Thread: Cruise Shore excursions or Do for yourself

Hi All,

I would like to know if you feel it is better to book the Cruise line shore excursions or book for yourself once you get to port?

All I can say 4 now is wow. I am a tour opperator my self,I have never drive for the ship tours, but I can tell you that you get a more indepth tour when you book it on your own, and the reason for that is that you're paying all to the tour guide and not to the ship then the ship pay the other guy then the other guy pay the other and then the driver gets the rest, which is not much at all.

Lately I've been bookin my excursions on my own. It costs a lot less! Just make sure whatever excursion that you are doing allows plenty of time to get back to the ship. I've only been on 3 cruise, and I haven't had any problems yet.

Tia .... Go Penn State! (sorry, no BLUE ones )

Back to your question:

There are some very good independents ... like "boyconny" per above. (His are excellent for land in St. Thomas ... from all members who have reported.)

Still, there is absolutely nothing wrong with taking an excursion thru the ship! We've been on over 40 cruises and actually like booking our catamarans and water-fun thru the ship ... IF they are offering something we want.

When you book through the ship:

They pick you up from the ship -- Take you to have FUN -- Return you to the ship -- all with no planning and worries on your part -- AND you never miss the boat!

We have done both and like both. Usually less expensive to do it yourself, but sometimes the worry of not making it back to ship overcomes the dollar expenditures. If you do an independant, just make sure you allow plenty of time to get back to the ship.

Most of the time we don't do "excursions." I'm one of those compulsive planners, so if I have time, I've gone through several guides for the various ports, as well as check the websites for each port (many of them will send you brochures with maps). We'll grab a cab or walk into port and explore on our own. I bring the ship's newsletter with us, which has info such as when to be back on the ship, as well as port agent info.

Then we make sure we're back way before the required time (that way we're not risking missing the ship and we miss many of the long lines to get back on the ship).

When we go on an excursion, it's usually booked through the cruiseline. Even though it's more money, we find the vehicles better quality (more comfy), no worries about missing the ship (we were late returning the ship in Skagway, but the ship waited for our group), and if it's early morning excursion on a tender port, you'll get priority getting off the ship.

We usually do all the tours on our own. I dont like the ships organized tours where they pack you into a bus and all is very regimented and unpersonal.
We either pre-book before we go or arrange a private tour once in the port.
Doing it on your own makes for a more indepth and personal tour. Doing it privatly can also work out less expensive if you team up with others on your sailing before you cruise.

I can only speak for St.Thomas, and I know that if you try to book a sea excursion on shore it is very likely that you will not get it. But when it comes to land tours, you can get them almost all the time.

We prefer to do the ships tours.

The only exception is Alaska -- we know that place too well.

We do a little research before the cruise and arrange the tours we want. This way they are more customized to our choices and flexible as we go along. We do always arrange to be back at least an hour before required just in case of an unforeseen issue.
I don't like the overcrowding we have experienced on some ship's excursions in the past.