Wine Safari - Provence

Well, stuff often happens but you seem to have dealt with it pretty well. As for Mike making "alternate arrangements" for you all, he couldn't contact you because you were not accessible. If he had made alternate arrangements, how could he know you would accept them?

Thanks for posting this. I am planning to return to Provence and do a wine tour and he was a consideration. On the bright side, at least the car broke down before your tour started and not during :) Impressive you were able to think quickly, hustle your own tour together and enjoy the region!

Being curious about why he didn't just jump into a taxi and meet you at the port, I Googled his name. Seems he lives north of Avignon, almost as far away as Orange, almost two hours away from the Marseille port. Furthermore, his website says he lives in a place called Aubignan, not a town most of us have heard of and not one that would have car rentals, trains, and taxis. So if something happens with his service and you are unreachable, there's not much to be done. I suppose he could have asked someone to take him to Avignon to catch a train to Marseille and get a taxi to the port from there if his car broke down early enough to allow him that option.

On the other hand, I'm surprised that not one person in the group of 9 had a cell phone that would work in France, nor have access to email since most ships offer internet service. These do cost extra, but sometimes they are worth it. He took a leap of faith making arrangements with people who were unreachable.

The term "claimed" is loaded, as I'm sure you'd agree if someone were to say "claimed they didn't have internet." I'm sure you wouldn't want your assertions characterized as claims. He should be given the same courtesy.

It would be nice if the OP were to come back and admit that he was mostly at fault in the situation. Since he had chosen to travel without a phone or email access for his party of 9, what would he have done if circumstances had obliged HIM to cancel the tour? I do think Mike's name has been unjustly defamed.

Yes Norma, I understand that the French are never at fault!!!

When you are in the service business you ALWAYS make sure that the customer is taken care of. I took a leap of faith in booking the tour for our group based on Rick Steve's recommendation. I did the same for all our other tours and was very pleased. Our group was in Marseille for one day looking for a great experience - this did not happen.

1. If the 1 hr. (or 5???) drive was too far for Mr. Rijken, then he shouldn't have accepted the tour. Perhaps he should stop taking tours from all cruise ships that dock in Marseille.
2. If Mr. Rijken had asked for a cell phone number (as all of the other tours that I booked for our cruise had) he would have been given one.
   
3. I am quite certain, that however remote Mr. Rijken's home location is, that there is a rental agency between his location and Marseille willing to rent vehicles. Marseille is quite large (2nd largest city in France). Mini Buses are available for rent.
4. We asked one of the excursion guides (provence wine tours) who was waiting for his party to contact his office. They were not able to accommodate us due to the late time, but insisted had they known a day in advance they could have accommodated us. This call could have been made my Mr. Rijken.
5. We were reached by message on board the ship by family members who called Holland America. Apparently Mr. Rijken was unable to navigate this process.
6. When our group was left stranded at the port, we FOUND a cell phone to call Mr. Rijken. Had we had an issue, we would have been able to contact him.

I'm sure Wine Safari offers a great tour otherwise they would not have been listed in RS Europe. But when you leave a customer in a foreign country that does not speak your language without a contingency plan, you should not be in the service business.

Mr. Rijken was willing to accept our tour fee, but not the implied responsibility of being in the excursion business.