Glory Tours

[terryntexas]

Does she actually charge your card BEFORE you go or hold it till you show up?

We are doing a tour in Tortola with White Squall II and had to give our credit card info, but they said they wouldn't charge the card until after our tour and we then had the option to pay in cash or travels checks instead, which we will do. Is that what Glory Tours do also?

 

well i dont know a thing about glory tours,but i know about white squalls II in tortola. they only collect your money at the end. in fact, i forgot my cc, but i had the cash and they tore up my already made up bill and handed it to me at the end of the trip and i paid them in cash. very honest and good people!

hope that helps!

terryntexas

[NCTribeFan]

I ended up booking the Best of Barbados tour, even though it's way more than I wanted to spend, and even though I hate the fact that I'll be charged this early.

 

And while every other vendor (5 other ports) responded within a couple of hours, it took Sarah two days. And then, when she did respond, she wrote "no swimsuits needed."

 

Uh, I thought we were going swimming with the turtles and reef snorkeling?!? And I wrote back and said that. She responded with something like, "oh yeah! You will need your swimsuits!"

 

Sheesh, she sounds as scattered as me! :eek:

 

But at least I now have confirmations for everything. Flights booked, pre and post-cruise hotels in San Juan, six independent excrusions. Final payment due 3/3/09, then I can just relax and wait for the day to arrive!

[ROWSE]

Jamal (SP) guided us to a van. I told him we were on the Best of Barbados and the others were on a different tour. He said he would take us with the others. We went very quickly to the Harrison Caves. Jamal drove very well on these curvy roads, but very fast. At the caves Sarah talked to my husband and myself about not being able to do our tour as promised as she had to take an Expedia group that day. We were to go with Jamal and have the Wild Life Reserve cut out. She said she would refund our money in part, but I have not seen that so far. Our tour had cost more than the one we were put on.

 

I was disappointed, but stuff happens, and we understood. I am not holding my breath on the refund as I was overcharged a bit for this tour in the first place and even though she said she would refund it, it did not happen. In the end I had planned to right this with my tip to Sarah but since we had Jamal, who did a fantastic job, I was not able to do that and tipped him anyway.

 

Jamal was quite entertaining and sang to us often. He was a great guide.

I loved Barbados and our tour was wonderful. I will let you know if I am ever refunded. It was worth the money anyway when I compare it to the ship excursions I've been on for more.

 

Any questions let me know.

 

 

I wanted to follow through on my promise above to let you know of my refund. It took one reminder to Sarah, but after a huge apology from her, she did refund us the money.

 

I hope any one else using Glory Tours has as fun a day as we had.

[mrsbos]

Just wanted to let everyone know what a great time we had with Glory Tours last week in Barbado's. Kawame was our guide and he was fantastic. (For you Michigander's...no it wasn't Kawame Kilpatrick...ha ha)

 

I can't find one negative regarding our tour. We highly recommend Glory Tours.

 

P.S. We took the "Best of Barbado's" Tour.

[aimee0715]

I booked the Best of Barbados tour with Glory Tours after reading about them on the CC boards. I emailed Sarah and told her that we had 6 adults and 1 child and asked for a group discount. She said she could do it for $90 for adults and $54 for child plus $5 per person fuel surcharge. We were not interested in the glass bottom boat tour, so I asked her for the price without that and she said $68 per adult, $32 per child, plus surcharge. I booked the tour, my credit card was immediately charged $500.26. I was expecting a charge in the amount of $475. I did not say anything, I just chalked it up to exchange rate (if I had taken the time to investigate the exchange rate and how it works at the time I was charged, I would have said something about it). In addition, my credit card charged a $15 fee for a foreign transaction, but I expected that.

 

I do not have any complaints about the tour. Quamy was our tour guide and he was very entertaining. One thing that we were not clear on though, was the glass bottom boat portion of the tour. We did not realize that snorkeling with turtles and at the shipwreck was part of the glass bottom boat tour. When you look at the tour description on the site now, it is crystal clear that the snorkeling is part of the glass bottom boat tour. It was not clear when we booked. We would never have said we didn't want the glass bottom boat, had that been clear. When our tour got to the beach, Quamy told us to all get on the boat for the snorkeling portion of the tour. We got on the boat and realized it was a glass bottom boat. We were confused (because we didn't realize that glass bottom boat tour and snorkeling with turtles were the same thing) but since we thought we had paid for snorkeling, and we didn't see any other boat, we stayed on the boat. The snorkeling was wonderful!

 

When we returned home, I had several phone calls and emails from Bank of America about possible fraudulent activity on my card. I called in and found out it was a $185.93 charge from Glory Tours. I emailed Sarah and she explained that Qwamy told her that we had decided to take the glass bottom boat tour after all. I responded and told her that no one had asked us, he simply said get on the boat and I will meet you with the van down at the other end of the beach when you are finished snorkeling. I aksed her if there was another non-glass bottomed boat that we should have gotten on. She said she would talk to Qwamy and get back to me. A half hour later, she sent me an email saying, "oh, you specifically reqested that the glass bottom boat tour not be included in your price, remember?" That was the last I heard from her. I looked at her site again and saw that the description of the tour was different, and made it very clear that the snorkeling is dependent upon the glass bottom boat tour. We were very delighted with the snorkeling and since it was, apparently, our misunderstanding that resulted in the additional charge, I do not mind paying the extra $$.

 

However, I was charged $686.19 when I should have been charged $629. It seems from reading the posts on here that Sarah is not as precise as she should be with the exchange rate calculation. It seems to always work out to her benefit. I also want to point out that with Eli's Eco Tour in Antigua (BTW, Best Tour Ever!), the difference between the amount of my deposit ($80) and what I was charged, was just under $2. That is the kind of discrepancy I was expecting as a result of currency exchange, not $57. I know an earlier poster expalined the currency exchange and how complicated it is, but last time I checked, $1 US = $2 BBD (actually, 1.995)--how hard can it be really to calculate that correctly? Today, I received the forms to fill out to file a dispute with my credit card issuer for $57. An earlier poster said that Sarah would accept a check if it were far enough in advance. I highly recommend that option.

 

We loved the tour, I just have a problem with not being charged the correct amount. As for the other posters who complained about her not responding to emails, I did not have that problem with her at all. She usually responded to me very promptly via her Blackberry.

[marryanne]

My friend booked the Best of Barbados tour for us last week - her credit card was charged and we still have not received confirmation. We are flying out Saturday morning and have left numerous voicemails and emails and still have not heard anything. Any suggestions on what to do? Or maybe Glory Tours if you are reading this - help!

[cruiserssandr]

My friend booked the Best of Barbados tour for us last week - her credit card was charged and we still have not received confirmation. We are flying out Saturday morning and have left numerous voicemails and emails and still have not heard anything. Any suggestions on what to do? Or maybe Glory Tours if you are reading this - help!

Be sure to check your spam file. That is where my confirmation ended up both times we used Glory Tours. Sarah runs a first class company and I would not hesitate to tour with them again.:)

[NCTribeFan]

Well, my credit card was just charged $209 for the Best tour for May.

 

Seriously, every other excursion I have ever done, on any other island, has been quoted in US$ and you are either charged THAT amount, or you pay in US$ on the day of your tour.

 

I can see requesting a CC# in case people are no shows. But this is just ridiculous. I hate to go into it all with a less-than-great feeling, because I know the tour will be wonderful.

 

But I really dislike this policy of hers and I really dislike not knowing what I'm really paying when I make a reservation.

[luvocean9]

Well....based on the experiences I'm reading and the fact that I cannot get her to reply to my 2nd email, we will NOT be using Glory Tours. Maybe she used to be dependable, but clearly, it is no longer.

[vacation 24/7]

Well....based on the experiences I'm reading and the fact that I cannot get her to reply to my 2nd email, we will NOT be using Glory Tours. Maybe she used to be dependable, but clearly, it is no longer.

Sarah will get back to you, she was in a accident and is a bit slow to get to e-mails but she will get back to you as she did to me today.:)

[luvocean9]

Sarah will get back to you, she was in a accident and is a bit slow to get to e-mails but she will get back to you as she did to me today.:)

 

Thanks for letting me know. I do hope so as her Touch of Splendor tour is exactly what we want and I can't find it anywhere else.

[Scubachick84]

I'm sorry to hear she was in an accident. Any details on what happened?

[vacation 24/7]

I'm sorry to hear she was in an accident. Any details on what happened?

I don't have any details. I had been sending tons of e-mails to her because our ship changed it's time in port and I needed to get a refund:confused: I didn't hear from her till today and she said how sorry she was that she didn't get back to me sooner but she had been in an accident last week and is slowly getting to e-mails. I am so upset that I will miss her tour. I have heard nothing but great things out them.

[luvocean9]

I just wanted to let everyone know that I heard from Sarah at Glory Tours. It took her 3-4 days to get back with me. Here is what she said:

 

"I am so sorry for the delay. I had a small accident early this week and hurt my right hand which did make writing and typing difficult :o( I know customers appreciate timely responses but to be honest it is just hard to be as timely as I used to be with the recession. I actually have to do more tours myself so I can pay the bills and that means less time in the office."

It sounds like she is working very hard and running the business as best she can, so if you want to go with her, you may have to be patient for a response.

[caribbeannewbies]

We just returned from our Cruise, and did the tour with Glory Tours while we were there. I was very uneasy the month before our cruise, because my credit card had been charged, but my questions and emails were slowly responded to. I was ready to ask for a refund, when they were finally responded to and we arranged a private tour.

 

The day we were to meet Glory Tours, we waited for an hour for someone to arrive-- only to discover Sarah had been in an accident the night before. So we ended up going with the Best of Barbados group instead of having a private tour with Sarah. Although our day began with many frustrations and concerns-- we ended up having a great day. Our tour guide Quamie was wonderful and shared alot of fascinating info about Barbados, we enjoyed seeing the monkeys at the wildlife reserve, swimming with the turtles and snorkeling, and had a great group we went with from England. So in the end-- we had a great day!

[elsje]

My friend booked the Best of Barbados tour for us last week - her credit card was charged and we still have not received confirmation. We are flying out Saturday morning and have left numerous voicemails and emails and still have not heard anything. Any suggestions on what to do? Or maybe Glory Tours if you are reading this - help!

 

 

There is another person, man, who checks emails but I forgot his name. I tried to book a tour through Glory Tours and had questions. I believe it took nearly 10 days to get a response after emailing to two different email accounts. I am sorry but I do not want to do business with a company that takes that long to respond and there are lots of people who have had that problem let alone had discrepancies with billing issues. My spam filter had nothing to do with their delayed email response. Their excuse was always..Sarah is busy, Sarah has problems with her email, internet is slow at the island etc. etc. I have vacationed there and cruises to it twice and my internet has always been fine and other companies we have toured with do not have these internet problems.

 

It seems everyone enjoys her tours, but I personally think she is overloaded with tours as she also does Expedia tours and tries to please everyone.

 

I hope they get their business office to work a little more efficient than the way they are running it now.

[floridalady]

boy are you wrong-----

I have booked several tours in the Carribean over the past few years.I have had to wait to hear back many times.

Many times their computers were not running.I understand because i live in Florida and we have had problems during hurricanes....

And they are doing alot of construction here now and we have had the computer down for hours at a time.

Things do happen.

Many of the excursions I have been on the guide will email me that he not only writes back to the emails but does the tours.On very busy days they can not get to their email.That made me realize if I had to wait to hear it was ok-I was not being ignored.These are not huge companies.

F>L>

There is another person, man, who checks emails but I forgot his name. I tried to book a tour through Glory Tours and had questions. I believe it took nearly 10 days to get a response after emailing to two different email accounts. I am sorry but I do not want to do business with a company that takes that long to respond and there are lots of people who have had that problem let alone had discrepancies with billing issues. My spam filter had nothing to do with their delayed email response. Their excuse was always..Sarah is busy, Sarah has problems with her email, internet is slow at the island etc. etc. I have vacationed there and cruises to it twice and my internet has always been fine and other companies we have toured with do not have these internet problems.

 

It seems everyone enjoys her tours, but I personally think she is overloaded with tours as she also does Expedia tours and tries to please everyone.

 

I hope they get their business office to work a little more efficient than the way they are running it now.

[elsje]

boy are you wrong-----

I have booked several tours in the Carribean over the past few years.I have had to wait to hear back many times.

Many times their computers were not running.I understand because i live in Florida and we have had problems during hurricanes....

And they are doing alot of construction here now and we have had the computer down for hours at a time.

Things do happen.

Many of the excursions I have been on the guide will email me that he not only writes back to the emails but does the tours.On very busy days they can not get to their email.That made me realize if I had to wait to hear it was ok-I was not being ignored.These are not huge companies.

F>L>

 

This is not about wrong or right. I mentioned my experience (and so do many others on CC)of contacting them numerous times and calling and leaving messages and did not get a response for at least 10 days + pretty patient on my part. We have done tours in Barbados through land vacation and numerous cruises and did not encounter a delay of 10+ days. Nor in Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Antigua did I encounter that long of a delay. So we had to make a choice and pick another tour operator (a small one) as we do not prefer the big tour companies.

[NCTribeFan]

Who did you end up booking with? I've already been charged (along with the stupid exchange rate fee), but I simply cannot find anything else that will give me the caves, lunch, and sea turtles.

 

It's way too expensive, and it better be wonderful.

 

But as I've already stated, I'm not happy about the credit card thing. EVERY other tour operator I've ever dealt with quotes you in US$, and you pay in cash, in US$ on the day you tour.

 

Spare me the lecture about people not honoring their reservations. I understand that. But all the other tour operators on all the other islands encounter the same situations and they seem to manage.

 

Anyway, I'm sure the tour will be wonderful. I just really dislike her payment policy. If I could find an alternative, I'd cancel with her and book elsewhere.

[floridalady]

I understand you are explaining I didn't mean to upset you in anyway by my post.I don't look to argue.

I just wanted to let you know ----so many have waited a long time to get back to me-even during the process of booking (I ask alot of questions before i decide).

One I had originally booked with took over 2 weeks to get back to me.And this was all the time...and this was also Barbados so there has to be problems there with internet.

I was doing searches on another island last night and found out another island will have internet down for 2 days or 3 -I forget.

I wish you a fun cruise.:D

 

This is not about wrong or right. I mentioned my experience (and so do many others on CC)of contacting them numerous times and calling and leaving messages and did not get a response for at least 10 days + pretty patient on my part. We have done tours in Barbados through land vacation and numerous cruises and did not encounter a delay of 10+ days. Nor in Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Antigua did I encounter that long of a delay. So we had to make a choice and pick another tour operator (a small one) as we do not prefer the big tour companies.

[Ann2000]

I have been trying to contact Sarah, no reply, same story, WHATEVER YOU DO BEWARE OF YOUR CREDIT CARD DETAILS...

 

anyone booking with the company that's half-way across the world, who do not communicate promptly and ask for $ up front is TAKING A RISK.. I successfully booked with numerous tour companies via email only...only BARBADOS causes such pain...

[aloisia]

People having to pay in full when booking a tour ..... makes me very uncomfortable. :(

 

With all 3 of the independent tours we've booked so far, only 1 asked for a small deposit. That was fine.

[CarolinaGypsy]

Hi everyone,

OK...I am getting so bloody tired of dealing with Glory Tours. It seems they are the only tour that does Harrison Cave, the wildlife sanctuary and swim with the turtles. I really want to do all three but I swear that woman is impossible to work with. Every email has had to be sent 3 times before I get a reply (and I'm giving her a week between resending each time) and I always get the "I just found this in my junk mail" excuse just as soon as I send a "if you don't reply within 48 hours I'm booking with someone else" message. Threats seem to be the only way to get a reply and then she only answers half my questions. Plus I've read countless reviews about the 100% prepay policy - trouble with conversion rates, double charged, etc. It is just looking so bad but I don't want to give up doing all the things that her tour alone offers. I'm at my wit's end and shouldn't be this stressed over a vacation! Could anyone please offer me suggestions before I scream. Is there any other way to see all of these things without having to give my money to this woman that I'm ready to strangle?

Thanks, Gena

[luvocean9]

Gina,

What date will you be in Barbados?

[cruiserssandr]

Sorry to hear some of you are having trouble communicating with Glory Tours. Our tour with them in 2004 was the first time I had ever booked a tour not with our cruise line. Sarah could not have been any more helpful and nicer. Some of her emails to me did end up in my spam folder for some strange reason. In 2007 we booked a tour which normally would have been for 6-8 people but no one else signed up. She did not cancel the tour but instead we had a private tour for just the 2 of us. I would book with Sarah and Glory Tours in a heartbeat.