European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 13, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Shore trips fail to satisfy All customers All the time by Betsy Wade the new York times judging from Reader mail and Telephone Calls Shore excursions Are often a sore Point among cruise passengers. According to cruise line Miami Agency they Are a main source of passenger complaints right after air trips sold As part of the cruise package. The situation has worsened recently according to Joyce Landry a partner in Landry amp Kling a cruise marketing company and Agency in Miami. Quot in the Good old Days a 10 years ago Quot she said with a laugh Quot cruise lines offered Shore excursions As a service. Now -1 like everything cruises else the excursions Are increasingly commercial and the goal of both the operator and the line is to make More excursions Are usually provided by a company separate from the cruise line meaning they Are not wholly under the control of the line. On Large Caribbean cruises excursions Are usually sold Only aboard ship Shore trips for european cruises however May be purchased before departure and agents can Book a package of them with the cruise and earn a commission. Mimi Weisband a spokeswoman for Royal cruise line which operates almost entirely in Europe said the line did not press travel agents to sell the bundles of excursions a plan a on the Royal Odyssey for example offers eight excursions at $452. V a. Quot some people Aren t bus people Quot she said but her line s brochure says Quot space is limited on these plans. Reserve your space whatever the cruise line May intend this creates a shortage mentality. A. That was what led Timothy and Birgit Tung of new York experienced cruise passengers to buy plan a. Clipping the Coupon off the Back of the brochure for the Royal Odyssey cruise from May 1 to 14 in the Black sea and Eastern Mediterranean. Quot we thought we d play it Safe Quot Birgit Tung said. But the lungs were unhappy with excursions in Istanbul Turkey and Venice Italy. Y Quot in Istanbul they said they stopped outside the Blue mosque and hag a Sophia for Quot picture taking Quot and spent an hour in top Kapi Palace. Then the guide Quot shepherded us to a store to hear a Salesman talk in the Guise of a carpet making lecture and told us we could spend the next two hours shopping or take a bus Back to the this halfday tour when sold separately Cost $48 a person. A the $48 half Day Venice excursion the tunes wrote tourists ask the darn est things the Hartford courant some travellers enjoy basking on while others venture onshore for optional touts. Involved a motor launch trip to St. Marks being led through the Square and into the Basilica and then a visit to a Glass factory. After that they were told they were on their own to shop. Birgit Tung said that they could have taken the $3.50 vaporetto the line provided and done the rest themselves. A shopping is a prime source of discontent on Shore excursions. Valerie Ann Wilson president of the Agency bearing her name of Park Avenue South in Manhattan took a cruise on the Royal Viking Queen with clients in mid september visiting Greece and joining some of the line s excursions. A /. Quot the excursion to the excavations in Santorini was fabulous with a wonderful knowledgeable guide Quot she said. Quot then we went to a winery. Most of us did not have a High opinion of greek wines and would have preferred to see the she said she had debated skipping the event but in the end Quot swallowed Quot the winery to get the rest of the tour. Awilson and Landry both custom design Shore ,. Excursions for those who have particular cultural tastes signing up Drivers and guides from their own lists. Two couples travelling together can often get As Good a buy As on a bigger tour Quot shopping and museums Are chronic problems Quot Weisband said. She recalled How six passengers independently took a Van together on a european cruise three were furious about the time spent shopping and the three others complained about their companions Quot constant historical . \ Landry believes that passengers obsessions with going shopping May put the historically informed guides out of . A Sidney Lieberman of Baltimore was another unhappy excursion taker. He took a a Day anniversary trip at the end of May on Cunard s Vista fjord with five Days in the area of the English Channel. He wrote Quot at no time was there a briefing As to what took place 50 years he also said that the tour to Mont took three hours each Way on an uncomfortable bus with a guide who was he said the Advance Cost of a package of three excursions was about $1,000. Navin Sawhney senior vice president for marketing for Cunard said that cruise lines did sometimes find themselves using less than satisfactory operators and had to switch. He said that Lieberman s complaint was one of Many and that the ship s staff also gave a negative report. What is typical All the parties agree is that the lines excursions Are Quot designed for the majority Quot As Weisband of Royal cruise line put it. Quot it s an age old problem and we can never please despite this homogenizing Shore excursions still sell Well there is an element of fear about plunging into a new place. Quot most people Are More at ease with a ship s Shore excursion Quot said Larry Fishkin spokesman for cruise line inc. Another source of pressure that is sometimes mentioned is the possibility of missing the sailing the ship is responsible if its own expedition is not on time to the a not so for private Tours. Weisband while urging fans of museums and other cultural institutions to Book their own taxis or guides issued a reminder that ports Are often far from Sites of interest and taxi fares May run High. Brochures for Shore excursions Are full of disclaimers such As Quot Shore excursion operators Are Independent contractors and the line shall not be responsible for any loss damage or injury due to accidents or delays or any act of omission of the tour Thomas a. Dickerson author of travel Law a said that beyond the ship s immediate area such denials of responsibility by cruise lines have generally been upheld in court except when an injury occurs during a criminal act. Bureaus reveal 10 silliest questions by Mim Swartz Scripps Howard news service the International association of convention and visitor bureaus for the second year polled its members to reveal the most unusual questions tourists ask convention and visitor bureaus. The results a. A Quot my wife is pregnant will Las vegas Hurt her Quot a submitted by the Las vegas convention and visitors authority. A Quot can you mail me an autographed picture of your governor John Denver Quot. A Denver metro convention amp visitors. Bureau. A a a. A Quot As a tourist in the nation s capital immune to the traffic Laws stoplights and things like that Quot a Washington d.c., convention amp visitors association a Quot can you live in Daytona Beach or is it a Day thing Quot a destination Daytona Cun mention amp visitors Bureau. Quot is Anaheim a new ride at Disneyland Quot a Anaheim area visitor and convention Bureau. A Quot How do the Bald eagles know which weekend to show up for Quad cities Bald Eagle Days Quot a Quad cities convention amp visitors Bureau Rock Island Iii. A Quot i made a reservation for the grateful dead weekend at a hotel in Eugene but can t remember the name. Can you help a a convention amp visitors association of Lane county Ore. A Quot i be heard the sheep roam free in Scotland. What Side of. The Road do they usually walk on Quot a greater Glasgow tourist amp convention is Niagara Falls turned on daily and does the water run a different Way each Day Quot a Niagara Falls convention amp visitors Bureau. A Quot flow much does it Cost to Send a postcard to the United states Quot a submitted by the Fairbanks convention amp visitors Bureau Anchorage convention. Amp v sitors Bureau and the Juneau convention amp visitors Bureau. Mem Swart is travel editor of the Rocky Mountain news in Denver. S4s to it a Takah Absher this sheep in Ireland has no dilemma it walks Down the Middle of the Road. October 13, 1994 stripes Magazine 21
