Excursion times

[I_heart_vaca]

We have been researching the excursions and sites we want to take in at each port. We are having some troubles with Barbados. There are some excursions that are only a few hours long, and we could book them with the cruise line for simplicity sake, but is there anyway to know when you will leave or return to port? This way we know if we can add something else into the schedule.

 

Thanks!

[cruiserking]

We have been researching the excursions and sites we want to take in at each port. We are having some troubles with Barbados. There are some excursions that are only a few hours long, and we could book them with the cruise line for simplicity sake, but is there anyway to know when you will leave or return to port? This way we know if we can add something else into the schedule.

 

Thanks!

 

I just checked a basic ship search and the port times listed for your Barbados stop have you arriving at 8:00 am and departing 5:30 pm.

 

So with that in mind I would plan on being back to the ship by 4 pm so you you have a good cushion to work with in case of traffic.

 

If you book excursions with the cruise line the ship will wait for you if you are late returning to port, if not, you might have to fly to the next port if you miss the ship.

 

Jonathan

[John Bull]

Ships tours of around 3 to 4.5 hours are usually described as half-day tours. They may run morning or afternoon or a choice of either.

 

But what's for sure is that they won't screw up the day with, for example, an 11.30 am start.

They'll end in time for you to get lunch on-board, or they'll start after lunch. So typical examples of timings would include, say, a 4-hour morning tour starting at 9am or a 3 hour afternoon tour starting at 2.15pm.

Longer tours usually include a lunch.

 

Some cruise lines include times in the excursions pages of their web-pages though with some of those you need to enter your cruise booking details to access excursion details. Some cruise lines infuriatingly fail to quote times anywhere in advance of the cruise - if that's the case and you want to pre-book a private arrangement for the other half of the day, best I can suggest is that you ask on the Cruise Critic forum dedicated to your cruise line.

 

Before booking any Caribbean excursion through the cruise line, can I suggest you research the private operators and the DIY options for the islands. For simple road tours IMHO you will get a much better experience for less money by booking privately or by booking a shared private tour with others via your RollCall,.

Or a pot-luck tour hired at the quayside & shared with like-minded fellow-cruisers there, at typically 25% to 33% of the price of a ship's tour (though this is usually transport-only, & you buy your own food & drink and any minor admission charges).

Plenty of info on local operators and ideas for DIY on the Cruise Critic port-of-call forums.

 

Most "activity" excursions can also be pre-booked privately or as part of a RollCall group. Stuff like swimming with turtles, zip-lining, catamaran trips. But they're usually difficult or impossible to fix up on-the-fly at the quayside, so do pre-book even if not through the ship.

 

If you want to play safe, do your own thing in the morning & ship's offering in the afternoon.

That way you'll not risk missing the sailing - that's the one advantage of ship's tours, though its grossly over-stated by cruise lines

 

JB :)

Edited September 26, 2014 by John Bull