Port Adventures - can DCL do better?

[PhilipC]

My wife & I have just got back from completing the Western and Eastern Caribbean cruises on the Fantasy. To date, on every DCL cruise we've done (these were #6 & #7), we've booked Port Adventures whenever we've wanted to take an excursion that would be more than getting off the ship and wandering around.

There have been a couple of reasons why that is the approach we've taken:

1. I have, perhaps naively, expected DCL to provide us with the best of the best when it comes to the excursions on offer for a given port.
2. I definitely appreciate the fact that if you are on a Port Adventure and it finishes late, the ship waits for you. The thought of being in port and the ship sails without us terrifies me.

However, after sailing with P & O (a large UK cruise line) last year to the Caribbean and experiencing what they had to offer by way of excursions, I'm starting to feel a bit disgruntled with DCL.

Now, I know that the Port Adventures are run by third parties but it is, ultimately, DCL's choice as to which Port Adventures are offered to guests. DCL must go through a selection process ...

These were our choices for the various ports:

• Cozumel: Mayan Chocolate Experience & Island Tour - learn about the daily lives of the Mayans and experience the delightful chocolate of The Mayan Cacao Company
• Grand Cayman: Discover Native Cayman and the Saltwater Forest - visit Caymanian cottages to see traditional design and enjoy a guided tour of the saltwater forest.
• Falmouth: Good Hope Estate - travel to the Good Hope Estate for a tour of this picturesque former plantation and a visit to the Colonial Village.
• Tortola: didn't do an excursion as we had done a lovely one with P & O last year.
• St Thomas: Best of St Thomas Island Tour and Shopping - shopportunities galore are in store, both at Mountain Top scenic lookout and in downtown Charlotte Amalie.

To a large degree, we try to pick excursions that will give us a flavour of the destination, of its culture or heritage. We are not people who like to lie on a beach, go snorkelling or swimming with dolphins - nothing against that sort of thing, it just isn't what we like to do.

One of the excursions - Discover Native Cayman and the Saltwater Forest - was so bad and so not up to the description provided in the Port Adventures booklet that I actually complained to the PA Desk and their assistant manager rang me back the next day, apologised for the problem, explained that they rely on guests to provide feedback and refunded half of the cost.

The other excursions were not great. They lived up to their descriptions - just - but some of those descriptions are so vague that you don't really know what you are going to get unless you do a lot more research like asking people if they've done these before or looking on TripAdvisor.

The discussion with the manager got me thinking, though. There is no opportunity at the moment for DCL to ask guests for feedback on their excursions. Nothing in the end of cruise survey but, more importantly, surely we should get a comment card or something at the end of each excursion? If necessary, offer an incentive to guests to return completed cards. Port excursions are surely one of the main reasons why people do a cruise and can be a significant expense.

Another area where I think DCL could do better/help guests is for guests who do want to do more of the DIY wandering around, etc. P & O, for example, provided a little map of the immediate area for each port. Not the shopping map that DCL gives out but something with real landscapes like churches, post offices, etc. In addition, if the main area was a bit away from the port, such as it was for St Thomas, P & O would have shuttle busses going between that area and the dock, making it easy for guests to get there and back. For St Thomas, all Disney said was how much the taxi would cost and to allow much more time for the return journey because there might not be many taxis ...

I'm interested in what others think. What do you think of the Port Adventures offered by DCL? If you pick your own excursions, how do you go about that process? How do you ensure that you are going to get value for money?

Thanks for reading this far!

 

[Shanti]

My wife & I have just got back from completing the Western and Eastern Caribbean cruises on the Fantasy. To date, on every DCL cruise we've done (these were #6 & #7), we've booked Port Adventures whenever we've wanted to take an excursion that would be more than getting off the ship and wandering around.

There have been a couple of reasons why that is the approach we've taken:

1. I have, perhaps naively, expected DCL to provide us with the best of the best when it comes to the excursions on offer for a given port.
2. I definitely appreciate the fact that if you are on a Port Adventure and it finishes late, the ship waits for you. The thought of being in port and the ship sails without us terrifies me.

However, after sailing with P & O (a large UK cruise line) last year to the Caribbean and experiencing what they had to offer by way of excursions, I'm starting to feel a bit disgruntled with DCL.

Now, I know that the Port Adventures are run by third parties but it is, ultimately, DCL's choice as to which Port Adventures are offered to guests. DCL must go through a selection process ...

These were our choices for the various ports:

• Cozumel: Mayan Chocolate Experience & Island Tour - learn about the daily lives of the Mayans and experience the delightful chocolate of The Mayan Cacao Company
• Grand Cayman: Discover Native Cayman and the Saltwater Forest - visit Caymanian cottages to see traditional design and enjoy a guided tour of the saltwater forest.
• Falmouth: Good Hope Estate - travel to the Good Hope Estate for a tour of this picturesque former plantation and a visit to the Colonial Village.
• Tortola: didn't do an excursion as we had done a lovely one with P & O last year.
• St Thomas: Best of St Thomas Island Tour and Shopping - shopportunities galore are in store, both at Mountain Top scenic lookout and in downtown Charlotte Amalie.

To a large degree, we try to pick excursions that will give us a flavour of the destination, of its culture or heritage. We are not people who like to lie on a beach, go snorkelling or swimming with dolphins - nothing against that sort of thing, it just isn't what we like to do.

One of the excursions - Discover Native Cayman and the Saltwater Forest - was so bad and so not up to the description provided in the Port Adventures booklet that I actually complained to the PA Desk and their assistant manager rang me back the next day, apologised for the problem, explained that they rely on guests to provide feedback and refunded half of the cost.

The other excursions were not great. They lived up to their descriptions - just - but some of those descriptions are so vague that you don't really know what you are going to get unless you do a lot more research like asking people if they've done these before or looking on TripAdvisor.

The discussion with the manager got me thinking, though. There is no opportunity at the moment for DCL to ask guests for feedback on their excursions. Nothing in the end of cruise survey but, more importantly, surely we should get a comment card or something at the end of each excursion? If necessary, offer an incentive to guests to return completed cards. Port excursions are surely one of the main reasons why people do a cruise and can be a significant expense.

Another area where I think DCL could do better/help guests is for guests who do want to do more of the DIY wandering around, etc. P & O, for example, provided a little map of the immediate area for each port. Not the shopping map that DCL gives out but something with real landscapes like churches, post offices, etc. In addition, if the main area was a bit away from the port, such as it was for St Thomas, P & O would have shuttle busses going between that area and the dock, making it easy for guests to get there and back. For St Thomas, all Disney said was how much the taxi would cost and to allow much more time for the return journey because there might not be many taxis ...

I'm interested in what others think. What do you think of the Port Adventures offered by DCL? If you pick your own excursions, how do you go about that process? How do you ensure that you are going to get value for money?

Thanks for reading this far!

It would be awesome if DCL could do Disney-run excursions. They'd probably be of higher quality. We did a DCL-booked Tortola excursion on the Eastern in December & it was bad from the moment we were handed off from DCL to the excursion guides. The guides actually took everyone (3 buses) on the wrong tour until it finally got straightened out. And the experience, even when rectified, wasn't great.

Some people assume that DCL-booked excursions must be better in some way, but they're not. They're contracted with outside vendors, who in our case were quite lackluster.

I would be happy to pay more to get a completely DCL-run experience. In the end it's about customer service. DCL always wants you to have a good experience, whereas the contractors we had didn't seem to care.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I happen to think DCL (and most cruise lines) do minimum due diligence as far as their subcontractors for port excursions. Most of the subcontractors do independent tour stuff, but limit the groups more seriously for those and therefore provide different experiences. It's easier to do more with 20 than with 40 guests (or more).

I do think that, in general, you have to expect the excursions through most cruise lines to be cattle calls, and that independent excursions may cost more (or not) with greater personalization. People tend to book cruises because they want things to be turnkey.

Even if Disney ran their own excursions, you'd need to expect cattle calls. The price would also go up, as they'd need to have staff, equipment, etc. etc. vs. using third parties.

 

[mom4fun]

We have taken many Disney excursions and most have been great but 2 of them were really bad. We did complain about one of them while we were on the ship.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

There is no opportunity at the moment for DCL to ask guests for feedback on their excursions. Nothing in the end of cruise survey but, more importantly, surely we should get a comment card or something at the end of each excursion?

Well, there is an area on the end of cruise survey where you can indicate whether you had a problem with a Port
Adventure.



We've frequently received a "how're we doing" survey on excursions on the return bus trip.

But, DCL probably relies on people to just go to either Guest Services or Port Adventures to complain, if they have a bad excursion.

 

[tink1970]

I just took a survey online from our 21 July cruise and there were several questions about Port Adventures. Of course, no free space to explain my ratings

 

[mevelandry]

DCL uses third parties so I think they only way would be to provide their own excursions which could be quite complicated (they would need licenses) and as you can imagine, the price would double/triple.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

no free space to explain my ratings

That's why I always bring a couple of pages of binder paper along. I know I'm going to have several comments that won't fit in the minute 2 lines DCL puts on their survey. If I don't have any, I use the letterhead paper in the desk, or ask for some at Guest Services.

 

[Dug720]

I just took a survey online from our 21 July cruise and there were several questions about Port Adventures. Of course, no free space to explain my ratings

You can always email them.

But better to let them know on the ship - they can be more proactive.

 

[KashasMom]

I happen to think DCL (and most cruise lines) do minimum due diligence as far as their subcontractors for port excursions. Most of the subcontractors do independent tour stuff, but limit the groups more seriously for those and therefore provide different experiences. It's easier to do more with 20 than with 40 guests (or more).

I do think that, in general, you have to expect the excursions through most cruise lines to be cattle calls, and that independent excursions may cost more (or not) with greater personalization. People tend to book cruises because they want things to be turnkey.

Even if Disney ran their own excursions, you'd need to expect cattle calls. The price would also go up, as they'd need to have staff, equipment, etc. etc. vs. using third parties.

I don't agree with this. We've done three fantastic excursions with RCI (a baby sea turtle rescue and release in Cozumel, river tubing on the Rio Bueno in Falmouth and dolphin swim in Cozumel). There were six of us with the turtles, 4 of us on the river, and 8 of us with the dolphins. We rarely do excursions with the cruiseline but these were either easiest booked through the cruise line or not available privately.

And we've never come across an independent excursion that cost more than the same excursion booked through the cruise line.

 

[tlprice]

I wonder if having feedback for the cruise tours and there was some incentive with Disney if ratings were good or threaten to not use them if ratings were bad, quality would go up? That being said, I've done 3 Disney excursions that were all good. For my upcoming cruises I will probably do independent excursions. On previous cruises, my daughter was under 10 and I could pay the child rate on port adventures. Now that she is 10 Disney charges adult prices--that's crazy! I can find pretty much all of Disney's port adventures through other vendors that have child prices for up to age 17 on many of them. That makes the price MUCH less expensive.

 

[TestingH2O]

I can see how, as two adults, the chocolate tour in Cozumel wasn't great. We did chocolate and piñatas with my 4 year old and it was great. But yeah, not a super deep dive into the history or culture.

As far as excursions, we've only done 1 with DCL and, as I said above, it was fun. Everything else we've booked independently for 3 reasons: cost, choices more closely aligned with our interests, and availability for my young daughter. For being a family cruise line, they really don't give many options for younger guests even though the same private providers do allow kids at a lower age.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

they really don't give many options for younger guests even though the same private providers do allow kids at a lower age.

Since, in many instances, they use the same excursion provider, it's all about insurance risk and liability.

 

[Mommb]

Disney Cruise Line does welcome feedback from guests about excursions. My daughter complained about an excursion guide while we are Guest Services for another issue. She was given a Port Adventures Feedback Form to fill out and return to the Port Adventures desk -- it asked for information to identify the excursion, then asked what, if anything, was particularly enjoyable and what, if anything, was particularly up unsatisfying about the port adventure. There was also a check box asking if you wanted to be contacted by the Port Adventures Manager. I agree that it would be helpful to distribute these after each excursion, but at least they are available label to those who ask to give feedback.

As far as providing resources for people to explore on their own, that may vary by itinerary.

On the recent Dover-Barcelona cruise, we received maps of Le Havre, Lisbon and Cadiz with our Navigators the night before we visited each Port, which gave a general overview of where the ship would dock and nearby areas. In Lisbon, Disney ran free buses from the port to "town" -- we didn't use one so I'm not sure where the stop was. On our Baltic cruise 2 years ago, there were similar buses in Tallin and Helsinki (and maybe Stockholm).

In Europe, every time my family has taken a Disney excursion we've said afterwards that we should have done a private tour, which would allow us to see exactly what we want at the pace we want. Disney did offer some unique experiences, especially for families with elementary-aged children, but they were pricey. Our main reason for taking Disney tours is that they guarantee that either we will be back onboard on time or DCL will make arrangements for us to get to the next port. Well-reviewed private tour companies will do everything in their power to get guests back on time too, though, because a guest who misses the ship will spread the word and hurt their business.

 

[cruiser21]

I think their port excursions compared to other cruise lines are very poor. Carnival has better selections for the same ports. They are also very over priced. Most cruise lines are over priced, but DCL is the only one I know of that charges adult prices for a 10 year old usually it's 13. I'll be cruising in Alaska in 5 weeks. I booked all my excursions through private vendors and I saved a few hundred dollars.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I book as much as I can away from the cruise line excursion herds. First, I'm happier to be on MY time & not moving at the speed of the slowest participant. Saves money most of the time. Less of the following the herd feeling. More often than not we get a more personal experience. Love having excursions to the beat of our drum!

 

[elvispursley]

We love to do snorkeling excursions but hate doing the large "cattle call" excursions that cruise ships tend to have for a couple of reasons. First, the actual in-water time is very short, typically only about 60 minutes. We like having more time in the water. Another reason we hate them is when you have so many people in the water, the fish/turtles/marine life tend to get scared off and you can't see anything. And with all those people, I can't tell you how many times I've been kicked in the face by some dimwit who doesn't have any idea where they are kicking their fins! So on our last cruise, we hired all private snorkel excursions for just our family of 6. It turned out to be no more expensive than what DCL was charging and we had the boat for 6-7 hours. The boats took us to excellent snorkeling sites where there weren't crowds. We saw amazing marine life (sting rays were the best)! I was slightly nervous to book an excursion not run by DCL, but after reading reviews and talking with the tour operators regarding their cancellations policy (what would they do if the ship didn't make port? Simple, they refund our money and they monitor when the ship comes into port). I don't think we'd do another snorkel excursion that wasn't private.

Now, for our WBTA this fall, we did book a few with DCL and only one on our own (we really wanted to go horseback riding on the Azores and DCL didn't offer it). But even though we're booked with DCL for our excursions, I'm not excited about them. There weren't a ton of choices but I'm somewhat more nervous to about doing a lot of the excursions on our own. I guess we'll see how they do on this cruise and we'll try to keep an open mind.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

My excursion experiences have only been bad twice: once in St Petersburg where a part of the tour was skipped cause the guide was more itnerested in cashing a big commission on the gift purchases the DCL guests were making during a forced 45 min stop in the middle of nowhere and once during a dolphin swim in Tortola on the TA cruise in 2010. The place was groce, no changing rooms/lockers even though they were supposed to be and I opened up my leg cause there was a metal bar in the water at the edge of the platform where we were waiting for our turn.
In both cases I left feedback and both cases DCL refunded me half the money but tbh I would have just rather had a good tour experience.

The only remark I have is the lack of variety on excursions if you cruise Carraiben/Bahamas or the ports on PC/TA in those areas... I mean I don't need a dolphin swim each cruise, I hate sitting on a beach, ziplining is fun once but I'm more about exploring places, seeing cultural things etc and often find those destinations don't have those type of excursions or just like one.

 

[mevelandry]

I don't agree with this. We've done three fantastic excursions with RCI (a baby sea turtle rescue and release in Cozumel, river tubing on the Rio Bueno in Falmouth and dolphin swim in Cozumel). There were six of us with the turtles, 4 of us on the river, and 8 of us with the dolphins. We rarely do excursions with the cruiseline but these were either easiest booked through the cruise line or not available privately.

We're supposed to do the baby turtles rescue and release in Cozumel on our next cruise. Sounds absolutely fantastic.

 

[mhconley]

We seem to have had the opposite experience as most here with DCL Port Adventures. On our first cruise we booked all our excursions with Disney. We did the Catamaran, Reef and Kittiwake Snorkel Sail on Grand Cayman, the Chacchoben Mayan Ruins in Costa Maya, and the Dune Buggy and Beach Snorkel Sail on Cozumel. All were very nice and as we expected.

On our second cruise I booked our excursions with third party companies based upon TripAdvisor and Cruise Critic ratings. We did Soualiga Destinations Beach/Snorkeling Boat Tour on St. Martin and St. Thomas Scuba and Snorkel Adventures Multi Beach Adventure on St. Thomas. Soualiga was fantastic and St. Thomas Snorkel was very good.

For our upcoming cruise I've contacted several top rated third party tour operators and they have each told me they are contracted with Disney and cannot offer me a private excursion. Hopefully I'll be able to book them when our window opens up. I think Disney does the best they can but when they have the quantity of visitors they are trying to handle I am sure there'll be some missteps.

Can you imagine the cost of a Port Adventure by Disney? We'd be paying $650 per person instead of $65.

Martin