Tour co. wants 1/2 down or card guarantee

[Wee Eck]

Hi Guys:

 

We are booked on the Carnival Liberty for a July 30th sailing from Rome. We are in the process of booking private tours with vendors recommended by all of you wonderful people. So far we have Stefano from Romecabs for Rome, a colleague of Francesco Marrapese for the Amalfi Tour (we have seven passengers which is too many for his van). We are in the process of booking the Pisa-Florence Tour and one company that was recommended was Silvia & Luciano at www.tuscany-trips.com. However, Silvia is asking for either half down or a credit card guarantee. I understand the business side of wanting a guarantee, but I'm hesitant to give either. They are the only company that asked for it. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Alex

 

PS I want to thank all of you who give your time to part with your knowledge. It really has helped us so much in preparing for our first big cruise.

[bigmjh]

We booked private drivers / guides for all ports on our Grand Med tour in October. Almost ALL wanted a credit card to guarantee and hold the day for us. Put yourself in their shoes ... they are keeping the day open for you ... turning down any later bookings that might come their way ... then you decide at the last minute to do something else ... they've lost a day's pay. It's only fair that you should be responsible for any last minute cancellations. Just as any hotel would want a credit card to hold and guarantee a room.

 

It was our experience that these drivers were all honest, hard working people that took pride in their reputations ... they're not going to screw you around for a few dollars and ruin their hard-earned reputations. If you have researched these drivers and want to book them ... they will want some asurance that you will show up. BTW - none of our drivers wanted payments or charged our credit card up front ... only one in Turkey wanted a SMALL down payment ($60 for two tours - Istanbul and Kusadasi). The others all took our CC number and NEVER charged them.

 

FYI - it is NOT a good idea to send CC numbers in emails ... either fax them ... or give them to someone over the phone - it's a must lower security risk.

[leighuf]

I wasn't asked for credit card to hold the reservation. I used Claudio of LimoinRome.com for my private tour in Rome. Other CCers on my cruise used him in Florence and also hired DriveAmalfi in Naples. Same, didn't have to privde down payment or credit card.

 

Claudio mentioned that most of his cruise customers are reliable ie: they show up. However, he has waited at the port for hours for no shows. He doesn't live in Civitavecchia so he wasted not only those 2 hours, but the gas and time it took him to get to the port.

 

Double check the company's policy for cancellations and the policy if the ship doesn't make it to port b/c of weather etc.