Booking private excursions or through Crown and lateness

[styme123]

Love reading everyone's opinions :) A lot of food for thought now. When I started researching Alaska and went on a few boards like Frommer's and Fodors, they pretty much were like private is the way to go. It's cheaper, less crowded and not as generic (tour guides with no personality or just get'm in -get'm out mentality) as the ship booked excursions. Now I'm not too sure if the worry about getting back late and missing the ship is worth it. I'm not worried about myself cutting it too close because I was shopping or didn't watch the time, but more of an unexpected thing like a flat tire, tour boat mechanical trouble or weather related since it's Alaska. I did get travel insurance but still won't want to deal with all that hassle of trying to meet up with the ship at the next port.

[cheeseclan]

What private tours are you looking at doing in AK? We did a few private and had no problems. Some we did with princess since they were all day tours. Whale watching we did privately.

[PescadoAmarillo]

When we do something independently, DH makes a point of telling the guide/driver exactly what time we want to be delivered back to the ship. And then he tells them that, if we miss the ship, we're going home with them. After spending several hours with us, none of them have ever allowed that to happen. :p

[styme123]

What private tours are you looking at doing in AK? We did a few private and had no problems. Some we did with princess since they were all day tours. Whale watching we did privately.

 

My oldest son wants to go salmon fishing. Not sure yet which port that's best for that. I think I might want to do zip-lining, the white pass train, Menenhall glacier.

[cr8tiv1]

I, once, organized a Panama Canal independent tour. It was fabulous and took us from the Pacific Coast to the Caribbean Sea. I was very specific about how long the tour should be...and what time I wanted to be back at the tender port. It was an overnight in Panama, but the ship was anchored out. Push comes to shove, I figured I could get on with the photographers who were running around the locks the next morning.

 

Time: an hour before the last tender, please.

 

Actually: I don't know how many tenders were still left, but they were already picking up the trash and stanchions. Much too close for comfort. We were stuck in traffic! Credit goes to my driver who did everything he could do legally to get us back to the dock.

 

Alaska is a little bit safer. Although, if you do miss the ship, it will be very difficult for you to meet up with it since most of the towns are not easily accessible by auto. I have done both Princess excursions and my own independent ones in Alaska. Outside of US...I am a little more conservative.

[donaldsc]

Many reputable tour operators "guarantee" that they will deliver you back to your ship on time or they will pay to get you to the next port.

 

And no' date=' we've never been late getting back with any private tour operator.

 

We were an hour late once with a ship sponsored excursion, but that was because they waited an hour for an individual who couldn't follow instructions. The excursion included a period of "on your own" time. We were escorted to our meeting point and instructed to be back there at X time. All but one made it back. We were encouraging the guide to take us to the bus and leave--it had been a long, hot day. She was in radio contact with her company and they kept telling her to wait as we were the last bus. Finally he straggled in about 55 minutes late. Yes, the ship was waiting for us when the bus got us there.[/quote']

 

Intolerable. They should have just left him behind with a note taped to the curb saying "get back to the ship on your own but the ship will not be there. Tough. Princess Cruises."

 

DON

[Anubi]

There are certain excursions I would only do through Princess, just for that reason, especially if it involves the last port before a series of sea days, or a tour to someplace that is quite far from the ship.

 

Excellent advice Ginger!! Another vote here for independent tours. On our TA we used only independent tours - except for our last port ;) - and we were never late returning. We met people on that cruise who felt we were crazy for not taking the Princess tours but I guess it depends on your comfort level. On our upcoming Caribbean cruise we will DIY on all the islands but in the Caribbean, its easier to do that.

[paul929207]

We have taken independent tours all over the world and never had a problem. Most of the time, we see everything on the Princess tour, some extra stuff and are back early. All that for half the cost and 10 or 15 people on the tour with us instead of the usual 40 or50 with Princess.

[sunsetbeachgal]

The private excursion providers mentioned on Cruise Critic and Tripadvisor know their livelihood depends on word of mouth and internet and my experience is they get you back in plenty of time. There are times we use ship excursions as it is easier when just the two of us, private excursions can be more expensive unless you can find other folks to share

Edited April 30, 2016 by sunsetbeachgal

[styme123]

I've been looking at the prices of excursions from private to Princess sponsored ones thinking that if there isn't much of difference maybe take the safer route and go with the Princess ones. It seems like the ones ( some ziplining ones) that I've looked at aren't that much different in price than if you booked directly with the companies website, usually like $10 difference on some. I wonder if the tour "experience" is any different depending on how you book. The prices seem to differ the most I think on the fishing trips.

It seems like the very popular excursions on Trip advisor are the ones that the prices are pretty much the same as the cruise booked ones. A lot of them have links back to the cruise lines to book through. Some of the less reviewed excursions (still positive reviews, but less in numbers) seem to be where the price differences are. Wondering if those ones are worth the risk of saving the money, and will the excursion be more personal and less cookie cutter-like than the ones booked through the cruise lines.

[BopRN]

We were on a private cave-tubing tour in Belize when sailing with RCCL. The RCCL excursion bus had broken down making a bus load of 100 passengers arrive for cave-tubing at the same time we did. So our tour guide took the 25 of us up to the front of the line to go first. They are all well aware that the cruise lines wait for their own, but the private tour passengers need to be back on time.

[TwoCruisers]

I have never heard of anyone missing the ship when taking a tour from a local tour company.

 

That being said, we almost missed the ship on a local tour in 2010. The tour was a boat tour on St. Vincent. The tour company was Baleine tours and usually referred to as “Wayne’s tour” because he is the operator. The tour was great and lots of fun. The last stop was a beach stop and Wayne was in the water with everyone. He became enamored with a couple of young ladies and he forgot about the time. I had to get his attention and insist that we needed to leave. We speed back to the dock, ran about a block to the ship and got on with less than 5 minutes to go.

 

I still take local tours, but I am leery of taking a tour that gets back close to the ship’s departure time.

[Coral]

In Alaska - I wouldn't worry about getting back to the ship late. I have not heard anyone on the Alaska board about missing the ship due to a private shore excursions. Almost all of my excursions in Alaska are booked privately.

 

These shore excursions in Alaska depend on cruise passengers. They don't want to have any problems. Just be clear when booking with them what time your ship sails.

Edited April 30, 2016 by Coral

[easyboy]

I did get travel insurance but still won't want to deal with all that hassle of trying to meet up with the ship at the next port.

...and the stress that goes with it!

[Coral]

I've been looking at the prices of excursions from private to Princess sponsored ones thinking that if there isn't much of difference maybe take the safer route and go with the Princess ones. It seems like the ones ( some ziplining ones) that I've looked at aren't that much different in price than if you booked directly with the companies website, usually like $10 difference on some. I wonder if the tour "experience" is any different depending on how you book. The prices seem to differ the most I think on the fishing trips.

It seems like the very popular excursions on Trip advisor are the ones that the prices are pretty much the same as the cruise booked ones. A lot of them have links back to the cruise lines to book through. Some of the less reviewed excursions (still positive reviews, but less in numbers) seem to be where the price differences are. Wondering if those ones are worth the risk of saving the money, and will the excursion be more personal and less cookie cutter-like than the ones booked through the cruise lines.

 

You can ask specifically on the Alaska board. The people over there know the tours really well and also know the private vendors really well.

 

One example - for whale watching in Juneau, Princess uses a very large boat for their most popular tour (not the Photo Safari tour). If you book with a local vendor, you may get a ship with 6, 14 or 50 verses hundreds on your boat.

 

For a float plane trip to Misty Fiord, on Princess excursion, you get the flight. On some of the private, locally booked trip, you get to land half way through and get out of the boat. On a bus ride into the Yukon, you may have 50 people with Princess vs 10. Sometimes the excursions are the same but you pay less to book direct. In Skagway - the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari is much cheaper if you book direct. Same company that run the excursion but cheaper booking direct.

 

Go over to the Alaska board and you can ask about every excursion you are interested in.

[styme123]

You can ask specifically on the Alaska board. The people over there know the tours really well and also know the private vendors really well.

 

One example - for whale watching in Juneau, Princess uses a very large boat for their most popular tour (not the Photo Safari tour). If you book with a local vendor, you may get a ship with 6, 14 or 50 verses hundreds on your boat.

 

For a float plane trip to Misty Fiord, on Princess excursion, you get the flight. On some of the private, locally booked trip, you get to land half way through and get out of the boat. On a bus ride into the Yukon, you may have 50 people with Princess vs 10. Sometimes the excursions are the same but you pay less to book direct. In Skagway - the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari is much cheaper if you book direct. Same company that run the excursion but cheaper booking direct.

 

Go over to the Alaska board and you can ask about every excursion you are interested in.

 

Yeah Ive been on there a bit too as well as TA. I spent the last day or so looking up recommendations for salmon sport fishing charters for a few of us. I think they want to go out of Ketchican since Juneau has a lot of other excursions and things to do. It's so tricky for me to make a confident decisions. Even with Trip Advisor, when I look up a charter some reviews say great things and others say they would never us them. It just makes me nervous spending all that money and not have a great time. If it was like $25 you say a well live and learn but for a few hundred $ or a thousand $ (7 of us) that's another story.

[Coral]

Yeah Ive been on there a bit too as well as TA. I spent the last day or so looking up recommendations for salmon sport fishing charters for a few of us. I think they want to go out of Ketchican since Juneau has a lot of other excursions and things to do. It's so tricky for me to make a confident decisions. Even with Trip Advisor, when I look up a charter some reviews say great things and others say they would never us them. It just makes me nervous spending all that money and not have a great time. If it was like $25 you say a well live and learn but for a few hundred $ or a thousand $ (7 of us) that's another story.

 

Ask on the Alaska board about salmon fishing in July. I am sure you will get some responses. I agree - those fishing excursions are expensive.