Who is responsible for bad excursion

[exactorman51]

I first want to say that the cruise and most of the onboard staff were fine, some excellent. However, we had an experience that was totally unacceptable. 

We booked an excursion, Go Native Jamaica, through the excursion desk on the ship. This excursion was a disaster from the start. The bus broke down and we had to change buses. We were supposed to spend 1 hour and 40 minutes on the bus but were on for over 4 and 1/2 hours. We were supposed to visit a plantation and farm which turned out to be a smelly, dirty chicken coop. We had a meal included that was mediocre to say the least and you had to pay extra $3 for water more for other drinks.

 

But, the worst was when we visited Saint James Church in Falmouth. A completely naked man was lying in the middle of our walk to the church. I would post pictures but have been told they are inappropriate, I did send them to some RCL Executives. We are infirm seniors. My wife was traumatized I was disgusted. We informed the excursion host and he refused to have the man removed. I immediately contacted RCCL head offices in our return. I received a call from a low level inarticulate employee who offered an insincere apology. At the very least, I thought the cost of the excursion should have been refunded and we should have received an apology from a Senior Executive.

 

My wife and I  do not think we should have been subjected to such treatment. We will never cruise with RCCL again. I just wondered if if anyone believes the cruise ship holds any liability for a disastrous excursion.

[Clarea]

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

If it's a cruise ship excursion, then the cruise line is responsible.

 

You can try going right to the top: mbayley@rccl.com.

[exactorman51]

Thanks, I did and he had a lackey contact me. Who was rude and insincere. Sounded like he read from a paper then hung up.

[Ourusualbeach]

To be honest you should have dealt with this on board escalating there as needed.

[exactorman51]

We did and were told we would be contacted on our return to port. We heard nothing so I wrote to the Executive Offices.

[kruzerci]

We actually had a terrible excursion experience in Cozumel a few years back on Independence (bus broke down, wasted the whole day on a bus, missed most of the stops, etc) and neither the suite concierge or shore excursions desk was helpful. I initially just wanted to let them know what happened. When they acted like it was all a non-issue was when I requested at least a partial refund. Nothing. They wouldn't budge. I do think, whatever their policy is, is poor, but I wouldn't hold your breath. 

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, exactorman51 said:

We did and were told we would be contacted on our return to port. We heard nothing so I wrote to the Executive Offices.

 

That's too bad, but I've seen similar stories reported.  Sounds like they told you something the purpose of which was to get you out of their hair and off the ship.

 

Try social media, they seem particularly sensitive to that.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

12 minutes ago, exactorman51 said:

I first want to say that the cruise and most of the onboard staff were fine, some excellent. However, we had an experience that was totally unacceptable. 

We booked an excursion, Go Native Jamaica, through the excursion desk on the ship. This excursion was a disaster from the start. The bus broke down and we had to change buses. We were supposed to spend 1 hour and 40 minutes on the bus but were on for over 4 and 1/2 hours. We were supposed to visit a plantation and farm which turned out to be a smelly, dirty chicken coop. We had a meal included that was mediocre to say the least and you had to pay extra $3 for water more for other drinks.

 

But, the worst was when we visited Saint James Church in Falmouth. A completely naked man was lying in the middle of our walk to the church. I would post pictures but have been told they are inappropriate, I did send them to some RCL Executives. We are infirm seniors. My wife was traumatized I was disgusted. We informed the excursion host and he refused to have the man removed. I immediately contacted RCCL head offices in our return. I received a call from a low level inarticulate employee who offered an insincere apology. At the very least, I thought the cost of the excursion should have been refunded and we should have received an apology from a Senior Executive.

 

My wife and I  do not think we should have been subjected to such treatment. We will never cruise with RCCL again. I just wondered if if anyone believes the cruise ship holds any liability for a disastrous excursion.

IMO, the first paragraph is both unlucky (bus breaking down) and the fault of RCI/tour operator (chicken coop & meal).  That deserves to be passed along to RCI, preferably with a description of what they sold you on and any pictures that show what you were told was not was delivered.  I will say the quality of the meal is very subjective.  And I wonder if the tour description mentioned water/drinks, or just said a box lunch would be provided.

 

As far as the naked man, I don't see how RCI or the tour operator would be responsible for that.  While unfortunate, how would you have liked them to handle it?  The tour operator may not have had any standing to remove the man.  Probably the most he could have done was call authorities.  

 

As far as refunds, I would think 10%-25% of the cost of the tour would be appropriate. But, I don't know what the description of the tour is/was. 

[exactorman51]

It was the lack of sympathy and treatment that was the most disconcerting. If they had shown any real concern about our issue, that would have been appreciated. And I do believe the authorities should have been called.

[livylotte]

We had a terrible excursion experience last summer and I reported to the excursions team on our return to the ship.  RCI did absolutely nothing.  It was a one off and I'm not going to let it put me off Royal Caribbean.  We mostly do independent excursions but sometimes book with the ship - they are usually overpriced but good - we were just unlucky.

[DaniDanielle]

We received a 20% refund for a trolley tour in St. Martin that was not what was advertised.  This was over two years ago so things may have changed.  I do know my cousin complained before I did and he tends to be a little nasty.  When I went to the excursion desk I was very nice and just suggested they should change the wording of the tour.  Thus we each got the 20%.

[Merion_Mom]

14 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

That's too bad, but I've seen similar stories reported.  Sounds like they told you something the purpose of which was to get you out of their hair and off the ship.

 

Try social media, they seem particularly sensitive to that.

 

@exactorman51  I agree with trying social media.  Post on RC's FB page:   https://www.facebook.com/royalcaribbean/

 

 

[S.A.M.J.R.]

11 minutes ago, exactorman51 said:

It was the lack of sympathy and treatment that was the most disconcerting. If they had shown any real concern about our issue, that would have been appreciated. And I do believe the authorities should have been called.

So a lack of sympathy equates to having the entire excursion price refunded?  

 

The authorities probably should have been called.  But, wouldn't that have taken time away from the tour (that was already running late?)?  Was the naked guy in the same place when you returned?  

[reallyitsmema]

I would also complain on social media about the bus issue and the "farm" but I would stop sending the pictures of the naked man to anyone.  The cruise line and the tour operator have nothing to do with that.

[Merly]

You should always deal with issues at the time.  Also the more people who complain the better. We had a bad excursion and as soon as we got back on board we went to guest services. Quite a few others did as well. We were very polite and everyone on the excursion was refunded in full.  

[exactorman51]

5 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

So a lack of sympathy equates to having the entire excursion price refunded?  

 

The authorities probably should have been called.  But, wouldn't that have taken time away from the tour (that was already running late?)?  Was the naked guy in the same place when you returned?  

It would have made us feel better if they at least showed they cared. The fact they didn't was even more upsetting. Yes, still there at least half hour later and visible most of the time spent at the church.

Edited January 16, 2020 by exactorman51

[Tree_skier]

Excursions are always a crap shoot whether they are ship booked or independently booked.  Ive had two that were substantially beneath my expectation. One was in Roatan booked through RC and the other was La Spezia booked through MSC.  The Roatan one was mostly a collection of unfortunate circumstances.  The La Spezia one was a poorly organized tour that used substandard equipment.  Poor weather compounded the problems and turned the day very sour.  MSC didn't care when I talked to the excursion desk back on board.

[exactorman51]

Thanks to all. I would have expected RCL to care a lot more. We have gone on close to 20 cruises and rarely take ship excursions. We do expect to be slightly disappointed considering the synopsis of the tour but never a total disaster. The lack of empathy by RCL is disheartening. We will take a pass on them in the future and advise our friends to choose elsewhere.

Edited January 16, 2020 by exactorman51

[lovescats5]

So one bad experience and you never want to cruise RCL again and will tell all your friends.  We have had good experiences and not so good but we will not stop sailing on that line again completely.  Just an unfortunate adventure.  I would have actually turned the whole experience into a teaching lesson for my 12 yo granddaughter.  Seeing the naked man might be a little over the top but life is not perfect.  Hope you enjoy your next cruise and excursions more than this one.

[exactorman51]

4 minutes ago, lovescats5 said:

So one bad experience and you never want to cruise RCL again and will tell all your friends.  We have had good experiences and not so good but we will not stop sailing on that line again completely.  Just an unfortunate adventure.  I would have actually turned the whole experience into a teaching lesson for my 12 yo granddaughter.  Seeing the naked man might be a little over the top but life is not perfect.  Hope you enjoy your next cruise and excursions more than this one.

They tipped their hand as far as I'm concerned. They don't care about anything but taking our money. I don't know about you but we are on a fixed income and what we paid was a lot for us. I'll take a pass and give the others a shot.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We do not book many cruise ship excursions.  We do this only when time and distance are an issue.  

 

We had a poor experience in St Thomas with an excursion to St John.  The boat that was supposed to take us directly from the cruise dock to St John was over an hour late arriving to begin the excursion. There was no excuse given.  There was an "island time" attitude. 

 

We complained to the excursion desk when we returned.  There were also, 2 other couples that complained.  RCL has a form for this and we each completed a written description.

 

Our goal was to make sure they stopped using that provider.  However, since several passengers had complained we got a 20% refund.  . . . more than one person complaining is important.  

 

 

[BSocial]

I’m sorry your excursion was such a departure from what was expected.  I wish Guest Services had shown some empathy for you and your wife.  
 

Do you know if any others on the tour shared their disappointment, also, with Guest Services ?
 

 

 

[TravelinGert]

If they get enough complaints or any serious complaints Royal does stop dealing with the provider. I know this because Royal severed ties with an excursion provider on the day before we were to have taken the excursion. We figured out something was wrong when we didn't receive a letter telling us where to meet up for our excursion and discovered we'd received an email telling us Royal was no longer offering the excursion about an hour earlier. Later found out there had been a lot of complaints and Royal severed ties with them when we went up to talk to someone at Excursions about finding something else to do that day.

[squadron]

2 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

That's too bad, but I've seen similar stories reported.  Sounds like they told you something the purpose of which was to get you out of their hair and off the ship.

 

Try social media, they seem particularly sensitive to that.

For several excursions over the years have complained to excursion desk - who really really didn't care, had no apology or comment.   Have  found that the staff at excursion desk is generally the least helpful of all departments and have no idea about the excursions except to sell them.

[Snit13]

3 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

To be honest you should have dealt with this on board escalating there as needed.

 

3 hours ago, exactorman51 said:

We did and were told we would be contacted on our return to port. We heard nothing so I wrote to the Executive Offices.

Did you go directly to shore excursion desk when you returned to the ship?  Did you speak with an Officer in Charge or the person working the desk?

I don't feel the excursion leader is responsible for a nude man lying on the street.  Seems to be happening all over the world now.