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Passengers returning late from tour stops

As I mentioned in a previous post, in general we try to visit new places as opposed to revisiting previous favorites because we are limited not only financially but in the number of healthy years to travel abroad. Having said that there is one reason we will return to the D-Day beaches and Normandy: Late returning passengers.

Maybe it's just bad luck on our part, but we've had at least three tours where stops were either cancelled or abbreviated due to people returning late to the bus EVERY time. In each case the tour guide remained professionally courteous, but after the second or third time was rather stern and direct, as it should be. The tourists in question had a rather laissez faire attitude and nothing changed. The tour guide told us afterwards that it may have been due to cultural differences where "hurrying" was not a priority. Anyway, this resulted in missing stops on a tour of Normandy so we're going back to better acquaint ourselves with my grandfather's exploits during WWII.

My question is, well, what can be done about this? Yes, tourists can and perhaps should be left behind but understandably the tour guide doesn't want to resort to that rather nuclear option. I recall our bus waiting and almost leaving these folks behind but of course they would show up at the last minute right before the bus started to pull out. I know many of the passengers were quite hot under the collar although there was nothing we could do about it.

Posted by
4408 posts

That’s another reason why, if possible, we hire private guides to sites or go on our own.
Going on our own means we might miss some information or a tidbit or two, but for us waiting for other people, who have no consideration for the group, is very irritating. We’re lucky in that we usually travel with another couple so private is more cost effective.

Posted by
16891 posts

Mike, I have a friend who has experienced the same several times and who has had no issue with confronting the laggers herself after the 2nd time they held up the group. Certainly she didn't yell at them but very directly got the point across. One passenger taking up the flag, sort of speak, emboldened others to do the same, if not verbally at least to the very 'hairy eyeball' point.

The tour leader was grateful for the support as the laggers treated his/her own admonishments with a shrug and more of the same. So, one way to try and skin that cat?

Posted by
3157 posts

Barbara, yes, that makes sense. I get it.

Kathy, I'm assuming the group approach worked? I recall one tour guide would build in a 15-20 minute cushion for late arrivals, meaning those of us who were prompt would sit on the bus for nearly half an hour instead of seeing the sites. Maybe the answer is for the guide to be quite specific about the consequences of being late and hold the standard. This reminds me of impressing students with the importance of being on time or better yet several minutes early. Being on time is part of being considerate and professional. A minute late is still late, I would say.

I understand few of us want to be confrontational but there is a time and place where it's necessary.

Posted by
9332 posts

The cruise ships leave without them. Lots of videos to watch of people running to the ships.
Insist to the tourists that the bus will leave at such and such time and if they are not back, they will be left behind.

Posted by
83 posts

Big Mike can you clarify what tour group you are talking about. Over ten years and nine RS Tours we have never experienced what you are saying.

Posted by
16891 posts

Kathy, I'm assuming the group approach worked?

To the point that they either didn't turn up late again or at least not VERY late.

LOL, we had a very dear friend who was chronically late for EVERYTHING. If it was important for him to be on time, such as for our wedding (he was a groomsman), we used to give him arrival times that were 30-60 minutes before anyone else. Heart of gold, that man, but operated on "Mick time"! :O)

Posted by
16770 posts

It really depends on the type of tour.

If this is a mutli-day tour, the tour director needs to make sure everyone is aware that being late is unacceptable. What I used to do was tell people that if they are on time, there are a few places I could add things that werent in the brochure/timetable. (We were going to stop there anyway but I didn't have to tell them.) I also told them to make sure they had the name, address and telephone numbers of all of our hotels. This way, if they missed the coach, they knew where they had to go.

If that didn't work, I would take the offending parties aside and talk to them.

If that didn't work sometimes a call from the tour company warning them they would be put off the tour if they conintued to delay the others.

Lastly, and I only had to do this once, I left a couple. (It really wasn't their fault.)

If a one day tour, it's trickier. The first offense the guide needs to remind them, the second offence, a sterner warning. If they do it again, they get left. Sometimes the other passengers say something. Many people feel they can do what they want because they are paying and have little consideration for others.

Are you aware that if you are "promised" something in the itinerary and you don't do it due to something the guide/tour director could control, you might be entitled to partial reimbursement. Weather, war, law enforcement activity, road closures, and mother nature are considered out of the guide's hands. The guide must put the safety of the passengers above everything. However, chronically late passengers is something a guide can control.

Posted by
7453 posts

On a day tour we took there was a lady who didn’t return at the appointed time and the guides went to look for her while the rest waited on the bus. She was an elderly lady and it ends up it was unintentional. On the way back to the bus she took a wrong turn and got lost.

Your experience is a reason we seldom take any type tour. Some individuals seem to think their time is more valuable than anyone else’s. Either that or they are simply inconsiderate or oblivious.

Posted by
1227 posts

BMWBGV - We have toured Normandy and the beaches twice with an excellent guide. You may have seen my recommendation of him here previously. It will require you to rent a car - he rides as a passenger and tells you where to go and when to stop.

Chris Emery
[email protected]
www.visitdday.com

Here is another post - not from me - recommending Chris, with a good overview:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/day-tours/chris-emery-visit-d-day

Posted by
2810 posts
  1. Compliant to the tour company and explain review will reflect this.
  2. Tell the guide that during the tour and if you were planning to tip then don't

This is a tour guide failure. After the first time he should have told them the bus leaves on time and when they weren't there LEFT them.

I had an EF tour with Girl Scouts years ago. After our two "shoppers" were late twice the other organizer and i spoke to the guide and bus driver and told them NO, we aren't making the girls wait for the selfish adults. So the next day before we got off the bus at the Tower of London the guide clearly announced "if you are late our next stop will be X meet us there" They ignored that of course and when it was time to go we pulled out. They caught up with us at their own expense (since they were clueless it meant a taxi) and they were never late again. (They did ask the Tour Guide "you wouldn't have left us if you were leaving London would you" to her credit she said "yes" I think that scared them enough to get it togehter)

Posted by
9167 posts

We've seen it a couple of times on RS tours, and both times, the tour guide nipped it in the bud. I think that the guides' expectation of tips and fear of bad reviews may keep them from confronting the late-comers. One reason I think RS tours have an advantage.

Then there was the one time - non-RS tour - where the guide was the last one on the bus, 30 minutes late.

Posted by
9089 posts

I have been on many tours and I think your experience is the exception rather than the rule. Most tours have everyone back on time. I am sorry this happened to you.

Posted by
3157 posts

DonP, I believe it was Paris City Visions. Another one was a day trip from London to the southern coast with a castle. I don't know if it matters which tour agency is involved, but maybe so. Edit: Another one was a bus trip from DC to Philadelphia and NYC where one family habitually showed up late beyond 15 minutes. We almost left then twice but they miraculously popped up running down the sidewalk as the bus started to pull away. What bothered me is they didn't care. It was a lark to them.

Frank II, fascinating insights. It's not fun when you have to be the bad guy so to speak.

celeste, thank you. That information will prove valuable in planning our 2026 trip.

Kathy, I've also had friends who were chronically late to everything. I've read that Robert Redford was like that to the consternation of other actors and the director, but not much they could do about it lol.

Posted by
4160 posts

We toured with university students for a few European study semesters. We only had one occasion where a student was clueless and late more than once. We all were on the coach waiting for him to return when we directed the coach driver to pull around the corner and wait. One inconspicuous person waited behind watching for him to return. The look on his face as panic set in was a jolt for him and it never happened again. It was drilled into their heads on day 1 about how our whole experience would be altered and shortened if some were late by as much as 5 minutes. They tried really hard to be on time and we appreciated it so much.

Posted by
16770 posts

I think that the guides' expectation of tips and fear of bad reviews may keep them from confronting the late-comers

Sorry, Stan, but no. Yes, we feared bad reviews, but not what you think.

The reviews you give to the tour company after the tour are all reviewed. f a tour director gets a negative review, he/she has to answer as to what was the problem. Too many and you won't get work. (Most tour directors are freelance and work for numerous companies.)

However, if we had a problem passenger, we would let our office know ahead of time. We would discuss how they should be dealt with. Sometimes I would do it, sometimes the problem passenger would receive a phone call from the tour company.

One bad review from a problem passenger is not an issue. Numerous bad reviews on how we dealt with that issue from other passengers is worse.

As for tips....I'd realther lose the tip from one passenger than lose future work.

As for one day tours, the reviews are read as well. The same issue--if a guide got too many bad reviews, they were history. However, some tour companies running one day tours don't really care.

The truth is there are more guides/tour directors than there are jobs.

Posted by
5333 posts

...impressing students with the importance of being on time or better yet several minutes early.

In undergraduate school, one professor would lock the door at exactly the time the class was to begin. After the first couple of days there were never any late arrivals.

Posted by
231 posts

My friend went on a tour where most of the other people were retired West Point alumni and their spouses (he’s also retired Army). They were consistently 15 minutes early for everything. So try and join in on a tour like that? Good luck!

Posted by
228 posts

I used Overlord Tours when I visited Normandy beaches in 2016.

The group consisted of 3 couple, the guise/driver, and me.
We traveled in a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.

Maybe we paid more than if we'd gone with a larger group tour, but it was easy for the guide to corral everybody in the group. AND maybe, since we all piled in and out of the van brushing shoulders, there was a familiarity to not inconvenience the others in the group.

Also, as the beginning, the guide asked when people NEEDED to be back to the drop-off point, indicating he was willing to go longer than the 8 hours we were scheduled for - and he/we did, staying as long as we needed at each planned site (except for the American Cemetery).

Unless something has changed drastically, I whole-heartedly recommend Overlord and would use it again on a future visit to the area.

Posted by
3157 posts

TC: I had a professor like that too! Loved it. Also good for comic relief as a distraught and maybe hungover student knocked on the door only for "Professor K" (had a long and hard to pronounce Dutch name) to calmly tell him or her, "Better luck next time." I often told my students, "If you're late and/or unprepared for work too often it doesn't matter what the reasons are, you will be fired."

Posted by
28831 posts

I was going to make the same comment as Ribaholic just did: I think you're much less likely to run into chronic tardiness on a small-group (van) tour than on a big-bus tour. I've taken a few such tours since 2015: Overlord for D-Day sites, GoCotswolds for the Cotswolds, and three multi-stop, transportation-only loops through small towns in Puglia. There was never a problem with people showing up late. I'm not saying it could never happen, of course, but it's not something I worry about.

I do think about whether the tour plan itself will allow me adequate time at each stop. If there are museum stops included, the answer is highly likely to be "No"; that's what keeps me from signing up for more small-group tours. I take a lot of walking tours because they're mostly walk-by sightseeing.

Posted by
4827 posts

"if you are late our next stop will be X meet us there"

I love that. Perhaps that speech on the way to the first stop would be helpful.

We were on an Adriatic cruise in 2017 and there were late people at two ports. Sadly the ship waited at the first for an hour. I suspect because there had been a time change overnight and from experience they knew there would be people who didn't pay attention to the multiple announcements that morning. The 2nd was in Dubrovnik and the captain announced he would be waiting 15 minutes because 4 people were late. He left 15 minutes late without those four. It was fun, there was a large group of us on the pool deck watching the entry below for people. It created for some fun conversations.

Posted by
3157 posts

Allan, is it possible the people could have jumped into the water, swam toward the ship, and then hoisted up?

This thread reminds me of people who are fortunate enough to rarely if ever having issues when flying. I envy those fine folks.

Maybe the universe is mad at me? Karma?

Posted by
101 posts

We had this happen once on a Rick Steves tour and the guide made quite a big deal of it. She informed us all that the stragglers would be presenting us with something as restitution. At the next stop, our guide brought a big bakery box filled with treats, courtesy of the laggers. Or so she said. Whether they truly paid for them is beside the point. Between the negative attention, calling out the inconsiderate behavior to everyone, and compensating us all with a sweet surprise, our annoyance was diffused and no one was late again.

Posted by
892 posts

My mother and I did a Mediterranean cruise and as we pulled away from the port one day, we were standing on our balcony, watching a couple race towards boat waving and screaming like they were going to turn that massive ship around because you couldn’t get there on time and we were already 45 minutes late.

We met a lot of people on that cruise were afraid to do so independent tours because of that. But we did just fine.

Posted by
585 posts

I can understand the irritation at others showing up late--especially if they are repeat offenders.

I don't remember a time I returned late--but it almost happened last year on a tour of the Cotswolds, which stopped at several different towns. And what happened was I got lost trying to find the van. If the van you are returning to is parked in an inauspicious location, it is easy to take a wrong turn. Again, showing up late can be a sign of lack of respect for others, and I try to make sure I am on time. But though I usually try to get back not just on time but early, I almost ended up showing up late because my sense of direction failed me. It can happen.

Posted by
1754 posts

This, and drunks, are why I avoid group tours. But in this case I'd have made a point fairly quickly that I'd expect a refund for every missed stop. Enough of that and those latecomers would be finding their own transport.