Why you should book your tours thru Carnival

Just back from the Freedom and the CD said something that was rather surprising.

Normally we do not go to the CD talk on ports but since we had not gone to Antigue or Tortola before thought it might be worthwhile.

As an experienced cruiser with 15 plus cruises under our belt we always book our tours privately based on recommendations thru the ports of call blog. Find private tours are better, less crowded and half the price of the cruise line.

We just make sure the tour is scheduled to be back a few hours before the ship leaves so we will not have the opportunity to take a picture of the ship sailing away.

Todd Whitmer said that Carnival will interview all the tour guides at a particular island so that you can be assured that on a Carnival tour you will only have the best tour guide. If you do not go thru Carnival you will have a second rate guide. His words not mine.

Based on our experience this is pure bull.

During the same cruise had a conversation with several Carnival employees. Asked them about Tortula and both said they had done this privately as Carnival's price is too high even with the employee discount.

I do not mind someone trying to sell me something but this was a bit much.

Just thought I would pass this on. I will not even get started on all the bargains he was selling in the spa.

Golfadj

While he was talking was there a pile of bull s*** starting to pile up behind him?

As more and more cruisers become internet savvy I am sure that their excursion bottom line has taken a serious hit.

Just back from the Freedom and the CD said something that was rather surprising.

 

Normally we do not go to the CD talk on ports but since we had not gone to Antigue or Tortola before thought it might be worthwhile.

 

As an experienced cruiser with 15 plus cruises under our belt we always book our tours privately based on recommendations thru the ports of call blog. Find private tours are better, less crowded and half the price of the cruise line.

 

We just make sure the tour is scheduled to be back a few hours before the ship leaves so we will not have the opportunity to take a picture of the ship sailing away.

 

Todd Whitmer said that Carnival will interview all the tour guides at a particular island so that you can be assured that on a Carnival tour you will only have the best tour guide. If you do not go thru Carnival you will have a second rate guide. His words not mine.

 

Based on our experience this is pure bull.

 

During the same cruise had a conversation with several Carnival employees. Asked them about Tortula and both said they had done this privately as Carnival's price is too high even with the employee discount.

 

I do not mind someone trying to sell me something but this was a bit much.

 

Just thought I would pass this on. I will not even get started on all the bargains he was selling in the spa.

 

Golfadj

Bull, yea that pretty much sums up TW IMO :rolleyes:

Even though we always go on Carnival excursions, for him to say that is just a lie. There are many on this board that do not go on Carnival excursions and I am sure they would disagree with what TW has said.

Just back from the Freedom and the CD said something that was rather surprising.

 

Normally we do not go to the CD talk on ports but since we had not gone to Antigue or Tortola before thought it might be worthwhile.

 

As an experienced cruiser with 15 plus cruises under our belt we always book our tours privately based on recommendations thru the ports of call blog. Find private tours are better, less crowded and half the price of the cruise line.

 

We just make sure the tour is scheduled to be back a few hours before the ship leaves so we will not have the opportunity to take a picture of the ship sailing away.

 

Todd Whitmer said that Carnival will interview all the tour guides at a particular island so that you can be assured that on a Carnival tour you will only have the best tour guide. If you do not go thru Carnival you will have a second rate guide. His words not mine.

 

Based on our experience this is pure bull.

 

During the same cruise had a conversation with several Carnival employees. Asked them about Tortula and both said they had done this privately as Carnival's price is too high even with the employee discount.

 

I do not mind someone trying to sell me something but this was a bit much.

 

Just thought I would pass this on. I will not even get started on all the bargains he was selling in the spa.

 

Golfadj

Same thing on Carnival's [any cruiselines] "recommended" shops at their port talks. If I was really sarcastic, I'd say the recommended shops are the shops to skip!

We have had some WONDERFUL tour guides on private excursions. I'm not saying the tour guides would be bad on a Carnival excursions but I don't see how they could be better than the good ones we have had. I will only book Carnival excursions in countries where I feel safer on a Carnival tour (Jamaica) or if a private tour return time is going to be too close to sail-away for comfort.

Didn't you intend for the title of your post to be "Why you should NOT book your tours thru Carnival"

I think it depends on the Port, if you feel comfortable to be on your own. Also what the cruise line is offering. Last year we had to book online for an independent tour in Belize. We wanted to go cave tubing (it was amazing) but Carnival would not let us make reservations on their trip with a 7 year old child.

convenience is the only reason I can think of. They are way too high priced to book through. we are doing the same route in june that we did in 2001. taking along some others that want to do the dolphin encounter. We did this in 2001 and it cost us $72 pp and this june it cost $109 pp. Its been a few years but $37 pp increase.

maybe it s my age..maybe cuz of the wife..but, we book all our

excursions thru the cruiseline..

didn't you intend for the title of your post to be "why you should not book your tours thru carnival"

ditto !!

maybe it s my age..maybe cuz of the wife..but, we book all our

excursions thru the cruiseline..

Same here. Wife would not be comfortable not using

cruiseline booked tours.

JimmyJames

maybe it s my age..maybe cuz of the wife..but, we book all our

excursions thru the cruiseline..

When we were younger, we were much more adventurous, but also now book through the cruise line. I don't mind paying more for worry-free convenience.

All the cruise lines talk up their own product and perhaps they think that their screening process assures higher quality guides. No big deal...

I would think there could be a few reasons to book through Carnival rather than doing it privately, but tour guide "quality" is not one of them.

People who are inexperienced with cruises may feel more comfortable booking through the cruise line. They might not know how to be sure they’re getting what they pay for from a private operator. Plus they may appreciate that there are hidden risks that they may not even know about until it is too late (e.g., issues like how the difference between “ship’s time” vs. “local time” might mean you’ll arrive back at the dock to see your ship sailing away).

If your port of call is a little bit dodgy (in terms of crime and safety), you may prefer to deal with someone the cruise line considers reputable, rather than trying to do it yourself. You don’t want to get off the ship and flag down what you think is a cab, only to discover ...

I also assume that if you book through Carnival, you’ll get better treatment if there is some problem. For example, if the weather is bad and the ship can’t dock. Or if there is a change in itinerary (like the current problems due to swine flu). What happens if you’ve pre-booked and pre-paid with a private operator? Do they give you your money back? I don’t know.

But other than that, I agree with Golfadj. If you are experienced and know what you’re doing, you can do the same tours for half the price and usually in better venues (e.g., half as many people packed into a larger boat to go out snorkelling at half the price).

On our March cruise, we booked two out of three excursions through Carnival, just because it had been many years since our last cruise and two of the three ports were new to us. We knew we were paying more, but were happy not to have to worry about what might go wrong.

Next time, I’m sure we’d be more likely to consider private operators. I really dislike paying more for something if I can get it (or something even better) for less.

Obviously, Carnival is just trying to scare people away from private operators for their own financial benefit. It’s all part of their “sell, sell, sell” approach. As for pre-vetting the operators and the tour guides, I think it is always a little hit-and-miss. One person’s idea of a great guide is another vacationer’s nightmare. I suspect that Carnival errs to the side of operators that deliver a clean, corporate message. I’d much rather have a guide who’s willing to give me the real nitty-gritty about a place, rather than the cleansed Carnival-corporate version.

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I was quoting the CD and that is the reason for the name of the thread.

90% of the people in the lounge are first time cruisers and will eat up the reasons to book with Carnival.

After a few cruises and expensive tours they understand what is going on.

It is amazing how much attention they give the personal shopper and how they are convinced that the cruise shops are giving them a "bargain".

As a social host on last weeks cruise commented, people go on cruises and leave their brains at home.

Charge the cruise pay it off over a few years and than run up a big bill on your sign and sail card and do the same.

Golfadj

But $65 per person to be brought by boat on a snorkel trip doesn't seem like an outrageous charge. At least they will make certain I get back to the boat and not be left in open water. :eek: Why take a chance in a foreign country?

Thanks for the excellent advice. We are planning private tours as well.

As others have said, for me it depends on the port and what is available privately as to whether or not I use a cruise line's excursions. I sailed RC's Adventure of the Seas in March/April, and out of the 4 ports we did, ended up with two excursions booked independently - Aruba, of which I was familiar with having been there twice before, and St. Martin, because RC did not offer what I wanted to do. Very easy and satisfying. And it was my first cruise, too, so it's not like I'm an experienced cruiser.

However, for my upcoming Carnival cruise (Legend, July 5) when I looked into Cozumel (assuming we'll be past the swine flu stuff by then) for a private SeaTrek Helmet tour, all of the ones I found required a partial credit card deposit, and cash for the balance upon arrival. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought one of the marks of a good tour place was to not require a cc, but only your name, time of arrival, etc. Don't want refund hassles later on if the ship doesn't make it, especially with this travel climate!! So if we make it to Cozumel in July, I'll be booking with Carnival for their SeaTrek excursion.

Just putting in my 2 cents!

The only reason I would ever book thru the criseship is because I had excess OBC or it was an all day excursion. (for me that is more than an hour or so from port)

I have been on both and hands down, private is better.

Did the dolphin swim in Jan. There were 8 in our group. we were already in the water when the ships tours started arriving. They had about 12 per group. We were still in the water when they got out and left. I think I paid $50 pp less than the ships tour.

Went on a snorkel trip. There were 5 of us. Got out to the reef and got in the water. Shortly the ship tours started showing up. Must have been a hundred of them. We were still in the water after they left. Got back onboard the boat and they had rum punch or soft drinks and fruit for us to enjoy while going back to port.

But I do reccommend ships tours for first timers.

As others have said, for me it depends on the port and what is available privately as to whether or not I use a cruise line's excursions. I sailed RC's Adventure of the Seas in March/April, and out of the 4 ports we did, ended up with two excursions booked independently - Aruba, of which I was familiar with having been there twice before, and St. Martin, because RC did not offer what I wanted to do. Very easy and satisfying. And it was my first cruise, too, so it's not like I'm an experienced cruiser.

 

However, for my upcoming Carnival cruise (Legend, July 5) when I looked into Cozumel (assuming we'll be past the swine flu stuff by then) for a private SeaTrek Helmet tour, all of the ones I found required a partial credit card deposit, and cash for the balance upon arrival. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought one of the marks of a good tour place was to not require a cc, but only your name, time of arrival, etc. Don't want refund hassles later on if the ship doesn't make it, especially with this travel climate!! So if we make it to Cozumel in July, I'll be booking with Carnival for their SeaTrek excursion.

Just putting in my 2 cents!

Book it on the dock. I have had some of my best excursions by booking on the dock.

I even favor brand new to the tour business people. They usually really try harder.

Just remembered our other excursion. An all inclusive park.

Their boats came to the ship to get us. Private tour and ship tour people. Our wrist bands were different. I think it was a $22 difference in price. Was talking with one of the people from the ships tour and found out they had unlimited use of the area and free drinks. We had that too except we also had unlimited food and snacks. When our time was up, we all got on the same boats and went back to the ship.

i may be a newbie at cruising (saturday! YAY!) but i AM an experienced traveler and wouldn't book through the cruiseline.

for those who don't travel too often or want all the details taken care of by someone else then booking through the ship is a good option for them.

i, however, enjoy all the research and finding the best deal. (price AND reputation are considered) and that extra 20, 30, 50 bucks i save will be spent on a few DODs or a nice bottle of wine!

I normally do NOt book through Carnival, but in Feb down in Costa Rica, I couldn't find any information on the white water rafting, and with the timing, it may have been just as well.

But, something that happened on a Mexican Riveria cruise gave me pause.

You will notice the taxi drivers at any port are not allowed to come to you, you must go to them.

So, I asked one about going to the beach, $25, "how about back?" $25. "that's too high" "what do you want to do?" "Snorkel, get out in the water, just play around"

"OK" he says, "my nephew will take you out in *my* boat all day, anywhere you wanna go, $100"

Said I'll pay when I get back, no problem.

Well, the boat was small, but nice enough, we snorkeled, swam, the nephew was quite friendly, I asked about going to the other island to have a drink and a snack, he said sure, so away we go.

Upon return from a very nice afternoon, the original taxi driver talks to the nephew and approaches me and states I owe him another $20

He threatened to call the Policia, and I said "here, use my phone" and kept walking. He didn't make a step towards me.

As it happened, we were seated next to the CD of the cruise and I told him the story and asked what would have happened.

And I quote "you just mention Carnival, and if the Policia are involved, we send a rep. out, and unless you killed someone or robbed a bank or serious like that, you are getting back on board"

He went on to further explain how the lifeblood of these communites is dependent on the cruise ships, so it's a bit like a "thief's honor"

I'm sure there will be many who will disagree, but tell me factual incidents where someone has been ripped off (and I will check snopes.com because I have a very sensitive BS detector)

Ask anyone who's been in the islands on days there is no ship in port (you can hear crickets)

Book it on the dock. I have had some of my best excursions by booking on the dock.

 

I even favor brand new to the tour business people. They usually really try harder.

Thanx for the tip! I just might do that this time. Have you ever had any problems with anyone you did this with? For example, not sure I would do it in Roatan - heard it might not be the best in terms of safety. Anyone do it there with success?

But $65 per person to be brought by boat on a snorkel trip doesn't seem like an outrageous charge. At least they will make certain I get back to the boat and not be left in open water. :eek: Why take a chance in a foreign country?

If you are a new cruiser, I WOULD recommend your first cruise or 2 you use the cruiseline for excursions. Once you have your 'feet on the ground' so to speak. You will know you can do the tours better and for less on your own.

Nothing more to worry about in a "foreign country" than there is here. 50 cruises and haven't had a problem in any country. Cannot remember EVER taking a Carnival tour.

But nothing wrong with using the cruiseline's tours until you build your confidence.

Age? We are looking at 70 years, both of us, and still tour on our own.