Reviewing an excursion gone wrong

[Pellaz]

OP, sorry you had a rough experience with snorkeling in the ocean. Sounds like the sea condiions and currents took an abrupt turn for the worse.

In November I did a snuba/snorkeling expedition while visiting Nassau and Paradise Island, via Blue Adventures/Stuart's Cove, and we had very rough sea conditions for it (I was surprised we went out on the boat at all). Oddly enough the snorkeling part wasn't too bad, but the snuba portion was difficult as the current and wind kept pushing the snuba raft around.

 

I had a negative excursion review rejected by Carnival and couldn't figure out why. After re-reading it several times, I realized I had made a comparision to the same excursion run by another cruiseline.

 

I deleted the comparision, and Carnival accepted and printed my unflattering review. It's a shame Carnival leaves us guessing on any rejections.

 

I wish they'd be more forthcoming as to the reasons for the rejection. I had one rejected because (I think) it referenced prices; I fixed it and they accepted it.

 

Carnival hasn't routinely deleted excursion reviews that are negative; a glance through some of the excursion listings will tell you that pretty quickly. The Balmoral Island excursion at Nassau comes to mind as an excursion that had really bad reviews on Carnival's site -- at one point, only 2.2 stars with 50+ reviews. We decided not to book it because of Carnival's own site reviews. :o

[Bextra1256]

I just got back from a cruise on the Splendor that visited Nassau, Mahogany Bay, Grand Turk and was supposed to stop at Half Moon Cay but ended up at Freeport. The cruise was between the 3rd and 10th. For Nassau My family and I booked a 2 reef snorkel.. Everything went normally at first. The crew where ok, After 8 cruises I realize not all excursion crews are part time entertainers but do a good job nonetheless.. There where tons of fish and marine life among the coral.. Props on this excursion for scenery! However the second reef was where things went wrong.. We where told to view a shipwreck by swimming in front of the boat.. Suddenly my husband and I along with several other groups got swept into a current and then into some really rough water which was impossible to swim in much less keep ones head above it! The crew had to rescue those of us who couldn't make it back to the boat.. Those rescued including myself where visibly terrified and some very angry.. I wrote my review on carnival's page for the excursion describing what happened but they sent me an email back saying it was rejected because it didn't follow the guidelines, which where vague to begin with.. Was I supposed to be vague myself and just mention the water being too rough and the crew being average, leaving out the chaos that really happened?

 

 

 

Also on that cruise but not that excursion. Freeport we took the Hop on Hop off bus that was announced that morning that the Splendor excurison team arranged. Was a 4 stop excurison. First stop was a tour of perfume factory- It wasnt open that day closed weekends. Maybe Carnival need to check out their excursions better

[LuckyStar]

I just got back from a cruise on the Splendor that visited Nassau, Mahogany Bay, Grand Turk and was supposed to stop at Half Moon Cay but ended up at Freeport. The cruise was between the 3rd and 10th. For Nassau My family and I booked a 2 reef snorkel.. Everything went normally at first. The crew where ok, After 8 cruises I realize not all excursion crews are part time entertainers but do a good job nonetheless.. There where tons of fish and marine life among the coral.. Props on this excursion for scenery! However the second reef was where things went wrong.. We where told to view a shipwreck by swimming in front of the boat.. Suddenly my husband and I along with several other groups got swept into a current and then into some really rough water which was impossible to swim in much less keep ones head above it! The crew had to rescue those of us who couldn't make it back to the boat.. Those rescued including myself where visibly terrified and some very angry.. I wrote my review on carnival's page for the excursion describing what happened but they sent me an email back saying it was rejected because it didn't follow the guidelines, which where vague to begin with.. Was I supposed to be vague myself and just mention the water being too rough and the crew being average, leaving out the chaos that really happened?

 

We have traveled extensively in the Caribbean and Nassau is the worst for safety that I have seen. I will never take another excursion there, if I would even return. We had a terrible time with drifting on our snorkeling tour. I had my small child with me and we were safe but I couldn't make it back to the ship. I ended up handing my child over to a stranger. Someone we met on the boat, but nonetheless a stranger. And I asked him to send my husband out to help me. Bless him. he potentially saved our lives. Because the tour operator sure wasn't going to.

[Sillyjilly]

Wow, that's not good.

If you haven't already, post it on the Alaska board on CC. Good info to know before going.