Ship Excursion Costs for Mombasa - why so high?

We are booked on the January 19 SIN-CPT and I have been working on our shore excursions. We normally book independently, but I have a question about Mombasa, if anyone has been.

Any idea why a day trip with Mombasa highlights (inc. a Dhow lunch) would be almost 4 times as much as the same trip booked independently? I know that cruise offered excursions are often very expensive, but I don't remember such a big difference.

We ran into this in Indonesia where the ship markups were multiples of what we could do solo. One of the reasons was that the narrow roads prohibited big buses so they had to have more vehicles (and guides) than they typically would. Another was that they had police escort to ensure they could travel quickly and not get entangled in traffic tie-ups or unexpected “stops” (village bribe sessions) with local authorities.

We were able to be more nimble as solo travelers but also knew we were taking the risk of delay without the protections the cruiseline offered. I rarely take cruiseline tours though... the markups are often ridiculous!

Reasonably captive audience that thinks everywhere away from home is dangerous and/ or difficult?

Certain nationalities are severely geographically challenged and need a tour guide to get to the other side of the road. And of course the cruise lines know that...

It's usually more expensive to book through the ship because they have to tack on their profit.

There are times when I have been grateful to be on a ship's tour such as the time we went to the National Park in Sri Lanka and were pretty late getting back to the ship. It was there and waiting.

It really depends where you are and how far away the tour takes you. We don't generally do tours in Europe and there have been places where we have done private tours. However, I have generally found Seabourn tours to be pretty good and it isn't all about the money.

Some people just don't like doing the planning themselves and like having an easy vacation with everything planned for them. We do it both ways and I think it is ok to decide to spend a bit more if that makes your life easy and you can afford it. I have loved some private tours, but remember having to convince our guide that we really DID have to be back to our ship by the time we were told. I think confidence has a to do with being happy planning your own tours. And confidence usually comes through experience.

also, the ship's tours are insured, private ones are not. and if there is heavy traffic the ship waits for its tours, not for private ones always. and profit of course.