Quote:
Originally Posted by jorstad
what excursions should we do
where and how do we book
book ahead or on the ship
new cruiser
crown princess western carribian cruise
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People will have definite views on this, but I'll give you mine. I would suggest in your case as a new cruiser to book any excursions through Princess. You can start checking out the possible ones that will be available by going on princess.com (try this link and take it from here:
Shore Excursions : Princess Cruises® ).
the reasons for booking thru the ship: 1) if there's a problem with the vehicle getting back to the ship in time, the driver will be in contact with your ship. This happened to us on one cruise due to weather conditions, but the ship waited for all of us to get back onboard. If we had been on an independent excursion, we may have been left behind.
2) Often the quality is much better especially when it comes to vehicles used (that has been our experience to the point that on our last cruise, hubby didn't want to even consider booking an indy)
3) if it's a tender port (where the ship anchors away from the pier and passengers are transported ashore in tender boats), passengers on early morning ship excursions get priority for the first tenders.
4) if you have to miss a port (or get there late), Princess will automatically cancel the excursion and not charge you. You don't have to do anything.
5) If you change your mind a couple of days before that port, it's easy to cancel your reservations
6) you can start booking online about 60-120 days ahead of your cruise (it was about 70 days ahead on my last cruise)
There will be a shore excursions desk(s) that you can drop off unwanted tickets (see #5) and a board that will list any available spots on an excursion.
Sometimes you can find a cheaper rate for the same excursion by doing a bit of research. But you should make sure you won't be charged a cancellation fee if you can't make the excursion.
You might want to look in the cruise places area of
CruiselineFans, starting here:
http://www.cruiselinefans.com/caribbean/
You can also chose not to do an "excursion" and just wing it in any port (except for a few ports in which you are required to book a ship's excursion in order to leave the ship). That's what we do most of the time. I'll go on a port's website and check out what attractions there are for sightseeing. Some sites will offer to mail you a brochure or have one online. I'm also the type who pours over Frommers and Foders and other guides before a cruise.
Just be sure no matter how you intend to spend your port time, always take that day's Patters (the ship's newsletter) as it will have important info as to when you need to be back onboard and port agent info just in case you don't get back in time and miss the ship. Doublecheck your watch against the ship's clocks. (sometimes the ship may not be on local time)
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