Who takes the cruise line excursions?

[mikewrit]

My impression from a months reading and participating in these boards is that Cruise Critic members lean to privately arranged shore excursions. My observation from just five cruises is that most cruisers stick with the offerings of the cruise line. Anybody have a handle on the actual stats?

[paul929207]

Just looking off the side of the ship when we arrive in a port, there are buses that I would guess would hole one half to two thirds of the passengers.

[travlnblueberries]

I don't know about stats, but we usually book with the cruise line. We always find ourselves in "those" situations. :o

[piscesgal223]

Last time, we chose to go on our own when we were in Puerto Rico-we paid $10 a pop for a guided tour of San Juan on one of the many buses that are parked near the cruise ship terminal. I am glad we did that. We walked around Old SJ after our bus tour was done.

[beachluvr65]

depends on how reliable that you believe the tours providers to be. If you are late returning from a private tour, the ship may not be there. If you are later getting back on a cruiseline provided excursion, they will wait for the tour to get back. They will not wait if you get off the bus or tour that is provided by the cruiseline and are late getting back.

[tip]

Most cruise line excursions are nothing more than over priced cattle herds! With a little time and patience you can serch these boards on the ports of call threads and find some excellent private excursions. Don't be scared off by the naysayers who make you try to think that you will miss the ship. Use some common sense and book a tour that will give you more than a comfortable cushion at its conclusion. We have been on more than over 20 cruises and now always book through private operators unless we are in a country where safety is a major factor.

[cb at sea]

That's not altogether true....some ship excursions are quite fun...and there's absolutely NO thinking on your part required...they tell you when and where to meet...and from that point on, all you do is have fun.

 

Some things may be better on a private tour, but there's really nothing wrong with doing an excursion through the cruiseline.

 

A bit of research will let you know if what interests you requires an excursion at all....many things are quite easy to do on your own! Get a guidebook!

[FTLcruisers]

We only did ship's excursions for the longest time because that is what we were comfortable with. We were definetely disappointed with some of them but can honestly say that the majority of them were very good. We got "brave" a few years ago and now also do private tours. Our decision depends on the port and also how active the CC thread is for our cruise since we prefer to do private tours with others. Sharing a tour gives us a level of comfort plus is always a great way to make new friends!

 

Marianne

[mitsugirly]

I would say that people that take the time (and have the resources) to look at cruise forums like this or the internet, usually book their own excursions because they realize just how inflated the cruise ships prices are.

 

However and large majority of cruisers aren't on boards like this, so therefore they probably tend to book with the cruise ship.

 

Of course the ships tours are fun as well...they are usually the same thing that you can do on your own or go to the same place for a lot cheaper.

[ab0si]

I do not think there are any publicly available statistics for ship vs private (vs DIY) touring. Certainly, if I were in charge of a cruise line's shore excursion division, I would not want the statistics public.

 

As a guess, I would think the ratio varies substantially depending on the port. There are some ports were taking the ship's offerings are just about all that is available (e.g., Nordkapp).

 

Beyond those relatively few outliers, the decision is mostly person preference, familiarity with traveling on ones own, and self confidence. I dislike ship's tours for several reasons. These include:

a) being herded

b) being herded slowly <grin>

c) shopping stops

d) higher cost

e) limited choice of what to see and little choice of how much time to spend

at site A or B

 

My brother, who is very well traveled and has no problem doing everything on his own in some rather problematical places, almost always uses the ship's tours. His reasoning is both simple: cruising is just about the worst way to actually SEE most places. Land based travel is much better for that. So, why bother worrying about it? Just follow the crowd and relax.

 

Actually I mostly agree with him. My "solution" is simply to pick out one or, perhaps, two things to do/see. this is almost never the most famous or most visited site. Like my brother, if I want SEE X, I travel to X and spend some time there.

[tip]

That's not altogether true....some ship excursions are quite fun...and there's absolutely NO thinking on your part required...they tell you when and where to meet...and from that point on, all you do is have fun.

 

Some things may be better on a private tour, but there's really nothing wrong with doing an excursion through the cruiseline.

 

A bit of research will let you know if what interests you requires an excursion at all....many things are quite easy to do on your own! Get a guidebook!

 

 

With all due respect, some of us have no problem with thinking and having fun at the same time!;)

[mikewrit]

I really appreciate the lively discussion. I'm still hoping for some facts and statistics.

[paul929207]

I think the number sill vary from cruise to cruise. Just as the Roll Call can be very active for one cruise, and silent for a similar cruise.

[greatam]

depends on how reliable that you believe the tours providers to be. If you are late returning from a private tour, the ship may not be there. If you are later getting back on a cruiseline provided excursion, they will wait for the tour to get back. They will not wait if you get off the bus or tour that is provided by the cruiseline and are late getting back.

 

Yes, you COULD be taking a chance. BUT if a non cruise line excursion returns passengers late where they miss the ship, how long do you REALLY think they are going to be in business??

 

Maybe in some far reaching ports where the chances are high there may be problems getting back to the ship on time (Laem Chabang Thailand comes to mind), take the ship excursion. Or ports where there are security problems-Bandar Abas Iran comes to mind on the Crystal cruise I was going to take last spring until I could NOT get back into Iraq where I was working.

 

But for the majority of cruisers on Caribbean/Mexican cruises, there is an intricate network of "behind the scenes" people working to MAKE SURE the excursions get back to the ship on time.

 

We've taken 3 ship sponsored excursions-all in very, very foreign ports (Asia and South America). Otherwise, I wouldn't be caught dead in the "cattle" car that is a ship excursion. To each his own.

[Loving My Life]

We have arranged private tours in every port for both of our cruises, except for St. Maarten. We wanted to do the America's Cup Regatta Race, which was an absolute blast, but Carnival had contracted with them and they could not privately book any Carnival cruiser. I am finding that more and more, especially with Carnival. I have been pricing and planning a Southern Caribbean cruise as well as our Bermuda cruise next summer, and have found 2 other excursions that cannot book cruise passengers--they must book through the ship. Frustrating!

[I_heart_vaca]

I don't think those kind of stats exist. Mostly because I can't imagine the cruise lines letting that kind of info out. After reading this board, and others, as well as a lot of international travel for vacation & business, I think most people book where they are comfortable. New cruisers or those new to a region might stick with the ship for ease and comfort. I am comfortable booking our own excursions so long as we are not going too far from port and the trip isn't too close to departure times. For our upcoming cruise we are planning to book 3 of 4 ports ourselves and 1 with the cruiseline, it is a 7 hour trip.

[mom2sz]

I think it's also pretty dependent on the port. But, it is pretty astounding to see all the cruise line sponsored tour buses that line up on each port we've been on.

 

Thanks to Cruise Critic boards, we've been booking our own tours or just go with the tour operators when we get off the ship. The only times we've booked a cruise ship tour are on tender ports where we have a scheduled departure time on the tender boats instead of trying to fight the masses trying to get off the ship.

[GlendaleCruiser]

I've done both. Varies with the circumstances: Is the port far from what I want to see? (Civitavecchia/Rome, Livorno/Florence). Am I comfortable going off on my own? As a family of 4--yes we did. As a friend to someone who's never cruised--no, not when it's just the two of us ladies and we haven't been there before.

 

I've had good luck with both. If I do the Med cruise again, I will arrange for a driver as I know where I want to go and what I want to see. Before, though, I didn't know either.

[Happy ks]

It really depends. Out of the 10-15 ship's excursions we've taken over the years, only 2 of them have been enjoyable. Our experience has pretty much mirrored the post of ab0si. Out of all the other majority of private excursions, only a couple have been a bust. The ones we haven't cared for are usually the ones where we rent a car and do it on our own. We have learned if we're not in familiar territory, grab a private tour or a taxi and don't try to figure out directions on your own.

 

But statistics? How would one go about that? I think a lot of cruisers don't know you can take private excursions. When you disembark a ship in on a port visit, a whole lotta people go on those buses. However, there are many you see walking in the other direction.

 

We'll stick with our private excursions. Generally less than half the cost of the ship excursions and twice the pleasure.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Some times we do it depends what country

[cruisemom42]

Only a small percentage of cruisers participate on (or even know about) sites like Cruise Critic.

 

Only a small percentage of cruisers arrange private excursions or go it on their own in port (albeit probably a larger percentage than those who know about CC).

 

Other than that, I doubt we are likely to know anything concrete. Someone who works for CCL posted on the Princess board recently that a good part of the ship's onboard revenue comes from shore excursions, and ships want to maximize that revenue stream. That's one reason (among several) why more ships are deployed to places like Europe where fewer passengers feel that they can go "independent."

 

As for me, I have traveled quite a bit (often solo) and have no hesitation going it alone wherever public transportation is good and reliable. I will not drive. I research the heck out of places before I visit them and I know what I want to see and do -- sometimes so much so that I cannot even find anyone to share a private tour with me. :o

[printingchick]

I think most NEW cruisers stick to the cruise line offerings. I did. As I got more savvy, I started using the port of call boards and guidebooks to decide what I wanted to do/see and research the best deals. I still consider the cruise excursions. On rare occasions, they're actually LESS expensive. We found that going to Xcaret on our own was a lot more expensive that taking the ship's excursion there - probably because the cruise line got a group rate for admission and we all traveled there together on a bus (not cab). I'll also use the ship's excursion for really LONG excursions, where being late is a genuine possibility. (I know it's ALWAYS possible, but sometimes, it appears downright PROBABLE!) There are even some special attractions that have worked out deals with the cruise lines and local resorts and they won't sell individual admissions. Guests HAVE to have booked through a cruise ship or resort.

 

It's not that there is anything WRONG with the cruise ship excursions. It's just you can nearly always book the same thing directly for less cost. In Dominica on Serenade, we spent the entire day with Levi of Bumpiing Tours, visiting Titou Gorge, Trafalgar Falls and Champagne Beach. Our dinner mates, who booked through the ship, visited ONLY Titou Gorge and spent half-again as much as we did! We had a MUCH better day for MUCH less money.

 

I've found the port of call boards here on CC incredibly valuable. It helps me determine which private tours are both enjoyable AND reputable. I feel safe booking tours I've seen highly recommended on Cruise Critic. I've yet to be disappointed.

[mikewrit]

Consensus suggest facts and statistics may not be available. Narrative is useful, however. Participation in Cruise Critic is a tiny minority, I suspect. Perhaps the board managers have some grip on that. I only stumbled into this discussion after our second cruise and wished that I had come here sooner. The first two outings would have been much more enjoyable.

We booked our first cruise, up the inside passage to Glacier Bay and back on very short notice. We didn't even contemplate shore excursions until we were already sailing out of Elliott Bay, and the prices for the ship's arrangements were so high that we didn't even consider popping for one. We saw a lot and had a lot of fun just grabbing cabs on the docks.

For our second cruise to the Western Caribbean we aimed from the outset to see a Mayan site. The cruise line had what looked like a nice package for Tulum. Once docked we had to walk half a mile to where a long line of huge buses was parked. A couple of hundred of us crowded aboard and headed south. We had half an hour's rest stop at a huge souvenir stand. When we reached the venue we were divided into herds of a couple dozen to tour the site. It happened that the governor of Quintana Roo had chose that afternoon to declare Tulum one of Mexico's 10 best tourist sites. He brought a large and loud media gaggle with him along with a couple busloads of bureaucrats.

Since then we have shopped very carefully for excursions. I took the cruise-line jaunt from Warnemunde to Berlin, but we made our own arrangement (along with three other Cruise Critic couples) for St. Petersburg. For our next cruise to the Holy Land and Egypt out of Rome, one glance at the ship-sponsored excursions was enough to start us looking for alternative. Most of our Cruise Critic roll call fellows are doing likewise, but we are fewer than 100 on a ship that carries more than 2,500 paying customers.

[chipmaster]

There are those that research and participate, those are usually the more informed.

 

Than there are the mass market guys that book based on advertisement, whim etc..

 

The second usually are the dominate / majority. Thank goodness for that as it funds things for the smarter ones :D

 

My impression from a months reading and participating in these boards is that Cruise Critic members lean to privately arranged shore excursions. My observation from just five cruises is that most cruisers stick with the offerings of the cruise line. Anybody have a handle on the actual stats?

[Zubsin]

I'd say it depends on where we are going and who we are traveling with (if anyone) ... like in Hawaii we rented cars and mostly did our own thing but we booked the ship excursion to Molokini. In the Baltic's a group from the RC got together and booked STP independently and it was TERRIFIC but for the rest of the ports DH and I relied on Rick Steves travel books. In the caribbean it depends on what port and what we want to do.... I don't like haggling so I tend to book through the cruise line there...but we've done our our thing in USVI and BVI.

 

The truth is many know about CC or tripadvisor and are not interested in putting the time in to do the research.

 

Donna