Shore Ezcursions

[gladdie]

Does anyone know if Princess ever puts shore excursions on sale?

[JimnKaren]

No need to.

Jim

[Mud_Shark]

They did once two years ago in October.  10% off all shore excursions.  It was a windfall for us, as we re-booked all our shore excursions and saved a bunch of money.

 

But alas, they have not repeated it since then.  Probably did not result in enough new bookings, but rather resulted in people simply re-fairing what they already had booked.  Usually, most shore excursions sell out eventually anyway so as Jim said, I guess there is no need to.

 

Don

[frugaltravel]

The best way to save money on shore excursions is to book independent excursions.  They are not always less expensive, though usually are.  Not only that, they are usually smaller groups, more personal, often longer and usually let you cover more ground in a shorter time than ship excursions.  I know Princess likes to scare people into thinking the ship won't wait for you if the independent excursion is late.  But my experience over the past 10+ years is that if you find a reputable operator they are well aware of the ship departure times and get you back in plenty of time.

 

[paul929207]

Discounts are rare or never.

[vmom]

Celebrity just had a 20% off sale on excursions.  I've never seen something like that on Princess.

 

 

 

[gladdie]

Thanks for your help.   We sailed in May on Royal Caribbean on a Baltic cruise.   They offered a sale and we rebooked the excursions and saved several hundred dollars.

It isn’t worth the stress to me booking independent tours in a country I don’t speak the language.    We have been on tours in Italy and they have had engine problems.

We are comfortable taking taxis in the Caribbean.   About 10 years ago, we were in Acapulco and a taxi driver said he would take us to good shopping - six of us got in his van, before he started driving, his buddy jumped in.   We look back and think we were lucky we didn’t end up in a warehouse!

[mevs904]

45 minutes ago, gladdie said:

Thanks for your help.   We sailed in May on Royal Caribbean on a Baltic cruise.   They offered a sale and we rebooked the excursions and saved several hundred dollars.

It isn’t worth the stress to me booking independent tours in a country I don’t speak the language.    We have been on tours in Italy and they have had engine problems.

We are comfortable taking taxis in the Caribbean.   About 10 years ago, we were in Acapulco and a taxi driver said he would take us to good shopping - six of us got in his van, before he started driving, his buddy jumped in.   We look back and think we were lucky we didn’t end up in a warehouse!

 

 

Yes, I would have been unnerved by that experience.  We used to take only ship-sponsored excursions, but in the last few years we’ve branched out to several well-rated independent tours and have been very pleased.  We read reviews on CC as well as Trip Advisor and all of the independent excursions that we have booked have been of excellent quality.  We’re currently researching excursions for our August 2019 Baltic cruise.

[Potstech]

4 hours ago, frugaltravel said:

The best way to save money on shore excursions is to book independent excursions.  They are not always less expensive, though usually are.  Not only that, they are usually smaller groups, more personal, often longer and usually let you cover more ground in a shorter time than ship excursions.  I know Princess likes to scare people into thinking the ship won't wait for you if the independent excursion is late.  But my experience over the past 10+ years is that if you find a reputable operator they are well aware of the ship departure times and get you back in plenty of time.

 

 

No scaring at all. If you are not on a Princess sponsored excursion and are not back by posted departure time they will leave you. Doesn't matter if they are reputable or aware of the time you will be out of luck.  Saying differently is false information.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, Potstech said:

 

No scaring at all. If you are not on a Princess sponsored excursion and are not back by posted departure time they will leave you. Doesn't matter if they are reputable or aware of the time you will be out of luck.  Saying differently is false information.

 

People missing the ship because of being on a late independent excursion is a very rare occurrence.

 

People miss the sailing usually because of one of the following reasons:

a) were shopping and lost track of time

b) were in a bar and lost track of time

c) were on their own and did not know the correct onboard time

d) were driving in a rented car and were caught in a traffic jam

 

None of the above involve an independent tour provider.

 

Frankly, I cannot remember personally reading any post on Cruise Critic by someone who missed the ship while being on an independent tour or knew of someone who did.

[Potstech]

Rare, as you say, but does happen. Denying it does not change the fact.

[paul929207]

We have takes 150 or so private tours over the years. Never came close to missing the ship. Add in all the money we saved and the superior excursions we got and if we missed the ship on our next excursion, it would still have been a great decision to go with the private tours.

[Potstech]

Too each their own.

[pediem]

I travel alone, and it makes my parents sleep easier about my doing so if I restrict myself to Princess excursions.  For me, that makes it worth it.

I was on a Princess halibut fishing excursion in Alaska (I forget which port), but the weather turned nasty while we were out, and it took much longer to get back to the dock than expected.  There were 5 of us on the boat, and when we returned to the dock, we quickly skimmed out of our wet weather gear, grabbed our personal belongings, and ran up a couple of ramps to the main dock area, down the dock to our ship, and across the gangway.  They quite literally rolled the gangway up behind us...45 minutes after we were supposed to have been aboard, 15 minutes after the sailaway time.  That also keeps me booking Princess excursions.