Private tours

[momkard]

There four us going in the British island trip on6/20. We are interested I. Getting with others to go private tours.

momkard

[Steelers36]

1 minute ago, momkard said:

There four us going in the British island trip on6/20. We are interested I. Getting with others to go private tours.

momkard

You need to look up your Roll Call on this website by ship name and sail date.  Post there and meet fellow cruisers and discuss coordinating for private tours.  I do it all the time and it's the best thing for us.

[WisCruiser2]

Try posting this in the Roll Call for your cruise 😊

[milolii]

Here is the Princess roll call forum where you will find your ship and sailing date.  Ask here if folks want to join you.  
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/63-princess-roll-calls/

[nini]

On 1/20/2024 at 7:03 PM, momkard said:

There four us going in the British island trip on6/20. We are interested I. Getting with others to go private tours.

momkard

You will also find a wealth of information on the British Isles forum. Cruisers from all cruise lines post there of their experiences, not just Princess.

[Meaux]

How do you coordinate payment on private tours?  I would hate to schedule a $1,600 private tour and 4 people commit and don’t show leaving me with the bill or doubling the cost for the people that show up.  

[karatemom2]

1 hour ago, Meaux said:

How do you coordinate payment on private tours?  I would hate to schedule a $1,600 private tour and 4 people commit and don’t show leaving me with the bill or doubling the cost for the people that show up.  

Most people coordinating private tours on roll calls collect money from their group in advance of the tour via PayPal, Zelle or Venmo to ensure the financial commitment of the participants. 

[Meaux]

Thank you for the quick response.  We scheduled a private tour on a British Isles tour a few years ago. Due to rough seas the tour was cancelled however the private driver had allocated the day and had a no fault clause requiring partial payment.  The couple sharing the tour balked and we got hosed for the fee.  

[Rick&Jeannie]

21 minutes ago, Meaux said:

Thank you for the quick response.  We scheduled a private tour on a British Isles tour a few years ago. Due to rough seas the tour was cancelled however the private driver had allocated the day and had a no fault clause requiring partial payment.  The couple sharing the tour balked and we got hosed for the fee.  

I can't speak to the types of terms that are written for European drivers/tours...but just do your research on the tour company before ever committing to the tour at all.  If they don't have many (or any) good reviews...keep looking.  These days it is far too easy to get feedback from fellow travelers and from various tour-related websites in order to make a good decision.  The experience you share *seems* pretty unusual for these days.  The way you describe it sounds as if there were two different "contracts" in place...one for the guide and one for the driver.

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, Meaux said:

How do you coordinate payment on private tours?  I would hate to schedule a $1,600 private tour and 4 people commit and don’t show leaving me with the bill or doubling the cost for the people that show up.  

If there was a tour that expensive, I would think the tour operator is collecting a deposit and everyone pays their share.  I have never been "stiffed" by a couple who signed on for a small group tour.  Generally, I think most folks are not doing so " on a lark" and are keen to have the experience. 

 

That said, I have yet to encounter a private small group tour costing near that amount.

[Steelers36]

35 minutes ago, Meaux said:

Thank you for the quick response.  We scheduled a private tour on a British Isles tour a few years ago. Due to rough seas the tour was cancelled however the private driver had allocated the day and had a no fault clause requiring partial payment.  The couple sharing the tour balked and we got hosed for the fee.  

Every provider I have engaged with has had a no-charge policy if the ship misses the port call.  We had a port change once as I recall - due to weather - and it was no issue to cancel and then get something new organized for the new port.

[drowelf]

9 hours ago, Meaux said:

How do you coordinate payment on private tours?  I would hate to schedule a $1,600 private tour and 4 people commit and don’t show leaving me with the bill or doubling the cost for the people that show up.  

If its s small amount (< 100pp) I'll just cover it and collect it on cruise. If its more than that I'll generally try and collect most of the payment prior to the cruise, either via Venmo, Zelle, Paypal or even a check in the mail. Lots of private tours I've been on have also been pay (other than a deposit) the day of the tour at the port, so no money has to be collected before hand. 

 

[karatemom2]

7 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Every provider I have engaged with has had a no-charge policy if the ship misses the port call.  We had a port change once as I recall - due to weather - and it was no issue to cancel and then get something new organized for the new port.

 

Agreed. Most tour companies that cater to cruise ship passengers have a full refund policy if the ship misses the port. If you are going with a company that does not offer this guarantee, I would at least try to negotiate a deposit to hold the reservation with full payment due when you actually do the tour so at the worst you lose you deposit. I would be very hesitant to pay in full for a tour with zero refund policy, especially if you are the one holding the financial responsibility for a group of people. 

[drowelf]

3 hours ago, karatemom2 said:

 

Agreed. Most tour companies that cater to cruise ship passengers have a full refund policy if the ship misses the port. If you are going with a company that does not offer this guarantee, I would at least try to negotiate a deposit to hold the reservation with full payment due when you actually do the tour so at the worst you lose you deposit. I would be very hesitant to pay in full for a tour with zero refund policy, especially if you are the one holding the financial responsibility for a group of people. 

Ditto on that. I would not even book a tour without a guarantee of at least 90% of the cost back. I can understand compensating them a little for the inconvenience of a ship missing a port as that can be a major impact to the financials of tour providers in the small ports and even the bigger ones. Just think of all the tours that got canceled in Egypt and Israel this year because many lines have ditched those ports for the foreseeable future. When I was in discussion with an operator in Egypt and had questions about why my refund was taking so long, I was told that they had to issue push almost 10,000 refunds through their payment processor, which really overloaded that service.