Venture AshoreReviews of ventureashore.com

Worst tour experience we could have possibly had! Would be a zero star if that were an option. I had bought my Mom a tour for Mother’s day to go and see Florence and Pisa. However, when we got off the ship and went to the meeting place, there was no one from this tour company to be found. We walked around to frantically try to find the bus or shuttle under Venture Ashore, but we had no luck at all. We phoned the company to try and figure out where to meet, but we got no answer. Our day was ruined. We have been trying to get our money back for the past SIX MONTHS, and the company keeps saying that they will call us back but they still haven’t. DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY.

We left the ship and where we would normally expect the buses to be your company was not there. We asked someone as to where we might find you and as in the information given to us she said walk about 100 meters and they should be there. We went to the gates expecting to see meeting point sign as advised by you or a least someone with a board ie your representative - to direct us to the coach - no one was there so we set off to see if we could find any one, after 3rd of a mile we saw a hop on hop off bus we spoke to the driver to see if he could help but he was not sure, we then spoke to a taxi driver who pointed us to the direction of 2 representatives who were standing about - We approached them and one of them then waved an A4 sign at us - not very clear - we asked why did we have to walk all this way when you said in your information walk 100 meters - they said they were not allowed in the port - we asked why not be visible so that we would know where to go instead of walking around hoping to find you. We then got on the bus and was horrified by the conditions, hand rails to support entrance & exit hanging off, stain on the seats, grab rail missing, the bus was in an awful state. We then set off and the guide was vey informative about how many children she has, about her husband her qualifications, and what was growing in the fields. It sems she had nothing else to talk about except fields & family. When we have been on tours previously the guide would normally with us on the bus to be thanked and to hope that we all enjoyed the tour - she did not return in the bus. The tour was not good and the guide & her colleague did not help matters.

Pompeii and Naples City tour: the tour should have started at 8.30am and we didn't see the Tour Guide until 9.20am. No apology whatsoever for keeping us all hanging around waiting. Rushed half hearted tour round Naples, the Guide tried to shout information to us at the side of a busy road and almost got us run over. She told us to be careful crossing! I emailed whilst I was there waiting and also had to follow up several times to Customer Services. They are not interested in giving out an apology. They have just emailed today, trying to tell me the Tour Guide was only 15 minutes late which is an absolute lie. I have photos to prove the time that she turned up. It ruined my day completely and I saw very little of Naples. Don't use this company, book your excursions with the ship.

I can't rate the actual tours as sadly we did not get to join our excursions. This rating is for the dreadful customer service around cancellations. 6 days before our cruise my partner suffered a cardiac arrest. I contacted Venture Ashore within 48 hours to cancel all excursions booked with them, explaining what had happened. They did not respond. I chased yesterday by phone to make sure I was going to be refunded and that everything was cancelled and was met with an absolute lack of compassion and mistrust that I'd even cancelled (luckily I had done this originally by email so it was evidenced). Eventually I was told I will be refunded "within 21 days". Today a tour guide in Istanbul rang me at 7.30 in the morning to find out why we were late and holding up the whole tour group. Venture Ashore had not even bothered to notify the local provider. At an already very distressing time this just added to things. Do not use these people. Believe all the other poor reviews. Appalling.

We arrived at the coach park and our coach didn’t turn up. I tried to call and emergency numbers and no answers. Had to find our way out of the port and find something else. When I emailed the company they said they sent an email to cancel the trip before we left for our holiday but we didn’t receive it (checked deleted & spam folders). Day ruined

Dreadful, overpriced drop off from Messina to Taormina. Tour was 2 hours shorter than the description of the tour we bought. Mini bus was old and dirty with no workable A/C in sweltering heat. Excursion was supposed to include tour of Messina which didn’t happen. Customer service response is terrible, still awaiting explanation one month on from email complaint.

Dreadful experience with this company who also trade under City Experiences. Booked 2 trips on our honeymoon cruise. The first to Rome was supposed to leave at 8am sharp but they decided to wait for a party of 22 Chinese tourists who were 40 minutes late so our trip was cut short. The second trip booked to Pompeii from 9am and lasting 4 hours as shown on their website and in our booking voucher actually left at 7.30am so our honeymoon trip around Italy has been completely spoilt. We won’t be able to return to Italy again so our one chance to visit the historic site has been taken away from us as it’s now too late to book another trip. Don’t waste your money