Informal quick survey - do you plan paid activities for each port of call?

[Woodfaerie]

Whether or not I do excursions in all ports or for that fact any of them comes down to how much I spent on the cruise itself. If I get a balcony, I will tend to just go to beaches, the free ones, which i love anyway. I am a sun loving cruise vs a cultural cruiser. Its all about relaxation for me, but I do love a good excursion every now and again! (St Thomas catamaran/turtle cove, Belize Mayan temples and River Wallace boat tour were so much fun)

[DisneyDatknee]

Nope. Alaska was the one exception where we booked a third-party private whale watching tour in Juneau with Harv & Marv. Best excursion ever.

 

But besides that, we usually plan on what to do, but we hardly do cruise-line excursions. Out of the 17 cruise ports I've stopped at, I've only bought 4, two were really I had to do it or do nothing. We woke up late by accident in Costa Maya as I forgot to set an alarm and missed a third-party excursion (lost the $15 deposit) and Costa Maya is very regulated and we had to buy one from Royal. Jamaica, I just did not feel safe going out by myself so we just bought the cruise excursion to Dune River Falls and the Prospect Estate, highly recommend.

 

But in general, we don't book paid excursions in advanced. We just love cruising. We enjoy walking around ports and enjoying family time, but in our planned Europe Cruise in either April/June of next year, we are definitely booking some due to time crunches.

[grest]

because we have been to most ports, we love to stay on the ship and enjoy the relative quiet, sitting on the balcony and watching the ocean

[buddylover]

We tend to choose our cruises, when we can, by itinerary...with that said, if the port is new to us we definitely plan to see it and mostly book independent tours etc. Now that we have seen most of the Caribbean, if we are going back to a previously visited port, then we do not book any tours, we mostly just get off the ship and walk around, or taxi into 'town', or go to a beach on our own. We rarely stay on the ship, but sometimes do get off late and come back early!!

[coevan]

because we have been to most ports, we love to stay on the ship and enjoy the relative quiet, sitting on the balcony and watching the ocean

 

 

Unless your side of the ship is facing the port, it's a crap shoot

[uprivermama]

Like most people, it depends...

When we began cruising, we got most of our information from these boards, and it sounded like everyone else planned an excursion in each port, so that's what we did.

 

As we've become more "seasoned" cruisers, we have become more confident in exploring new places, and have gotten a pretty good sense for the ports where an excursion is really the best call (i.e. Belize or La Romana, DR) vs ports where we might just grab a taxi to a beach for the day, or walk around and explore (i.e. Half Moon Cay, or Grand Turk).

 

We're on the Nov 5th Journey Cruise on the Ecstasy, and we are really only planning one organized excursion for San Juan, PR. We've been there previously for several days, and want to get out of San Juan and explore a little.

 

I think being judicious about spending money on excursions is one of the easiest ways to control your costs on a cruise. Works for me anyway :)

Edited to add: I always do tons of research ahead of the cruise, and we have a pretty good idea of what the plan is for each port before we sail. But every once in awhile, we see an excursion advertised on board that sounds fun and we'll jump on it. Generally, I avoid ship excursions due to the crowds. Crowds suck.

Edited August 31, 2017 by uprivermama
Jumped the gun

[PirataVita]

We just enjoyed 2 all inclusive beach days at Maya Chan ( Costa Maya) and Mr. Sanchos (Cozumel). We booked it on our own through Pay Pal and it was a great experience!

[NightOne]

Informal survey here seeking other cruisers experiences.

 

For each port of call, do you plan a paid excursion/activity?

 

For example, on a 4-port cruise, do you have activities planned for each port (paid as in: snorkeling, local tour, food tour, boat trip, paid beach activity, any planned excursion type)?

 

Always. :)

[Doggielover68]

It depends on the ports. If we can easily get to a beach or activity by walking, taxi, bus, etc then we don't book anything ahead of time. If it's a port like Belize with not much to do in the port area or can't get somewhere nearby safely, then we will book something ahead of time.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Djptcp]

After 41 cruises, we have pretty much seen and done what we ever wanted to do in Mexico, Central and South America, so no we do not plan any shore activities. Usually just get off to shop and grab a meal, otherwise we just enjoy being on the ships and relaxing.

[A&Jfamily]

Any new port we always do a paid planned activity. At a repeat port like Cozumel we will get a cab and go some place live money bar. In Nassau we may just walk to the straw market and Arwak Cay.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[watermelonqueen99]

Not always. Depends on the itinerary.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Forums mobile app

[OCruisers]

Not always. Depends on the itinerary.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Forums mobile app

 

"Ditto" (y)

[cccer]

We used to plan an excursion every port either through Carnival or privately. We still book privately but sometimes we just play it by ear. After about 15 cruises, we actually stayed on the ship for the first time when we were in port. We had a great time, the best part was no line at the Mongolian Wok.

 

That being said I have great memories of all of our ports and in my opinion guided tours are the best way to go.

[h_blond2]

We usually don't have an excursion booked, but it just depends on the port. On our upcoming cruise we are doing the following:

Cozumel- renting a car and hitting different beaches

Mahogany Bay- staying at the free beach

Belize- we are planning on booking an excursion that lets us snorkel with nurse sharks and stingrays

[NWACruiser]

It really depends on the port, and how many times we have been there.

 

We have been to Cozumel four times. The first time we went there we booked an excursion through Carnival. The second time we did a walkabout downtown. We asked a local where the locals go to eat. We went there as part of the walkabout. Our third time, we booked directly with Nachi Cocom. The fourth time we hit the port shops and walked around there.

 

If we have never been to the port, we usually, book something through the ship, or directly.