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Windstar offers between four and seven tours in every port; mega-ships offer even more choices in each destination. In addition to the highlights tour, the roster for a given port could include culinary tours, historical tours, walking tours and active tours. The key is to diversify options for passengers, who might be a mix of first timers and repeat visitors with varying interests and abilities. Cruise lines work with licensed, well-reputed tour operators and hold them responsible for quality control. When taking a tour that involves traveling on helicopters, planes, parasails or boats, you want to guarantee your operator has been properly vetted for safety issues. Plus, you could conceivably find yourself stranded someplace remote if something were to go wrong.
Ship-Sponsored or Independent Shore Excursions: Which Is Right for You?
We never use an aggregator for third party excursions, we only book directly through vendors we have researched. Even if Viator didn't know when the ship was leaving, I would expect a local vendor to know that since his/her scheduling is dependent upon when ships will be in port. The information should be readily available on the port's information site or by calling the port authority. Offering an excursion that would be impossible to make is not an alternative. This was an unfortunate circumstance but Viator did nothing wrong. The tour operator tried to make it right by offering the tour at the next available time slot.
Our Shore Excursion Partners:
They keep stringing us along all day and I missed all other tours. I was angrier that they wouldn’t cancel and kept expecting me to run across Victoria twice to meet a boat that was never going to be there. I eventually got a refund, but it made my day frustrating. I think it is a higher risk to use a third-party booking agent in these uncertain times when ports may be missed and ship schedules adjusted. If you read on the various port boards, you will see similar customer service issues for Viator and other tour brokers.
Snorkeling, Sailing and Scuba are the Order of the Day
In New Orleans picked up at hotel, in Iceland picked up directly at pier. Just throwing that out there as an alternative to booking a private tour through a third party like Viator. One of those frequently recommended on the St. Maarten board is Bernard's SXM Tours. We booked with them several years ago based on those recommendations, and had an excellent day (which included a visit to Maho Beach).
Pay attention to all the words.
11 BEST Portofino Shore Excursions: Things to Do, Cruise Day Tour & Reviews (2024) - Cruise Critic
11 BEST Portofino Shore Excursions: Things to Do, Cruise Day Tour & Reviews ( .
Posted: Tue, 06 Dec 2016 16:28:02 GMT [source]
And aside from what I mentioned above, Viator has had a good reputation in many areas in the past, but I generally avoid booking with anyone other than the direct provider. Experience Norway’s natural wonders on this shore excursion from Geiranger. After a scenic drive through the mountains, hop out for a photo on the dramatic cliff-edge of Flydalsjuvet. Discover Cozumel’s magnificent marine life from the comfort of a personalized mini-SUB during this shore excursion. Same here, we haven't used Viator for excursions but we have used them for tours in Europe and have never had a problem. Can sometimes find cheaper or better options elsewhere (e.g. TripAdvisor), but more catch as catch can.
The Port is Particularly Exotic
Visit an authentic Living Maori Village deep in the geothermal region of Rotorua on this full-day excursion, including a Hangi Lunch. Take in Abu Dhabi’s sights on a day trip from Dubai, led by a professional guide and usually conducted in several small groups. Spend the morning exploring Marseilles’ historical neighborhoods on a small-group tour with a guide. Experience the idyllic Saona Island on this full-day tour from the mainland via speedboat and catamaran. Experience the Dominican coast on the back of a horse during this half-day horseback riding tour.
I even suggested they tell these vendors to pay this fee if they wanted to keep the Viator's relationship.They said they wouldn't do that, and still haven't sent us the replacement coupons we used in Punta Cana. I want them so I can use graphics to explain to other cruise passengers what a waste of time and money you'd be experiencing using Viators. I have been on 77 cruises in my life and have usually booked all my shore excursions with local companies by myself. Not only have I never had a problem this way, I find their rates to be much less than Viators who adds on a healthy profit to all their bookings. Traditional cruise lines can typically offer much more touristy and crowded shore excursion destinations, although there is definitely movement by cruise lines to start rethinking their shore excursion offerings. Nowadays many passengers, especially the younger generations, are looking for more off-the-beaten path and engaging excursions.
Good Times to Tour Independently or Book Shore Excursions on Your Own
The Weta workshop tour did not include quite as much time and detail as I would have liked. This is just because it is a standard tour offered by Weta and they can't show you everything they are working on for future productions. We booked two excursions through Viator on our recent cruise to NZ. We went on a Hobbiton tour from Tauranga and an excursion to th Weta workshop in Wellington. From the Viator web site if you are looking at a private tour you can e mail with the specific tour guide. They are not a tour provider, they are a broker, meaning when you need to contact them for some issue, it can get challenging, very challenging.
Also a booking site, but with my points it's heavily discounted. I should also add that this sometimes also works w ToursbyLocals although it can be harder to find the guides on who work on this site. I have had ToursbyLocals guides who have given me their personal cards at the end of the tour so that I or my friends can book directly w them although I suspect that this is a violation of ToursbyLocals rules.
You won't need a tour to visit a couple of museums, shops, cafes or historic attractions. If the only thing that matters to you is cost and reliability, then Viator should be fine. If you are picky about the quality of your tours, I do not recommend them. We used them in Italy this summer, both for tours while on the land portion of our vacation, and the ship portion. While they are sort of a consolidator/wholesaler, we did find it difficult to locate specific tours outside of Viator online, so we were fine with using them. We did also find non-Viator tours for some portions, which were also good.
Great prices usually, but some customer service issues. Earn commission when you book directly for your clients on travelagents.viator.com or send them Viator activities using your “share with client” link to earn when they book in-destination. As you book cruises for your clients this wave season, don’t miss out on exploring things to do for your clients in every port. Viator has a wide range of inventory around the world to give every client something memorable to do while they’re ashore.
Decide how much you want to spend and then portion it out among full-day and half-day tours and independent sightseeing. Prioritize your tour dollars for places where you're docked far from a city or if the excursion you're interested in is harder (or more expensive) to recreate on your own. Cruise Critic spoke with Melissa Witsoe, a product manager for Windstar, whose job it is to shape one-of-a-kind shore tours in the Mediterranean and Asia.
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