Excursions - planning too many?

[afreil]

Since this is our first cruise I find myself wanting to cram as much as I can into seeing each port.

So far I'm tentatively planning: Cayman Islands - Stingray City; Cozumel - scuba diving; Roatan - private tour of island; Belize - cave tubing and/or Mayan ruins.

Am I planning too many excursions? Should I plan an excursion for each port or should we just take it easy and bum around on the beach, shop near the port?

Thanks for any opinions

[paul929207]

We don't plan excursions in every port, but that doesn't mean you are wrong to do so. You need to do what is right for you. We like to take off on our own, and not take too many ships tours.

[firefly333]

We have done it both ways. A excursion in every port can be tiring as you may have to wake up early to eat and get going first thing in the morning and miss some late shows at night.

 

But I loved all but one excursion I have done too.

[cb at sea]

1st timers always try to do an excursion at every port....if the things you're planning are what interests you...then go for it!

Now, we read a guidebook on the ports we'll visit....that allows us to see if there is a "don't miss" (for us) at a given port....and then we decide if we need an excursion to do it! Many times, you can do things easily on your own!

[April-in-NC]

I prefer to have some sort of scheduled activity in every port (usually in the morning) and then schedule some beach/shopping/down time in the afternoon. We have a port intensive cruise in June (only one sea day and that is our first full day) and we are scheduling two beach days so we have a "break" from the go-go-go of the other ports.

 

You are the only one who can make that decision. You know how active you normally are and what kind of stamina you have. But it sounds like you have 4 ports and 2 sea days so you will have some down time to prepare for your excursions.

 

If I were in your shoes I would be doing similar excursions, so I say go for it!

[Cruisin' Chick]

Most of the time my family relies on me to research the ports, then we just sightsee or beach it on our own. Our last two cruises were to the same ports but we handled them totally different. We did three ship's excursions in three of the ports & beached it in the fourth on the first of those cruises and this last time, didn't do anything planned at all.

 

Just make sure to have plenty of time to take care of any thing needed (for example, if you need to stop at a store to get medicine -- once we ran out of Sudafed, so we had to find a store that stocked it). If you plan two activities in the same port, make sure to space them out. And make sure you get back on the ship way before sailaway.

[D-Roc]

We are going on our first cruise come July and we are planning an excursion at every Port. Even though my wife and I like to explore as well, we have a little one coming with us who does like to explore too, but not as much as we do and can get bored while we are learning about the local culture. So, we are doing dolphin swim in Cozumel, Stingray and coral adventure in Grand Cayman and Dunn's Falls in Ocho Rios. In Cosumel we have abot 10 to 12 hours in Port and the dolphin swim is only about an hour long. We may decide to do somehting else after or just enjoy the beach and the sights. We are trying to make sure that at every Port we are not feeling rushed. We want to enjoy ourselves.

[suezyq50]

You can always relax on your sea days. Go for it.

[Cruisin Christi]

I am a first timer and I am starting to feel this way. I really wanted to relax on the beach at both stops but my husband is more adventurous as is his sister who will be going with us. I just decided to put my foot down and take a beach day at one port at least. If they want to go on and leave me that is just fine :). Do what makes you happy, it IS your vacation!!!

[Andee]

We think of the cruise ship as a floating hotel that takes us to several interesting places. We don't enjoy spending much time at a beach (except for an occasional snorkel) or shopping, but we love learning about the history and natural beauty of a port. Ship's excursions aren't our thing, but I love to research a port and then arrange to see what most interests us.

[Got2Cruise]

I don't think you are planning too many excursions. You are experiencing unique and exciting things. The only downside is that the excursions add up, but just keep that in mind as part of your budget.

 

Since this is our first cruise I find myself wanting to cram as much as I can into seeing each port.

So far I'm tentatively planning: Cayman Islands - Stingray City; Cozumel - scuba diving; Roatan - private tour of island; Belize - cave tubing and/or Mayan ruins.

Am I planning too many excursions? Should I plan an excursion for each port or should we just take it easy and bum around on the beach, shop near the port?

Thanks for any opinions

[cruiserbryce]

we try not to over plan...doing excursions at too many ports tends to wipe us out and by the 4th or 5th day we are too tired to really enjoy the ports and cruise

[trish1c]

If you were trying to do more than one activity in each port, that would be too much. One excursion per port is fine.

[silentbob007]

I've had cruises with excursions in most ports ... this can get very tiresome, especially if there are not many sea days. I sometimes find it hard to get out of bed early to grab food, then head to a meeting place and board a bus. I generally try to do one or two things on a standard cruise, but I don't want to put myself in a situation where I'm tired/cranky all day if I can help it.

[griffy116]

Remember that your cruise probably includes a day at sea or even two. An excursion at each port doesn't sound extreme to me. We plan on relaxing around the pool and a 7-day cruise usually includes a day or two at sea sandwiched inbetween the ports. Even though we have been on several caribbean cruises, we still plan excursions. We are going in July this year and we are anticipating lots of HEAT, which can zap your energy. We still plan to do some sort of excursion on each of the islands because we have a first-time cruiser with us. We are very excited about seeing some of the spots we haven't been to in recent years. Remember too, this may be your first cruise, but probably won't be your last. You'll be back and will do different excursions on your next visit. Enjoy!

[afreil]

Thanks everyone. After reading your posts I feel better about the things I tentatively have planned.

[Cuizer2]

Since this is our first cruise I find myself wanting to cram as much as I can into seeing each port.

So far I'm tentatively planning: Cayman Islands - Stingray City; Cozumel - scuba diving; Roatan - private tour of island; Belize - cave tubing and/or Mayan ruins.

Am I planning too many excursions? Should I plan an excursion for each port or should we just take it easy and bum around on the beach, shop near the port?

Thanks for any opinions

 

One per port is fine. Don't try to do too much, or you'll need a vacation to recover from your vacation.

[OK Rancher]

I might book all but one of the excursions ahead of time and then wait to see how you feel the night before your unplanned excursion (perhaps the private guided tour of the island) and then decide if you'd like to do that, or if you'd rather just have a slow unstructured day to yourselves.

 

Sometimes we love an empty ship all to ourselves. Plenty of lounge chairs, sunshine and little noise.

 

But, whatever you choose, I hope you enjoy yourselves.