A storm in a port transfers to and from ships

I have spoken to a couple of customers this week who were very disappointed in the costs of transfers to/ from the ship to their port of call.

One of the customers had been on a Royal Caribbean cruise out of Malaga and although had a wonderful cruise felt that when the cruise lines are having to use ports well away from the town as the ships are too big, they should be charging smaller fees or no fees at all.

As 15-20 dollars at most ports soon amounts to a large amount of money.

Another client told me that on a visit to La Rochelle they were really faced with no choice but to pay extra as they were in an industrial port not the main town area and it was put across to them that it had to be paid if they wished to leave the ship.


I do understand that the cruise lines do need to make money but I think that they would earn more respect off their customers if they were to charge a little less and make this a service rather than a huge profit making exercise.

It used to be that you paid more for a taxi and less for a quick shuttle transfer but my customers were intimating that they would have spent out less money in a private taxi.

What are your experiences in this matter and what advice would you give the cruise lines.