Venture AshoreReviews of ventureashore.com

We had 8 excursions with you and 7 of them were good. The one bad experience was at Pompeii. The VS guide was fine, but the guide inside Pompeii could not speak good English and did not take us to any good sites at Pompeii. This was my 4th time there, so I know what she DID NOT show us. Otherwise the other excursions were very satisfactory. Joe Hudson

Was very enjoyable. Saw a small bear and wonderful scenery. Driver was friendly and informative. By UK standards this was a very expensive excursion and the driver Aaron asked passengers to give a generous tip as he struggled with the high prices in Alaska, which they are. We gave more than we would tip in UK but he was probably disappointed. Drivers should be paid properly and not rely on tips in my opinion.

Maybe putting in a reminder for the people doing excursions from cruise ships would be to find out if and when you arrive which time you will be there ship's time or land's time?? This trip and maybe only this trip, can't say we've had this problem before, but we were going off the port's time we sailed from.

Mendenhall Glacier Tour by Shuttle- it was good but insufficient time at the glacier to visit the Information Centre, which was very good, go down to the glacier lake, the actual glacier can only be seen a mile away(global warming) and go to the waterfall, which I was informed was excellent. Potlatch Totem Park- only people we saw were in the Gift Shop, site appeared to be run down and neglected possibly due to it being early in the tourist season. Tour information stated "In the totem carving shed, you'll learn the significance of these cultural works of art and watch one of the carvers in action" there was no one in the shed.

Booked with Venture Ashore for 3 italian excursions in one package: Florence/Pisa, Rome, and Sorrento and Pompeii with a drive along the Almalfi Coast. Venture Ashore is about 1/3 the cost of the cruise line excursions so we were very skeptical. We even had plans in case these excursions fell through. We were amazed and very happy with all 3 of our experiences. All three of our guides met us exactly where they said they would be and provided us with unbelievable tours. Francesca in Florence took us on a walking tour of the historic sites in Florence. She was extremely informative. Suzy, our tour guide in Rome was amazing. We saw everything from the Trevi fountain, Spanish steps, to the Coliseum and the outside of the Vatican, all in one day. Lastly, Gabriel, our "celebrity tour guide" was the best tour guide I have ever had. We walked the streets of Sorrento, took beautiful pictures of the coast line and finished the day in Pompeii. He was energetic, fun, filled with information and made the whole experience the trip of a lifetime. I read a lot of bad things about Venture Ashore and I think it may differ from port to port. But you also have to do some research ahead of time. Make sure you are in the correct spot at the correct time. In Italy, there are MANY different excursion companies. When you get off the ship, you have to look for the guides because it is VERY crowded. There are a few hundred people so don't expect your guide to come to you. You need to ask around, walk around and look for signs. By the way, at one port, everyone who booked with Shore Excursions, Viator, and My Tour Guide along with three other companies, all went on the same tour bus. Everyone uses third party vendors and I mean everyone! The guides are local and have a great deal of knowledge of the sites. I would not hesitate to use Venture Ashore again!

We have used various other tour Companies over the years and never had a problem. However, the 3 tours we recently enjoyed on Madeira and in the Canaries were outstanding. Brilliant, knowledgeable and entertaining guides. Top class transport supplied. Could not have asked for more. A breath of fresh air. We shall be with them on every cruise from now on.

Transport first class

When we arrived at the dock in Grand Caymen, the staff was very professional, pleasant and organized. We had hired transport to/from 7 mile beach (which is really 5.5 miles of beach). Once in the transport van, I asked several questions of the female driver i.e. You will show us the spot where you will be picking us up? Answer: Yes I'll show you, and I will be picking you up. Then, I asked: What time would you like us to be there? Answer to me: 1:20 pm. Upon getting out of the van, she then told my partner 1:00 -1:10 pm. "And you might have a different driver". Ok. We were then told to meet in a picnic shelter and E and D Rental staff would take us to the van as the two communicated with each other by cell phone and the driver might have to park in a different spot due to congestion. OK. We rented two chairs and an umbrella for $25 from E and D Rental who were the folks who met us at the van. The driver and Dominique were coordinating things in a different language. The gal renting the chairs/umbrella said that she normally charges $30 but would give us a $5 discount as we used Venture Ashore. I believe Venture Ashore stated in their information that rental should have been $15, but 3 cruise ships were in that day so we expected "surge" pricing. Besides, our chairs were right up to the water line. Yeah! The first hour or so was great. Then it got very crowded, starting with lots of people standing right in front of us taking selfies for an hour, then the water was so full that the snorkelers were saying the fish left. I checked it out and, yes, the fish had gone elsewhere. Looking down the long beach, it was not very crowded. Why was everyone scrunched up together in this one area? Maybe the food trucks near by? Maybe this was the ONLY place to rent chairs? No explanation provided. NOTE: A basic jerk chicken from a food truck was $30, + more for sides and a drink. To take a break, we took a walk. We left our towels on the chairs as we had rented them from 9am to 1 pm. We found some food across the street that was great and half the price of the food trucks. We came back a short time later, and the lady who had rented us the chairs said she had taken our towels off the chairs. She did give the towels back - pointing to them wet and crumpled in a pile on a table. We said we were going back to our chairs. She said ok. HERE IS WHERE THINGS TOOK A TURN: 1. She had re-rented (double rented) our chairs!!! We went back to our chairs around noon that we paid for until 1 pm. Other stuff was in one with a guy vaping weed in the other. She knew this but didn't tell us. 2. We went back to the picnic shelter where people were waiting for their rides and from which the lady rented. We were then told if we wanted to leave early, we could. Great! Dominique would be collecting us at 1 pm. Not too much different from the original times, but we waited and chatted with fellow guests. 3. 1 pm arrives then 1:10 pm rolls around and no Dominique. We were told he would be back shortly. 1:20 pm . Finally, I see him as he is headed to the parking lot about 1:30 pm with another group of people, but having never swung by the shelter. We went after him. Yes, lots of parking congestion. We saw some people from our cruise ship with Dominique and continued to follow them. 4. Dominique pointed to a large tour bus. We checked with the driver, and he was going back to the port so we just got on with the other tour group to get back. One of the tourist that was from our boat said the group was on a Princess excursion with a stop at the beach. OUR ORIGINAL DRIVER NEVER SHOWED NOR DID DOMINIQUE of E and D Rental ever assist us in connecting with our ride. We were smart enough to follow and stick with people we recognized from our ship, but had we been drunk or 80 years old etc, would we have been stranded??? Maybe. I think we should be refunded half the amount we paid for the van ride back to the port we did NOT get. Booking # 240309035 Thank you, Gale H.