Shore Excursions

[CessnaAV8R]

Hi all:

 

I am in the midst of booking excursions at my ports of call. On past cruises I have booked typically through the cruiseline but now that I have been on a few cruises, I am learning I can save some money booking on my own.

 

Do you book excursions through the ship or on your own? If on your own, how/when do you book?

 

As an example, I want to do a zip-lining adventure in either Puerto Rico or Sy. Martin, however, I am finding it a little bit difficult to locate the business on the web to book directly with them. Should I wait until I get off the ship at the port?

 

Thanks!

[Lsimon]

We usually plan our trips ahead of time as in most cases I'm hesitant to book an excursion at the pier as you never know what you're getting there nor how reliable the tour operator is. Also, when we have tried booking an excursion type tour on the pier we've sometimes found that while we're ready and anxious to get going the next tour is an hour or two away and/or the tour operator is waiting until they can form a group of a certain size before starting.

 

I don't stick exclusively with the cruise line tours but I don't avoid them either. It really depends on the port and what we want to do. I believe that those that book only cruise line tours and those that avoid them completely are too narrow and both groups are missing out on great opportunities. Some of our favorite excursions are ship sponsored tours as certain tour operators book exclusively through the cruise line at times. This is especially true when we've wanted to take a certain day-sail excursion at certain Caribbean ports.

 

The only types of trips we never use the cruise line tours for are basic trips to the beach in the Caribbean, or tours around European cities which are easily done on your own (such as Dubrovnik or Venice) without any type of tour at all.

 

On rare occasions we still plan on booking a tour at the dock as we walk off the ship but in recent cases it has mostly been where we wanted a taxi tour.

 

Your best bet in finding private tour operators for a specific activity is the port of call boards here on cruise critic. Usually there will be some very good specific recommendations for excusion operators and/or ship's tours.

[CessnaAV8R]

Thank you Lsimon - Great information!

[ghstudio]

Hi all:

 

I am in the midst of booking excursions at my ports of call. On past cruises I have booked typically through the cruiseline but now that I have been on a few cruises, I am learning I can save some money booking on my own.

 

Do you book excursions through the ship or on your own? If on your own, how/when do you book?

 

As an example, I want to do a zip-lining adventure in either Puerto Rico or Sy. Martin, however, I am finding it a little bit difficult to locate the business on the web to book directly with them. Should I wait until I get off the ship at the port?

 

Thanks!

 

1) sometimes we book a private tour to save money and that works if you are three or four people. More often we book a private tour to see more of what we want to see vs being with a busload of people.

 

2) We tend to take ship tours if the excursion is a long one (belize) and there is a risk of delay and the ship leaving without us, should something happen.

 

3) It's reasonably easy to find out about the ports and tour operators....there is a forum here on port of call; there is trip advisor and there are many other web sources with reviews. Given all that, we never book with someone at the dock when we get off the ship....we have no way to know who they are/safety/insurance/etc. We will book a clearly identified taxi though and ask them to wait for us for an agreed price (vs someone using their car to make a few extra dollars.

[jconeil]

For us it just depends on the port. If the roll call is active, we enjoy joining a group doing something we would enjoy. Usually they are also experienced travelers who are used to going it alone. Sometimes the ship's excursion will book most of the tour operators in a small port, making it hard to go on your own. We try to avoid the ship's tours as they tend to be too large. However, they will have tours to all the major sites, which may give you an idea what you would like to do, then you can research to see if you can book a tour incorporating what you want to do. Many cities have excellent public transportation. You don't need a tour in a lot of cities, they are walkable. Just do some research. We rent cars frequently so we can tour what we want to see at our pace. Zip lining in Puerto Rico - try google.