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Tour organizers threatened at Meet & Greet aboard Grand Princess


Shoalwater

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At today's Meet & Greet, Capt. Herriott threatened expulsion from the ship of anyone observed in public organizing or collecting for privately organized tours. Now to be fair, this is the 49 day South America cruise, and there are mostly experienced cruisers aboard. Many did set up tables at our M&G to collect final payments. By some estimates we have organized 100 private tours, and I suppose it has been noticed by ShoreEx figures. The company considers it competition, and the warning may have originated at headquarters. Left in doubt is can we even hold up a name sign at ports of call to assemble our groups. In any event, this message was delivered sternly and unfriendly. Anyone organizing tours should take this into account.

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Big YES for Princess.

The CC roll calls are filled with postings by tour organizers.

Competitor tour organizers shouldn't be wasting public space aboard ship for their commerce. After all, they are taking profits away from the cruise lines.

 

 

jls

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At today's Meet & Greet, Capt. Herriott threatened expulsion from the ship of anyone observed in public organizing or collecting for privately organized tours. Now to be fair, this is the 49 day South America cruise, and there are mostly experienced cruisers aboard. Many did set up tables at our M&G to collect final payments. By some estimates we have organized 100 private tours, and I suppose it has been noticed by ShoreEx figures. The company considers it competition, and the warning may have originated at headquarters. Left in doubt is can we even hold up a name sign at ports of call to assemble our groups. In any event, this message was delivered sternly and unfriendly. Anyone organizing tours should take this into account.

 

Big NO from me! Princess' job is to bring me to these ports of call, feed me and entertain me. And hopefully keep the toilets and AC in working condition...:rolleyes: What I do when I get to a port of call is my own business. Princess has the right to offer me a shore excursion and I have the right to find a better deal. Certainly I would exercise a bit of discretion when collecting money and such, but for the Captain to use this kind of attitude is very bad form IMO. Where does it say that you give up your freedom of choice when you get on a cruise ship anyway?

 

Is there anything in the passenger contract to that effect? I'm reading mine again (for the first time:o)

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Princess has been very good about providing public space for CC meet and greets. Depending on the size and onboard activities this is sometimes easier said then done. I am not sure when and how the practice of collecting payments at meet and greets started nor am I sure how prevalent the practice is fleet wide. I have organized my share of private shore excursions over the years and there was only one time in 7 years that I used the CC meet and greet as a time to connect and collect from CC members for a disembarkation tour at the end of a transatlantic. I wanted to be sure I had the requisite number of participants as full size bus was reserved and our cost was based on 35 participants and I had paid a deposit. I was aiming for 6 to 8 but it grew. Princess was not offering anything comparable.

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I'm sure there is something in the contract that covers this but I'm not going to read it again to find out. But in the 1st place why would anyone on board sell tours in competition with Princess?

 

I think you might be paying for a cruise on Princess but that doesn't give you the ok to go into competition with them on shore excursions. And if your making money on this.:eek:

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Big NO from me! Princess' job is to bring me to these ports of call, feed me and entertain me. And hopefully keep the toilets and AC in working condition...:rolleyes: What I do when I get to a port of call is my own business. Princess has the right to offer me a shore excursion and I have the right to find a better deal. Certainly I would exercise a bit of discretion when collecting money and such, but for the Captain to use this kind of attitude is very bad form IMO. Where does it say that you give up your freedom of choice when you get on a cruise ship anyway?

 

Is there anything in the passenger contract to that effect? I'm reading mine again (for the first time:o)

 

They don't care what you do in port.

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Seems more than a little gauche for passengers to arrange for Princess to provide M&G space, and possibly beverages and treats, as well as appearances by the Captain and some of his officiers and/or staff ... and to use that venue to sell tours that compete with the Princess excursions. Talk about biting the hand that feeds! Had the pax used some discretion, the Captain might not have witnessed this and would not have addressed it.

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Hi All

 

Princess has no issues with passengers sharing a tour together even had crew join me,

 

but one person setting up a number of tours with groups of 50, or more

 

setting up signs on board ship, collect money in public,

 

will get you kicked off ship,

 

nothing new in this,

 

have been on a ship were folks taped notices of tours to doors at casino

 

they did not stay up long.

 

yours Shogun

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Seems more than a little gauche for passengers to arrange for Princess to provide M&G space, and possibly beverages and treats, as well as appearances by the Captain and some of his officiers and/or staff ... and to use that venue to sell tours that compete with the Princess excursions. Talk about biting the hand that feeds! Had the pax used some discretion, the Captain might not have witnessed this and would not have addressed it.

 

Good point - makes you wonder if the Captain will be as willing to attend CC M&Gs in the future.

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Hi All

 

Assume captain could use this clause

 

40. Passengers are expected at all times to conduct themselves in a proper manner and with due regard to the health, safety, comfort, enjoyment and general well-being of all persons both on board the ship and involved in the provision of any service or facility forming part of the Package or any shore excursion, and the Passenger expressly agrees to this. If it appears that a Passenger's conduct, behaviour or health is such as to be a breach of this requirement or the Passenger's behaviour, health or conduct is likely to endanger the Passenger's own health or safety or........

 

to remove folks from the ship

 

yours Shogun

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We do not do ship tours anymore, with rare exceptions. I think posting signs onboard and advertising goes too far but I see nothing wrong with meeting fellow tourmates at the meet and greet. Some meet and greets will let people announce openings.

Passengers are much more empowered than they used to be and have figured out better alternatives to cruise bus tours.

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I believe this falls under Solicitation, which can get you kicked off the ship. Section 11, of the Passage Contract:

 

11. RESPONSIBILITY TO COMPLY WITH LAW AND REGULATIONS, RULES OF SHIP; NO SOLICITATION.

You shall be responsible for complying with the requirements of all immigration, port, health, customs, and police authorities, and all other laws and regulations of each country or state from or to which You will travel, as well as this Passage Contract. You must at all times obey all the rules, regulations and orders of the ship, Carrier and the Captain. You shall not solicit other Passengers for commercial purposes or advertise goods or services on board the ship without Carrier's prior written permission. You may be disembarked without liability for refund, payment, compensation or credit of any kind if You or any Passenger for whom You are responsible violate any of these requirements, and agree to assume and/or reimburse Carrier for any expenses or fines that may be incurred as a result of such noncompliance.

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I believe this falls under Solicitation, which can get you kicked off the ship. Section 11, of the Passage Contract:

 

11. RESPONSIBILITY TO COMPLY WITH LAW AND REGULATIONS, RULES OF SHIP; NO SOLICITATION.

You shall be responsible for complying with the requirements of all immigration, port, health, customs, and police authorities, and all other laws and regulations of each country or state from or to which You will travel, as well as this Passage Contract. You must at all times obey all the rules, regulations and orders of the ship, Carrier and the Captain. You shall not solicit other Passengers for commercial purposes or advertise goods or services on board the ship without Carrier's prior written permission. You may be disembarked without liability for refund, payment, compensation or credit of any kind if You or any Passenger for whom You are responsible violate any of these requirements, and agree to assume and/or reimburse Carrier for any expenses or fines that may be incurred as a result of such noncompliance.

 

Exactly. This is why TAs are not allowed to pass out business cards or push their agency while onboard too. It's a breach of the rules. I suppose you can still organize your private tours, just in a more delicate and discrete manner.

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I believe this falls under Solicitation, which can get you kicked off the ship. Section 11, of the Passage Contract:

 

11. RESPONSIBILITY TO COMPLY WITH LAW AND REGULATIONS, RULES OF SHIP; NO SOLICITATION.

You shall be responsible for complying with the requirements of all immigration, port, health, customs, and police authorities, and all other laws and regulations of each country or state from or to which You will travel, as well as this Passage Contract. You must at all times obey all the rules, regulations and orders of the ship, Carrier and the Captain. You shall not solicit other Passengers for commercial purposes or advertise goods or services on board the ship without Carrier's prior written permission. You may be disembarked without liability for refund, payment, compensation or credit of any kind if You or any Passenger for whom You are responsible violate any of these requirements, and agree to assume and/or reimburse Carrier for any expenses or fines that may be incurred as a result of such noncompliance.

 

That would be the clause, I know selling places for tours would be a big no no, but I wonder if just collecting money (discretely) for a tour that was already arranged pre cruise is allowed. :D

How about a Kilt rental for formal night.:D:rolleyes:
LOL.:D
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I don't blame the Captain at all. To make a public spectacle of collecting money like that during a Princess sanctioned function is outrageous And I want to bet that it is the same type of people who are making a profit on tours. Through the years I have organized many tours. They are small tours, people pay their own portion at the end, and we leave the ship a group of friends going out for the day. To my mind it is wrong to conduct a competing business on someone else's property. Some of the people who have come to cruise critic are going to ruin it -e.g bragging about all of the liquor taken on, and now the tours. This really upsets me.

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Princess' general hands-off attitude towards M&Gs probably means that several of the "organizers" have gotten away with this in the past. Doesn't make it any less tacky, IMHO.

 

And the language cited from the Passage Contract is mild compared to RC/X, which states that anyone found soliciting will be required to turn in all sales materials they brought onboard or else be put off at the next port. Gives them the right to confiscate your lists of tour operators and fellow CCers joining you.

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Big NO from me! Princess' job is to bring me to these ports of call, feed me and entertain me. And hopefully keep the toilets and AC in working condition...:rolleyes: What I do when I get to a port of call is my own business. Princess has the right to offer me a shore excursion and I have the right to find a better deal. Certainly I would exercise a bit of discretion when collecting money and such, but for the Captain to use this kind of attitude is very bad form IMO. Where does it say that you give up your freedom of choice when you get on a cruise ship anyway?

 

Is there anything in the passenger contract to that effect? I'm reading mine again (for the first time:o)

 

Once you step on that ship and leave a US port the captains law is law at Sea you must abide by it.

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Wow..that is scary. We travel lots and do many private, and some ships tours. That seems like a PR issue the way it was presented. I would feel very intimidated and threatened if this is what the captain said.....the CC group has a big influence and I would think they would know word spreads like wildfire. I will be watching for more info.....

 

Thanks for the heads up:rolleyes:

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Wow..that is scary. We travel lots and do many private, and some ships tours. That seems like a PR issue the way it was presented. I would feel very intimidated and threatened if this is what the captain said.....the CC group has a big influence and I would think they would know word spreads like wildfire. I will be watching for more info.....

 

Thanks for the heads up:rolleyes:

 

It is not scary, just something really stupid done apparently by some CC members. Setting up a table to collect funds at the CC Meet & Greet is not something I ever saw. I have gone on a few excursions with fellow CC members and I also have run a few excursions, sometimes funds are collected at the Meet & Greet - usually it is done discretely as you would between friends; setting up a table sounds more like a business operation. I really don't blame the Captain. On which cruiseline is this allowed to happen?

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I think it's extremely tacky and rude to collect money onboard for excursions. I try NEVER to pay in advance for independent excursions due to port changes, etc. I have paid in advance with a credit card (via e-mail) when assured the money would be refunded if the ship doesn't dock. :(

 

This whole business of people making money off independent tours is shocking news to me. :eek: I guess I'm naive. We've done many independent tours with CC'ers but they were all on a small scale. As far as I know no one was making money except the local tour operators. On our last cruise we did a combination of ship tours and independent tours and I was honestly disappointed in the ship tours. There are just too many people on ship tours and you lose the ability to go where you want to go and ask as many stupid questions as you want to. ;)

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