Have You Ever Regretted Sharing a Private Tour or Ride With an Unknown Fellow Passeng

[jasm8449]

We recently shared a taxi from port to the nearest City, with 2 other unrelated people from our roll call. We met for coffee while waiting for the ship to be cleared and then headed for the exit. That's when one of them realized they had forgotten their sea pass card in their stateroom. We would have been at the front of the line to get on the port shuttle to the taxi meeting place. Now we had to wait while the line grew ever longer. 20 minutes later out she came. We were lucky the taxi was still waiting for us. Then she showed up 10 minutes late to meeting place for getting back to the ship with the prearranged taxi. We were just about to leave without her. Not the worst horror story by any means, but it sure was annoying.

 

 

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[champagne123]

I totally agree with you. NEVER do I get involved with strangers in ANY capacity. It only ends up in disappointment, annoyance, or inconvenience.

[$hip$hape]

I disagree. Met my DW in 1964.

We were strangers at first.

[champagne123]

I disagree. Met my DW in 1964.

We were strangers at first.

Ditto, but not the same thing.

[4cats4me]

We met up with many strangers for several shared tours in Europe and everything went smoothly for the most part. However, there was one tour where we all had #1 tender boat group tags. Four of us were on that tender. The other four "new friends who I gave the tags to didn't make it onto that tender. We all waited on shore for them for a half hour until the next tender pulled in. They weren't on that tender, either. We all left them. Luckily the tour wasn't all that expensive, and the four of us had an excellent time. Later on we ran into that group and inquired what had happened. Apparently Royal Caribbean had some issue with the tenders after the first two left,and everyone else was delayed for a couple hours.

Our biggest issues have actually been with those who we travel with. One lady in our group friend group was problematic at times. Luckily, the majority of folks have been respectful of everyone else's schedule.

[ebtrip]

I have organized many private shore excursions and have participated in others I didn't organize. 99% were great, met wonderful considerate people. Had one couple that thought they were on their own time table.. they were left behind, the tour company had another group going ,so they joined them.. I would definitely do it again. On large bus tours there is always someone that is not on time.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

You don't have to be on a private tour to be traveling with frustrating, bothersome folks. We have run into several over the years on ship's sponsored tours. One couple in the Southern Caribbean argued with the other eight people on the bus the entire tour about the air conditioning.

 

They did not want air conditioning on one of the hottest days I have experienced. We all wanted the cool air to refresh us between stops, but the man crossly asked us why we were even in the Caribbean if we couldn't stand the heat. That couple kept open all the bus windows they could control effectively reducing any cool air we could manage.

 

The man threatened the driver that if he turned on the air con, he would demand his money back and leave the tour. I was close to offering him money to leave the tour. Indeed, I wish he would have left. He was a thoroughly unpleasant person the entire excursion.

[Kartgv]

We had one recent experience that didn't go well. Six people, arranged through our roll call, the taxi van that picked us up had 5 'real' seats, plus one hard, straight-back jump seat with a seat belt that didn't work. Guess who got the jump seat??? - should have bailed out right there. One couple that arranged the tour was very nice, but they had much more energy and physical capability than we did, and we were in real pain from trying to keep up on the walking parts of the tour. The other couple was very 'entitled', never stopped talking the entire day, mostly about political topics, with ranting opinions that made us cringe. A very long, uncomfortable, & exhausting day that overshadowed the experience of seeing the attractions we wanted to see. It has made us think long & hard about risking a repeat performance.

[pinebro]

Had 1 man in seat behind me in a bus to/from pyramids. He insisted i needed to move my seat forward ( me 6ft1 him maybe 5ft5) seat was in normal position , so he kicked my seat back and whined whole time. Shoulda decked him, kept my cool tho

[NantahalaCruiser]

I have organized many private shore excursions and have participated in others I didn't organize. 99% were great, met wonderful considerate people. Had one couple that thought they were on their own time table.. they were left behind, the tour company had another group going ,so they joined them.. I would definitely do it again. On large bus tours there is always someone that is not on time.

Generally our experience too; will certainly continue to organize and participate in private tours with fellow CC members from our rollcalls.

[2theship]

We've had a few that weren't the greatest but the overwhelming majority have been great. I've had great luck organizing transportation to Civitavecchia from Rome - every time we've laughed the whole drive even though we just met. For some reason, London to Southampton has been more problematic. Once, because someone didn't read the information I provided and another time because it was a difficult traffic day in London.

 

For the most part, tours have worked well and we've made some great friends on them. Ahead of time, I'm a compulsive planner. In the moment, I go with the flow.

[$hip$hape]

For the most part, tours have worked well and we've made some great friends on them.

Ahead of time, I'm a compulsive planner. In the moment, I go with the flow.

I'm gonna steal your quote. :*

[TMLAalum]

We've participated in and organized private tours via roll calls and I can only think of one instance in which the demands of the tour (clearly stated by me as organizer) were beyond the capabilities of some of the participants and the rest of us were impacted by them.

 

There was one roll call member on our Adriatic cruise who posted about a small group tour to Herculaneum out of Naples led by his wife and him, supposedly historians, that we joined and found ourselves to be 2 of about 30 total, put in taxis, and then subjected to the Bickersons (aka that couple) throughout our visit to Herculaneum. When our taxi returned to port, the driver demanded payment even though we'd prepaid the tour organizer for that! We did have a good time with our fellow travelers laughing and rolling our eyes over our gullibility and the ridiculousness of this "private" tour!

 

I did appreciate that on a Malta tour I organized, 2 couples opted to depart via taxi back to the ship when they'd reached their limit.

 

Unless it's a tour on which you've already been there and done that, there will always be surprises be they generated by the tour provider, participants or weather.

[sjb317]

Yes, and it really has made me hesitant to book with a private group again. There were eight of us in a van for a day long tour in Chile. Being the youngest:rolleyes: in the group meant I got the jump seat that was horribly uncomfortable. At each stop, the guide would give us a time to be back and everyone would be back except for this one woman. The guide would be asking where's Lucy? We would see her wondering around taking pictures or something but obviously in no hurry. The guide or Lucy's husband (he was always back on time :D) would start waving and calling to her, Lucy would wave back but continue meandering along, taking her time. Because we had to wait on her at each stop, we missed seeing a few of the planned sights and the guide was really frustrated as I think most of us were.

 

It was a long day, by the end of the tour I had a headache and my back hurt from sitting in that seat. But I was really sick of hearing Where's Lucy? :D

 

Sherri:)

[Nanatravel]

Only have had two negative experiences in over 35 cruises doing mostly private tours. In Turkey, we had a young newlywed couple (all the rest of us were mid-50's +). The wife was the one corresponding on CC. At Istanbul, this husband wanted to see a site that wasn't on the itinerary rather than joining us at lunch. Our guide was very accommodating and took them there. Also, our bus would hold 24 and I only wanted to keep the group to about 16. He was very vocal about sharing the total charge as we could have had more folks and lowered his price which was reasonable to begin with (under $50 per person).

 

Second experience was primarily with a tour conductor in Panama/Colon; He had included another separate group from Australia on our tour bus. No big deal at first but this group spread out and didn't sit with their own spouse but in individual seats. We had to split up from our loved one. Some of these folks wore the same clothing for consecutive days in a very warm climate; not a very pleasant experience. Plus the driver decided to return via a different route from Panama City but did not want to pay a toll. He circled around and met with a huge traffic jam in the central city. It took us hours to get out of the city. I'll never recommend Robert's tour.

[$hip$hape]

Have You Ever Regretted...

 

We, from the USA, shared a catamaran in the Caribbean with a group from France.

Once on the boat, the young women went topless.

No regrets here.

[LuAnn]

Generally our experience too; will certainly continue to organize and participate in private tours with fellow CC members from our rollcalls.

 

Plus one! I have organized and we have participated in tours with other CC members from our R/Cs for years now and only once did we have someone who was very disagreeable...she was just a very crabby, unhappy person in general!! :(

While it can sometimes be a lot of work to organize them I enjoy these types of tours so much more than being in a large bus on a tour offered by the cruise line. LuAnn

[cynbar]

We were on a small group tour in Athens, organized through our roll call. One of the couple started the day by insisting on going to an ATM to withdraw currency--- they had no money at all, including funds to pay for the tour. Our guide had a tough time finding just the right ATM to satisfy this couple, thus delaying us and annoying everyone. Please people, don't expect small tours to take part of their allotted time looking for an ATM. I know I see a lot of threads about exchanging money, many of which recommend waiting until you get to Europe and then using ATMs. But, please do it on your own time!

[miched]

YES! We shared a tour with some foreigners ( am from the USA )l. It was one of those that we took at the spur of the moment while walking off the ship and was approached by a barker. We didn't know them and we're just part of a group that filled the van. It was their group and us.

 

They were very rude, demanding and not nice to be with. They were ticked because I went into the pool at the bottom of a water falls and said that I ruined their tour because we had to spend too much time there. They wanted the driver to extend their time because of that they wanted him to do more. They wanted some money back and weren't tipping him because they don't believe in tipping.

 

There was a arguement with the driver and then they started into me about that incident at the waterfalls and said that they travel a lot and know how to negotiate and get the best price. I was at my boiling point and ready for a fist fight. The driver was very passive and just said do what you want as you will be punished by being unjust and not good people.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

[jelayne]

We have been lucky in 36 cruises, and organizing or participating in tons of tours we have only had 1 bad experience with other travelers. We were on a Royal ship docking in Harwich and had booked a car & driver to take us to London. Gave DH the job of seeing if he could find anyone on the ship to share the car/cost with us. Hadn't been successful on a very dead roll call.

 

Well DH found 2 guys going to London & staying a few blocks from us so they were happy to share the car. Morning we disembark one guy is there his partner wasn't feeling well. To make a long & miserable experience short this guy had drank too much for too long. He was still tipsy & we had to make frequent stops so he could toss his cookies:p.

 

Fortunately my DH had gotten the $ from them the day before because when we got to our hotel the drunk didn't want his partner to pay. Last we saw of them the drunk was wandering down the street pulling his suitcase & his partner left in a taxi.

 

Whenever possible we look for folks on the Roll Call that have been on other tours with us and reach out to them.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I've had wonderful luck both organizing and participating in small group tours, mostly in Europe. Met some very nice people. We had a problem once when one couple didn't show up. We spent some time calling their cabin, searching the dock, finally left without them. Since they had prepaid the tour, the rest of us did not have to take a financial hit.

[4cats4me]

have you ever regretted...

 

we, from the usa, shared a catamaran in the caribbean with a group from france.

Once on the boat, the young women went topless.

No regrets here.

 

 

 

lol!

[Loujul]

I will never go on a private tour again. It's no fun having to crawl out of the back of a six or eight person van, because more often than not, the other participants have "fill in the blank" which limits their mobility, and thus, they cannot sit in the back of the van. Put me on a big comfortable bus!! Ahhhhh.

 

 

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[Beanb41]

We have participated in tours organised by others and in many we have organised. What we have learned is that numbers of tours need to be kept small. Our philosophy now is now, no private tour greater than 10 people. Time on a cruise is too valuable to be herding cats

[Dunmore2]

We prefer the private tours, 6-8 people is perfect. It's painful to wait for 50 people to load and unload a big bus and the lineups to the washrooms are toooo long. The ship sponsored tours make an obligatory sales stop at a jewelry shop or leather factory, waste of time. We've had some talkative, selfish people join our tours, but also some who have become dear friends.