Who takes the cruise line excursions?

[bigtony777]

I will always try to book privately first. I can give you two examples of why. First, in general, you will have fewer people in your group and more tour guides. I have been river tubing and there were only four of us on the tour(all friends). We had 6 guides going down the river with us. I have seen a cruise line river tubing tour with 25 people for one guide. Another great result of the smaller groups is that you can ask to stop for pictures and they will generally do so. This typically will not happen with a bus of 25 to 40 people.

 

The other example is that you will get more from the tour. We took a cave tubing excursion in Belize and got to travel further up the river giving us longer to actually tube in the river. This is due to the smaller group being able to leave earlier from the port. We also had one of the best experiences on a private tour. There were 6 of us, all friends, and we asked to be taken to a local place to eat lunch after the hike. The guide ended up calling his mother and setup a lunch for us at his house that his mother prepared for us for $5 per person. It was an unbelievable experience!

 

If you do research into companies that others have used and receive good communication from them, I would recommend private tours. I still do take a few cruise ship tours due to a limited amount of time in port or if the excursion I wish to take is limited to the cruise ship I am on when in that port.

[cntheworld]

We have done both and private tours are always less money and many times smaller and better and more personalized than cruuise line tours. The exception would be a tour that is in a busy area and travels far from the ship. We took a ship tour to Bangkok because it was 2-3 hours from the ship with a possiblity of heavy traffic and were concerned about missing the ship. Once on board we found out that the ship keeps your passports and port authorities in Asian ports will not let the ship leave until all passengers have been accounted for. We have done many private tours arranged through this site and they have all be just wonderful. Many of them are with the same operators the cruise lines use - just less money.

 

 

 

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?

[cruisecriticmember]

Alaska cruise we explored each port on our own, S. caribbean took the tourthru the ship because it was not popular on the boards and in my own research prices Were NOT higher thru the cruise line. That was for one tour. We took a second tour thru the ship because it was a last minute decision and I di not feel safe using some guy on the pier yelling at us to go with their tour. We really enjoyed both tours, felt they were worth the money we paid and were in small groups. River cruising is great because almost all the tours are included in your fare and there is at least one tour every day

[Carolin]

If I can't figure out any other way to take and excursion, I'll book though the ship.

 

When I book it myself, I'm very careful of the times listed. I like getting back to the ship at least one hour or so before its time to leave.

 

Besides.. I like watching for runners. :D

[jodrealtor]

We have been cruising for many years and have ALWAYS booked through the cruise line. I never want to be left behind because the tour didn't return us on time. If we have had an issue with the excursion we always bring it to the attention of the Excursion Desk or Customer Service when returning home or both. We have always been satisfied with the results.

We just recently, in April we went River Tubing, no crowds, Just Lots of Fun and Laughs. NO WORRIES MON!!!

[Gabgab]

I went on Eastern med Cruise To Greece, Turkey and Egypt and then Alaska.

 

Cruise Tour Experiences

I used cruise excursion three times. In Crete the ships tour option of the Minoan civilization ruins was the only reasonably cost one I could find. This was my first cruise so I did not know really how it was going to be. Afterwords I wanted to tear my hair out. We were herded around like sheep and I had such a hard time hearing anything since we were in such big groups.I had such a heard time seeing anything since the tallest people always decided lets stand in the front. The were so many loud kids, slow people.... Worst of all the tour guide was wrong half the time. I did my Thesis paper in college about the Minoan civilization's fall and she drove me crazy. Anyways I swore never to do a Cruise tour again after that, I hated it. Infact in the back I started telling my mom what I knew and other people in the group started asking me questions on it. I later found out that these tour guides travel with the cruise ship, so they know a little of everything but are not expert in the ruins they are touring.

 

Then in Alaska I ended up doing two. One was really cool since you go only a smaller ship ahead of the cruise ship to see the Glacier up closer then you could in the cruise ship and then you board the cruise ship from the smaller ship. Love that.

 

Then in another port their was no other options and ended up doing a kayak tour which worked well, doing kayak a tour made it so the cruise company could not pack it in with 50 people and no slow people or small kids on the trip :)

 

Private Tours

In general 50% of my tours I go through private tour companies most of the time it is cheaper, smaller, more personalized and you can do more. Then the rest I do on my own. Athens we did on our own, loved it. I had a history book with me, to reference information. But being a history major and Greeks being one of my fav areas of study I ended up giving private tour to my family.

In Turkey we were able to get private tours of every version that cruise gave but cheaper and got to fit in a lot more. Egypt we even did with a private tour and love it. I learned so many great facts from these tour guides they really, know there history and our proud to show of their culture. Alaska we did smaller group tours which were fun and cheaper. We even did our own boat for fishing which was not cheaper but lots of fun since we got to fish the whole time and had our own guy helping us.

 

Overall

I will never do the cattle car bus experience again, never. I would rather pay more or just do it on my own. But their are certain types of cruise tours that are okay to do, ones where they cannot pack you in which I did like.

[Cookmb]

Up until this coming cruise we have always booked through the cruiseline. DH is not the most trusting person in the world and has always been hesitant to book privately. I think I may have changed his mind though when we went to Costa Rica and hired a private driver I found on Trip Advisor. It wound up being the best move we could have made and enabled us to see a lot of the country. Granted we were not on a cruise when we went, so there were not pre-arranged tours available.

 

We typically start planning what we want to see in each port as soon as the tours are listed online, and book them well in advance. On our med cruise last year, we chose "Exclusive" tours in Rome, Naples and Florence. The price was higher but the tour was smaller and much more personal. For example, at the Vatican, because we were on the exclusive tour, we walked right past the long line of people and got right in. In Naples, we were able to go to Positano, which people on large busses could not do. Many of the Italian ports are at least an hour away from the major city, and since this was our first time in the country, we felt more secure going through the ship.

 

For the most part we have been pleased with the tours we have done. We have learned what to look out for in the descriptions though. For example, "Easy" translates to being on a bus the whole time, typically surrounded by senior citizens (which there is nothing wrong with that but we are in our early 40s); "Factory Tour" means you will be forced to watch a demonstration and then be followed around by salespeople. We try to avoid these excursions at all costs. This upcoming cruise we are still doing ship excursions, but have also arranged for a private driver for part of the day when we are in Aruba (we are in port for 12 hours) who I found on the CC boards.

 

I do feel like people on ship tours get off the ship faster than those that are not on ship sponsored tours. We like to get off the ship as quickly as possible when we arrive, so doing a morning ship tour achieves that. That being said, we go on cruises to sight see in different places. If we were going on a cruise to lay on a beach each port day, I would never go with the ship tour.

[jamscckmc]

I usually do a combo of both. I have had good and bad experiences with both. I have been a several private tours highly recommened by CCers, in St Lucia,St Thomas, Matzaplan(sp?) and others where we privately reserved as a group but had others stuffed in a mini van with us, sometimes without AC. We had little say in where we were going and never got the driver we expected(usually a "cousin") We have also been stuffed in the bigger vans and been forced to sit on the middle jump seat. Sometimes a large air conditioned bus with comfortable seats is better. Both the CL and the private mini van tour have their set shops/ stands they take you to and get kick backs. The St Lucia tour that is still recommended took us to a relatives for a food stop and to his own house.The best private tour we went on was truly private. Two women we met at the M&M were looking for 2 more to share a private tour in Halifax. It was one of the best tours we have ever been on.

 

If I am in the Carribean DD and I usually just take a cab to a nearby beach. DH golfs through the CL to quarantee a tee time. also sometimes thy are far from the port and cab fare can make a self booked golf trip more $ than a cl.

 

When in Europe we always do the CLtours unless we dock right in a city and just walk around. We were late on a ship's tour in Athens(1 1/2 hr) trafic, Poland 1 hr(due to a church fire) St Petersburg, over an hour on day 2 when we were leaving port(trafic). Some of the med ports are far from the city you may want to visit and there may not be reliable public transportation. If we had gone out on a private tour in the cities that traffic would have made us late the ship would not have waited for us.

[2blueyam]

We are trying the private tours for the first time on our Baltics cruise. Berlin and St. Pete with SPB. Tallinn and Copenhagen on our own. Stockholm and Helsinki on ships tours. My wife has been reluctant to do private tours for fear of missing the ship.

 

Helsinki would could probably do on our own, but my DW found a ships tour that includes Provoo that she liked, so we booked it.

 

In Stockholm, the ships tour goes to the Vasa Museum, tour of Old Town Hall and a visit to Gamla Stan. Looking at the time line, I couldn't figure out a way to do this on our own. After looking at the tour description, I see that the length of the tour has us getting back to the ship right when it sails. No way I would chance getting back that late on a private tour or on our own. I also researched the tours at the Town Hall and they only run every 30 minutes. If it is full you wait for the next one. The cruise ship group is big enough, it is a tour of it's own and not subject to the 30 minute intervals for the general public so that problem is avoided as well.

 

In the past we have always done ships tours. Many have gone well, some have not gone quite as well.

 

In Alaska on our Holland America cruise, most of the ships excursions were very good. The Misty Fjords float plane and a "Capitan's Choice" wildlife cruise were outstanding. The plane only holds 7 and while the boat had about 30-35 people on board, it wasn't crowded at all and more eyes means more chance of spotting wildlife. It also circumvented the waiting on the tender and gave us extra time that way as they dropped us off right at the ship just before the last tender pulled up. Our catamaran ride in Cozumel was another good ships tour.

 

On the down side had a disinterested guide at Dunns River Falls and a scary van ride back to port. Of course you could get the same on your own. Also on the down side was the bus ride to the Buchart Gardens in Victoria BC. They were going for the nostalgia thing, but the bus smelled of diesel, the drivers jokes were bad, and it was slow. We could have gotten there faster on our own and been able to see more of the gardens in the daylight.

[Dayenu]

My 84-year-old father does not know how to use the Internet properly. He doesn't speak a word of Spanish. So on his cruise to Mexico he went on a ship tours in each port. He paid for convenience.

 

We do what is more comfortable: Costa Rica, Belize - ship tours. Europe: on our own or local tours. Alaska: on our own or local tours.

[bluewavesforever]

We have always gone with the ship's excursions except one, as we just wanted to sit back and enjoy the preplanned agenda. We have had all great experiences, so I guess we were lucky, or our selections were wise choices. The one we booked on our own was in preparation for our first Alaska cruise, where we booked a glacier helicopter flight from home, and they met us at the dock. We had a glorious excursion with just myself and my husband as the sole passengers on the flight, as opposed to the 6 person flights we see is the norm. This was a company that also does cruise excursions, so somehow they were able to take individual bookings too. We did a lot of research prior to this cruise, and specifically wanted to include this flight. The rest of our sightseeing was through the cruiseline, and we had a wonderful time. They were great for us.

[stan1]

We book privatae tours/excursions whenever possible, and havse had excellent experiences in Europe, Central and South America, USA. There are some ports (e.g., Portimao in Portugal, visited by HAL) where there are no private tour operators, or some days in ports when the private tour operators are unavailable. Without exception, our privae tours (over 12 years) have been more complete, less crowded, less costly, and more fun than other passengers describe in the same ports. I know that cruise lines require certain insurance, and facility arrangements which the private operators may not provide. Yes it is easier to book the tour with the cruise line, charging the cost to your final bill, but it has been uniformly less satisfying on those cruise ship based tours that we have taken.

Stan

[Cooley Consumers]

We just returned from the RCCL transatlantic cruise to Harwich. In response to whether to use the cruise line's tours or arrange your own, that point was driven home to us in France. As others have written, the buses were all lined up when we arrived. It was a full day of driving and touring and back.The ship was supposed to leave at 4:00 p.m. and at 4:30 p.m. the gangways were pulled back and the engines were fire up. Then we saw passengers running to make the departure. Initially we thought that these were just folks who had not read their watches. Then there were more. It turns out that there were apparently at least 1 or 2 buses of tours from RCCL that were delayed. We have been told that if the cruise line books the tour, they will wait for you. Here there were scores of people on an RCCL tour who were delayed. The Captain of Jewel OTS waited. I doubt that they would have done so if the excursion had not been thru RCCL.

 

Also, we were told by the captain of Navigator of the Seas in Cozumel that each ship has a definite time to arrive and depart a port. If they vary from that schedule, they may have to pay a premium to the port. This is why the ships must leave on time. If there are a few passengers who cannot keep track of their own time, and delay returning to the ship, the cruise company could have to pay hundreds of dollars for this delay. Moral: use the cruise company, or if you don't, book a VERY early return from your excursion.........Enjoy

[Desert Cruizers]

For our upcoming TA out of Barcelona, we have 3 tours booked thru our Roll Call on Private Tours, two on our last two Ports, Tenerife, we have booked thru the Cruise lines, for ourselves. Normally we book with the cruise lines and choose tours that will allow us 3-4 hrs time to walk around afterwards and be on board a couple hours before sailing to relax a little. I watch our time closely. I judge a tour by the length of time we are in port, vs length of tour and do not exceed a 4 hr tour. Our TA cruise is an exception, two are 6-8 hrs which involves traveling away from the Port city.

[Sirlimey]

I am by no means an expert, but will tell you that on our first cruise we booked all of our excursions through the ship and toured with the masses. On our second cruise we were fortunate to meet some wonderful people from New Jersey who I believe to be "professional" cruisers. They do their research and look at posts on CC to know which companies/individuals have a good reputation, etc., and always book on their own. We were able to tag on with them and are SOOOO happy we did! We cruised with our new-found friends again in 2009, this time out of Puerto Rico, and again with discussion and looking at reviews on CC, made fantastic choices. BELIEVE ME, the tour companies on the islands know exactly when the ships are due in and when they sail back out and will not ruin their reputations by getting you back to the ship late. Their livelihoods depend on the tourists. Each knew exactly when the ships masses were due at certain destinations and made sure we were either ahead of the crowds or behind. On each island we had small, personalized tours that were sensational. So, for this non-pro and her family, we will always book our own. We compare what the ship offers and then research and book our own at a cheaper cost with more personalized tour. For us it is the only way to go! :)

[caribill]

Just one tip, if you book the ship's excursions before leaving home, you pay in your local currency

 

This depends on the cruise line. With Princess you do not pay for the pre-booked excursions before the voyage. The excursions are put on your onboard account which, for most Princess ships, is in US$.

[tamoshanter]

we have done both - depends on how much research you want to do ahead of time online and with tourbooks, and how much you may just want to be lazy and let someone else worry about transportation, what sights to see and making sure you get back to the ship on time. when we did Princess cruises, we took the cruisetour to the great wall in China - that way we made sure that we would make it back in time (it was over 2 hours away from the port), and the price of private tours really didn't save much money. but in Vladivostok, South Korea and Japan, we did on our own. i made sure that in russia and Incheon, everything was within walking distance. in Japan, subways and trains are in english (and i knew conversational japanese), so we went on our own on subways, trains to everywhere (did lots of research online with subway maps). in Nassau, Bahamas, we took the city bus (for less than a $1) a few miles down the beach, and found a great beach spot.

so, depending upon how daring (or cowardly) you want, you can either make a great customized visit; or be like a sheep with the crowd.

[pepelapoo]

Hi, have just done a cruise on P&O Pacific Pearl. We noticed how expensive tours were when booked on board. Nearly $200 Aussie to go up to Kurandra on the skyrail & back down on the sky train. We opted to do it ourselves, went ashore & buses were waiting to go different places, asked which one was going to the ticket office for skyrail, we were sent to the right one which took us free of charge to the ticket office, which was to far to walk, we wern`t the only ones to do this. They organised return tickets for us at nearly $100 less than on board. They told us just return when you are ready & there will be buses to take you back to the ship which there was. Most places have buses waiting when going ashore to take you places as they want you to spend money. Would never book a shore tour on board would always do it ourselves.

[yvoyage]

We recently made a Mediterranean cruise (2 couples). Prior to leaving, we checked the various tours offered by Royal Caribbean and then made Google searches of private tours in Haifa and Ashdod (Israel) and Ephesus (Turkey).

We found marvelous guides who were waiting for us in each port with a card and my name on it. We then went into private Mercedes van (only the 4 of us) and here we go. The tours lasted about 9 hours and cost $530.each in Israel and $325 in Turkey. We could go where we wanted and the guides were all professionals. We even had a dip in the Dead Sea, which most cruise excursions don't offer.

My conclusion: if my wife and I go alone, we will take the ship's excursion, but if we go 4 or 6 people, it is definitely worth it to split the cost and be private. :)

[C-foxatsea]

We will be on the Carnival Imagination next month, and I am booking the dolphin swim in Cozumel. If I book a 3:30 pm slot, what time is the ship's time? I can't seem to figure this out! We are there from 1-10 pm, so I believe we have enough time, just want to get there on time!

[xandersun@gmail.com]

The one instance where it is likely always better to take the cruise excursion is when the excursion is to some site or attraction that is a several hour drive from the ship itself and will take almost the whole time the ship is docked (so if the ship is in port from 9 am to 5 pm, and the excursion requires a 2.5 hour drive to the site, 2.5 hours to tour the site, and 2.5 hours to drive back). Because the risk of not making it back to the ship in time increases. Even if you do make it back in time on a private tour, you will be sweating the last 2.5 hours at the sign of any little accident or road congestion along the way.

[poodlewamp]

We always do the excursions through the cruise line...Done many many cruises, and although private ones do work out, heard many horror stories about them also...We know if we go through the ship, even if your bus broke down, the ship would wait for you to return.

If you go on your own, and there is a problem with returning to ship

....you are definately on your own !!!

 

B.J.

 

ONE MORE CRUISE TIL "ELITE"...AND COUNTING..!!!;)

[jigsaw101]

A lot of posters on this thread talked about how the price is cheaper. In the Caribbean, I agree. However, Alaska it is not cheaper to do a private excursion vs the ship excursions. In some cases it is more expensive! I don't know about Europe/Asia/Australia etc.

What I have learned from experience is that the private tours are usually smaller and more personal. I have done about half and half (private and ship's excursions). The ship's excursions seem to be big groups of 20-30 or more. All of the private excursions I've been on have been 5 - 12 people. We really get to know our tour guides and they are quite happy to make a detour or change in the plans to accomodate the passengers.

For example we used Peat Taylor (I think that was his name - it's been awhile) in Ocho Rios and there were about 10 of us. We went to Dunn's River Falls. We were the first group there which made the climb more relaxing. After Dunn's River Falls, we went through the rain forest, up into the Blue Mountain area and even stopped at a primary school (several teachers were in the group) Then Peat took us wherever we wanted to go, restaurants, back to the ship and back out again, shopping etc. We saw a lot more of Ocho Rios than did our table-mates who did a ship excursion.

In Alaska we used F.I.S.H.E.S. to go whale watching in Icy Strait Point. There were 5 of us plus the boat pilot. We passed a ship's excursion boat. There had to be 100 people on it.

That said, I did a ship's tour to Stingray City and it was fabulous. It was my first cruise and I didn't know any better, but lovely all the same despite there by 30-40 people.

Do your research, and look into private excursions. However, don't forget that the ship does offer some nice excursions.

 

 

 

We just got back from a RCCL (Mariner of the Seas) Holy Land cruise and we booked every shore excursion privately. We were fortunate to have had a very good cruise critic group on the boards and were able to hook up with several groups. We had the most pleasant and interesting visit to very exotic cities and sites. The most people involved in any of our excursions was 24 and we were in three separate minivans with articulate and amicable drivers and guides. We also had three other tours with 4 couples on one bus with the same results.

When we got off the ship in Kusadasi Turkey (Ephesus) there were 40 large busses in the lot waiting for the ships tours. We were met by our guide and he walked us to his bus and off we went. Very personal and very professional in every aspect. A 9 hour excursion with lunch all at about 1/2 the price of the the ships mega bus tour.

We also have had some less than great experiences on our own but if nothing else you sure have something to talk about after its over.

 

Al and Lorraine

[woodyrus]

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.

 

 

 

This is not usually true..... we waited almost an hour at one port for three people who had been at a local pub and so drunk they could barely walk back to the boat.

[woodyrus]

We do half and half, however find we save money jumping off the ship and grabbing a tour bus on the islands. Just depends on where you want to go.