NCL excursions vs on your own.

[4774Papa]

Don't be afraid, be brave.

 

 

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It happens. I have been on cruises where we heard about people missing the ship.

For that reason, it is important to research the port, the places that you want to see on a tour and research the reliability of any tour company that you might choose.

[wordsjustfly]

We were told that if you book excursions independently and you were late coming back to the ship they will not wait for you and you will have to catch up with the ship at the next port at your own expense.

 

When we were in Alaska we went whale watching on an excursion that was booked through NCL and guess what – we were late getting back. We were 45 minutes late getting back and they held the ship for us. I was pretty stressed out. And the moment we boarded the ship they cast off and they were on their way. The stewards told us several times that we were really lucky that we had booked the excursion through the cruise line.

 

 

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[mscdivina2016]

We were told that if you book excursions independently and you were late coming back to the ship they will not wait for you and you will have to catch up with the ship at the next port at your own expense.

 

When we were in Alaska we went whale watching on an excursion that was booked through NCL and guess what – we were late getting back. We were 45 minutes late getting back and they held the ship for us. I was pretty stressed out. And the moment we boarded the ship they cast off and they were on their way. The stewards told us several times that we were really lucky that we had booked the excursion through the cruise line.

 

 

 

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That is designed to scare you. They do not want to leave anyone. The stewards are just making small talk to befriend you for a better tip.

Like I posted earlier, the people left behind on the Scuba trip go NO assistance or help from the cruise line. What good is a port agent that closes at 5pm?

 

Steve

[sanger727]

We were told that if you book excursions independently and you were late coming back to the ship they will not wait for you and you will have to catch up with the ship at the next port at your own expense.

 

When we were in Alaska we went whale watching on an excursion that was booked through NCL and guess what – we were late getting back. We were 45 minutes late getting back and they held the ship for us. I was pretty stressed out. And the moment we boarded the ship they cast off and they were on their way. The stewards told us several times that we were really lucky that we had booked the excursion through the cruise line.

 

 

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All of that is true. And if you were booked independently on a tour that returned 45 minutes late; they most likely wouldn't have waited for you. Which is why independent tours never plan on getting you back at the last minute - they plan to get you back well ahead of time so if traffic gets back up it's not an issue. For a 45 minute delay, the ship will wait for their tours. Just be aware that if there was a major delay of hours, even being on a ship's tour, they won't be able to wait for you.

 

There's no reason to be stressed if you are on the ship tour; the guides communicate with the port personnel and let them know the status. If the ship was unable to wait they would have known. We were recently on a cruise where we ended up docking 45 minutes late at one port. We were lined up to get off because our independent excursion was set to leave an hour after docking. Now, we called and told them the situation and they said they would wait if we were a few late so we weren't too concerned. But there was a group ahead of us stressed out that their tour would leave without them - it was a ship tour!!!!! [emoji23][emoji23]

 

We primarily use independent tours and DIY and try to plan on not meeting the tour until 45-60 minutes after docking and being back to the ship an hour before all aboard. We are comfortable with that margin. If we want to take a 7 hour tour during a 8 hour port stop or if what we want to do takes more than an hour of travel we will take the ship's tour. But when you are on a small Caribbean island and don't leave the island... there's really no need for the 'safety' of the ship's tour.

 

 

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Edited March 19, 2017 by sanger727

[hawkeyetlse]

I only really know of one story of someone missing the ship with a private excursion, but it's a good one, from 2003:

Med Review Barcelona to Venice

 

The poster who wrote this story does a good job of explaining how it was a combination of lots of little things that eventually caused them to miss the ship. Some things were out of their control, some things were bad decisions on their part or on their driver's part, but just little things that seemed harmless enough at the time. The take-away message is not to avoid independent tours, but to avoid some of the mistakes that they made (their program was too ambitious, they spent too much time having lunch, etc.)

[sanger727]

I only really know of one story of someone missing the ship with a private excursion, but it's a good one, from 2003:

 

Med Review Barcelona to Venice

 

 

 

The poster who wrote this story does a good job of explaining how it was a combination of lots of little things that eventually caused them to miss the ship. Some things were out of their control, some things were bad decisions on their part or on their driver's part, but just little things that seemed harmless enough at the time. The take-away message is not to avoid independent tours, but to avoid some of the mistakes that they made (their program was too ambitious, they spent too much time having lunch, etc.)

 

 

That's an interesting read. At the end of the day my philosophy is that whenever you step outside your house; there's no guarantees in life. When I plan a trip, I'd like the airplane to leave mostly on time; I'd like to get to my hotel by the day of my reservation and to the ship before it sails. Almost always this happens. No matter where you go and how you get there there's a chance something could go wrong. You could be flying the day there's an airport shooting or bomb threat; or even a major storm or computer outage and be stuck for a day or more. You could get stuck in horrific traffic due to a fatal accident like the folks in that post. If you are the unlucky one that lightning strikes then you deal with it; figure out how to get back on track; and move on. You won't be stuck the rest of your life in a foreign country because you miss the ship. If it's worth doing ship excursions to have a little extra piece of mind, by all means. But I consistently run into ship excursions when we are doing our own thing and it really looks like we are having more fun than them [emoji6].

 

 

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