Port Promotions
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Port Promotions Filed for Bankruptcy
I bought two shore excursions for my three family members for a Disney cruise that occurs in February 2014 for the Western Caribbean. I bought the vouchers through Travelocity's website that links to Port Promotions.
Travelocity still has a link to the Port Promotions website but will not take ownership for money lost. I just received a chapter 7 notice for Port Promotions.
They are not answering customer service calls and their voicemail box is full. I am not sure if the vouchers will be honored when we get to the port, so I don't know if I need to buy other shore excursions!
Tampa, Florida
Bankruptcy of Port Promotions 9/9/13
We just received notice that our scheduled excursions through Shore Excursions by Portpromotions.com for our trip in December on Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Sea, have been cancelled as the company filed for bankruptcy on 9/9/13. As a creditor (client), we cannot file a claim or recover our costs of $176.40.
How many other people who planned excursions for their cruises on Royal Caribbean have screwed, I do not know.
We booked this cruise in April for our 40th wedding anniversary, and already have bad feelings about going.
What are we supposed to do, once we get to port now? Who do we trust?
Seriously??
NEVER book an excursion with anyone other than the cruise line themselves. Your problem here is just one obvious reason.
Another reason is that if your self-booked tour is late, the ship will NOT wait for you. Chances are, they have no idea where you are to begin with.
And another reason is the greatly increased possibility of you being a victim of some sort of crime. You likely have no idea at all about the person with whom you are booking nor wheter or not they have nefarious intentions.
The cruise lines vet all their tours and they know where you are and with whom you are touring. If one of their tours is running late, they will wait. They also are covered by insurance.
Looks like you have learned an expensive lesson.
Port Promotions and Services Inc. - bankruptcy
Port Promotions filed for bankruptcy in early September. Excursions arranged and paid for in June/July are now worthless.
We're out $600 while the vouchers we received are worthless...Port Promotions has our money, and Interval International (whose services we used) refuses to take any responsibility for 'promoting' Port Promotions. I wonder how much commission/compensation they received from Port Promotions? The company says they have been in business since 1990.
I doubt the bankruptcy was sudden. They must have been in trouble for some time, so I wonder why Interval International continued to use them, or offer their services to unsuspecting customers?
If you bought travel insurance check your policy as this may be covered.
Lynnwood, Washington
Port Promotions
They tell you on the ticket to go to a spot and wait for a bus, so you sit thee waiting and waiting and waiting, then you call the number they tell you to call only to find out they don't have a tour. When you call to get a refund they refuse to because they say the bus was there!
The only way to get a refund is to know the names of everyone you ever talked to on the phone! Such bad customer service!!!
Not worth the discount! Thanks Travelocity for being partners with such a poorly ran company!!!
Avon, Indiana
Port Promotions Sole Our Money
We booked a snorkel trip with Port Promotions for the Bahamas. We got off the ship an hour early and sat exactly where the instructions told us to.
No one ever showed up. We spoke to a lady on site from port promotions who said there was no notification that we needed to be picked up and that we were out of luck. She stated our only option was to call Port Promotions for a refund. We have called and e-mailed port promotions several times and they insist we never showed up.
I have over 1/2 dozen pictures of the fountain they told us to wait at. We were there. Port Promotions is not refunding our money. We paid for a service and they did not deliver.
We got robbed by Port Promotions. They owe us money back for an excursion they didn't pick us up for.
DO NOT BOOK with Port Promotions - EVER.
This guest was fully refunded by Port Promotions on October 15, 2012.
Derry, New Hampshire
Port Promotions - bad experience
I recently booked a cruise through Travelocity and was give an extra discount to book my excursions through Port Promotions. I booked the excursion 2 months in advance of the cruise, received a confirmation email for the excursion and voucher with details everything I needed.
Four days before leaving for my cruise, my credit card statement comes in the mail with a credit from Port Promotions in the amount of my excursion (April 20th). I called and asked why I had a credit from them. I was told the trip was fully booked and there were no spots available. The excursion coordinator informed them of this April 1st. I received NO email, NO indication from Port Excursions that there was an issue with my reservation for 19 days! I leave for my trip in 4 days.. I have an email with the confirmation number and 'present this voucher' nothing else.
Without seeing the credit on my statement, I would have NEVER known that there was an issue with my excursion and something my family was looking forward to would not have happened.
One customer service representative was going to look into it and call me back. They have not yet. Another one just said "sorry... ".
The $60 savings to use this company is not worth the heartache it caused!
I recently went on a European cruise and Port Promotions were responsible for the excursions in Naples, Rome, Tuscany, and Provence. In every city we did not get what we paid for. I am currently trying to get a partial refund for the misrepresentation of the excursions.
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You need to dispute your credit card charge. There will be no problem receiving your money back, only that way.
This is one of several reasons why you NEVER book a port excursion with any other company than the cruise line itself. If you are off on your own and the excursion is late, the ship WILL leave without you. If you are on one of the ship's excursions, this will not happen.
Additionally, you have no idea whith whom you are booking. The could be financial unsound (guess you learned that one already) or they could be real crooks who could rob you of all your possessions.
You have learned a hard lesson. Chalk it up to that and enjoy the rest of your cruise.
I agree. Lesson learned.
However, this company was vetted by other reputable travel companies such as Travelocity and Interval International. Both of these provide internal links to Port Promotions through their sites. I did my research prior to purchasing shore excursions through them and discovered that they have been in business since 1990 and had many positive reviews. Travelocity themselves provided good reviews for them.
Hard to predict that a company that has been in business for over 20 years would go under the month I decide to purchase shore excursions. Even now, Travelocity continues to sell shore excursions through the internal link to Port Promotions, which is another problem...
They continue to sell for Port Promotions because the site was bought by a new owner. The original owner from the 1990 sold the site to Gordon Barr and his wife, Nina Barr in the year 2007 and they destroyed the company.
They are as I stated just moments ago, the Madoffs of the shore excursion industry, the worst human beings you can imagine....but you have to understand that this has nothing to do with the new or the original Port Promotions brand. I have been running tours for Port Promotions since 2006 and serviced many happy clients who for certain wrote some of the great reviews that you have spoken about and researched.
They are under a new owner and he is doing many positive things to turn around the brand back to it's original state. Going with the cruiseline is a major mistake!!!
The Cruiselines put you in a cattle bus with way too many people. The smaller shore excursion companies are much better due to the fact that they are the locals and know the areas, like on Tours by Locals website.
THE OLD Port Promotions company has gone out of business, it happens. The past owner is the Bernie Madoff of Shore Excursions and harmed many people during the process. He has another company called Destination Tampa Bay which you should stay away from as well!!!
The Port Promotions website has since been purchased by a fantastic young team of Professionals from Alaska and they are on top of their customer service.
Contact the company and ask for April, Jo or Jeff!!!
The ship's will not leave without the passengers, that is false. That is the cruiseline trying to scare you into thinking that. Each port in Italy has a dock master, like the coast guard and if something should happen, your driver can contact that office who in trun will report to the captain of your ship and the dock master will not allow your ship out of the bay if within reason.
I wish the people on cruise critics who make money by selling the ship tours would stop trying to scare the folks away from seeing the real parts of the lands they are visiting.
Let them make true memories and experience the real things instead of the inside of a BUS!