Bicardi Plant Tour in Puerto Rico

Hello to all recent Miracle guests.  I am posting to request feedback from anyone who participated in the Bacardi Plant Tour excursion in Puerto Rico.  Specifically, I want to know whether or not the tour you took included an actual tour inside the plant itself...to see the large distillery tanks used to turn molasses into rum as described in the Fun Ashore publication.  Or, were you only brought to the small Visitor Museum and gift shop?  Thanks.

We were in PR in January & did the tour.  They take you into general areas & tell you about the plant.  You do not get to go in the plant for security reasons.  They do take you into an area where you can smell different types of rums.  You then are given two free drinks at the end of the tour.  It was interesting & what was good was that it was free.  I don't think I would recomend it if you had to pay.

MarkFromPA:

feedback from anyone who participated in the Bicardi Plant Tour

There's a similar place in San Juan called BAcardi.

rwilymz:

MarkFromPA:

feedback from anyone who participated in the Bicardi Plant Tour

There's a similar place in San Juan called BAcardi.

No wonder they were disappointed. 

Jeff and Dawn wrote the following post at Fri Aug 27, 2010:

Mark, I looked up all the tours in the catalog that go to the Bacardi plant in San Juan.  There are three.

One offers an "interactive" tour of the plant, the other two describe it as a "virtual tour" of the tanks.  These are from the "Bahamas and Caribbean Shore Excursions" catalog I took from our cruise in May 2010.  I.e., current.

None of the three describe it as a hands-on affair.  None.  [FYI, "interactive" in the age of computers heavily implies the pushing of buttons and getting pre-recorded blurbs.  We've got an American Indian museum down the road which is "interactive" in the same way.]

I don't know what you were reading, but as I suggested before: different tour; different contractor, different laws and regulations.  I'd also add: different book.

Have fun tilting your wildmill, Señor Quixote, but shooting the messenger is a tad childish.

 Howdy Ross,

About a week ago, poster VA Cruiser sent you the official Carnival link that described the Bacardi tour that I went on.  The exact same text was printed in the Fun Ashore publication handed to us by the Excursion Desk staff.  For your convenience, below is the link and a copy of the actual formatted text which shows bullets for each of the key points of the tour.  Please focus on the first bullet, the one with the red "X" indicating the one Carnival failed to provide our group.  Kindly tell me how on earth you can interpret that any other way other than to say we should have been taken inside the actual plant?  There is nothing in that text that implies a "virtual" tour...there is nothing in that text that describes an "interactive" tour.  In fact, note further that reference to the museum is a totally different bullet, which was the only place we visited at the Bacardi plant.  In the museum were several monitors that allowed a visitor to press buttons to select a particular video clip (i.e. virtual or interactive).  Whoopi-do.  The place was so crowded there was no way I could even have worked my way over to one of the booths to get a turn.  Even so, there appeared to be nothing there that one couldn't experience by surfing the internet.

rwilymz:

I don't know what you were reading, but as I suggested before: different tour; different contractor, different laws and regulations.  I'd also add: different book.

You do know what I was reading as stated above.  How's this for an idea...you reference different this and different that...maybe it's the OTHER tours that aren't intended to visit the actual plant...but the one I paid for was.  Hmmm?

http://www.carnival.com/ShoreExcursionDetails.aspx?region=CE&portcode=SJU&excursionname=San+Juan+City+Tour+%26+Bacardi+Distillery&excursioncode=427009

On this excursion you will:

• X You'll tour Puerto Rico’s famous Bacardi Rum distillery plant, the largest rum distillery in the world, and see the giant fermenting tanks that turn sugarcane into molasses, and finally into rum. 
• √ Enjoy a sample of the world-famous rum and tour the distillery’s beautiful park-like grounds, unique family Museum, and the gift shop. 
• √ Your drive continues through Old San Juan viewing 17th century architecture, cobblestone streets and magnificent historic buildings. 
• √ See such landmarks as the famous Capitol Building and then continue to the metropolitan side of San Juan. 
• √ During your stop at the Plaza Colon, enjoy a photo opportunity of the San Cristobal Fortress, explore the local surroundings, or do some shopping before returning to your ship. 

Bottom line...the Bacardi tour was a rip-off and a big waste of everyone's time.  They even had us wait an hour before it was our turn to enter the museum.  I would much rather have spent the entire time in Old San Juan...just a block from the ship.  And to think that Carnival charged us $42.95 each for what we got.  Unbelievable.

Ross, you and the other folks at Carnival are just fueling my passion for fighting my point all the way.  It's now a matter of principle.  Carnival willfully and knowingly screwed me and many other guests.  Who knows, maybe I'll even pursue a class action suit against Carnival so that everyone gets their money back.  That would be fantastic.  This all started when I rightfully and politely asked for a refund, and all I've received from Carnival is excuse after excuse followed by an apology.  Their apology was not accepted...and I will not give up on my efforts until retributions are made.

You're the one acting childish, Ross, so carefully come down off that there horse and take a time-out.

MarkFromPA:

For your convenience, ...

Don't get condescending with me, son.  In order to be properly condescending you have to be in control of yourself.  It also helps to be correct.

You are neither.

In one of your multifarious polemics you claimed that the wording for your excursion as you read it in the book claimed that you'd actually go in.  I informed you that I'd look at my book; I did.  That was what I found.

I'm closing an open discussion point.

MarkFromPA:

the Bacardi tour was a rip-off and a big waste of everyone's time

And  ONCE AGAIN Mark, you are entitled to feel this way.  BUT, once again, you don't have a lot to go on.

MarkFromPA:

you and the other folks at Carnival are just fueling my passion for fighting my point all the way

All the way ... to where, Mark?  Lawyers would very willingly take your money to file a lawsuit, and then you'd be out several thousand on top of the [whatever it is] you believe yourself to be defrauded of currently.  And that is, of course, the basic point of the matter.

YOU read the description one way, it CAN be read a second way.  And your Miami loyyer - you will be required to file suit in the southern FL federal district court - will inform you of the "reasonable person" interpretation and the difficulties you'll have in supporting it.

By you're own description, you went into a Bacardi facility and pushed buttons and watched monitors showing you the tanks.  That is "touring the plant" and "seeing the tanks".

MarkFromPA:

You're the one acting childish, Ross

Cool.  "I know you are but what am I".   That's very clever and I suddenly see your point.

Is throwing your good money [and time] after bad going to be what it takes to convince you that you're being a petulant weenie?  Okay, then.  Be prepared to rack up your frequent flier miles on your several trips to Miami, take a second mortgage on your house, and hire a guy @ $500/hr licensed to practice in federal courts - expect to dump a cool 20 hours fee for a retainer.

All to get back $75.

And if you not being able to get the last word is going to prompt you to take this bold and "principled" action, then please allow me to just say:

Dja file suit yet, Mark? Huh Mark? Huh Mark? Huh?

Dja file suit yet?

Huh?

Say Ross, wasn't the DOD once accused of charging the American taxpayer $80 each for "semi-automatic impact devices", more commonly known as hammers?  Sure, any lawyer would be willing to argue that the description was accurate.  However, don't you get the point that the whole intent of the wording was to deceive an auditor?  Are you OK with that practice?  Even if I accept your understanding of Carnival's wording as the way it was meant to be interpreted, wouldn't you agree they are, at the very least, negligent for having it be so misleading?  A very simple rewording could make it crystal clear and remove all ambiguity for the unsuspecting guest.  I think that Carnival should want me to respect and trust them.  Instead, they are comfortable with having me believe that are scammers.  And, I just can not understand your position in wanting to defend this corporate entity as they, essentially, allow this ruse to continue.

The jury is still out as to whether I will receive a refund for the tour.  I'll keep you posted.  If nothing else, I find that sharing my experiences on Carnival's own website to be somewhat therapeutic.  I can get some satisfaction knowing that I shared the truth so that future guests can be better informed.  Let's see how many of them choose to book the tour once their expectations are dramatically reduced.  I have many more to post to reach your numbers!

p.s.  Please refrain from calling me "son."  Turns out I'm years ahead of you.  Didn't anyone ever teach you to respect your elders?

p.p.s. 

rwilymz:

Is throwing your good money [and time] after bad going to be what it takes to convince you that you're being a petulant weenie?

Real profound and credible coming from someone who's desperately seeking to get to cruise #10 just so you don't have to pay to have your laundry done?  Geez...talk about throwing away good money.

Ooops.