Excursions

[VAMommy]

Curious to know - do you book your excursions through Carnival or on your own?

When we were in Key West, we paid $29.99 through Carnival's Excursion Desk for the Hop On/Hop Off trolley. Come to find out, the actual cost was $19.99.

Thanks!

Lea

[shof515]

It is cheaper to buy the excursions from the tour company's directly instead of paying the higher mark that the cruise line offers. The only time i use ship excursions is if the tour operator requires some kind of deposit or a 24/48 hour cancellation notice.

[Tbay-eh]

Curious to know - do you book your excursions through Carnival or on your own?

When we were in Key West, we paid $29.99 through Carnival's Excursion Desk for the Hop On/Hop Off trolley. Come to find out, the actual cost was $19.99.

Thanks!

Lea

 

I really depends - if it is an excursion that will take us far away for a long time and could (only could) be delayed by traffic, weather, etc then I will book through Carnival - if it is right in port or close to (taxi ride) as is the Key West one then we will book local. We booked an excursion doing the Panama Canal (it was awesome) because of an accident on a narrow 2 lane road we were delayed by 2 hours - the ship waited for us. People in the bus behind us were from (and I could be wrong but I want to say) Princess and booked privately arrived to an empty slip. I have done both ways as have many others - some only book Carnival and others only book privately - it is all with your comfort level.

[Sports Mama]

I buy mostly from a tour company instead of the cruise line. The only times I purchase an excursion from the cruise line depends on the port of call (such as Jamica - I feel unsafe in this particular port -so if something happened hopefully the cruise line would help).

[Yazoo cruiser]

First, most of the local companies are VERY reliable or they would not stay in buisness. However some of our tablemates were left in Grand Cayman because the boat they were on developed engine problems and by the time they got another boat the ship had left and they had to get their own transportation to the next port, Montego Bay. Independent is definitly cheaper and this was a very isolated incident. But we book mostly through Carnival because I feel more relaxed knowing the ship won't leave us if we have a problem. HAVE A GREAT CRUISE.

[firefly333]

Both. I have been booking thru Carnival lately as a solo rather than trying to plan something on my own.

[klmorg]

We book independently or do our own thing... nearly every time.

[abitaturbodog]

We booked thru the cruiseline on our first cruise. Now we know better.

 

We always do our research on the ports of call boards and book independently or sometimes we just take a cab and do it ourselves. For example, it was much easier/cheaper to take a taxi to Dunns River Falls in Ocho Rios. We spent the whole day there and weren't hearded around like cattle. Even though the cruiseline offered an excursion and there are many private companies that offered the excursion we just did it ourselves. :)

[golfadj]

We go to port of call pages and read up on independent operators and 95% of the time will book that way.

 

Just make sure the tour is scheduled to be back at least 90 minutes before the ship will sail.

[mrpayroll]

Mostly book independants, but have used some Carnival.