My Excursion

[Kenneth Dainty]

I had a really bad experience with Carnival and started cruising with Royal Caribbean.  I had 36 wonderful nights before the pandemic.  I’m so happy to be sailing again. I booked 10 new cruises and I’m so excited.  What I love best about cruising is the ports of call.  I always book the longest and most exciting excursions.  I booked over $7,000.00 of excursions for the 10 cruises.  I’m on my first cruise and the first two excursions have been a nightmare.  I booked a historic tour of Cozumel with time for shopping.  We were put in a cab that cost $8.00 and were dropped off in the center of town to shop, that’s it.  $120.00 for two of us to take a $16.00 cab ride.  Today in Nassau we booked Nassau by land and sea.  The driver said we had a change in plans.  We couldn’t finish the land tour going downtown and took us over the bridge to get the boat.  This is the best “he ask us for money to pay the toll”.   He took us to our catamaran “SURPRISE” it wasn’t a catamaran, it was a boat with 10 seats for 21 passengers.  We had to crawl over the side to get in and after standing for over an hour they literally pulled us out of the boat by our arms.  Being a senior it was terrifying.
    Imagine my surprise when the excursion manager said “well you went shopping and you got a boat ride.  A boat is a boat”   WOW is this the new Royal Caribbean?
Now I’m uncomfortable with Royal Caribbiean’s excursions.  I have 9 more cruises booked and I paid for all the excursions.  I always booked ship excursions and I’m thinking of booking the excursions they sell in the ports.  Please HELP, has anyone else booked excursions from Shipmate or from the venders in the ports?  Please share your experience as I’m thinking of canceling my Royal Caribbean excursions.
 

[AshleyDillo]

I have researched and booked third party excursions in the past. You really do need to do your research though.

Sorry you had a bad experience with an excursion. An important thing to remember for the future is if you book an excursion through Royal Caribbean and you aren't satisfied, make sure you let them know when you get back on the ship either by talking to Guest Services or the Shore Excursion desk. They really need to hear this kind of feedback so what you experienced doesn't happen to others. 

[Ampurp85]

Also keep in mind that we are still in a pandemic, so these ports aren't like they use to be. If you booked them through RCG in the CP and you feel like they might not be all they are cracked up to be, you have the option of cancelling. I have heard plenty of people who have been quite a bit disappointed in the current offerings. Prior to the shutdown, I was all about excursions. But with so much going on, they are an afterthought. At this point ports can change, and offerings could be altered or cancelled. If you are cruising again before the summer, expect changes and have patience.

[wordell1]

3 hours ago, Kenneth Dainty said:

I had a really bad experience with Carnival and started cruising with Royal Caribbean.  I had 36 wonderful nights before the pandemic.  I’m so happy to be sailing again. I booked 10 new cruises and I’m so excited.  What I love best about cruising is the ports of call.  I always book the longest and most exciting excursions.  I booked over $7,000.00 of excursions for the 10 cruises.  I’m on my first cruise and the first two excursions have been a nightmare.  I booked a historic tour of Cozumel with time for shopping.  We were put in a cab that cost $8.00 and were dropped off in the center of town to shop, that’s it.  $120.00 for two of us to take a $16.00 cab ride.  Today in Nassau we booked Nassau by land and sea.  The driver said we had a change in plans.  We couldn’t finish the land tour going downtown and took us over the bridge to get the boat.  This is the best “he ask us for money to pay the toll”.   He took us to our catamaran “SURPRISE” it wasn’t a catamaran, it was a boat with 10 seats for 21 passengers.  We had to crawl over the side to get in and after standing for over an hour they literally pulled us out of the boat by our arms.  Being a senior it was terrifying.
    Imagine my surprise when the excursion manager said “well you went shopping and you got a boat ride.  A boat is a boat”   WOW is this the new Royal Caribbean?
Now I’m uncomfortable with Royal Caribbiean’s excursions.  I have 9 more cruises booked and I paid for all the excursions.  I always booked ship excursions and I’m thinking of booking the excursions they sell in the ports.  Please HELP, has anyone else booked excursions from Shipmate or from the venders in the ports?  Please share your experience as I’m thinking of canceling my Royal Caribbean excursions.
 

Wow, that is quite a story

 

[ChessE4]

14 hours ago, Kenneth Dainty said:

I had a really bad experience with Carnival and started cruising with Royal Caribbean.  I had 36 wonderful nights before the pandemic.  I’m so happy to be sailing again. I booked 10 new cruises and I’m so excited.  What I love best about cruising is the ports of call.  I always book the longest and most exciting excursions.  I booked over $7,000.00 of excursions for the 10 cruises.  I’m on my first cruise and the first two excursions have been a nightmare.  I booked a historic tour of Cozumel with time for shopping.  We were put in a cab that cost $8.00 and were dropped off in the center of town to shop, that’s it.  $120.00 for two of us to take a $16.00 cab ride.  Today in Nassau we booked Nassau by land and sea.  The driver said we had a change in plans.  We couldn’t finish the land tour going downtown and took us over the bridge to get the boat.  This is the best “he ask us for money to pay the toll”.   He took us to our catamaran “SURPRISE” it wasn’t a catamaran, it was a boat with 10 seats for 21 passengers.  We had to crawl over the side to get in and after standing for over an hour they literally pulled us out of the boat by our arms.  Being a senior it was terrifying.
    Imagine my surprise when the excursion manager said “well you went shopping and you got a boat ride.  A boat is a boat”   WOW is this the new Royal Caribbean?
Now I’m uncomfortable with Royal Caribbiean’s excursions.  I have 9 more cruises booked and I paid for all the excursions.  I always booked ship excursions and I’m thinking of booking the excursions they sell in the ports.  Please HELP, has anyone else booked excursions from Shipmate or from the venders in the ports?  Please share your experience as I’m thinking of canceling my Royal Caribbean excursions.
 

I don't think your experiences, which were dreadful, are typical of Royal Caribbean.  That said, Nassau isn't the most popular port, and the most exciting excursions out of Cozumel require a bumpy ride to the mainland.  From Cozumel we found the swim/hike through caverns at the Amazing Secret River quite memorable (but physically demanding).

Post-COVID there is definitely a learning curve on excursions, and we aren't scheduled to cruise until February.  We also found that giving Royal feedback on the excursions - both at the Excursion Desk and during the post cruise survey - was very important.

[TravisMA81]

Is there a way to find reviews of Royal's excursions?  I signed up for Discover 2 Reef Snorkel by Boat & Beach in Costa Maya.  I googled it and found some reviews but aren't sure if that's the same one or one similar.  Maybe @Matt should make a section just for Royal's excursion reviews.  

[Ampurp85]

7 hours ago, TravisMA81 said:

Is there a way to find reviews of Royal's excursions?  I signed up for Discover 2 Reef Snorkel by Boat & Beach in Costa Maya.  I googled it and found some reviews but aren't sure if that's the same one or one similar.  Maybe @Matt should make a section just for Royal's excursion reviews.  

They aren't as strict about naming other blogs here as other places......but Cruise critic and TripAdvisor will have the reviews for actual RCG excursions. However, since a lot of them went out of business/changed since the restart ymmv