Excursion question for newbie...

[Cookiesbykk]

We're headed to the w. carib on the Grand in Jan and with all this talk about tendering delays at CG and Coz I'm really unsure which direction to go. If I'm going to book excursions through Princess, I have to do it by tomorrow (1 month out). I keep hearing good things about Captain Marvins, Coral Breeze, Nativeway and David and Ivan and certainly these operators are less expensive than booking through Princess directly, but what recourse do I have from them if we end up having a 2 hour tendering experience or we skip a port like Belize altogether due to rough weather issues? Also are they as likely to be sure we get back to the ship in time to reboard? Sorry for such novice questions...but if I don't book these Princess-run excursions in the next 24 hours, I might be out of luck completely.

Any sage advice from veterans would be greatly appreciated!

Karen

[Pam in CA]

Karen, good questions. If you book an independent tour, make sure they don't charge you until you actually take the tour. They will be aware of any schedule changes and will adjust the tour accordingly. The main thing is to avoid pre-paying for a tour unless they guarantee 100% refund should you have to miss the tour. They are usually pretty responsible about getting you back to the ship on time but as always, if you book independently, you should make sure they are aware of what time you are due back and keep track of your time. Ultimately, if there's a mechanical or other problem, it's your responsibility to get back to the ship on time.

 

You are not "out of luck" if you don't book the Princess excursions online. They just close the online booking ahead of time. Almost always, there are spaces available on tours once you board the ship. Just go to the Shore Excursion Desk.

 

Also, one thing to keep in mind if you book a Princess excursion is that you're really just reserving it. You're not prepaying for it. The cost will be billed to your onboard account once you check in. You have until the morning of the day before the excursion to cancel and the tickets will be credited. If the ship misses a port due to weather, they will automatically credit your excursion tix.

[spongerob]

Karen, ordinarily I'd feel confident giving advice on this, but it sounds like overcrowding at Grand Cayman and slow tendering at Cozumel are getting in the way of plans of many people.

 

If you want to book privately, check with each one what their policy is with regards to late arrivals and cancellations. I think most of the ones you mentioned are used to working with cruise passengers and don't penalize people for bad luck - 'cuz they know it would be reported here! Some of them, like Captain Marvin's, probably run several tours per day and can make adjustments if need be.

 

Booking private tours when you have to tender and don't have much time in port might be risky. Remember, the priority always goes (or should) to ship's tours when it comes to tendering.

[Cookiesbykk]

I guess the smartest thing to do at this point is reserve some excursions through Princess and then continue to research private tours if there's not penalty for canceling up to 24 hours out. At this point the cave tubing in Belize and a Stingray City tour in GC look interesting to us. Have either of you done these tours through Princess and if so, any feedback? The couple of dollars extra (which I plan to win back in the Casino anyway;) )that Princess charges might be worth the peace of mind at this point.

Karen

[chrysalis]

you MUST do the stringray thing in GC.....we did it thru Princess....the "barrier reef snorkel and StingRay City".....it was really fantastic.

 

enjoy

[2theship]

We booked Stingray City with Nativeway in Grand Cayman and got caught in the tendering nightmare. We just missed one tender and had to wait a very long time for another tender to fill. Once we were ashore, we were at least 30 minutes late and our tour was gone. However, a Nativeway rep was there and arranged for us to take a later tour. We were on a small boat with less than a dozen people and the staff was great. We were back in time for the last tender to the ship - not a lot of time to spare but certainly enough to make it.

 

I would have preferred the earlier trip but we were quite please with Nativeway's flexibility. Also, we did not pay until we actually took the trip so we would not have been out any money if we had declined the later tour.

 

Years before we took a ship excursion to Stingray City. It was very crowded and there was no personal attention. Nativeway was a definite improvement. I think the most important part of using private tours is to book the trips earlier in the day whenever possible. That way, if a problem occurs, you have some options. Also, you have fewer worries about returning to the ship ontime.