celebrity excursion prices

[koss78b2]

I thinking of doing a cruise with celebrity in October for med cruise. On constellation, would be first time with Celebrity

noticed the prices of excursions are also much higher then what I seen with other cruise lines. is there a high quality of service offered through their excrusions? thanks

[chemmo]

I thinking of doing a cruise with celebrity in October for med cruise. On constellation, would be first time with Celebrity

noticed the prices of excursions are also much higher then what I seen with other cruise lines. is there a high quality of service offered through their excrusions? thanks

 

Remember you do not have to just stick with ship tours. Many ports of call in the Med are walkable or have a short shuttle service. You can look at independent tours for each port too.

 

We have experienced some excellent Celebrity tours and others have seemed quite big groups (full coach). We find we use Celebrity tours more for longer (full day) excursions, excursions when tendering and also if we have a lot of OBC. I suggest you do a bit of research about places you want to visit. You could also join your roll call and see what tours they are arranging.

[DYKWIA]

We've been on a few Celebrity organised excursions around the Med. We've never been wowed by the quality of these tours - nothing feels very personalised.

 

We find the "on your own" excursions offered by Celebrity quite good value. They're often quite a bit cheaper than the usual tour but typically feature all your transportation and a guide who will tell you enough to enable you to enjoy the trip but with the emphasis on doing your own thing.

 

Our "on your own" excursion to Portofino (from Genoa) was about $40 pp less than a very similar full tour (lasting an hour longer) and included Coach and Guide to Rapallo and Santa Margherita, boat transfer to Portofino and return to the ship. The guide essentially told you a fair bit on the way to the resorts and once there told you the main things to see and where and when to meet up for the next bit of the excursion. On the return trip to the port the guide basically left us in peace (fairly typical on virtually every coach trip I've done).

 

Also, in a lot of med ports it really pretty easy to do your own thing - there are several port guides that can help

http://www.tomsportguides.com/

Edited August 30, 2016 by DYKWIA

[texasgirl29]

Check out my trip review for the Mediterranean (link in my signature). We did independent tours or DIY in all of our ports. I'm not the worlds most experienced but these worked very well and we saved a lot of money.

 

 

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[Hlitner]

The price of cruise excursions, on most cruise lines, is often outrageous and an awful value. That is why many frequent (and informed) cruisers book private excursions or simply do things on their own. You must consider that nearly all the cruise lines have now franchised-out their shore excursion program and they are run by contractors. On most lines, even the shore excursion staff (and lecturer) work for a third party contractor. This contractor works with various tour providers in each port to develop the excursions. The contractor then marks-up the price to make a nice profit and also generate the revenue for the cruise line. So you are essentially dealing with 2 middlemen (the shore excursion contractor plus the cruise line) who must make a decent profit. If you book a private excursion directly with a local tour company or guide, you are cutting out 2 layers of profit taking....and the result is usually a lot better value. Plus, private excursions are generally in smaller groups then the busload hoards on cruise excursions.

 

We would add that the Med is also an area of the world just made for independent travel. DW and I have literally spent years in that region and seldom book any kind of excursion. Some new books, such as the Rick Steves "Mediterranean Cruise Ports" has been designed to give a lot of help and support to independent travel. And you can also find lots of detailed info here on the CC boards. The example we like to post is just a basic transfer from the Port of Civitavecchia to Rome. The cruise line excursions generally cost about $100 per person (or more) for bus transportation from the port to Rome. But one can easily do this on the regional trains for about $13 pp...which even includes all days unlimited use of Rome's Metro and bus system. And there are similar situations in nearly every Med port.

 

Hank

[DYKWIA]

Yes, Rick Steves book is excellent (even to many of us in the UK who'd never heard of him!) Doesn't cover all ports though and there are some surprising omissions (Malaga IIRC).

 

Some ports lend them self wonderfully to DIY adventures - Villefrance on the Cote D'Azur is a good example.

 

Once off the tender walk 200 yards to the train station - take a train to the left for Nice and a train to the right for Monaco! about 10 mins by train to Nice and about 20 mins to Monaco... easy peasy lemon squeezy

Edited August 30, 2016 by DYKWIA

[graceswan]

Don't forget to go to your roll call chat. Many people put together private tours and will take additional people to make the cost less per person. We have done some great tours that way.

 

Donna

[onespots]

Is there a higher quality of service for their excursions ? ( Celebrity )

 

In a word no... We much prefer private or DIY tours/excursions. Main reason is a small group or 2 couples. Able to adjust the tour to our interests & spend more time at specific locations. The overall experience for us is enhanced & we actually see more & different sites than on the standard ship's excursion.

Cost can be a factor too. Just feel we get a better bang for the buck doing a private excursion.

 

Ship tours only have value to us, if all day excursions have a very close return time to catch the ship. ( the ship will wait for you ) Also if the excursion we want is only available thru the ship & unable to book thru a private contractor. ( Alaska comes to mind )

There are lots of choices in Europe & excellent transportation to allow you travel as you see fit.

 

We have taken several ship excursions. Mostly disappointed because of a set schedule, crowd control, customers not properly prepared for the excursion, lack of good footwear & clothing, & finally it's always the same people who continually show up late boarding the bus & delaying the entire group.

 

Happy Travels, John

[Rufferto]

There's lots of information and guides online. We did mostly DIY exploring. In big cities we used trains and metros for getting around. It's a lot easier than you think, even with language barriers.