Thread: Shore Excursions: Though ship or on your own?

Do you only book shore excursions offered by the ship; avoid them like the plague; some combination; or none at all?

If I've never been somewhere before and am traveling alone, I sometimes will stick to ship tours - especially if tendering is required.

For ports I've visited before, I usually make my own arrangements and often is a self-gudied tour - especially when snorkeling. I don't like to be on someone else's timetable.

So far, We only purchase shore excursions through the ship. My husband has a weak leg and feels safer getting back on the ship from ports with the ship guarantee. He can not run so doesn't want the added pressure of ever having to try LOL

Most of the time we don't go on excursions. I'll try to research as much as possible and bring some guide books (with maps) with. When our girl was younger, it seemed better that we play it by ear without anything planned, just in case we needed to stay aboard with her. We have also been successful with a couple of taxi drivers, negotiating a tour through them on the spot.

That said, when we do go on an excursion, it tends to be through the cruiseline. There's the issue of not being left behind just in case there's a mechanical problem, etc. with a tour bus. There's also a question of quality with some of the tours that you can book on the spot (at least in our little experience with them). As someone else mentioned, if it's a tender port, you better not have an indy excursion booked really early as cruise-sponsored excursions get first priority with tendering.

I've done a combination. My first few cruises I did all cruiseline excursions for a number of factors, security reasons, I didn't know independents were an option, etc. After the first few cruises, I started to get my bearings and with research felt confident booking independents. Now, it depends on if I'm traveling by myself or not, what the ports are, and what I want to do whether or not I book through the cruiseline or independently.

When I cruise solo, I prefer to go with cruiseline excursions. If the excursion is a long one, or involves going great distances away from the ship, then I'll stick with the security of the cruise ship and the fact that they will wait for cruise ship excursions. If the island is small and easy to navigate, and there are lots of options for what I want to do, I will usually go independent. Some islands I don't even bother booking excursions any more as I feel confident navigating on my own.

I picked the "it depends" option as well.

Depends on whom I am with...and our destination...

If it is a new port for us, we definitely excursions through the ship.

Once we have gotten to know a port, we do our own thing and our own booking.

Two-thirds of our excursions are independent. The only time we book a ship's tour is if the tour will take us somewhere a long way from the port and we want the guarantee of returning to the ship before departure. When we first started cruising, we only booked ships tours, but as we have become more knowledgeable, we have found that it's much more fun to have a tour tailored to what you want to see and with a smaller group.

We learn the good and bad tour guides from reading these boards and have had some superb tours because of recommendations we have found.

Garry

I book through the ship so I know I get back on time.

In all our cruises and the many many excursions we have only booked one excursion on our own. While it was a good experience and was a good price (Nativeway Stingray Excursion in Grand Caymans) we just feel a lot safer booking the excursion thru the ship. HAL is excellent that months in advance you can select and purchase your excursions. It makes it a lot easier so that you are not having to spend extra money while on the ship. It makes it much easier to budget. I have many times checked into other excursions but in most cases the prices usually are not any cheaper especially in Alaska.

The number one reason we stay with the cruise line's excursions is if something happens like a bus breaks down or it is delayed in any way we will be assured of getting back to the ship.