BEWARE Venture Ashore shore excursion company

[Clarkson U]

Here is an article about this company. Looks like a new company in Feb 2022 made up of two old companies - one in the US and one in the UK coming together.

This article is from the shore excursion trade group page but it does give some information about the newly formed company.

https://shorex.org/cruise-industry-...aunches-with-5000-excursions-new-trade-tools/

 

[Clarkson U]

Hey Rosafunki; can you tell us a little more about your excursions..? A few folks are concerned about your review given that you are a brand new poster and do not mention DCL. If you wouldn't mind sharing more info I'm happy to leave your post up, but if you are in fact just promoting them and are being disingenuous then I'll need to remove it.

Thanks!

Did Rosafunki respond yet? I found it interesting that profile was created 4 minutes before a post in the middle of the night Eastern Time and the statements this individual made do sound a lot like marketing to me.

 

[AquaDame]

Did Rosafunki respond yet? I found it interesting that profile was created 4 minutes before a post in the middle of the night Eastern Time and the statements this individual made do sound a lot like marketing to me.

Not yet, we may have a post and run. English may not be their first language as it doesn't flow quite right (maybe I'm being picky) and the middle of the night EST is morning if they're from Europe. We also have another vet poster confirming they had a good experience and confirming the name change. I'm not convinced its a spammer tbh, but I'll delete it since it is troubling folks.

 

[Paradissimo]

Hi there I'm posting from Scotland & have had a horrendous experience with Venture Ashore on a Western Med Cruise 2 weeks ago. We had coach excursions booked for 3 days - Rome, Naples & Sorrento & Florence & Pisa. There was NO Rep waiting at any of the ports, we waited between 1 - 1.5hrs each day for someone to turn up & I had to phone UK several times each day before drivers finally arrived. There were no coaches to transfer us, as stated on the confirmation tickets, instead they sent taxis each day. Crammed 6 of us in a taxi first day & 4 on days 2 & 3. No air conditioned coach as promised which meant no 'panaromic views' of the countryside we passed through. This company was previously Cruising Excursions which we used for years with no problem at all. Venture Ashore is a disaster, obviously insufficient people booked on to the excursions, so they don't send buses but there is no excuse for being late - it obviously impacted on the time we had ashore, plus the stress caused was considerable. I'm also having problems finding a postal address for my complaint, only e-mail & phone numbers available. My complaint is too long for an e-mail & there's no point in venting down the phone to a wee call centre operator. Won't give up though, I'm on a mission for reparation!

 

[Hardke]

Wanted to make sure no one is taken advantage of like we were by this company. We are booked on an Eastern Caribbean cruise with Disney coming up soon and a friend said before COVID they used a company called ShoreTrips to book several great excursions for this itinerary. I had a lot going on so I searched for ShoreTrips and was diverted to a website for a company called Venture Ashore. Something seemed off when they asked if I wanted to purchase trip insurance through them for an additional fee if for some reason the ship didn't port that day or we had to cancel due to COVID. Again, I should have done more research, but I went ahead and booked our excursion. It was transportation from the ship in St. Thomas to Coral World for a Sea Lion Swim, some time at a nearby beach, and then back to the ship. Everything seemed legit until I didn't receive the vouchers they said they would email me in 72 hours. I decided to call and the call went directly to hold music, so I went to their website and chatted with "someone". He assured me I would receive my vouchers today. This morning, I received an email with vague meeting instructions (meet at the port and look for a van that says, "Transfer to Megan's Bay" (25 minutes away from Coral World), and no vouchers. Then, I searched the internet for reviews on this company. I found nothing. Nothing on Cruise Critic. Nothing here. Nothing on Trip Advisor. So, I decided to call Coral World directly. The woman I spoke with was lovely. I asked if a company named "Venture Ashore" had booked a group of tickets on time and date of my reservation with them. She said they only sell group tickets for their dolphin swim directly to the Disney Fantasy Port Adventures team, and she was sorry that I had gotten caught up in this elaborate scam. My husband is talking with our credit card company now, but the Coral World representative suggested I place a review somewhere so other cruisers would not be swindled as well. I hope someone here will learn from my mistake. We do have a happy ending to our story in that the Coral World rep sold me tickets to the sea lion swim interaction, and we will still get to have the experience our family wanted to have; just with a much higher price tag and a lesson learned.

I totally agree. I recently used Venture Ashore to book a trip and it was the worst experience of my life. I wish I read all the reviews before booking. I hope people read this tread and the google reviews to stop them making the same mistake as I made. This company should not be allowed to trade.