Shore Excursions

[vcinmd]

Hello! I am brand new to cruising and Cruise Critic! My family and I are planning to take an Alaska cruise in July either with Royal Caribbean or Princess departing from Vancouver. It will be my, my husband and 2 teens. My question is pretty basic.

 

Do you recommend serving tour excursions via the cruise line or doing it on your own? What are the pros and cons? If doing it on your own, how do you find what is available. If reserved via the cruise line, do you need to reserve when making the reservation or can you add it later? Many thanks in advance!

[silverelf]

Hello!

 

We're taking our first trip to Alaska this summer too. I'd recommend picking your cruiseline ASAP as some sailings are starting to sell out of balconies, suites, etc, so if you are picky about what you want, best to do it when you still have some choices.

 

I booked almost all of my excursions independently. It was MUCH cheaper (avg 30-50 dollars per person/per excursion). I figured out what I wanted to do by looking at the cruiseship offerings and using tripadvisor (for each city) as well as searching cruisecritic for "juneau excursion review" (for example). I also knew what I wanted for some areas - using Juneau again, I knew I wanted to go whale watching there because its supposed to be phenomenal.

 

The benefit of booking through the ship is guarantees - your excursion will wait if the ship arrives late, the ship will wait if your excursion arrives late. That being said, the companies we booked with have "guarantees" too - one even said on the website that they would fly/drive us to the next port if necessary. Hopefully that will never be an issue!!

 

I would recommend doing excursions sooner rather than later - many only require a deposit (princess does not require any deposit for their excursions) and you wouldn't want something to sell out because you waited! On the flip side, some excursions offered me an early bird discount for paying in full early (we did this with Orca Enterprises in Juneau and saved 15%).

 

Happy hunting! :)

[mapleleaves]

I always recommend that people read thru trip reports which are listed in STICKYs near the top of the page. The reports are very detailed with information on activities, excursions, vendors, DIY options, etc. Many of them are photo journals and include wonderful photos which will give you a better idea of what you may experience.

The first line of the report usually includes the ship, travel date, itinerary and who travelled. You'll find families, singles, couples, multi generational reports. Enjoy !

[xlxo]

Do you recommend serving tour excursions via the cruise line or doing it on your own? What are the pros and cons? If doing it on your own, how do you find what is available. If reserved via the cruise line, do you need to reserve when making the reservation or can you add it later? Many thanks in advance!

 

I do a combination....

• Mt. Roberts... go private.... if it's fogged in, I check every 15 minutes to see if it clears and buy my tickets at the base.
  
• If cruise excursions sold out... private is a good backup option
  
• If the excursion is going a great distance from port (eg Yukon while in Skagway)... going with the cruise is safer in case there is a traffic or weather problems.
  
• captain's tour (ship)... no choice but to go cruise. Book early to secure one of the dozen popular spots!
  

Edited January 7, 2015 by xlxo

[sherryf]

I do a combination....

• Mt. Roberts... go private.... if it's fogged in, I check every 15 minutes to see if it clears and buy my tickets at the base.
  
• If cruise excursions sold out... private is a good backup option
  
• If the excursion is going a great distance from port (eg Yukon while in Skagway)... going with the cruise is safer in case there is a traffic or weather problems.
  
• captain's tour (ship)... no choice but to go cruise. Book early to secure one of the dozen popular spots!
  

 

I have been to the Yukon independently with Chilkoot Charters twice, and I've read many, many reports from others who have done so, and I have NEVER heard of anyone missing the ship. It would be an extremely rare situation that would cause this to happen. The much smaller group sizes with independent tours make it well worth it!

[vcinmd]

Thanks all for the great advice and suggestions!:)

[bonvoyagie]

The local tour operators are good at getting you back to the ship on time - you will also find that even the cruise lines will not wait for their own tours - unless it is going to be just a few minutes. In Skagway a couple of years ago a ships tour group missed Glacier Bay because they were stranded on a ship tour and by the time they got back to Skagway they had to meet the ship at the next port.

 

These local operators would not stay in business if they got you back late - most of them will make the same guarantee that the cruise line will - get you to the next port.

 

IMHO it is worth it to use the smaller operators - they usually offer smaller size tours at either the same or lower cost of the cruise line. You can also get tours not offered by your line. I used Chilkoot for a Bennett Scenic tour that was not offered on my cruise ship. I paid 239, I found another place that wanted 250 and Princess wanted 270. BTW we were able to avoid the Princess busses all the way back to Skagway so we had only the 5 of us at most photo stops on the way back - plus a local tour operator.

[xlxo]

I have been to the Yukon independently with Chilkoot Charters twice, and I've read many, many reports from others who have done so, and I have NEVER heard of anyone missing the ship. It would be an extremely rare situation that would cause this to happen. The much smaller group sizes with independent tours make it well worth it!

rare... yes... but it can happen.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/train-derailment-caused-by-switch-problem-white-pass-and-yukon-route-1.2722963

[travgurl]

What ship are you on and when are you going? We are on the Holland Oosterdam July 26th. Our excursions are booked independently at each port. I did a lot of research to decide what to do at each port and what company to choose. We had no problems making the reservations. We are looking forward to our trip.

[rpcv77]

Yes, rare things can happen. We can't make life foolproof. That being said, as noted above, reputable tour operators who cater to cruise pax, wouldn't do well if they weren't expert at getting customers back to the ship on time. I too will be doing my first Alaska cruise this year and have booked independently for Juneau and Skagway. I researched the providers carefully and have complete confidence in both the tours they will provide and getting us back to the ship on time. On my past five cruises, I have done a mix of ship tours and independent providers without a problem. Could a problem arise? Sure but life is not without risk and we all need to decide how much of it we're willing to take.:)

[April7901]

Another first-timer going in May. For a long time, I was leaning towards ship excursions. But several months later, I'm booked independently at five of my six stops. I'm paying too much money (in total) to go on a whale watch with 100 of my closest friends ;)

[rockdoctor]

WP&Y excursions in Skagway are best reserved from the cruiseline. Those depart from the dock. For independently booked excursions, you have to get to the RR station in town.

[sjmbruce]

Our first Alaskan cruise was in May of last year. We did a mixture of ship and independent excursions.

Our most independent "tour" was renting a car in Skagway and going on a road trip.

In Ketchikan we booked a float plane tour of the Misty Fjords through the cruise line, then explored the town on our own. Had we had more time, we would have taken the bus to a totem pole park on our own.

In Juneau, we booked our own whale watching tour and did Mendenhall Glacier on our own as well. We booked a helicopter flight/glacier walk through the cruise line, but unfortunately the weather caused that to be cancelled.

 

The independent tours didn't really save us much money, but, for example, it was amazing being in a tiny boat with seven people (including us and the captain) watching the whales.

Edited January 19, 2015 by sjmbruce

[sherryf]

WP&Y excursions in Skagway are best reserved from the cruiseline. Those depart from the dock. For independently booked excursions, you have to get to the RR station in town.

 

Not necessarily true. If you book directly through WP&YR, you have to walk to the station, but when we have booked with Chilkoot, they picked us up at the pier.