Shore Excursions

Has any one used Viator.com for your shore excursions & what was your experience ?How would you grade their tours for the experience & price paid ?

We understand that they "guarantee" to get you back to the ship on time or pay to get you to a port where your ship docks . did any one ever have that experience with a Viator shore excursion tour ?

We used them one time in Europe & the tour was good ;but ,we did it from a hotel & not a cruise ship .The tour was excellent & was the Vatican Museum & Chapel .We had a great guide :D

Have used Viator. They are a reseller so sometimes with a little googling you can find the original tour provider. We didn't realize this initially. Usually they charge the same amount as if you booked the tour directly but of course the provider gives up part of their fee if you book via Viator. That said we've always found Viator to be a reliable source. The one time we had an issue Viator handled it for us very professionally.

Have used Viator. They are a reseller so sometimes with a little googling you can find the original tour provider. We didn't realize this initially. Usually they charge the same amount as if you booked the tour directly but of course the provider gives up part of their fee if you book via Viator. That said we've always found Viator to be a reliable source. The one time we had an issue Viator handled it for us very professionally.

+1 on this post. Actually, I have never had any problems w any independent tours I booked off ship - Viator, TourbyLocals, private, etc.

DON

I didn't realize that they would guarantee that you would be back.

There are various companies that are similar to Viator such as Tours By Locals. In fact, some of the guides are listed on both sites. My view on all of this is that it's like a tool box. I am open to all possibilities and then figure out which one works well for us in a specific location.

Keith

Many tour providers off the return guarantee. Its not new. Many just don't heavily promote it.

The tour vendors know what would happen to their reputation if they cause you to miss your ship. Their business would be heavily damaged.

As others have said, Viator is a "middle man", but their rates are much less than the ship sponsored excursions which are nothing more than over priced cattle herds.

Our experience with Viator was one for two on our most recent Panama Canal trip on the Coral Princess.

We had an outstanding tour in Costa Rica with Geo Tours booked through Viator. On the other hand our scheduled tour in Nicaragua was cancelled due to insufficient enrollment just hours before we left home to fly out to the west coast for our cruise and we did not have time to search out another. In fairness, our money was fully refunded and we did end up finding a tour on shore at the port which we took when we got off of the ship.

I didn't realize that they would guarantee that you would be back.

 

There are various companies that are similar to Viator such as Tours By Locals. In fact, some of the guides are listed on both sites. My view on all of this is that it's like a tool box. I am open to all possibilities and then figure out which one works well for us in a specific location.

 

Keith

Hi, Keith,

Yes, I think they've jumped on the same back-on-time-guarantee bandwagon as the likes of cruisexcursions.com and half-a-dozen other consolidators.

I don't know of any examples of that guarantee being put to the test.

OP - Like those others, they're not excursion organisers - they're a booking agency. The quality of a tour depends very much more on the tour organiser than the booking agency, hence Viator & the others get very mixed reviews.

From what I've seen, their prices are mebbe 10% higher than direct bookings - as Gert's post, they also get commissions from the tour operators.

We've only used them once. In Hong Kong. The trip included a group-visa into mainland China so had to be booked in advance. We could have booked direct a little cheaper but didn't want to risk our money with an unknown operator halfway round the world from home - the prospects of any refund in those circumstances are slim-to-none so we preferred to book with Viator, who have a world-wide reputation. Bear in mind that they can simply withhold money from operators in those circumstances.

Viator reminded us the day before by phone & by text about the time and place, and the tour was fine. No complaints.

Information from Viator & the other agencies is pretty basic & on the couple of occasions that I asked them for more information they didn't have it. It's also an extra link in the chain, an extra opportunity for mis-communication etc. For those various reasons I usually prefer to book direct. But Viator does have its uses & I would happily book with them again in similar circumstances.

JB :)

I used them at the Vatican, cheaper than NCL's price, and a smaller group. I also booked through them a Kusadasi for Ephesus, and Mary's house, this time a private tour in a van, driver and guide, which was absolutely fantastic. Yes it included a visit to the carpet factory, but I wanted an additional stop made at a local ceramic factory, and they arranged a tour, with a pretty good deal on a large amphora with shipping back to the states. I'd say Viator does a great job and a good price.;)