Lesson Learned - Booking 3rd Party Tours

[pe4all]

If I am in a foreign country or a port I have never been to I often book through the cruiselines for peace of mind. That being said, we did take a few private tours in Italy while on NCL, and will be taking a private 2 day tour in St. Petersburg in August. However - I always investigate/research the tour companies extensively before I book with them, and I always make sure there is plenty of time to get back to the ship in the event of traffic, etc. My stomach was in knots just reading the op's post!

[Baby_Bear]

I want to thank the OP for bringing this issue to our attention. I'd never heard of Norman or Di before, but I know now what or who to look out for.

 

I'm a big fan of private tours. Particularly in Europe, its such a great way to go, as most European cities have restrictions on buses in the city centers, and a car or minivan gets you right to the center with minimal walking. But you have to check out the tour company well in advance. Well run operators are very cognizant of what time you need to be back by and are particular about ensuring you are back on the ship in time. TripAdvisor is invaluable here in deciding on the good guys. If the person you are booking with refuses to give you the name of the operator, I wouldn't be shy about pulling the booking.

[jaxie001]

The reason why I posted this is I did not see any negative posts about his tours so I had absolutely no idea. I have no problem with someone making money off the tours (I'm all for entrepreneurship) but, once you are making money, you become at least morally (if not legally) responsible. I just wanted to warn others.

 

Glad you made it back ok, pretty scary situation tho when your entrusting someone. Sounds like somewhat common knowledge on other pages that this is how they get to travel so much, on someone elses dime. And some people will always do it. Good advice too in general to try and get all the details of the vendor. If the "TA" refuses to share even after you've paid for the tour that's shady. Sad thing is it's becoming common occurrence, after being burned I know I'll be checking things out more in detail before booking with someone who "is not making any money off booking a tour, just helping out of the goodness of their heart" Shady.

[mz-s]

Thank you for sharing your experience.

 

This reinforces my belief that we will continue to book cruise line-offered excursions if we decide to do a pre-planned excursion at a particular port of call. Often we will just hire a taxi or do our own sight seeing, but otherwise we always do cruise line vetted excursions.

 

To me it's not just about the fact that the ship will wait for us, it's that there is somebody on the ship that will be there to listen to a complaint if we have an issue (which we never have). Also, if we miss that port of call the excursion is refunded in full before I even have to think about it to ask. Might be more money? Sure, but I pay extra for a lot of things to get a better experience - I drive a nicer vehicle than a base model, even though both will get me from A to B without issue.

[kyrisong1]

Still waiting to see the "Stormin Norman" business page with reviews. Don't come here and bash 3rd party tours because you got burned by some random guy. That's like handing money to some guy hanging out by the port and being shocked that you didn't get what you paid for, Don't be so naive.

Actually if you've been on CC or around Carnival for any length of time Stormin Normen is a well known name, he's not a joe blow standing on the street corner, he does tons of group cruises. That said I've heard things and seen things from him that make me avoid using him or going on any of his groups or even face book pages. I've heard they make lots of money off of those that book excursions through them and sail pretty much for free with using the free berth when you meet a certain amount of people in your group. All of the Group cruises I've done actually give that cost back in OBCs to everyone in the group. Remember let the buyer beware!! I book my excursions through reputable companies by word of mouth from other cruisers I know and trust. Sorry this happened but at least you made the cruise

[CruisingNole]

Thank you for sharing your experience.

 

This reinforces my belief that we will continue to book cruise line-offered excursions if we decide to do a pre-planned excursion at a particular port of call. Often we will just hire a taxi or do our own sight seeing, but otherwise we always do cruise line vetted excursions.

 

To me it's not just about the fact that the ship will wait for us, it's that there is somebody on the ship that will be there to listen to a complaint if we have an issue (which we never have). Also, if we miss that port of call the excursion is refunded in full before I even have to think about it to ask. Might be more money? Sure, but I pay extra for a lot of things to get a better experience - I drive a nicer vehicle than a base model, even though both will get me from A to B without issue.

 

To each their own. I think what a lot of people don't realize is that often times the ship excursion ISN'T a better experience. More crowded, less flexibility for custom activities, etc. In my eyes, paying LESS money for a BETTER experience through a 3rd party is a no-brainer.

 

You have to keep in mind that the folks that run these excursions rely on reviews from sites like Trip Adviser. It's their bread and butter. A slew of negative reviews could put them out of business in a heartbeat. That being said, you better believe they will make sure you're satisfied and that you'll have plenty of time to get back to the ship. And they'll have a plan in place in case unexpected things happen. Some companies will even pay for you to get to the next port in the event you miss your ship (which really never happens, otherwise, you'd read all about it on these forums, trust me).

 

Go to Trip Adviser, search your port of call, and check out the top 5 rated providers and read the reviews. If you're still uncomfortable, vacationing abroad probably isn't for you.

[EAZYLIVING]

This post is long but I am posting this as I learned a huge lesson booking a tour through Stormin Norman and Diamond Di. To cut to the chase, the lesson I learned was always, always know who the tour operator is when booking a tour, even if through a third party (a third party is someone that makes money from booking tours). A reputable third party will tell you the name of the tour operator so that you can fully vet them and,should you be late returning to the ship, the ship can contact the tour operator directly. The following post is how I learned a valuable lesson after over 100 private tours booked and having always being back on the ship at least one hour prior to boarding time.

 

I booked the“Lively Lisbon” tour through Stormin Norman and Diamond Di. I had seen Norman for years on these cruise boards, learned a lot from him and thought he was a “stand up” kind of guy. I had no qualms whatsoever about booking this tour through him.

 

On the day of the tour, I found out that he had oversold the bus for the tour. Unfortunately, I don’t have the facts to state that this was a tour by bus as Stormin' Norman has blocked me from the tour description.

 

Anyway, he had hired an additional car (which was supposed to be a minivan) and, as my husband was unable to go on the tour, I volunteered to go in the car. Our tour was greatly abbreviated as it took us a long time to leave the dock and took a long time to do the tour of Pena Palace in Sintra. After the tour, we had lunch (I would have preferred to actually tour Lisbon) which was an hour away from the ship. Lunch was finished at 3:30 pm (which still gave us time to get to the ship for 5:00 pm) but then we were given 45 minutes to shop. Are you kidding me? We now have 45 minutes to get back to the ship when we are still an hour away.

 

Our car arrived first and we hopped in and off we went to do a tour of the coast. At 4:30 pm, I told the driver we had to be back at the ship by 5:00 pm. He told us we had plenty of time. I then told him that it was 4:00 pm Lisbon time as ship’s time was one hour ahead. He argued a bit with me and then called the tour guide. I stop here to note that Norman never had the tour guide call the car and tell them that we had to get back to the ship. I did hear from others that, when they boarded the bus, Norman told the tour guide that they had to go directly back to the ship so as to make it on time. After the driver hung up with the tour guide,he put the pedal to the metal but told me that we would not make it back by 5:00 pm ship time and that the tour bus was miles (yes, miles) ahead of us.

 

At 4:49 pm, I called my husband (who was still on the ship), to let him know that we probably would not make it back on board and to go to Guest Services when they called my name. He ran directly to Guest Services,where they asked him the name of the tour operator. He only had Stormin Norman’s name and not the name of the tour operator. The Guest Services rep said he would radio the bridge but did not know who Stormin Norman was.

 

I called my husband at 5:03 pm to let him know we were still not back, to stay on the ship and that I would be fine and meet him in Vigo (but I was extremely upset). I actually was so upset that I was making myself sick. At 5:13 pm, Guest Services tried to call me but I had just pulled up to the pier and was on the run(arriving 13 minutes after final board time). I made it on the ship and called my husband at 5:18 pm.

 

I told Normanthat this was the first and last tour I would do with him. I did receive the following private messagefrom him:

“Please know that I was in contact with the head of a Guest Services (by cell) and they were expecting us late. And furthermore, we were not the last back. There were 50 more persons who arrived 35 minutes after our scheduled back on board time.”

 

So, since we got extremely, extremely lucky that there were 50 people that arrived behind uson a Carnival tour, that makes it okay? I don’t think so. And, my response to him:

 

“No one notified the car we were in and after taking a tour of the coast and me freaking out did the driver call the tour guide and find out our onboard time. If it wasn't for me and him putting the pedal to the metal, we would have missed the ship. Too bad you didn't give a damn about us in the car.”

 

And, a line from the email that I received from Norman when booking the tour – “PLEASE NOTE: One of our top priorities is to ensure that we are back on board on time for the ship’s sailing. Because of this, it may be necessary to adjust the tour itinerary without notice.”

 

Draw your own conclusions but, as for me, I’ll never tour with him again. He had no regard for us in the car and whether we missed the ship or not; only for himself and those on the bus. Sometimes, actions speak louder than words.

 

But at least you saved a few bucks from booking this third party tour. I will never understand why cruisers believe a few bucks and maybe missing the ship is worth not booking tours through Carnival. You said you've done many 3rd party tours before, so now you see how risky it is and want to blame this company.

[mz-s]

To each their own. I think what a lot of people don't realize is that often times the ship excursion ISN'T a better experience. More crowded, less flexibility for custom activities, etc. In my eyes, paying LESS money for a BETTER experience through a 3rd party is a no-brainer.

 

You have to keep in mind that the folks that run these excursions rely on reviews from sites like Trip Adviser. It's their bread and butter. A slew of negative reviews could put them out of business in a heartbeat. That being said, you better believe they will make sure you're satisfied and that you'll have plenty of time to get back to the ship. And they'll have a plan in place in case unexpected things happen. Some companies will even pay for you to get to the next port in the event you miss your ship (which really never happens, otherwise, you'd read all about it on these forums, trust me).

 

Go to Trip Adviser, search your port of call, and check out the top 5 rated providers and read the reviews. If you're still uncomfortable, vacationing abroad probably isn't for you.

 

My main thing is if I'm on a 100% rated excursion that isn't booked through Carnival, if something goes south and I miss the ship that 100% rating does nothing for me. With a Carnival excursion the ship will wait as long as necessary until I am back onboard.

 

You say, oh that never happens - but it almost happened to the person who made this post. Even though everything worked out in the end, I can't imagine what the OP went through while in the moment.

 

Saving $50 (if that) on a tour just isn't worth it to me. To each their own. I know people who donate $5k to the casino every cruise so they can get "free" drinks and balcony rooms. I don't, but more power to those who do!

[CruisingNole]

It should also be noted that Carnival merely sells tickets for local excursions. They do not operate them. They are a middle man. That being said, I have family members that have booked excursions through a particular popular website and found themselves on the exact same tour as other passengers on the ship. The only difference was that they saved a ton of money instead of lining the pockets of the cruise line.

 

Happy sailing! :)

[kyrisong1]

I think people are getting "third party" and private excursions mixed up. The private excursions are some of the best I've done, but I research them to DEATH on Trip Advisor, Cruise Critic port of call boards and other cruise sites to get word of mouth. My all time favorites were NOT through the ship, they were through Private operators (which is exactly what Carnival uses for their excursions, except they charge you their fee for setting it all up) The reputable guides are well aware of when you need to get back, they totally keep track of the ships. Some of our best experiences have been with them. My all time favorite? Nativeway Watersports in Grand Cayman!!

[CruisingNole]

I think people are getting "third party" and private excursions mixed up. The private excursions are some of the best I've done, but I research them to DEATH on Trip Advisor, Cruise Critic port of call boards and other cruise sites to get word of mouth. My all time favorites were NOT through the ship, they were through Private operators (which is exactly what Carnival uses for their excursions, except they charge you their fee for setting it all up) The reputable guides are well aware of when you need to get back, they totally keep track of the ships. Some of our best experiences have been with them. My all time favorite? Nativeway Watersports in Grand Cayman!!

 

You hit the nail on the head.

 

To those that are so deathly afraid of missing the ship, I have to wonder, do you live your entire life with such precaution? Do you purchase insurance for every single airline flight you take in the event you get a flat tire on the way to the airport? Do you get talked into the extended warranty for everything you purchase? Paying extra money at the car rental desk for "their" insurance protection?

 

I think when you add up the cost of all those "protections" over the years, you'll find that if you "took the risk" and went out on a limb now and then, you'd have saved enough money to take an extra cruise here and there. ;)

[mz-s]

You hit the nail on the head.

 

To those that are so deathly afraid of missing the ship, I have to wonder, do you live your entire life with such precaution? Do you purchase insurance for every single airline flight you take in the event you get a flat tire on the way to the airport? Do you get talked into the extended warranty for everything you purchase? Paying extra money at the car rental desk for "their" insurance protection?

 

I think when you add up the cost of all those "protections" over the years, you'll find that if you "took the risk" and went out on a limb now and then, you'd have saved enough money to take an extra cruise here and there. ;)

 

So give me a real world example of a price difference, or an excursion that can't be booked through the cruise.

 

On my most recent cruise I did a snorkeling excursion for $69.99 per person. That excursion didn't offer direct bookings, had to go through Carnival. But an equivalent excursion from another company I found was exactly the same price.

 

Maybe things are different at bigger ports like Nassau or Cozumel vs. St Thomas.

 

I don't over insure things or buy extended warranties, but I guess my idea of taking risks doesn't extend to trusting my life and limb to a foreign excursion operator with no recourse for grievance other than a review website.