about a month before that, and am currently pricing out places in Cozumel for next August... So I have a pretty good grasp on the relative prices.

 

...and the definition of competition is people you compete with.

[BlerkOne]

3 minutes ago, aborgman said:

 

You couldn't pay me to go anywhere near the hell that is anything Disney, so no.

 

I did recently get back from an all inclusive in Belize, sailed on Mardi Gras about a month before that, and am currently pricing out places in Cozumel for next August... So I have a pretty good grasp on the relative prices.

 

...and the definition of competition is people you compete with.

The all-inclusives that compete with cruising are significantly higher in cost.

[CentralNY1]

7 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Being 35 Billion in the hole will make you do things you never did before.

Yes, including making foolish decisions to lose a very loyal customer over ten or twenty bucks.  The same customer that would have spent tens of thousands of dollars on the product in the future.

[BlerkOne]

4 minutes ago, CentralNY1 said:

Yes, including making foolish decisions to lose a very loyal customer over ten or twenty bucks.  The same customer that would have spent tens of thousands of dollars on the product in the future.

Nobody is irreplaceable, and some should try other lines. 

[ontheweb]

13 minutes ago, CentralNY1 said:

Yes, including making foolish decisions to lose a very loyal customer over ten or twenty bucks.  The same customer that would have spent tens of thousands of dollars on the product in the future.

I believe I made the same point in post #3 in this thread about how for very little money Carnival managed to lose a customer.

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, tdnosnhoj11 said:

I’m curious to see where you’re going with this, so I’ll bite 😜 I originally thought $220, which was my misunderstanding because after taxes it would have been $146. 

I am not going anywhere with it.  Trying to understand the dilemma.

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, CentralNY1 said:

Yes, including making foolish decisions to lose a very loyal customer over ten or twenty bucks.  The same customer that would have spent tens of thousands of dollars on the product in the future.

That is just foolish.  With that logic, every single thing should be given up because the customer (who will leave for twenty bucks).  From my perspective, the customer looks way worse with things like this.  If they (whomever it is in this hypothetical) leave for twenty bucks, you (the cruise line) never really had them.  The ploy of stating how much they would have paid in the future is nothing more than a red herring.  

 

The answer (from my perspective anyway) is that the cruise line review the request and do what they think is right, for this case and every other, and that each case is individual.  As consumers, that is all we can expect.

Edited Friday at 12:40 AM by jimbo5544

[jimbo5544]

2 hours ago, tdnosnhoj11 said:

Oh I agree! This isn’t the only reason we’re writing it off. I’m not going to go into full detail about the issues we’ve had on our past two cruises, but it’s not about what’s been taken away. It’s about the care of the ships and staterooms and the spaces being renovated to accommodate kids (we have none). The food, onboard service, etc. are all still great. But we realized it was time for us to find something different and this situation is what drove it home for us. 
 

Edited to say - I also want to add, and I’m sure many say this same thing but I genuinely mean it, we are easy going people. We have never complained to guest services, we take everything in stride, we enjoy our vacations, we laugh about how it feels like our bed was found on the side of I-65. But those things do add up, and when you’re made to feel like you’re wrong for something that you are not in the wrong for, it really makes you feel it’s time to go. 

Options are a good thing.

[c-leg5]

4 hours ago, firefly333 said:

For me as a solo I'm not I terested in a land vacation  u less I'm visiting relatives. 

 

For me doesnt matter what land vacations cost, I'm going to cruise. Not comparable as solo it wouldnt be fun to go alone to a romantic beach destination. I cruise because excursions I'm with others and on the cruise. I do excursions thru the cruiseline to have company.

Excursions are not really dependent on whether you are vacationing on a cruise ship or a land vacation. 
 

The difference on how you book depends on whether it is a cruise line contracted excursion  or you book through an independent vendor, or third party broker. As others have said it can be the same exact tour. They can still be group tours just the same but not everyone will be from your ship perhaps.

 

Obviously there are also beach breaks etc where you travel solo in a taxi to a location but that isn’t really the same thing.
 

If you do your homework you can find perfectly reputable vendors. I understand the comfort level of meeting and being escorted to and from the ship  as a solo but it doesn’t mean an independent excursions don’t include cruisers. Booking through cruise line does limit your options. Many cruisers book through brokers on group tours.