Partial refund on excursion

[moki'smommy]

Well, I talked with Princess rep today in response to my e-mail about an unsatisfactory excursion. The excursion was scheduled for 8 hours, According to the final schedule we were given, it was a 3 hour bus ride each way, 70 minute tram ride, 45 minutes guided walking tour, and 30 minute lunch. Obviously those figures don't add up. Our "guided walking tour" didn't happen--no real explanation, but the only logic was that we were out of time and had to get back to the ship. Cost of the excursion was $159 pp.

 

Princess calculated that we didn't get 40 minutes of the excursion (the 45 minute walking tour), and offered $13pp refund. Do I think it is the correct way to do the calculations? No. I would have said we had 70+45+30 minutes of scheduled activity and based it on that percentage. Their logic was that we missed 8% of the "total" excursion time, so offered an 8% refund.

 

The sad part is probably that I took it. It was the best I was going to get, and something is better than nothing!

[WatchHill]

The few times we've taken Princess tours, and had issues, I immediately went to Shorex and requested a form to note the problems. We [and 5 bus loads of passengers] had a major issues on a Panama canal tour, and b the end of the cruise, were notified of a $50.pp credit. Other times, I have had a few words with Shorex but never got anywhere, but managed to email pictures of an incident to Princess and that got a rapid response and a future cruise credit.

 

It's a tough call when the tour does not reflect what is in writing, or fails to live up to all the hype. When multiple passengers voice the same concerns, then you are more likely to get a favorable response. When you stand alone, feel they offered anything.

 

We had a similar dismal all day tour, which was more bus ride than tour, awful meal in 20 minutes, and short on site tour, then back on the bus to be put to sleep by a boring tour conductor. They guide actually worked better than Ambien - I was asleep in less than ten minutes.

 

Once more reason to do your research and book independent tours.

 

Darcy

[sunsetbeachgal]

What type of excursion was it? Would have to be once in a lifetime unique experience for me to do three hour bus ride!!

 

 

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[RandallFlagg]

Indeed. Mind telling us what excursion it was? I would want to steer clear of that bad boy :)

[moki'smommy]

I did go to shore ex desk and did the form immediately after the excursion. I never received a response from that, so on arriving home I took the advice of someone on the boards and contacted Princess.

 

The excursion was an arial tram and guided walk thru the rainforest. I have two pieces of info that list the travel time as 2 hours each way, but the guy at the desk had a form that said 3 hours. At the Princess site, it would seem to imply 2 hours as it lists the bus + tram as a little over 3 hours and the time to return to ship as 2 hours. I agree that a 2 hour ride each way is still a lot.

 

Bottom line, the girls wanted to do either this or one other excursion. We booked rather late for this cruise (after final payment date), and the other excursion was sold out. They were not unhappy with the excursion, but I found it to be a lot of money for what we got....and you are right that 6 hours on a bus for essentially 70 minutes of a tram ride is a lot of travel time. But we won't likely be in a rainforest again, so live and learn.

 

We were on a partial Panama Canal transit. The excursion was the Aerial Tram and Rainforest Tour at Limon, Costa Rica. I do believe the transportation time was supposed to be 2 hours as we didn't leave the site till 2:45 and "all aboard" time was 4:30. The guides on the site actually took us to the bus and did the head count while we waited for the bus guide to return from his tram ride! He was on the last tram, of course. Then there was much commotion on the bus as he repeatedly phoned his company since we were running late. They told Princess that it was due to a traffic jam. Yes, within 10 minutes of the port, we did encounter a traffic problem which we were able to navigate around. But the bus was running WAY late before the traffic jam. I'm a nut case that does all sorts of mental math; looked at daughter and said that unless the next sign said 25km we were going to be late. The next road sign said 74km to Limon! And we were quite late.

 

The bus guide was OK. The guides at the rainforest place were excellent.

 

And yes, this was the only port where I did a Princess excursion--we did private excursions or just stayed on board at the other stops. Some of the port times were odd...like 6:30am till noon! I don't get up that early on a cruise!

Edited April 27, 2018 by moki'smommy

[geoherb]

I'm sorry it did not work out better for you. I agree that the travel time to and from the rain forest should not be included in the calculation of what you missed.

[TheRabbit]

There are other Princess tours with much more travel time and a cost over 5 times more with about the same amount of time at the location. In 2016 we booked one of these to Patagonia, but it was cancelled as we were going to be late getting into port because of high winds 2 days before held us up for 4 hours. At least you got the rain forest experience, we were unable to do that one. We need to remember sometimes that we are cruising and will only get a "taste" of what is in port, not the "full experience".

 

At least you didn't loose the whole rain forest experience because someone decided not to return to the bus on time from shopping. On one tour (not sure where anymore) one pair of cruiser came back 15 to 30 minutes late at the first two or three stops and made us late for down stream tour appointments, one of which was cancelled. That might be a good subject for another thread.

[neverbeenhere]

Since I know that the guided walking tour was 100% of the reason you took the tour, I would think 100% refund would be in order. Okay, maybe not 100% , but maybe 40% as this is where you get the information.

[Coral]

In the future - I would seek someone out from Shore Excursions desk. I have had far better luck on the ship settling these matters than afterwards.

 

I would have asked to be refunded the entire amount. You missed the main part of the excursion.

[moki'smommy]

In the future - I would seek someone out from Shore Excursions desk. I have had far better luck on the ship settling these matters than afterwards.

 

I would have asked to be refunded the entire amount. You missed the main part of the excursion.

As I said in a previous post, I did go to the excursions desk virtually as soon as we returned from the excursion. Other people in the cabin hit the shower, I hit the excursion desk. All they did was to show me a paper that claimed the bus ride was 3 hours each way (rather than the 2 hours on the Princess web site), and offered me a form to complete. At that point I had the exact times that I'd documented because we spent way too much time waiting for late arrivals, standing around at the entrance waiting for the preserve personnel, etc...when we didn't arrive in 2 hours, I started charting times!

 

I was never contacted in regard to the form that I completed and no action was taken while on board. That's why I followed up after the return. I was thinking that something between 25% and 50% would have been fair--we got one of the two activities + quickie lunch.

[Coral]

As I said in a previous post' date=' I did go to the excursions desk virtually as soon as we returned from the excursion. Other people in the cabin hit the shower, I hit the excursion desk. All they did was to show me a paper that claimed the bus ride was 3 hours each way (rather than the 2 hours on the Princess web site), and offered me a form to complete. At that point I had the exact times that I'd documented because we spent way too much time waiting for late arrivals, standing around at the entrance waiting for the preserve personnel, etc...when we didn't arrive in 2 hours, I started charting times!

 

I was never contacted in regard to the form that I completed and no action was taken while on board. That's why I followed up after the return. I was thinking that something between 25% and 50% would have been fair--we got one of the two activities + quickie lunch.[/quote']

 

Sorry - I meant to say I would have tried to push for resolution on the ship. After it seems less likely for a desirable outcome. You tried but they didn't follow through. The one time I did get a full refund - we booked an excursion before our flight in FLL. It was pouring rain and the people on the bus choose to go to Starbucks. I would have preferred the excursion. They did give me a full refund. This was a long time ago.

 

Regardless, you deserved more.

 

There was a situation where 2 cabins on the same sailing had the same issue. The one cabin who made the ship deal with it came out with a better refund compared to the cabin that choose to deal with the issue once they got home. Same ship, same sailing, same issue - 2 entirely different outcomes.

[moki'smommy]

No worries...the outcome wasn't as good as I'd have expected, but I took the approach that something was better than nothing. It didn't seem that there was any wiggle room with the Princess rep on the phone today.

 

And we won't likely be booking any more Princess excursions in the future. I don't normally book excursions thru the ship, but there are those occasions where it just makes sense.

 

Oh, FWIW, we went private on one of our other stops and paid HALF of what a very similar excursion would have cost thru Princess. The two were not identical--the Princess excursion included a "stop" at a rum store in addition to the rest of the excursion (which was the same). The funny thing is that there was another branch of the same rum store within walking distance of the tender terminal. Since they were not identical, we would not have been eligible for the Princess price match. I'm happier with saving half. We currently have two more cruises booked. We won't be adding Princess excursions.

[Coral]

Oh' date=' FWIW, we went private on one of our other stops and paid HALF of what a very similar excursion would have cost thru Princess. The two were not identical--the Princess excursion included a "stop" at a rum store in addition to the rest of the excursion (which was the same). The funny thing is that there was another branch of the same rum store within walking distance of the tender terminal. Since they were not identical, we would not have been eligible for the Princess price match. I'm happier with saving half. We currently have two more cruises booked. We won't be adding Princess excursions.[/quote']

 

One of the excursions we booked in Norway is 1/3 of the cost. The difference is the ship excursions stops for "waffles" on the way back. Otherwise, the same. I also prefer private excursions but there are times when booking with the cruise line makes sense. I think they purposely do "stops" so that they are not "identical" and can't get their price guarantee.

[moki'smommy]

I think you are right about intentionally making them not identical.

 

My all time favorite example was Totem Bight State Park in Alaska. The park admission is free. There are volunteer guides as well as self guiding literature at the visitor station. The volunteers won't even accept a tip. The city "blue" bus was $1 each way and required a walk across the street and 1/2 block to the stop. So for us, total cost was $2 pp.

 

The difference between what we got and what cruise line people got was a cup of hot chocolate in the gift shop...which we could have purchased. The cruise line excursion is $44.95....but they didn't have to walk 1/2 block to the bus stop.

 

And we saw a bear walking along the road.

 

Another thing about Alaska--if you have a National Park pass, you might find it useful on some excursions. If you book thru the cruise line, you'll pay park admission whether you have purchased the pass or not!

Edited April 28, 2018 by moki'smommy

[Coral]

I think you are right about intentionally making them not identical.

 

My all time favorite example was Totem Bight State Park in Alaska. The park admission is free. There are volunteer guides as well as self guiding literature at the visitor station. The volunteers won't even accept a tip. The city "blue" bus was $1 each way and required a walk across the street and 1/2 block to the stop. So for us' date=' total cost was $2 pp.

 

The difference between what we got and what cruise line people got was a cup of hot chocolate in the gift shop...which we could have purchased. The cruise line excursion is $44.95....but they didn't have to walk 1/2 block to the bus stop.

 

And we saw a bear walking along the road.[/quote']

 

Bear vs hot chocolate - you won! :cool:

[donswife]

No worries...the outcome wasn't as good as I'd have expected' date=' but I took the approach that something was better than nothing. It didn't seem that there was any wiggle room with the Princess rep on the phone today.

 

And we won't likely be booking any more Princess excursions in the future. I don't normally book excursions thru the ship, but there are those occasions where it just makes sense.

 

Oh, FWIW, we went private on one of our other stops and paid HALF of what a very similar excursion would have cost thru Princess. The two were not identical--the Princess excursion included a "stop" at a rum store in addition to the rest of the excursion (which was the same). The funny thing is that there was another branch of the same rum store within walking distance of the tender terminal. Since they were not identical, we would not have been eligible for the Princess price match. I'm happier with saving half. We currently have two more cruises booked. We won't be adding Princess excursions.[/quote']

 

What private excursion did you take? We are booked for this itinerary in October. I will steer clear of the rainforest bus trip!

[moki'smommy]

On Grand Cayman, we went thru Captain Marvin's for the island tour which stopped at Hell and the Turtle Farm. That left us with a little time to shop and walk around the area. The last tender was 1:30 (I think), so not a long day.

 

Truly, Limon was the only long port day. Most ports were under 6 hours, and some of them started very early in the morning. In Panama, if you didn't do a tour, you had about 45 minutes to wander around the terminal area. We were not permitted to leave that immediate area. All things considered, this was not my favorite cruise.....but the suite was sweet, the food was good.

[caribill]

No worries...the outcome wasn't as good as I'd have expected' date=' but I took the approach that something was better than nothing. It didn't seem that there was any wiggle room with the Princess rep on the phone today.

[/quote']

 

When we have had unsatisfactory Princess excursions, we filled out the form on the ship as you did. But we also checked back with the shore excursion desk daily until they resolved the issue. Usually we received credit to our onboard account for between 30% and 50% of the excursion cost.

[Micahs Grandad]

Bear vs hot chocolate - you won! :cool:

 

Unless of course the Bear demanded the hot chocolate:)

[Desert Cruizers]

When looking over a tour and its length, I weigh the travel time to get over & back with the actual on site trip. If I end up spending less time on site with the time it takes to get us there & back I look for another tour. I also prefer to avoid long tours that gets us back within 1 hour of departure, no room for delays. Friends of ours along with several others who had booked a tour which the flyer they received said it was a Wine tour, were surprised to find themselves walking around an open field and old fort. The Flyer put out was in correct but the Excursion on line was. Those people were refunded their money. I got the flyer but never looked at it as I had booked online with the cruise line.

[sunsetbeachgal]

And one of the other big problems with excursions that have long drives is if the drive ends up to take longer than they have allotted on the itinerary, the lost time comes out of the tour time. We have had this happen in Europe with traffic delays.

 

 

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[RDC1]

One of the problems with tours in Costa Rica is that travels times can be highly variable. Stop at the port during a holiday period (around Easter for example) and what normally might be a two hour drive can easily take 3 or 4. Found out the hard way during a cruise back from Santiago.

[donswife]

On Grand Cayman' date=' we went thru Captain Marvin's for the island tour which stopped at Hell and the Turtle Farm. That left us with a little time to shop and walk around the area. The last tender was 1:30 (I think), so not a long day.

 

Truly, Limon was the only long port day. Most ports were under 6 hours, and some of them started very early in the morning. In Panama, if you didn't do a tour, you had about 45 minutes to wander around the terminal area. We were not permitted to leave that immediate area. All things considered, this was not my favorite cruise.....but the suite was sweet, the food was good.[/quote']

 

Thanks for the info. We are going mainly for the Canal, a full transit is too long. We are booked in a Window suite. I would have to be extremely desperate and give DH some medication to spend 10 days on the Island.