Booking Excursions????

[moby roby]

Which way do you find works best when booking excursions.......on line thru RCCL, direct with the tour company from home, or once you get on ship? We did a bit of a combination last March but this time on Serenade Southern Caribbean (Feb 5) seems to be so many tour choices per destination that just deciding on a method and a particular tour is sometimes overwhelming! I know......better than not going at all........but.........with 5 stops and the miriad of choices, yikes!!!......................also, how well can you trust the local tour companies to be there when you book direct? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[ALIASapoFan]

I am wondering this also!

[ACruisingWeWillgo]

Over the years we have become very trusting in these boards, I have booked a number of tours through independent tour operators through the internet and have always been very very happy with the tour and the price.

 

Go to the ports of call boards and they can help you with each port and recomdations of what tour and tour company to pick.

 

Have fun planning is half the fun of the cruise vacation.

[cruzmom]

We went on the Navigator Western Caribbean last January and booked ALL of our excursions via private tours recommended by various persons on the Cruise Critic boards and were extremely pleased with our tours. In Grand Cayman, we had only 12 of us on a catamaran to Stingray City and as we were leaving Stingray City, the RCCL group of 150+ people came. It was so nice to have the personalized tours and it was pretty much the same thing in Jamaica. We loved it. There were 4 of us cruising and touring together. We're going to do the same thing for the Eastern Caribbean on the EOS next January.

[tasbm1]

I totally agree with acruisingwewillgo. When I first cruised and did not know about Cruise Critic, I used the excursions on the ship only. Now I use Cruise Critic to research every port and use a combination of ship and private excursions. This board has been a great help to planning our cruises and excursions and has never let us down!

[OCruisers]

Go to the ports of call boards and they can help you with each port and recomdations of what tour and tour company to pick.

Have fun planning is half the fun of the cruise vacation.

 

So much help of the ports of call board! :) Remember to read some of the older threads there as well. Honestly, things stay about the same from year to year ....

 

We often book through the ship because it is the EASIEST thing to do! If we just want to go to a beach for the day or walk into town, we'll do that OnOurOwn for sure. Just depends on the port.

 

Have lots of FUN planning! Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[Marysunshine]

We had to book the Americas Cup in St. Maarten through the cruiseline as they do not accept bookings otherwise. However in St. Thomas we were able to book the parasailing trip on our own and it's the same company the cruiseline uses. We are paying $14. less pp.

[springtxbill]

On all of the independent tours, be sure to use a credit card because if anything happens you can get the money back from the card company.

[lmmn]

I try to book excursions on my own because it's typically cheaper. I like to have them booked before the cruise because sometimes the good excursions book up, I get the time of my choice, and instead of wasting time trying to decide on the cruise, a plan is already in place.

 

You will LOVE the southern itinerary. We did this itinerary last year...there are a couple excursions I would highly recommend. Antigua - Elis Eco Tour....this one you book on your own. Barbados - five star catamaran....this one you need to book through the cruiseline. Good luck!

[moby roby]

Thaks everybody for all the great tips. I'll research these boards for sure now for all the info.