Non-cruiseline tours - any bad experiences?

[CatgirlNC]

No bad experiences…just like others have said- do your research.

 

Ship excursions are usually pretty “plug and play”- you show up at the designated time & place, and off you go. If you’re booking independently, you may need to handle more of the logistics on your own. For example, in Costa Maya, my brother booked a private tour of Chacchoben for him, his wife and myself, but it did not pick us up where the ship docked- we had to take a cab to meet the tour guide and driver. Also, they did not include the entry fee into Chacchoben in the price (normally in a ship excursion, all that is bundled into the package), so we had to come up with some extra cash for that. It wasn’t a big deal, just different than what I was used to. And probably when all was said and done, not much cheaper than if we’d done it through the ship. But it was nice having just the 3 of us in the van (plus the driver & tour guide), instead of being packed in the way you sometimes are with ship excursions. Also, the tour guide thought that both my sister-in-law and I were my brother’s wives. I was like “No! I’m his sister!” :p

[HopeILuvCruisin]

If we wit until we get to Nassau, will there be tour operators there at the pier? How do we know who is legit? We are not sure if we want to do a local beach day or some kind of boating and i was hoping we could wait until we were on the cruise to decide.

 

There are TONS of vendors/tour operators who will try to get your business when you get of the ship. I wouldn't feel very secure doing this, especially if you didn't have time to research them