Lost credit , how is simply more working for you

[MEFIowa]

11 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

And let’s not forget that for those who do ship excursions there is a higher likelihood they meet the minimum number for the 25% off all, so that $1000 excursion credit is now worth the equivalent of $1250.  

As someone who has PRICED O excursions with comparable non-O excursions, you've left out the very high mark-up of the O-provided excursions. And that isn't even taking into account "quality issues", where you pay O more or the same for "less". For example, riding a bus to some city center and then getting out to walk around yourself isn't much of an "excursion" and can be horribly priced by O.

 

Having $1250 in your hand is cold hard cash. No such concept exists with the prices O sets in regard to excursions, excursion discounts and excursion credits.

 

Take a $50 "excursion" (that you can hire yourself) and then have O reprice their bus version at $200. Then have O discount it 25% or give you $100 excursion credit. Even if they gave you $150, you didn't "save" a thing! When a product is marked up by a factor of 3-5, hard to get true savings off discounts to inflated prices.

[EJL2023]

5 minutes ago, MEFIowa said:

As someone who has PRICED O excursions with comparable non-O excursions, you've left out the very high mark-up of the O-provided excursions. And that isn't even taking into account "quality issues", where you pay O more or the same for "less". For example, riding a bus to some city center and then getting out to walk around yourself isn't much of an "excursion" and can be horribly priced by O.

 

Having $1250 in your hand is cold hard cash. No such concept exists with the prices O sets in regard to excursions, excursion discounts and excursion credits.

 

Take a $50 "excursion" (that you can hire yourself) and then have O reprice their bus version at $200. Then have O discount it 25% or give you $100 excursion credit. Even if they gave you $150, you didn't "save" a thing! When a product is marked up by a factor of 3-5, hard to get true savings off discounts to inflated prices.

I guess all I can say at this point is that I’m very happy you have discovered that SM is not good for you.

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, MEFIowa said:

As someone who has PRICED O excursions with comparable non-O excursions, you've left out the very high mark-up of the O-provided excursions. And that isn't even taking into account "quality issues", where you pay O more or the same for "less". For example, riding a bus to some city center and then getting out to walk around yourself isn't much of an "excursion" and can be horribly priced by O.

 

Having $1250 in your hand is cold hard cash. No such concept exists with the prices O sets in regard to excursions, excursion discounts and excursion credits.

 

Take a $50 "excursion" (that you can hire yourself) and then have O reprice their bus version at $200. Then have O discount it 25% or give you $100 excursion credit. Even if they gave you $150, you didn't "save" a thing! When a product is marked up by a factor of 3-5, hard to get true savings off discounts to inflated prices.

As folks who travel independently in most places, we can attest to the accuracy of your comments on the ridiculous price of Os cruise excursions.  As we pointed out in an earlier post, this is typical of all cruise lines since they purchase their shore excursions from local tour companies (cruise lines tend to use the exact same tour operators).  On recent cruises with Explora Journeys (a new very luxury line) and HAL, it was not uncommon to see simple 3-4 hour local walking tours (which often involved just walking from the ship) priced around $100 per person.  And than most folks will tip their guide so they are generally paying over $100 for somebody to walk them around a small area and point out the jewelry stores (which give a kick-back to the tour company) a clothing boutique "this is a clothing boutique" etc.    Those guides will also tell something of the local history (which one can Google and read on their phone for free).  DW and I once went out to Ephesus (on our own) which is a place we know quite well.  We tagged along on several tours (mostly cruise ship tours) to listen to the guides.  Amazing how they would often tell completely different stories (none of them accurate) about the same parts of the ruins.  It had us wondering about the accuracy of many large group guides.  

 

Cruise lines sell excursions to make money.  The tour provider makes money, the third-party tour desk operator (used on many cruise lines makes money) and the cruise line makes money.  Some will tell you the high price is justified by the insurance that is demanded by cruise lines, but they do not tell you that the insurance is generally to protect the cruise line...not the passenger!

 

But the fact remains that many cruisers are reluctant to do anything on their own (even walking around the block) and simply feel more comfortable on a cruise line sponsored excursion.  This is true on every cruise line from Carnival to O to Regent.  

 

The question here is whether O is up to the task of providing enough reliable excursions to satisfy the masses that they have been forced to pay for excursions (as part of the Simply More fare)?  Only time will tell.  

 

I live in a cruise port (Puerto Vallarta) for 10 weeks a year.  This is my winter home (for the past 18 years) and to say we know the town (and area) would be an understatement.  We see cruise ships most days of the week, and watch many cruisers taking their walking tour (which goes by our balcony).  The guides point out such highlights as McDonalds, Starbucks, the art work that is displayed around the town, etc.  Cruisers pay $75 - $100 (and more) for these tours.  The fact that these folks can get into town for about 60 cents (the cost of the local bus fare) and easily walk around these same streets does not deter cruisers from booking those excursions.  Others pay far more than $140 for an excursion to a nearby beach.  Those folks could simply come into town, plop down in a beach chair (often free if one buys drinks and lunch), but they prefer to pay the big bucks to go to a beach.  It is even crazier in Europe and Asia where excursions are even more expensive.  The very sad truth is that when local businesses see cruisers, they know it is often possible to charge higher prices (some here call it "gringo pricing:) because they know that many cruisers are naive about travel and the real cost of things.  Local taxis will routinely charge cruisers double the normal charge and will even get tipped for their trouble :).  There are many times when I must say to a taxi driver "we are not cruisers and live here" to get something close to the correct price.

 

Cruisers can certainly save a lot of money by simply doing pre-trip homework and doing their own thing (and in some cases hiring a local guide).  But many choose the simplicity of paying too much for what they perceive as the safety and expertise of excursions.  That is their free choice and O (as well as the other cruise lines) are happy to oblige.  My goodness, just consider that a taxi from the Port of Miami to MIA is around $30 (for the entire taxi) and that taxi will drop you at the proper terminal door for your flight.  And yet cruisers will happily pay O (and other cruise lines) a lot more money for the joy of cooling their heels waiting for their bus to load (and be loaded) and not complain when they are dropped half a mile from their airline counter!  Now, I assume that folks may be able to use part of their Simply More credit to pay for that transfer 🙂

[cruisingxpert]

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We recently came off a ship that had the best food we have ever enjoyed on any cruise, and this happened on a brand new cruise line (Explora Journeys).  Their goal was to completely rewrite the book on cruise line cuisine and, for the most part, they have succeeded.  But I am sure there are many "O" fans that will insist that O has the best cuisine at sea...having not experienced what the competition offers in recent years.  

@Hlitner

 I find it interesting that you thought EJ had the best food.  The Culinary Staff at EJ has Franck Garanger  and several others who came from Oceania.  I'm going to check EJ out in May after 22 Oceania cruises.

https://explorajourneys.com/us/en/life-on-explora/dining

 

If you scroll to bottom you will see Franck and the other members.

Edited February 11 by cruisingxpert

[brellis]

On Vista now….everything worth booking was sold out before we even booked! We consider the excursion credit a perk and if you can use some good for you. We are waitlisted on a few but probably won’t get in. 
 

must say thus far (ok only 6 hours!) Vista is great!  Even terrrace for lunch was better than I remember. Bakery and baristas awesome. Layout good. Yes prices are higher like everything can’t compare past with the present. Easy to get wine at lunch that is a bigger perk than excursion credit. 

[Mareblu]

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We will leave the devil of "Sales" to folks who even pay attention to such promotional dribble.  When we book a cruise (which we do many times a year) we simply look at the offer that is before us (comparing 3 different favorite high volume excellent cruise agencies), make a decision, and book!  We could care less if there is a Sale of the Century, Sale of the Day, etc.  Since we cruise many different lines we look at pricing using the simple technique of cost per person/day adjusting for various amenities (such as drink packages).   Since we cruise with so many different lines, we find the word "Sale" meaningless,  We get tons of snail and e-mail with sale info and that all goes in the trash!  

 

When it came to dealing with "O" for this first booking, we took some queues from Flatbush Flyer (who has been around the O world for some time) in using the proper type of cruise agency and looking for a deal that included pre-paid gratuities.  

 

Just so you are satisfied we are talking about 35 days on the Vista at the end of March.  We do not even try to compare our bookings to another person's as this would drive me nutz and be meaningless.  What matters if what we are paying, do we consider it good value, and how does it compare to other cruise line options (that we might consider around the same time frame).

 

I will also note that one of our big objections to O (which has kept us away from this cruise line) is not only the "R" ships (we first cruised them when they were owned by Renaissance) but O's horrendous deals for international business class air fares.   Many other lines offer some amazing First/Biz class fares that can save thousands of dollars over booking air direct with airlines (we do not like dealing with so-called air consolidators).  Since we now live in a world where a couple can easily spend over $10,000 on a couple of Business Class tickets, air always enters into our equation.

 

Hank

Well said, Hank.  I agree with all your points.  You will obviously be aboard our Grand Mediterranean Tour on Vista in April.  There is a Roll Call I’m organising, and from memory, without consulting the excellent spreadsheets prepared by Gerry who is sadly no longer joining us, you are included.  Looking forward to meeting you aboard…

[Hlitner]

46 minutes ago, cruisingxpert said:

@Hlitner

 I find it interesting that you thought EJ had the best food.  The Culinary Staff at EJ has Franck Garanger  and several others who came from Oceania.  I'm going to check EJ out in May after 22 Oceania cruises.

https://explorajourneys.com/us/en/life-on-explora/dining

 

If you scroll to bottom you will see Franck and the other members.

EJ hired staff from quite a few cruise lines including O and Azamara.  They also reached out to many of the top resorts for staff (their head pastry chef comes from Ritz Carlton and many staff worked in high-end resorts).  That being said, we think the line is very far from perfect and has many faults.  Whether they can maintain the current high standard of cuisine is a question that will only be answered by time.  But some of dishes we had on EJ1 were amazing (such as a basic dish of potatoes topped with caviar).  One other dish that blew me away was a starter based on duck confit with watermelon, mint, and some other things (since forgotten).  It was the kind of dish I would expect in Michelin 2-3* restaurant.  But some other things were big misses such as their version of prime rib.  

 

One complaint we heard on EJ came from a key member of their culinary staff.  He explained that the ship had many world-class chefs/cooks, but they were severely restricted by everything needed to be approved by the home office in Geneva.  So, for example, if a pastry chef wanted to try something innovative, it would not be permitted.  Since they did reach out to hire really talented folks, they will hopefully learn to relax their quality control and let these folks show-off their talent.

 

The one exception is their only restaurant with an extra fee (a big extra fee) called Anthology!  When we went to that venue (there were only 8 diners) our expensive meal was prepared by a well known Michelin 2* Chef (she works at a NYC restaurant that is always sold out) who actually was aboard and prepared our meal.  Although it cost several hundred dollars (with wine pairing) that was significantly less expensive than dining in her NYC venue.  Whether this venue will ultimately be successful is another of those "only time will tell."

 

Hank

[Hlitner]

3 minutes ago, Mareblu said:

Well said, Hank.  I agree with all your points.  You will obviously be aboard our Grand Mediterranean Tour on Vista in April.  There is a Roll Call I’m organising, and from memory, without consulting the excellent spreadsheets prepared by Gerry who is sadly no longer joining us, you are included.  Looking forward to meeting you aboard…

We had not signed up for any of the Roll Calls (we tend to keep a low profile on cruises) but who knows....everything about "O" will be a new experience for this ole guy.  Looking forward to having lots of fun.

[Mareblu]

3 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We had not signed up for any of the Roll Calls (we tend to keep a low profile on cruises) but who knows....everything about "O" will be a new experience for this ole guy.  Looking forward to having lots of fun.

That’s fine, and perfectly understandable.  Wishing you a wonderful voyage.  It’s a marvellous itinerary, and even though we’ve been to many of the ports before, each day and each visit is another adventure.  

[MEFIowa]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

As folks who travel independently in most places, we can attest to the accuracy of your comments on the ridiculous price of Os cruise excursions.  As we pointed out in an earlier post, this is typical of all cruise lines since they purchase their shore excursions from local tour companies (cruise lines tend to use the exact same tour operators). ... I live in a cruise port (Puerto Vallarta) for 10 weeks a year.... We see cruise ships most days of the week, and watch many cruisers taking their walking tour (which goes by our balcony).  The guides point out such highlights as McDonalds, Starbucks, the art work that is displayed around the town, etc.  Cruisers pay $75 - $100 (and more) for these tours.  The fact that these folks can get into town for about 60 cents (the cost of the local bus fare) and easily walk around these same streets does not deter cruisers from booking those excursions.... 

Between my wife's research and Rick Steves' guides, I was almost afraid to tell fellow passengers on Riviera (10/30-11/19, 2023) how LITTLE we paid to use local transportation in Venice, between Venice & Trieste, in Athens, and in Istanbul.

 

We paid 15TL PP (about 54 cents) to take the #38 bus about 4 miles to the outer fortified walls of Constantinople. We then walked much of it back following a route by Steves. The metro back was another 15 TL. There was a metro station just outside the cruise port terminal. For 15 TL each ride we went all over town! We just bought the card and loaded it up and reloaded when it got low. It was about 28TL=$1.00 then.

 

The 3-day Venice pass for the museums and unlimited water bus (vaporetto) use literally paid for itself! Starting with the public bus from Marco Polo Intl to the initial Vaporetto stop on the west end in Venice, which was just one stop from the train station and two from our BnB, which was about 100 yards from the stop.

 

And only E15.50 PP to take the train from Venice to Treiste.

 

We paid about $2 each way to take the light rail from the port to the Acropolis and back!

[clo]

8 hours ago, Hlitner said:

As a very frequent cruiser who is about to take his first O cruise, I am surprised at these kind of threads.  We book many cruises, with many different cruise lines, and each booking is its own transaction based on the best deal we can get at the time we book.  Living in the past does little good and flies in the face of the reality that the cruise industry is constantly changing their promotions, deals, etc.  We always book with one of our 3 favored cruise agencies and they will usually "enhance" and booking with at least 7% of additional perks.  So, for example, on our upcoming O cruise our cruise agency took care of all our tips (pre-paid gratutities) and also gave us a generous OBC.  That is no guarantee we would get the same deal if we did a future O booking.  

 

Simply More is not very attractive to us because we are not fans of cruise line excursions (we prefer to do our own thing in most places around the world).  However, with our current Vista booking, our original booking was done a few weeks prior to the new "Simply More" promo.  Once O implemented their new Simply More program we did a cost comparison and realized that it would cost us hardly any more money to get the new program with over $2000 in excursion credits.  When a cruise line is going to basically give us a couple of thousand dollars, we think its a pretty good deal so we had our cruise agent "reprice" our booking.  In the end we paid about $200 more for $2400 of excursion credits (so now we must "suffer" with some O excursions).

 

My point is that, rather than focusing on what "used to be" simply deal with what is currently on the table.  If you do not like the deals from O, then you have lots of other cruise lines from which to choose.  The reason that we cruised on 16 different cruise lines, before booking our first O cruise, was because until now we had never spotted a deal on O that we thought measured-up to what we could get with other lines (including luxury cruise lines).

 

Hank

Thanks for breaking this down so well.

[no fuss travel]

Sometimes I will take the Oceania tours so that I know the ship will wait if it is a port I have been to previously and I know the traffic is horrendous.  We were lucky a couple of times when we just beat the Oceania tour bus back to the ship or when we got out of our private tours bus and ran for the port.  their was 8 of us and we let the staff know that the last four people were right behind us but couldn't run as fast as we could.  I slowed down once I saw the gangway to give them a chance to catch up.  We tend to do private tours when we are staying overnight on the first day as you see more for less dollars.  Also the hop on hop off bus is more reasonable to purchase on your own off the ship.

[clo]

3 hours ago, brellis said:

.everything worth booking was sold out before we even booked!

Not on Vista but we booked last Sept. and booked our SM excursions immediately.

[Hlitner]

5 hours ago, Mareblu said:

That’s fine, and perfectly understandable.  Wishing you a wonderful voyage.  It’s a marvellous itinerary, and even though we’ve been to many of the ports before, each day and each visit is another adventure.  

We have also been to most of the ports (many times) but we were looking for our normal spring transatlantic cruise and the Vista deal was good and gave us an opportunity to finally try O.  Because we do know most of the ports, having a big shore excursion credit was a challenge.  We chose mostly excursions that involved non-typical things, especially when it some kind of culinary or wine tasting as part of the tour.  Like you, we always view ports as a potential adventure and like to have fun, whether on a rare tour (for us) or just doing our own thing. 

 

Our biggest challenge for the cruise will be trying to get from the port in Trieste to the Trieste Airport where we pick up our rental car (for a 11 days of our own driving adventure).  Debarking on May 1 might create some difficulties.  We had originally booked a car for pick-up near the train station, but it turns out that all the city rental car agencies are closed for the holiday (no surprise) forcing us to rent at the airport.  Argh!  But that is just one of those challenges that comes with independent travel, and it will all work out :).

 

Hank

[Mareblu]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

We have also been to most of the ports (many times) but we were looking for our normal spring transatlantic cruise and the Vista deal was good and gave us an opportunity to finally try O.  Because we do know most of the ports, having a big shore excursion credit was a challenge.  We chose mostly excursions that involved non-typical things, especially when it some kind of culinary or wine tasting as part of the tour.  Like you, we always view ports as a potential adventure and like to have fun, whether on a rare tour (for us) or just doing our own thing. 

 

Our biggest challenge for the cruise will be trying to get from the port in Trieste to the Trieste Airport where we pick up our rental car (for a 11 days of our own driving adventure).  Debarking on May 1 might create some difficulties.  We had originally booked a car for pick-up near the train station, but it turns out that all the city rental car agencies are closed for the holiday (no surprise) forcing us to rent at the airport.  Argh!  But that is just one of those challenges that comes with independent travel, and it will all work out :).

 

Hank

It will cost about €80 in a taxi, perhaps more on a public holiday, but there is a train station at Ronchi (which is what locals call Trieste  Airport).  DH was born just north of Udine, so we know that entire area very well.  This will be the only time we won’t be spending time in Friuli, as we are leaving from Marco Polo Aurport the next day to fly to Edinburgh, then collect a hire car at Edinburgh Airport.  We have 3 weeks in the UK, then board Cunard’s new Queen Anne for her naming voyage around the British Isles.  Where will your driving adventure take you?

[Hlitner]

7 hours ago, Mareblu said:

It will cost about €80 in a taxi, perhaps more on a public holiday, but there is a train station at Ronchi (which is what locals call Trieste  Airport).  DH was born just north of Udine, so we know that entire area very well.  This will be the only time we won’t be spending time in Friuli, as we are leaving from Marco Polo Aurport the next day to fly to Edinburgh, then collect a hire car at Edinburgh Airport.  We have 3 weeks in the UK, then board Cunard’s new Queen Anne for her naming voyage around the British Isles.  Where will your driving adventure take you?

Thanks for that info, we had expected to pay about 100 Euros for a taxi, but are wondering if getting a taxi, on that major holiday, will be somewhat difficult.  The train would normally be a great option, but the logistics of doing that with luggage has become more difficult as we age :).  Last year we had to drag luggage with us on some trains in Japan, and it was no fun.

 

Hank

[ak1004]

The whole whining about SM is really getting old. SM is a new reality now. Don't like it? There are plenty of other lines. 

 

When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk.

[MEFIowa]

15 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

... SM is a new reality now. Don't like it? There are plenty of other lines.

No, in 2024 and 2025 there are cruises that people booked BEFORE SM. And now O may have sales for those cruises that has SM. The full reality you describe won't happen until ALL the cruises booked before SM have actually taken place. So, in Aug-Sep 2024 I've got one pre-SM and one post-SM as a B2B. I booked the one pre-SM on 7 May 2022! And I'm watching all the sales to see what may happen to their respective prices. So far, SM has not been competitive compared to the former "cruise only".

[ORV]

The reality is that sales and great deals have always existed. It’s just that it’s new for some people. And just because someone took advantage of one doesn’t mean that others haven’t had as good or better deals in the past, or will in the future. 

[ak1004]

2 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

No, in 2024 and 2025 there are cruises that people booked BEFORE SM. And now O may have sales for those cruises that has SM. The full reality you describe won't happen until ALL the cruises booked before SM have actually taken place. So, in Aug-Sep 2024 I've got one pre-SM and one post-SM as a B2B. I booked the one pre-SM on 7 May 2022! And I'm watching all the sales to see what may happen to their respective prices. So far, SM has not been competitive compared to the former "cruise only".

 

But this has nothing to do with the OP. 

"For those who have ended up with usable "credits " either due to SE cancellations, or filled cruises are you ready to switch to another line?"

This is what the OP was about, not the sales.

[babysteps]

4 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Thanks for that info, we had expected to pay about 100 Euros for a taxi, but are wondering if getting a taxi, on that major holiday, will be somewhat difficult.  The train would normally be a great option, but the logistics of doing that with luggage has become more difficult as we age :).  Last year we had to drag luggage with us on some trains in Japan, and it was no fun.

 

Hank

Possibly related, we disembarked Lisbon on May 1st 2017 and were a bit concerned for the same reasons - but there were plenty of taxis available. And almost zero traffic! Obviously much has changed for travel since then and it's a completely different location, but at least I can provide a "don't worry too much" anecdote 😁

 

Also you may have thought of this already, you could leave one person & luggage at the port while the other one takes the train to the rental car - not ideal, but if it's better than hassling luggage on the train it could be an option.

Edited February 12 by babysteps

[Hlitner]

13 minutes ago, babysteps said:

Possibly related, we disembarked Lisbon on May 1st 2017 and were a bit concerned for the same reasons - but there were plenty of taxis available. And almost zero traffic! Obviously much has changed for travel since then and it's a completely different location, but at least I can provide a "don't worry too much" anecdote 😁

 

Also you may have thought of this already, you could leave one person & luggage at the port while the other one takes the train to the rental car - not ideal, but if it's better than hassling luggage on the train it could be an option.

Over the years I have left DW at a couple of ports (primarily in Italy) while I went off to pick-up a rental car.  And Lisbon is such a metropolitan kind of place (which we know well) that transportation has never been a problem.  Trieste, on the other hand, became a bit more complicated when all the local rental car agencies decided to close on the holiday.  It will take a lot of time to get to the airport and the idea of leaving DW (with luggage) for what could be at least 2 hours, is not an option that will make DW smile.  But we view this as a minor problem that just goes with our love of independent travel.  O could have done us all a favor by not scheduling a turn-around day on a major holiday, but such is life.

 

Speaking of independent travel, we originally made a reservation to pick up a car at Avis, near the train station,  As is too typical of rental car companies, that reservation is still valid and Avis has yet to send us any kind of notice that their office will be closed.  On the other hand, 2 years ago we took a ferry over to the Greek Island of Naxos where we had reserved a rental car with Europcar.  We huffed and puffed walking (and dragging luggage) through a 1/2 mile of streets to get from the ferry pier to that Europcar office only to discover that is was a motorcycle shop.  Europcar had closed that office more than 6 months earlier and had not bothered to update their software and continued to ac accept reservations.  Was a funny moment (I was furious).  The owner of the shop was nice enough to drive us to another Europcar office (more then a mile distant) where the manager told us he had grown tired of telling the home office adjust their software.   Although DW love independent travel (the thought of being stuck on a bus tour with 50 others would drive me to be an alcoholic) the challenge with independent travel has its moments.  That being said, the rewards with not being stuck with large groups cannot be overstated.  

 

Hank

 

Hank

[Mareblu]

Although admittedly an added expense, have you thought about staying overnight in Trieste and collecting your car the next morning?  I only suggest this as you mention your Avis reservation is still current.  There would be a variety of hotels, b&bs, pensioni, etc. near either the port or Avis depot, I would think.

[EJL2023]

3 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Over the years I have left DW at a couple of ports (primarily in Italy) while I went off to pick-up a rental car.  And Lisbon is such a metropolitan kind of place (which we know well) that transportation has never been a problem.  Trieste, on the other hand, became a bit more complicated when all the local rental car agencies decided to close on the holiday.  It will take a lot of time to get to the airport and the idea of leaving DW (with luggage) for what could be at least 2 hours, is not an option that will make DW smile.  But we view this as a minor problem that just goes with our love of independent travel.  O could have done us all a favor by not scheduling a turn-around day on a major holiday, but such is life.

 

Speaking of independent travel, we originally made a reservation to pick up a car at Avis, near the train station,  As is too typical of rental car companies, that reservation is still valid and Avis has yet to send us any kind of notice that their office will be closed.  On the other hand, 2 years ago we took a ferry over to the Greek Island of Naxos where we had reserved a rental car with Europcar.  We huffed and puffed walking (and dragging luggage) through a 1/2 mile of streets to get from the ferry pier to that Europcar office only to discover that is was a motorcycle shop.  Europcar had closed that office more than 6 months earlier and had not bothered to update their software and continued to ac accept reservations.  Was a funny moment (I was furious).  The owner of the shop was nice enough to drive us to another Europcar office (more then a mile distant) where the manager told us he had grown tired of telling the home office adjust their software.   Although DW love independent travel (the thought of being stuck on a bus tour with 50 others would drive me to be an alcoholic) the challenge with independent travel has its moments.  That being said, the rewards with not being stuck with large groups cannot be overstated.  

 

Hank

 

Hank

Is this the address of your Avis agency in Trieste?  If so, it does note it will be closed on May 1. 

[Hlitner]

13 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

Is this the address of your Avis agency in Trieste?  If so, it does note it will be closed on May 1. 

Yep, and we are aware it is closed.  However, Avis still shows are confirmed reservation.  So what would happen is we would go to that location (with our confirmed reservation) to find it closed :).  Now, you would think that Avis would notify us of the closure (and that their nearest open location is 18 miles away at the airport) but they do not give us that courtesy.  This is why independent travelers always need to double check all the little details and than check again :).  When we made the reservation a few months ago, I was surprised to see that Avis listed that location being open on May 1.  I even called Avis in the USA who checked and said they also showed the location open on May 1.  We booked it hoping they would be open, but knowing that being Italy it would likely close on a holiday.

 

The funny thing is if I were to make a new reservation today, it rejects the reservation because the location is closed.  However, there is no attempt (on their part) to update folks from which they have already accepted reservations.  Kind of like getting to the airport for you flight only to find it was cancelled months ago, but nobody bothered to tell the customers.

 

Hank