Small Group Shore Excursions

[wigoutdiva]

Hi

 

We will be going on our 1st ever Cruise this October ( Symphony of the Seas) I have a few questions regarding excursions, which im struggling to find answers for. So any answers or help will be greatly appreciated.

 

1) How "small " are the small group excursions that RCI offer ?

2) If you book an independent tour, when would you be able to get off the ship ? I keep reading ship excursions get preference.

**NOTE** We are not slow, we tend to do everything faster in general, and like to keep busy,we are not ones for pottering about. Couple in our late thirties.

PORTS VISITING:

Palme De Mallorca , Marseille, La Spezia, Civitavecchia and Naples

 

Excited but nervous for the cruise. There seems to be so much you need to know before going LOL.

Thank you.

Edited April 5, 2018 by wigoutdiva
Forgot some information

[Merion_Mom]

Hi

 

We will be going on our 1st ever Cruise this October ( Symphony of the Seas) I have a few questions regarding excursions, which im struggling to find answers for. So any answers or help will be greatly appreciated.

 

1) How "small " are the small group excursions that RCI offer ?

2) If you book an independent tour, when would you be able to get off the ship ? I keep reading ship excursions get preference.

**NOTE** We are not slow, we tend to do everything faster in general, and like to keep busy,we are not ones for pottering about. Couple in our late thirties.

 

Excited but nervous for the cruise. There seems to be so much you need to know before going LOL.

Thank you.

 

My answers would depend a lot on your ports. Where will you be stopping?

[wigoutdiva]

My answers would depend a lot on your ports. Where will you be stopping?

 

Oops sorry. I just edited my question with the ports

 

Palma De Mallorca

Marseille

La Spezia

Civitavecchia

Naples.

[Merion_Mom]

Oops sorry. I just edited my question with the ports

 

Palma De Mallorca

Marseille

La Spezia

Civitavecchia

Naples.

Great ports.

 

I wish that I could be more help, but I have not visited 4 of them via cruise.

 

But it's a really good question. :)

[wigoutdiva]

Great ports.

 

I wish that I could be more help, but I have not visited 4 of them via cruise.

 

But it's a really good question. :)

 

Thanks.

 

SaveSave

[Clarea]

With regard to getting off the ship, if you are docked (not tendering), guests usually start getting off the ship around 30-45 minutes after arrival.

[wigoutdiva]

With regard to getting off the ship, if you are docked (not tendering), guests usually start getting off the ship around 30-45 minutes after arrival.

 

Thank you.

[Clarea]

Thank you.

You're welcome.

[knittinggirl]

I’ve seen small group excursions' but they’re rare. I’ve seen 20 to 30 people crammed into a mini bus. Some cruise lines offer private cars with driver. We’ve booked one for Ketchikan. I prefer someone else drive. They know the laws and the traffic. In the cities you mentioned, you’re also dealing with a foreign language. In Amsterdam, we tied a public shuttle. Everything was in Dutch, and the stops were so buried, the doors closed in front of me, and we got separated. These days we each carry international phones when we go ashore. Along with chargers.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Soccer Mom 96]

The shore excursion description should tell you how many people IF it is a small group. We are doing this same itinerary in about a month. For Naples we are doing an RC excursion that says it is limited to 16 people. We looked at one for Rome that said 24 people but opted for something else there. If it doesn't say how many people, assume it will be "large" but possibly broken down into smaller groups once it starts. FWIW...we are doing ship excursions in the Italian ports. We are taking the RCL train to Rome but booked an independent tour once we arrive in Rome. We booked an independent wine tour for Marseille and we are just going to figure something out for Mallorca once we are there.

 

Hope that helps!

[knittinggirl]

Since a lot of cruise lines offer the same excursions.

 

For detailed outline, visit Princess.com's shore excursion page - > Destinations -> Plan & Book -->Shore Excursions.

 

They have an excellent outline that shows the size of bus, how many stops, amount of walking, restrooms, etc.

[Hoopster95]

We will be going on our 1st ever Cruise this October ( Symphony of the Seas)

 

**NOTE** We are not slow, we tend to do everything faster in general, and like to keep busy,we are not ones for pottering about. Couple in our late thirties.

PORTS VISITING:

Palme De Mallorca , Marseille, La Spezia, Civitavecchia and Naples

 

I've hi-lighted above a couple of major points you made so that we would understand who you are. In general, I'll say a few things that just pop to mind at random:

 

• RCL (any cruise line) excursions are cattle calls, slow, are marked up at least 50% on cost compared to a privately booked excursion, and almost always a couple of hours shorter than private excursion.
  
• I too am faster in general and hate waiting for others. The more ship excursions you book the more disappointed you will be in my humble opinion
  
• Your 1st ever cruise... CONGRATS!! :D Best advice I can give you: Temper your expectations!!!! Are you on this cruise to explore the ports in Europe, or to explore the ship? With the very long 7am-7pm port stops day after day, you will for sure miss several shows and things going on the ship, you cannot enjoy the entire ship with this itinerary unless you stay aboard and miss the ports. You will not "be able to do it all".
  
• Lean on advice & experience from your roll call, and book private excursions with other like minded people who want to pay less money for their excursions, with more often than not a better professional guide, with less people, and not come back to the ship 4 hours before sailing so that you can maximize your stay during the port stop.
  
• If you're not overwhelmed with planning, try to do at least one of the ports on your own without being herded around by anyone... All of the ports your heading to can be done on your own, the very easiest logistically being Palma de Mallorca.
  
• Plan plan plan... with a limited one day visit, there's no way any of these cities can truly be appreciated in 6-7 hours. Whatever you do, plan! Google Earth, public transportation, google tripadvisor "things to do"... know where you're going and how you're going to get there. It will make things so much easier and less stressful than walking off not knowing why you're there and what to do.
  

Have a amazing vacation :D

[Hoopster95]

We will be going on our 1st ever Cruise this October ( Symphony of the Seas)

 

Forgot to mention, if you haven't been doing so already, you should follow the funniest man on these forums currently doing a Symphony review as they are going to the exact same ports as your sailing

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2620084

[wigoutdiva]

I’ve seen small group excursions' but they’re rare. I’ve seen 20 to 30 people crammed into a mini bus. Some cruise lines offer private cars with driver. We’ve booked one for Ketchikan. I prefer someone else drive. They know the laws and the traffic. In the cities you mentioned, you’re also dealing with a foreign language. In Amsterdam, we tied a public shuttle. Everything was in Dutch, and the stops were so buried, the doors closed in front of me, and we got separated. These days we each carry international phones when we go ashore. Along with chargers.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Thanks. There seems to be quite a few small group excursions offered on our itinerary. Im not too worried about the foreign language , in Europe you can almost always find somebody that can understand some English.

[wigoutdiva]

I've hi-lighted above a couple of major points you made so that we would understand who you are. In general, I'll say a few things that just pop to mind at random:

 

• RCL (any cruise line) excursions are cattle calls, slow, are marked up at least 50% on cost compared to a privately booked excursion, and almost always a couple of hours shorter than private excursion.
  
• I too am faster in general and hate waiting for others. The more ship excursions you book the more disappointed you will be in my humble opinion
  
• Your 1st ever cruise... CONGRATS!! :D Best advice I can give you: Temper your expectations!!!! Are you on this cruise to explore the ports in Europe, or to explore the ship? With the very long 7am-7pm port stops day after day, you will for sure miss several shows and things going on the ship, you cannot enjoy the entire ship with this itinerary unless you stay aboard and miss the ports. You will not "be able to do it all".
  
• Lean on advice & experience from your roll call, and book private excursions with other like minded people who want to pay less money for their excursions, with more often than not a better professional guide, with less people, and not come back to the ship 4 hours before sailing so that you can maximize your stay during the port stop.
  
• If you're not overwhelmed with planning, try to do at least one of the ports on your own without being herded around by anyone... All of the ports your heading to can be done on your own, the very easiest logistically being Palma de Mallorca.
  
• Plan plan plan... with a limited one day visit, there's no way any of these cities can truly be appreciated in 6-7 hours. Whatever you do, plan! Google Earth, public transportation, google tripadvisor "things to do"... know where you're going and how you're going to get there. It will make things so much easier and less stressful than walking off not knowing why you're there and what to do.
  

Have a amazing vacation :D

 

Thank you so much for your great response, it helps a lot.

We are trying to look at the ship as the destination and then to maybe just explore the immediate surrounding towns when we dock and not travel too far.

But Yes i get caught up in everything and want to do it all lol.

We have decided we are going to skip the "Rome" Port . Its so far and so much time is spent travelling.

 

 

On all our holidays we do extensive research and always plan everything ourselves , if we do do a tour when on holiday normally , it will be something small with no more than 8 people. Which is why im unsure of what the ships mean when they say 'small'.

 

 

Thanks again for the help.

 

 

SaveSave

[wigoutdiva]

Forgot to mention, if you haven't been doing so already, you should follow the funniest man on these forums currently doing a Symphony review as they are going to the exact same ports as your sailing

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2620084

 

Brilliant! Thanks for that. Im going to go follow him now.

[wigoutdiva]

Since a lot of cruise lines offer the same excursions.

 

For detailed outline, visit Princess.com's shore excursion page - > Destinations -> Plan & Book -->Shore Excursions.

 

They have an excellent outline that shows the size of bus, how many stops, amount of walking, restrooms, etc.

 

Thanks , i will go have a look .

[wigoutdiva]

The shore excursion description should tell you how many people IF it is a small group. We are doing this same itinerary in about a month. For Naples we are doing an RC excursion that says it is limited to 16 people. We looked at one for Rome that said 24 people but opted for something else there. If it doesn't say how many people, assume it will be "large" but possibly broken down into smaller groups once it starts. FWIW...we are doing ship excursions in the Italian ports. We are taking the RCL train to Rome but booked an independent tour once we arrive in Rome. We booked an independent wine tour for Marseille and we are just going to figure something out for Mallorca once we are there.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Thank you. Maybe im being stupid, but i cant find it anywhere . I do find it strange that they don't tell you, which also make me nervous. I will go look again.

Awesome, sounds like you are all organised , hope you have a fabulous time.

Please do come back and share all the gems you find and your experience.

[Merion_Mom]

Thank you so much for your great response, it helps a lot.

We are trying to look at the ship as the destination and then to maybe just explore the immediate surrounding towns when we dock and not travel too far.

But Yes i get caught up in everything and want to do it all lol.

We have decided we are going to skip the "Rome" Port . Its so far and so much time is spent travelling.

 

 

On all our holidays we do extensive research and always plan everything ourselves , if we do do a tour when on holiday normally , it will be something small with no more than 8 people. Which is why im unsure of what the ships mean when they say 'small'.

 

 

Thanks again for the help.

 

 

 

SaveSave

 

I am shocked speechless that you would even CONSIDER "skipping Rome."

 

 

Skip the ship. Skip every other port. But for the love of all that is holy and sacred, GO TO ROME. :o :o :o :o :o

[wigoutdiva]

I am shocked speechless that you would even CONSIDER "skipping Rome."

 

 

Skip the ship. Skip every other port. But for the love of all that is holy and sacred, GO TO ROME. :o :o :o :o :o

 

LOL!! We will be doing a tour of Italy next year and will start in Rome , when we have more time and can actually fully enjoy it. The other Ports are places we will never visit again. So for us this is what makes the most sense.

 

SaveSave

[Merion_Mom]

LOL!! We will be doing a tour of Italy next year and will start in Rome , when we have more time and can actually fully enjoy it. The other Ports are places we will never visit again. So for us this is what makes the most sense.

 

 

SaveSave

 

Well, I wish that you had said that in the first place. You gave me a heart attack!!!!! ;p

[wigoutdiva]

Sorry

[ScoutLeoOz]

Just my two cents here - the question is about the small group tours that RCL is offering which seems to be a newer thing. The first time I've seen it is for our upcoming Navigator cruise - I've booked us on one for the Vigo port - it is about $20 more per person than the same excursion that I imagine is a "cattle call" experience. I'm thinking the cruise line is trying to get those people that normally book small group tours on their own to book with the cruise line instead. If I can find this thread again I will report back how ours goes.

[wigoutdiva]

Just my two cents here - the question is about the small group tours that RCL is offering which seems to be a newer thing. The first time I've seen it is for our upcoming Navigator cruise - I've booked us on one for the Vigo port - it is about $20 more per person than the same excursion that I imagine is a "cattle call" experience. I'm thinking the cruise line is trying to get those people that normally book small group tours on their own to book with the cruise line instead. If I can find this thread again I will report back how ours goes.

 

That would make sense that its a newer offering, because i cant find anything on the boards . Yes please let us know how it goes . Have a wonderful time.