Athens tour through Royal Carribean : (

[weechloe]

Just returned from the Brilliance of the Seas. Did Athens tour and the guide was the WORST ever. RCL girl left the ship so quickly that half the group did not even know where the bus was located. Some people on the bus told the guide that there were a lot of people that she had left behind.

 

Once on the tour the guide was rude and totally disrepectful for seniors who were also with us. Our first stop, her comment was that someone asked why we were stopping there and her response was because this is what you paid for.

 

During the walking part through Athens our group of four people tried our best to keep the seniors from getting away from the group since she was was walking so quicly that they couldn't keep up. Once the group got together again I told her that she'd have to slow down because there were people having a tough time and her response was "what do you want me to do about it?" No help at all offered for people getting on or off the bus.

 

This was the easy tour in Rome and the group met the physical requirements but were expected to keep the pace of 40 year olds.

Lesson learned and I will reconsider whether doing a group tour again with Royal.

[marci22]

You must post your recommendation in response to a request for that specific information...

[CruisinManiac]

You must post your recommendation in response to a request for that specific information...

 

The OP is not writing about a private tour, so I don't think this falls in the same category.

 

I am glad the the OP wrote about his experience with a RCCL tour. He needs to send a complaint to RCCL, so that they can look into who this guide is. This just confirms to me that we will book a private tour, over a celebrity tour when we go to Athens next spring.

 

This was the easy tour in Rome

 

OP, I think you meant to say Athens. ;) Thank you for your report.

[Cruzaholic41]

These tour operators run every day and are contracted with most cruise lines. In many cases, they are on a time crunch to get back and start an afternoon tour. This is why I highly recommend private tours over the ship's excursions. Ship's excursions bring security of knowing the ship will be there when you get back if late, but private tours are much more personal and much better.

[spirite]

We had a very good tour in Athens thru RCCL, very professional.

[CruisinManiac]

We had a very good tour in Athens thru RCCL, very professional.

 

I agree that while we have had some bad tours through cruiselines, we have also had some poor tours. One that comes to mind, that was good and also bad was when we were with my parents, and the tour guide did seem to go too fast for the few elderly (and overweight) people in our group. The tour guide would tell those that could not walk up a hill fast, to take their time, but then she would run ahead and start the next "spill" before we got to her.

 

These tour operators run every day and are contracted with most cruise lines. In many cases, they are on a time crunch to get back and start an afternoon tour. This is why I highly recommend private tours over the ship's excursions. Ship's excursions bring security of knowing the ship will be there when you get back if late, but private tours are much more personal and much better.

 

Not necessarily. If a ship is told to leave by the port authority, it doesn't matter whether the ship's tour is back or not. Now, if the ship does leave a group behind, they are responsible for getting that group to the next port, or getting them out to a waiting ship. Edited to say that we have been on a ship where this has happened. We ended up waiting out in the open water for them.