Non-HAL shore excursions, pros & cons

[TwinMommyByGrace]

My dh and I are in the process of planning our 20th wedding anniversary cruise to Alaska on the Oosterdam in June. We're all booked and are now looking at our ports and what to do in each one.  Have any of you chosen to do non-HAL shore excursions and, if so, what are the pros (besides price, I'm assuming) and cons of "going rogue"? On past cruises we've always booked our excursions through the cruise line and thought we might be missing out on other/different excursions and/or better pricing. Also, we always see the vendors at the pier hocking their tours and excursions.  Has anyone had luck with no preplanning and just taking your pick from the companies at the dock? Thanks in advance for any insight!

[OlsSalt]

Helps if you list your Alaska ports -some are very easy to do on your own with a little homework. Others offer more complicated options that might be harder to do on your own, or better if using the HAL insurance umbrella.

 

Shore excursions that require other forms of transportation like trains or planes we feel are best handled by HAL,  Eg - White Pass Railway in Skagway; Misty Fjords seaplanes in Ketchikan. Others are fine on your own. Eg: Totem Bight by local bus in Ketchikan. Visiting the National Park Yukon headquarters on the main street on your own and walking out to the old graveyard and beautiful waterfall at the far end of town in Skagway. Juneau - plenty to do just wandering around town an visiting the Capitol and their fabulous new Natives Peoples Museum. But you might want an excursion of some sorts to go out to the Glaciers.

 

You will have  to decide upfront what you want to see and determine if the ways to get there might be complicated by the arrival of a few thousand other people along with you, even more if several ships are in port on the same day.  Always good to check the port calendar to see if you will be sharing the port and with how many other passengers. That might help you decide if you want to take a chance just waiting for local options or not.

 

We primarily take the HAL excursions, mainly for sheer convenience and have been happy with virtually all of them. We find the guides good, the food often excellent, the buses comfortable, the pace okay and the fellow passengers courteous and do not waste other peoples time.  We also like to get out into  the surrounding countryside as much as we can too, so that takes some sort of excursion since we don't use rental cars.

 

Too often the direct port experience in major cruise ports becomes just tourist shops selling junk made in China, noisy bars and cafes with indifferent food, along with chain tourist franchise "jewelry"  sales offerings you now start to find everywhere.. 

 

The HAL shore excursions do a very good job and no need to pre-plan, get a group together, handle money upfront, and worry about missed connections.  Others have just the opposite experience. And we have witnessed many, many times in ports around the world people just wandering out on their own in even the least amenity ports and discovering what they can find which can often be surprising. Even if it is a local bar where the dock workers hang out. 

 

But Alaska particularly depends on a very short tourism season so you will find any and all opportunities no matter what you decide to do. Plus the ports are pretty confined areas so much of what you might want to do is easy to reach on your own.  Language and money is not a problem. Crime is not much of an issue in Alaska. Tourist offices ready to help. Other parts of the world are not as accommodating so there is no one size fits all to you very good question. 

Edited November 27, 2018 by OlsSalt

[DaveOKC]

We primarily take HAL excursions, unless we are familiar with the area or are doing simple things near the pier.  We do not find the savings to be enough to offset the advantages of security (making the ship sailing) and convenience that HAL provides.  Further, we can use our OBC (on board credit) on the HAL tours AND the money we spend earns us more Mariner Days.

 

Just be sure to research the HAL tours (on the website) for good reviews before you book.

[boulders]

Alaska has some great wildlife viewing opportunities. Some are only available on private excursions and must be planned far in advance. My favorite all time excursion was Anan Creek with Island Wings. Anan Creek requires permits and only a small number are given out each season. 

 

Alaska has a well established tourism infrastructure with many excellent companies available for private excursions. The Alaska forum was a wealth of info when I was planning my Alaskan cruises and can help you with ideas. 

[CruiserBruce]

There are dozens of discussions around Cruise Critic on the pros and cons of private tours. The pros are smaller, far more efficient tour groups with far more personalized service and interaction. I struggle to find any cons. We do both, plus sometimes just DIY, taking cabs, public transit or just walking. Those are all valid possibilities. Some research on the Alaska board, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/33-alaska/

 

would be very helpful in making decisions.

 

Please don't fall for the "miss the ship" stories. Yes, there is an extremely slim chance you could miss the ship on a private tour. But the fear factor is millions of times greater than the facts indicate. We have done private tours all over the world, and never missed a ship, or even come close, and you won't find anyone actually reporting missing ships.

[OlsSalt]

21 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

There are dozens of discussions around Cruise Critic on the pros and cons of private tours. The pros are smaller, far more efficient tour groups with far more personalized service and interaction. I struggle to find any cons. We do both, plus sometimes just DIY, taking cabs, public transit or just walking. Those are all valid possibilities. Some research on the Alaska board, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/33-alaska/

 

would be very helpful in making decisions.

 

Please don't fall for the "miss the ship" stories. Yes, there is an extremely slim chance you could miss the ship on a private tour. But the fear factor is millions of times greater than the facts indicate. We have done private tours all over the world, and never missed a ship, or even come close, and you won't find anyone actually reporting missing ships.

 

What you may miss is the ship's insurance coverage in the event of an accident. 

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, OlsSalt said:

 

What you may miss is the ship's insurance coverage in the event of an accident. 

 Have traveled all over the world for years...decades. Never needed cruise lines to insure us...good thing, as we travel independently more than we cruise.

[OlsSalt]

Just now, CruiserBruce said:

 Have traveled all over the world for years...decades. Never needed cruise lines to insure us...good thing, as we travel independently more than we cruise.

 

The cruise line insures the shore excursion experience. In the event of an unforeseen accident. Whole point of insurance is betting you won't have an accident. This at least gives recourse with HAL and not the local tour operator in the statistically unlikely event one does get involved in an accident.  

 

Same here, traveled extensively all over the world for decades, but have never needed to make any possible insurance claim either. But now we never go anywhere without at least our DAN card. Not if you need it, but when you need it is the benefit of the HAL shore excursion advantage. 

[ChinaShrek]

One pro of booking HAL shore excursions is that you receive 1 Mariner point for every $300 spent onboard (or booked ahead of time on their website).  Shore excursions can contribute greatly to your status, if that is important to you.  It's like elite status with an airline:  the more you spend with HAL, the more you are rewarded.

[BSinPNS]

We thought HAL covered individuals injured on a HAL ShoreEx.  Not true.  We had a pax injured when the bus made a sudden stop in Cueta. The guide was insistent on us handing in our passports and she was getting it out of an overhead rack.  The sudden stop threw her into the windshield which spider-webbed.  After a bit of discussion, the decision was made to return to the ship.  The ship's nurse came out and did a "courtesy check" on the pax as the Hotel Director said it was the tour provider's responsibility to take her to the hospital, etc.  They would not allow her back on K-dam until cleared by the hospital.  (She returned to the ship that evening or the next port as we saw her.)  While I understand HAL's protocol, don't count on them taking direct care of you.  We generally do private tours as we find the smaller groups much more enjoyable rather than waiting for those who are always late back to the bus.  We have had two tour providers tell us that if they don't get us back to the ship on time, they are out of business with today's e-communication.  Also, they generally drive small vans which are far more maneuverable than the big buses.  A real advantage in traffic. 

[OlsSalt]

18 minutes ago, BSinPNS said:

We thought HAL covered individuals injured on a HAL ShoreEx.  Not true.  We had a pax injured when the bus made a sudden stop in Cueta. The guide was insistent on us handing in our passports and she was getting it out of an overhead rack.  The sudden stop threw her into the windshield which spider-webbed.  After a bit of discussion, the decision was made to return to the ship.  The ship's nurse came out and did a "courtesy check" on the pax as the Hotel Director said it was the tour provider's responsibility to take her to the hospital, etc.  They would not allow her back on K-dam until cleared by the hospital.  (She returned to the ship that evening or the next port as we saw her.)  While I understand HAL's protocol, don't count on them taking direct care of you.  We generally do private tours as we find the smaller groups much more enjoyable rather than waiting for those who are always late back to the bus.  We have had two tour providers tell us that if they don't get us back to the ship on time, they are out of business with today's e-communication.  Also, they generally drive small vans which are far more maneuverable than the big buses.  A real advantage in traffic. 

 

It was the tour operators duty to obtain medical care for this woman. And HAL made sure upfront they had the insurance coverage to provide it. The tour companies insurance is not for HAL to provide this care. A non-insured tour company may not have been so responsible nor covered the eventual hospital costs. It would be a misunderstanding to assume HAL will take care of you directly. Thank you for pointing this out. 

 

Only once did we experience a chronically late tour member. She got the message after a few delayed stops. ,

[baggal]

4 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

There are dozens of discussions around Cruise Critic on the pros and cons of private tours. The pros are smaller, far more efficient tour groups with far more personalized service and interaction. I struggle to find any cons. We do both, plus sometimes just DIY, taking cabs, public transit or just walking. Those are all valid possibilities. Some research on the Alaska board, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/33-alaska/

 

would be very helpful in making decisions.

 

Please don't fall for the "miss the ship" stories. Yes, there is an extremely slim chance you could miss the ship on a private tour. But the fear factor is millions of times greater than the facts indicate. We have done private tours all over the world, and never missed a ship, or even come close, and you won't find anyone actually reporting missing ships.

 

You have to be smart about things.  I usually won't book an independent tour if the next day is a sea day (or days).  Much harder and more expensive to get yourself to the next port.  But if you're taking a Med cruise with multiple port stops in Italy, then I would feel completely safe going private.

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

We now primarily use private tours. We like the smaller groups and lower price. A few years back while on a Baltic cruise with Princess, we saved just about 1/2 with a private two-day tour of St. Petersburg. We saw more and had a group of only 16 people. 

[knittinggirl]

We book HAL almost exclusively.  That said, we do use Victoria Pedicab, and we've used them several times.   Our  guide assured us he'd get us to the next port if they're too late.  In fact, the owner has the guides paying for out of their own pocket, so they really have an incentive to make it.

 

We like the Legacy Car in the White Pass Yukon Railroad, and also liked Burro Creek.  We've also done the Tracy Arm Fjord cruise when they offer it.  We also liked the Photo Safari in Juneau.  For Ketchikan, we love the Misty Fjords cruise.

 

 

[kevingastreich]

We've done it both ways. One time in the Caribbean, we hired a private van from the pier and it was great but the entire time we were driving around, his "check engine" light was on.  He tried to cover it with a piece of black tape but I could still see it and it did make me nervous! At our furthest from the dock we were probably an hour away and if his van did break down maybe we could have called an Uber to get back?  As it was...no problems and it was a great tour at a very good price.

Edited November 28, 2018 by kevingastreich

[cruisemom42]

Private tours (or simply figuring out how to get around using public transportation and doing your own research on what to see) can be very rewarding compared with ships tours. However, to do this successfully requires doing the homework, e.g., researching what you want to see and do, making arrangements, figuring out the logistics and timing. 

 

I would NEVER recommend simply showing up at a port and hoping that there will a) be a tour provider there who will b) offer a tour to the sites I'm interested in at c) a reasonable price and d) will be knowledgeable and able to impart that knowledge. And finally e) will be responsible with regard to timing and getting me back to the ship on time.

 

Far better to do your research in advance and find a well-recommended tour provider or a way to get around and do the sites on your own.  If you don't feel confident about doing that, the ship tours are perhaps your best bet.

[ellieanne]

On my very first cruise, the4 ship left a couple (possibly more) passengers on the dock in Boston. They were on a private tour and had called the ship to alerts them of the delay. It didn't matter, Logan said go and the ship went, with the passengers standing open-mouthed on the dock.

 

That experience is the main reason why I book ship-based tours exclusively. I have been on HAL tours that were delayed getting back to the ship, and the ship waited for us. On one stop in Portland, Maine, the crew was literally pulling in the gangway behind me. The peace of mind that comes from knowing that either the ship will wait for us or HAL is responsible for getting us to the next port, is more than worth any difference in price to me.

 

Add to that the convenience of having the work done for me and all I have to do is pick the combination of sights/sites I most want to see and it's a no-brainer for me to book ship-based tours. I do not want to do the work required in finding, communicating with tour operators (which may included translations into/from languages other than English or French), getting in touch with operators if the ship is delayed, or refunds if the ship has to miss the port stop. I particularly like ship-based tours for the first time we are in a port because I can get an overview of the city and figure out what I want to see on my own, either after the tour or on another visit.

[57redbird]

We've done both & prefer private tours arranged in advance....I do my due diligence researching reviews, both on here & Trip Advisor, and have had good experiences on the ones we have done.  We had relied on HAL excursions until we went on a Caribbean cruise that had our tours arranged by a CC member & they were fabulous!  & gave me the courage to do-it-myself.....have done a couple more cruises since then -- either just the 2 of us or a relatively small group make the excursions customize-able & usually for a lower price.

[caribill]

The choice becomes taking a cruise company's tour or a private tour organized by either fellow roll call members or yourselves. The benefits of a private tour are several:
o A smaller group than a ship's tour which means you will ride in a smaller vehicle.
o A smaller vehicle often means you can be dropped off/picked up closer to sites than the big buses can go.
o A smaller vehicle often means you can go to sites the bigger buses cannot
o A smaller group than a ship's tour which means people get back to the vehicle quicker. Less chance of having to wait for someone who lost track of time. Certainly quicker at a rest room stop to wait for ten people than 30.
o A smaller group means you can often see more sites in the same amount of time that a ship's excursion takes.
o A private tour does not have to spend time at a souvenir stop unless your group wants to. Almost every cruise line's tour involves a shopping experience that could be a waste of time at a shop the tour company gets a kickback from.
o A private tour usually costs significantly less than a cruise company's tour. Sometimes it costs about the same or a little more, but the benefits of the smaller group make it worth it.

The main advantage of a cruise company tour is that you do not have to do any planning or research.

Having said all that, your roll call will be a good place to find private tours that have likely been researched to be sure they are with reputable providers. If you need to do research on your own, your roll call, the Cruise Critic ports of call threads and Trip Advisor on the Internet are good places to look.

One important thing about private tours: If they want part or full payment in advance, be sure to know what the cancellation policy is, especially if the ship cannot make the port. I always avoid tour providers who will not refund any advance payment if the ship cannot get to the port.

What I do not recommend is getting of the ship and looking for a tour vendor or what is a random taxi driver to give you a tour. Some people do this and post they had the best tour ever. But some also post it was the worst tour ever. This is because you have no way to know how good a guide you are hiring or even how well he speaks English.

If you have been to a port before and are familiar with it, then going off on your own may be practical. For example, we have been to Barcelona several times and can use their subway system to get where we want to go. Having seen the major attractions that cruise line tour and private tours go to, we now go to different sights that we want to see at our own pace, for example the chocolate museum in Barcelona.

Whatever you choose to do, have a great cruise.

[DaveOKC]

One thing not mentioned is the fact that HAL stands behind the tours.  On tours we have received an unexpected credit on our account because "some people were not happy with the tour"  or "some part of it was skipped/missed".

 

 

[wyobean]

16 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

Same here, traveled extensively all over the world for decades, but have never needed to make any possible insurance claim either. But now we never go anywhere without at least our DAN card. Not if you need it, but when you need it is the benefit of the HAL shore excursion advantage. 

Just be sure you understand what DAN covers. A friend found out the hard way. The evacuation is only to the closest hospital. Our friend was in the hospital in Cancun after being hit by a moto. The family wanted him back in the states. They thought DAN would provide that. They do not. They were very helpful in getting it all organized, but did not pay for anything. I am not bad mouthing DAN. Just saying you need to know what your coverage really is. 

[Turtles06]

I think Caribill in post 19 above has given an excellent summary of the benefits of private tours. I want to add one more: the quality of the guides. While we’ve had very good guides on ship-sponsored tours, by far the very worst guides we’ve ever had have been on ship’s tours. I think this is because there is far less accountability when the guests are not dealing directly with the tour company who employs the guides, and also because guides who are not very good either won’t be hired by smaller tour operators or won’t last long. 

 

There are great resources here on CC for finding reputable, reliable tour operators.  

 

We do a mix of ship tours, private tours, and DIY, depending on the port. 

[kazu]

2 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

One thing not mentioned is the fact that HAL stands behind the tours.  On tours we have received an unexpected credit on our account because "some people were not happy with the tour"  or "some part of it was skipped/missed".

 

 

 

On this point, we will have to agree to disagree.  I have reported unsatisfactory HAL tour experiences on more than one occasion and never received any credit back.

 

And one of the tours was VERY pricey.

[OlsSalt]

2 hours ago, wyobean said:

Just be sure you understand what DAN covers. A friend found out the hard way. The evacuation is only to the closest hospital. Our friend was in the hospital in Cancun after being hit by a moto. The family wanted him back in the states. They thought DAN would provide that. They do not. They were very helpful in getting it all organized, but did not pay for anything. I am not bad mouthing DAN. Just saying you need to know what your coverage really is. 

 

Well understood. No reason to sign up for any insurance when one has not read the fine print. For $40 bucks a year family plan, it is good but very basic  catastrophic coverage for all travel more than 50 miles from home.

Edited November 28, 2018 by OlsSalt

[Greysandy]

As many have said, smaller group size is the biggest benefit to me. Alaska can be expensive for excursions, even on your own. We found the greatest cost savings when doing SEs on our own in Europe on a Mediterranean cruise.