Since prepayment of excursions, are you booking more private tours?

[cdngrl]

i'm booking more private tours. especially with my next cruise to new zealand and australia.

not only are princess' tours outrageously expensive but the $USD exchange is prohibitive.

i can book privately and about half of my tours needed to be prepaid. (i've found in other parts of the world, less places require prepayment).

plus because the $CAD and $AUD dollar are very close, the price i see is the price i get.

 

traveling solo and being a big chicken, i like the security of princess excursions unless i can join a group from my roll call. princess' policy and prices have given me the impetus to look elsewhere.

 

i'm curious if others who normally would book princess are looking elsewhere now?

[moki'smommy]

I typically look elsewhere unless I have a ton of OBC. Even if the cost is the same, I like the smaller groups on private excursions. If nothing else, there is less chance of getting stuck waiting for that one person who is always late to the meeting place for the return bus ride. On my last Princess excursion it was the tour guide for the bus!

[canadarocks]

The exact opposite is happening for me. We lucked out and got more gifted OBC than we've ever had for our next cruise. And I discovered that we Canadians can pre-purchase OBC at the same exchange rate that we booked our cruises at. In my case that is far less than the current rate, which is what I would have to pay for a private excursion.

 

So I'm booking WAY more Princess shore excursions than I ever have before! :)

[spookyfudge]

Yes, we are booking more off ship excursions, normally most will get paid when you show up, shame princess!

[land lover]

It all depends where we are traveling...I am doing 2 cruises to OZ this Sept/Oct. 10 day GBR & 28 day circumnavigation...pickings are thin for local guides in the ports for the places I want to visit and time tables are tight with the Sea princess, also all excursions with the ship are booked in AUD, so my USD are being converted. At 220+ AUDpp for most excursions I am interested in it really adds up...but I certainly will not let cost stop me from experiences....and IMHO smaller groups and mini vans are not always a positive on long drives and bumpy roads.

 

 

 

Where have you found your tours for OZ..I would sure like some tips.....

 

 

 

 

Thx

Edited July 2, 2018 by land lover

[geoherb]

I haven't booked any for our upcoming cruise in September. I booked one excursion through Princess for our last cruise. I booked through Princess because the excursion (snorkeling off Bonaire) had good reviews on Trip Advisor and the independent one I wanted was already sold out.

[Pam in CA]

It all depends. I’ve booked a combination of private and ship’s tours for years. Even with lots of OBC, I’ll be looking more for private tours but it’ll depend on the port/country.

[cdngrl]

Where have you found your tours for OZ..I would sure like some tips.....

Thx

 

i've spent a ton of time with google, trip advisor, the ports boards here...

i also look at the princess excursions, google a choice sentence and the trip provider website sometimes pops up.

good luck!

[cdngrl]

The exact opposite is happening for me. We lucked out and got more gifted OBC than we've ever had for our next cruise.

So I'm booking WAY more Princess shore excursions than I ever have before! :)

lucky you! i never get much obc.

 

i've enjoyed the majority of the princess excursions i've taken but i also have had excellent private ones. on my own i prefer going with princess but i don't like prepaying and their prices are making me think twice.

[Desert Cruizers]

For me it all depends on where I am cruising. Unless I am with some of my Roll Call Members, I will book with the cruise line if i am traveling to a new place. for most tours I have been on, I have pre paid. It is one less expense I need to worry about at the end.

[Mary Ann 2]

We are definitely booking more independent excursions since they started making us pay up front. On our last three cruises, we have not booked one Princess excursion. We've found some really unique experiences and found that we much prefer the small size groups.

[satxdiver]

We always get a lot of OBC and use it to "pre-pay" our excursions. We do a combination of private and ship excursions depending on what port we are in and what is available. I don't think the mix of private to ship excursions has been altered all that much since the institution of the new policy to pay when you book.

 

Among the perks for a ship excursion, one nice one is when the ship misses the port, the ship excursion is automatically deleted from our account with no effort on our part. We have missed one port while having booked a private excursion with a required deposit. I had to send them an email detailing the situation and asking for the refund to my cc which they did eventually (took a few weeks).

[sunsetbeachgal]

Prepaying has absolutely nothing to do with my decision. I seek out private tours because of the size of group, quality of ratings on TripAdvisor, scope of the tour and price. On our recent British Isles cruise we did all independent tours, and for half the price of Princess. After the fact I compared the description of the Princess tour stops with what we did, and in all cases we saw more and spent considerably more time at each, some of Princess tour stops were photo op only, whereas we spent an hour or two. The difference in Princess favor I saw was that all admissions were included where we paid our own with the tour.

 

Plus our drivers took us to small towns for lunch breaks rather than where the large buses went so we were able to dine in small restaurants that catered to locals. I’ve never tasted better fish and chips!!

 

 

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[Diver2014]

We never book private excursions. I like the convenience of Princess (or any of the other cruise lines we go on) doing all the work for me. I figure the time involved covers the price charged by the cruise line. I have checked some private excursion prices compared to what Princess offered and the savings wasn't enough to make me book privately. If we are able to spend thousands for a cruise and the airfare to get to the ship, then we can afford the cruise ship prices without the hassle of having to cancel with private companies if the port is missed or we are late getting back to the ship. Just my humble opinion and personal experience. One more thing.....we've met some wonderful people on the ship excursions - when you're on a bus or mini bus with the same people for anywhere from 3-8 hours, you meet some amazing people from everywhere. Then when we see them back on the ship, we say hi and even sometimes sit down with them for lunch or a cocktail. It's a great way to meet the people who are on the ship with you.

Edited July 2, 2018 by Diver2014

[Jezabel2924]

Paying up front has not been a concern for us since we have to pay for it at sometime anyway. You can always change your mind and the refund is nearly instantly. We book the best tour for us, which in many cases is a combination of private and ships tours. On our upcoming Baltic cruise we have two Princess tours and the rest are Private. The two Princess were unique and not available from anyone else. It also depends on the port. We are going to Greenland next year and there are not many private offerings (few ships go there) so we will probably go with Princess unless I can find a reliable private company. I am reading that these small towns are overwhelmed with ships come in, which I will take into consideration.

[Turtle05]

It doesn't change anything for me. I'd actually rather pay up front and not worry about it. For Alaska, the price difference just isn't there for booking private, and I do like the "insurance" that comes with booking through Princess.

[susancruzs]

Other cruise lines ask for payment up front, have for years, not a deal breaker for me. Traveling as a single, I don't mind the ship tours. I've done private tours, too, not my main focus. Considering what I pay for my cruises, cost of an excursion from the ship, having to pay upfront, minor, very minor. I research ports, decide what I want to see, best way to go about it, price is last on the list.

[caribill]

Other cruise lines ask for payment up front, have for years, not a deal breaker for me.

 

And to me, that is the problem. Not having to pay for excursions in advance was one of the things that made a Princess cruise different from other cruise lines and special.

 

But Princess seems to be determined to take away the special things about Princess and make the cruises a commodity no different from what other cruise lines in the same price range offer,