I booked an excursion from Shoretrips.com for a cruise I recently took on Voyager of the Seas, (Royal Carribean) leaving Barcelona last month.
It was $225 to take a train to Rome from the Cittavechhia port, for one day to be escorted by a tour guide to see the Colisuem, etc. Etc. The trip also included a modestly valued lunch. Off the bat, it was not a good value as one could take the train and do lunch for alot less. I signed up because it was endorsed by the group I was with (VTG singles at sea) and I wanted to be with their group. VTG by the way, gets a cut of this ripoff in the form of commission. There were 60-70 people on this tour group with only 2 tour guides from Shoretrips and two hosts from VTG.
While at the Vatican at the end of the day I got separated from my group. They didn't have a predetermined meeting point. I was given a number to call earlier, but my cellphone didn't work in Italy. Meantime, I had to call the Vatican police to get the tour guide to pick me up.in the meantime, nobody had a clue that I was missing and were about to take off and leave me stranded (the ship would have left without me) in a foreign country where to my own devices. Nobody had a clue I was gone because their "head count" worked out right???
When I complained both to VTG and Shoretrips. Shoretrips offered the following which I found to be an insult: a $50.00 credit good for the next trip I take with them. Thank you, I said but their offer was insult considering how much money they made that day (about $16,000 US) and considering what I had been through. The point is I paid the $225 because I thought I was going to be safe and would have no worries about being stranded and having the ship take off without me. They don't hire enough people to do their jobs correctly.
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