Excursions Through Carnival?

[cruisecrazyk]

I booked with a private firm when we went to the Belize and Honduras and I was disappointed with their inability to get their act together. I will never use them again. I paid less but you get what you pay for. In Belize the van driver passed 2 buses on a road on the shoulder on the right and I thought geez this is crazy. One wrong turn of the wheel and we would all have been dead. His name was Super Mario, so there you go. All of the ship's excursions, I have felt safe and never worried about time. These folks know their business depends on the cruise line so they do not want any complaints. The private vendors are not as concerned. I am sure many people are very happy with the vendors they choose but I was not. It may have been the countries we were at so I do not know. Just my opinion and I am sure others will not totally agree with it.:)

[jenale80]

On our first cruise we did both. I like the convenience of booking through CCL and knowing that if there is an iten. change or delay to/from excursion that CCL will handle everything. I don't mind paying the additional money for the peace of mind.

 

When in Jamaica we booked privately, because CCL did not offer the particular AI resort we wanted to spend the day at. It was inexpensive, but I was totally dissatisfied with the lack of Customer Service. At the terminal we were loaded on the wrong bus and upon our arrival to the resort paid the bus driver for our ride (which we already paid for in advance). Tried to get reimbursement, clarification.... something..... no luck! Oh well, live and learn.

[jennmaybe]

We always book private and the only problem we ever had was in Dominica last year. We hated that island and would never go back, but not because of the issues we had with the tour company.

 

I also never worry about getting back to the ship on time. These private tour companies thrive on cruise ship business and they are not going to do anything to jeopardize their business.....like not getting us back to the ship on time. We are almost always back to the ship at least 2 hrs before the ship pulls out.

 

Booking privately saves us a ton of money!! More $$ for us to spend on local island drinks:D:)!!

[Rottweiler Puppy]

Benefit: If you are at a tender port, not a docked port, you might get off the ship earlier if you book a Carnival excursion. They get priority.

 

Drawback: Always costs more.

 

Where are you going?

 

We are tendering at Grand Cayman. We get in at 7:30 but have to meet our tour guys (Capt Marvins) at 9:15

 

If I get to the tenders early, I wonder if I will make it. Do they only let Carnival Tour folks on? As the ship hols almost 3k people, I imagine it may take a while.

[golfadj]

We check out the private tour companies on the port of call pages and generally have received better and cheaper tours.

 

We have had crumby tours both privately and Carnival.

 

Long term we are far ahead booking privately.

[elcuchio24]

All depends on where you're going and what your situation is. If it's something we want to do but it's cutting it close as far as time or distance goes, we book thru the ship for security. Some things, like parasailing, I go thru the ship just to make sure it's a legit outfit. Most other times we either go thru a local or do our own thing. Snorkeling for one, we always do on our own or with a local. The ship excursions are too packed and too many first timers asking silly questions. Not that there is anything wrong with firstimers, just if you have some experience it might not be for you.

[Cruise, J.D.]

I've only booked one ship excursion and that was the Tulum ruins from Cozumel. With the port-of-call boards and other resources, you can generally find a safe, cheaper, and better alternative than the cruise line excursion.

 

The cruise lines use independent contractors and disclaim all liability, so the only thing you are paying extra for is that the ship "might" wait for you. I say "might" because the cruise ticket contract is clear that the ship can leave port at any time for any reason. There may be marketing literature to the contrary, but the cruise ticket contract makes that guarantee "to wait for you" not so clear.

[RWolver672]

I would have been seriously pixxed-off!! :(

.

 

We were but at that point, it was her word agains his and she wasn't budging. He even said that she put her initials on the ticket and told him she would take care of it not costing any more. The airboat operator took the ticket so he had no proof. It wasn't worth the $10 to fight it knowing full well that without the ticket, we couldn't prove what had actually happened. The thing that made be the maddest was that they sold more tickets than the capacity for that excursion. If a bus holds 42 people, you don't sell 43 tickets for it and I'm positive that computers out there can count.

[SMSACE6]

Experienced cruisers will most always make their own excursion arrangements and they do save money, by doing so, and likely often get a better tour.

 

I guess Im not yet an experienced cruiser, or I havent found the confidence to make my own arrangements. My reasons for booking tours through Carnival are; first because I often cruise solo, I just feel a little bit more secure knowing the ship will wait for me if my tour is late back to the ship, though it never has been yet. Also as someone else mentioned about taxi drivers; I hate haggling with them, and sometimes when they bring you back to the ship they say that you owe them more.

 

Second, I like the idea of paying once for your transportation to point of interest/tour, tour guide, and and transportation back to ship. In case of beach excursions, I like the idea of transportation, beach chair/umbrella, drinks and sometimes food all included in one price.

 

Third, I like to either prepay through Carnival, or have my charges on my sail and sign account if I book on board. Just so I can keep my vacation costs in one place, and that just works for me.

 

I have never had a very bad tour that I booked through Carnival, though there were some I felt were rushed, or too much of one thing and not enough of the other, so if you are savvy, and book your own excursions, you can tailor them to your own likes/needs etc.

 

Just my opinion, and I wish I travelled with a bigger group of people, then I would not be so nervous about "missing" the boat!:)

[enveno1]

We normally book privately after doing extensive research. We make sure the excursion times are not very early or late. We cruised with lots of family last March on the Destiny. We parasailed in Key West and for some strange reason I booked through Carnival and knew the price would be higher. I just didn't know by how much. The excursion was great. Afterward we walked around the shops and found the office to the same company we just parasailed with. Carnival price $99, excursion company $33.