Thread: Excursion Question

I'm sure this topic has been done quite often before, but I'm rather new, so here goes. Does anyone have strong opinions either way of shore excursions through your ship or shore excursions through independent contractors? I have found neat looking excursions not organized by the cruise ship, but have heard from others that these types of excursions are often unsafe?? HELP!

Do your homework! Check out the companies you are looking at and see what other cruisers have said about them. Word of mouth is the best advertising as well as the best warning system.

Watch for time, too. If you book indi be sure to allow enough time to get back to the ship.

Ships tours are sometimes the safest ones to take, depending on your itinerary.

We have lots of folks here who can add to what I have started.

If you have any particular tours in mind, please give us the names of the companies and we can get more detailed input here.

Ships excursion are typically much more expensive than doing something on your own. With that expense you are guaranteed to never miss the ship when it leaves port. That being said we rarely take ships' excursions. If you leave yourself plenty of time you should not have any problems.

As Char said, bring more specific questions as we have some very seasoned cruisers amongst our membership.

PE

First, I'll say I'm not a big fan of shore excursions offered by the cruise lines. They are often more expensive and very crowded. Plus, you can usually do the exact same excursion through other companies or on your own and have alot more fun while saving money and no where near as crowded.

For example; we went to Aruba on the Crown Princess. One of the excursions offered by the cruise line was a 3-1/2 hour tour on Harley Davidson motorcycles for $355. I contacted the Harley dealer and they offered the same excursion for $155. There were 6 couples on the excursion; three that were staying in hotels on the island and paid the same amount as us. The other two couples booked it through the cruise line. So no matter how you booked it, it was the exact same excursion offered by the exact same company.

Another example; we booked the helicopter/dog sled adventure in Juneau. Price through Holland America was $425 per person, cost through an excursion company was $325 per person.

I could give you alot of examples, but you get the picture.

I've heard all the comments about booking through the cruise line is safer and they guarantee you'll get back in time. Well, other companies have the same guarantee.

For example; our company, Cruise Planners, has over 700 agents around the country and we have a contract with Shore Trips. Of the thousands of excursions our clients have booked with them, we've not had any complaints or problems. We have personally used them on several occasions. I once had a long conversation with the president of the company and she said in the many years they've been doing this, they have never missed the sailing - not once. The cruise lines can't brag about their record as I know people who have missed the ship while on a cruise line sponsored shore excursion.

I also had a long talk with the captain of the Crown Princess about this very issue. He said the most important thing is communication. If the ship is informed that an excursion is running late, they will try their best to accommodate the passengers no matter who offered the excursion. Obviously, they do not want to inconvenience anyone and the last thing they want is to leave any passengers behind, but all it takes is a little communication.

The other thing is it really depends on where you're going. For example; if you're going to the cruise line's private island, obviously you can only purchase excursions offered by the cruise line. If you just want to go to the beach, you don't need to purchase any excursion. If you want to go to someplace like Dunns River Falls in Jamaica, you can do that on your own much cheaper and easier than through the cruise line, plus you can go when there's no crowd. Alot of places, like Juneau for example, have vendors right on the pier that will offer the same excursions for alot less price than the cruise line and no advanced reservations are required. So sometimes you can wait to see what they weather is going to be like before making any decisions. While other places are best seen by renting a car or hiring a taxi for the day, such as in Grenada. We've hired taxis on many islands to get to places or beaches and have always had wonderful adventures.

Bottom line is that alot of things go into whether you want to go with the shore excursions offered by the cruise line, an independent company, or do it on your own. And all can be done safely and securely, just do your homework beforehand. I also recommend travel insurance that will help in those 'just in case' situations. Make sure you take the local contact information with you - this is always posted in the daily paper and can be invaluable should you encounter any problems.

Pete

I'll ask my question here, so as to not start a new topic. When do the Cruise Lines release the schedule for excursions? Right now, for my cruise, there is no excursion brochure, and nothing is on the online calendar at RCI's website.

I have done lots of research for tour companies always with good results. Booking through a company you have read reviews (not just on the company's own site). For example Captain Marvins in Grand Caymen has been around for years and I would not worry at all about booking with them again. If they didn't get people back to the ship on time they would not stay in business. I think it's different when you just grab a private cab and take off to the other siide of the island!

We're the type who usually doesn't go on excursions. I'm the official compulsive vacation planner of the family so often I'll read up on each port, including going on the websites for the various ports. So often I'll narrow down what places we may want to check out.

Sometimes we'll just jump in a taxi and tell the driver to take us to the best beach or a decent area to shop at, or if he seems safe and knowledgeable, we may negotiate a city tour (we did this twice and had informative tours...but this is something to use judgement). I'm not exactly Ms. Adventure so bungee jumping, etc. are just not in the plans.

Sometimes we will book an excursion through the cruiseline. It used to be you had to wait until you got on board before you can book em, but that has changed with more widespread Internet use. Princess lists the various shore exs on their website so you can check them out and get an idea of the cost.

While researching our Alaskan cruise, I was reading out loud to hubby about the gold miners and the pass they took near Skagway. When the excursion booklet came out, we decided to book the van tour (which goes parallel to the famous train). We really enjoyed that tour -- comfy bus, knowledgeable guide/driver (he teaches during the rest of the year), and even though we returned back to the pier a little after the scheduled sailaway, the Sapphire Princess had waited for our group.

A couple of days before, we booked a tour at the pier in Ketchikan and it was in an uncomfortable trolley. The advantage to doing the tour, rather than just walking about on our own in the town, was that it took us to the Saxman (spelling?) Village to see the totem poles. Educational for our kid who would be studying native Americans in a year or two after that.

When deciding what to do in Hawaii, we went with three ship excursions. We could had found our way to Sea Life Park on our own, but hubby didn't mind paying for the convenience (and we did have some OBC to spend). He wanted to do a snorkeling excursion, which was more convenient timewise, as I discovered in researching them off Maui (usually the indy ones were too early, which worked for
hotel guests, but not for cruise passengers using tenders...or were in the afternoon, which may it dicey for getting back to the pier to catch a tender in time, plus the snorkeling is supposed to be better in the am).

Our Hilo tour was excellent and there were only ten passengers in the van so everyone got plenty of questions in. Even our usually doesn't-want-to-sightsee daughter enjoyed the tour.

So, even though we could save $ by booking an independent tour, we would probably consider a ship's tour, if we decide to book anything.

If you do pre-book an indy, just make sure you have their cancellation policy in writing (any port can be missed) so you won't get charged if you can't make it, have the phone number of the company and a contact name with you, as well as pin down where and how you catch the tour. Also bring the ship's newsletter for that day as it will have the time listed for when you need to be back on the ship as well as the port agent info. And ask in the destination area here on CLF for recommendations.

Originally Posted by maximus92

I'll ask my question here, so as to not start a new topic. When do the Cruise Lines release the schedule for excursions? Right now, for my cruise, there is no excursion brochure, and nothing is on the online calendar at RCI's website.

It's always OK to begin a new post any time you wish. It's very likely you'd get more replies to your question by doing so.

Love to hear from you whichever way suits you best!

From your question it sounds like you're already booked. Have you tried going to the RCI website and clicking under "Booked Guests" and giving your "Booking Number"? Then click Shore Excursions .... At that point it should list the Shore Excursions offered in each of your ports.

Please, let us know if this works for you! ... or if you have any other questions.

Maximus, it may be too early for your excursions to be posted. Keep checking and they will start to show up---usually not all at once! On one of our cruises we didn't get shore excursions listed for one of our ports till about 6 weeks before we sailed.

Thank you to all for the replies. We are traveling on Carnival in Sept. and they do already have their excursions posted and am able to book. I was looking at places such as Shore Trips and names/places I had seen on this site. People I work with had told me some crazy stories about not very safe excursions that they had done in various places. Wasn't sure if they were nervous nellies, or had legitimate complaints. I noticed that alot of the shore excursions through Carnival could be found with a indepent company and it seemed like a smaller, maybe more personal experience. Just thought I'd see what the "experts" said on the topic. I check the port boards for ideas all the time, so I appreciate anyone's expertise on this board, trust me!!