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free excursion offer - Distinctive Voyages?


psychtobe
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We are sailing Dec 21 Eclipse and 1 of our 2 cabins got an offer for a free 5 hour excursion with Distinctive Voyages in Barbados.

 

What is this all about? Why were we offered this?

 

As only 1 of our 2 cabins was offered I doubt we would go, unless someone says this 5 hour tour of Barbados is THE thing to do while there. Myself, I was hoping to drink some rum. :D

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It's a new benefit that is given to TAs to offer their customers. Were your 2 cabins booked with separate TAs or only one with a TA? We have one on a cruise next year from an online agency but the person that I deal with there has no information at all. The website says this:

 

Exclusive Amenities

The services of a Concierge Host to assist you throughout your journey

An invitation to a Private Cocktail Reception to meet like-minded VIPs

An Exclusive Shore Event to truly connect to the local culture

 

We have no idea what port our shore event is going to be located, so we might end up not being available if we book something else for the same port.

Edited by royalcruz
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Above poster is correct, however not really a new benefit. They have been around for well over three years now, as we have received these offers for that time period through our TA. They are usually nice excursions, and free is always a good deal, as long as the excursion is worthwhile.

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Above poster is correct, however not really a new benefit. They have been around for well over three years now, as we have received these offers for that time period through our TA. They are usually nice excursions, and free is always a good deal, as long as the excursion is worthwhile.

 

Thanks for the clarification. My online TA rep was unfamiliar because his agency just started offering this. How and when do you find out which port is going to have the excursion?

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  • 6 months later...

Yes, the excursions are wonderful. And free! You may have only had 1 eligible cabin based on type of cabin (inside may not be eligible, for example), or sale fare (some of those are not always eligible either....)

 

Enjoy!

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Above poster is correct, however not really a new benefit. They have been around for well over three years now, as we have received these offers for that time period through our TA. They are usually nice excursions, and free is always a good deal, as long as the excursion is worthwhile.

 

yes, Phxasscruisers is correct. this has been around for at least four years that I know of,. I have several friends who have been given this free amenity and they have enjoyed the excursions and the cocktail parties very much.

 

Your TA receives this amenity for her clients because her company belongs to a very large travel consortium. You should contact the TA involved and see if the second cabin is eligible.If she doesn't know, she should contact her manager and find out for you. There is a list of eligible voyages that you TA has access to.

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Thanks to everyone for your replies. I am not the OP but found this thread when searching for information about this company. They offered it to both of our cabins and is a tour of Athens on July 28th when we are on the Reflection. Just seemed to good to be true! :)

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On a celebrity cruise last year we were invited to a private cocktail party hosted by DV. We joined in and enjoyed the food and drink(s). At the reception we were presented with another invitation for a "free tour while in port (forget which port).

 

While we didn't accept the invite for the tour (figured we'd be taken to a remote location and have to listen to a high-pressure sales pitch for a time-share property). Obviously DV is trying to sell something. Anyone have any experience with what their product is.

 

SAS

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As someone else mentioned, the sponsoring group is a consortium of small independent travel agents (that's what the rep on our cruise told us). They are trying to provide some benefits to the clients of these travel agents, and your travel agent provides this for you. We had one on our February South America/Antarctica cruise. There was a hostess on board available to help with issues. There was a private cocktail party. We had a tour of Montevideo, Uruguay which was very good. I think it was about 5 hours.

 

They definitely are not selling anything. They are simply providing a benefit to the customers of their travel agents. I don't think they do this on all cruises.

 

Carolyn

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We were also invited to the cocktail party. For our excursion in Athens, it would cost $79 for any extra people to attend. This is a six hour tour with a free meal for lunch included. Our TA is from a smaller company so this all makes sense.

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We were offered the one in Barbados several years ago. The bus was too small, overcrowded, and we waited forever while the sponsoring agent brought along another handicapped person (there was already one in the only handicapped spot on the bus). At that point we left, so I can't comment on the actual tour.

 

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Our TA a large discount agency is a member of the consurcion. The tour

Itself was in Barbados on a Sunday when the island is very quiet.

Two busses with about z36-40 people total. Island tour going to the Oldest Church on the Island and Cemetery, island musueme with a great

Discussion on slavery and emancipation, and the a buffet lunch overlooking

A beautiful beach.a great spiff from our agent. The cocktail party prior to the tour in Quasar didn't really do anything for me since we were on a free bev package.

Good day and saw the entire island.

Mark

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So here's an update...

Finally, 4 weeks before the trip that we booked a year in advance, I received an email from DV advising of the excursion details. By then, I already had other plans for that port day. I would imagine that most travelers make plans prior to a month before the trip and would not be available...waiting to notify eligible cruisers must save the company a lot of money....not only will we not be available for the excursion, I don't see the point of attending a cocktail party, as we have no need to meet the people that we won't be joining on the excursion.

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As someone else mentioned, the sponsoring group is a consortium of small independent travel agents (that's what the rep on our cruise told us). They are trying to provide some benefits to the clients of these travel agents, and your travel agent provides this for you. We had one on our February South America/Antarctica cruise. There was a hostess on board available to help with issues. There was a private cocktail party. We had a tour of Montevideo, Uruguay which was very good. I think it was about 5 hours.

 

They definitely are not selling anything. They are simply providing a benefit to the customers of their travel agents. I don't think they do this on all cruises.

 

Carolyn

We were lucky to be able to take advantage of a DV excursion while on a cruise to Canada 2 years ago. It was a wonderful excursion and one that we would not have taken on our own. Yes, we did have a ship tour planned for that day, but I just cancelled that one when we got the invitation from DV. The DV one was far more interesting, was well organized & was free. They do not provide excursions on every cruise and not for every travel agent. For us, it was just a wonderful bonus.

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We were offered the one in Barbados several years ago. The bus was too small, overcrowded, and we waited forever while the sponsoring agent brought along another handicapped person (there was already one in the only handicapped spot on the bus). At that point we left, so I can't comment on the actual tour.

 

 

This is exactly what I wanted to avoid. We never do the ships excursions and this sounds similar with the charter buses and only being as fast as the slowest person! :rolleyes:

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  • 6 months later...
On a celebrity cruise last year we were invited to a private cocktail party hosted by DV. We joined in and enjoyed the food and drink(s). At the reception we were presented with another invitation for a "free tour while in port (forget which port).

 

While we didn't accept the invite for the tour (figured we'd be taken to a remote location and have to listen to a high-pressure sales pitch for a time-share property). Obviously DV is trying to sell something. Anyone have any experience with what their product is.

 

SAS

Your TA, if his/her agency is a member of the consortium, has the port and tour information available to share with you. Ask your TA when booking if your cruise is a Distinctive Voyage itinerary and if so, where the shore excursion will be offered. Those details are out more than a year ahead. The excursions are often received, as attested to by others on this thread, as among the best ever taken. No high pressure sales (and certainly no time-share) are included. The cocktail reception offers the chance to meet other cruisers even if you don't take the shore ex. The host is also available to assist with any questions you might have.

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  • 1 year later...

!!!!UPDATE!!!!

 

Out TA advised us yesterday that we're being offered a complementary 4 hour excursion on Ibiza on Celebrity Reflection next month, through their affiliation with Travel Leaders Group, a marketing consortium. Here's a link to the excursion description: http://www.latesttraveloffers.com/files/24/03170665-Celebrity.Reflection.7102017.pdf. And they assured us it is not a sales "come-on". Free for two in the cabin, $74 each for additional guests.

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