Expat Cruise Posted April 10, 2019 #76 Share Posted April 10, 2019 7 hours ago, donaldsc said: I would not consider 47 guests or 6 private cars or 15 guests a private tour although it may work for you. A couple of the things that I like about private tours are flexibility, the ability to walk into a small restaurant that the guide knows personally or not trying to keep a large group together. When I set up a private tour, I keep my maximum group size to 8 or maybe 10 people at most. I often even do private tours with 4 people. However, different strokes for different folks. DON Don I agree with you when we had 47 people it was for the port we did not do as one group, we had three 15 passenger vans going HCMC Tours, and one 29 passenger bus doing a Mekong River Delta Tour. The largest group was the Mekong River Tour with 16 guests. But it still have a small tour feel. In other ports we did groups of 4 in one mini van, and had 6 vans, all doing the same basic tour but the group could make changes. We had a great group of people on the cruise, and it was a longer cruise at 23 days so more time for the group to form friendships. I tired to do our Hong Kong Tour with 4 people but after 22 days it became 12 guest, it still was a great tour because it was 12 friends who had been together and bonded as a group before the start of the tour. It was work to put these tours together but with many sea days it gave me something to do. I can say I did not need the gym, leaving 25 notices at cabins on every deck, bow to stern is a lot of walking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldubs Posted April 10, 2019 #77 Share Posted April 10, 2019 12 hours ago, donaldsc said: I would not consider 47 guests or 6 private cars or 15 guests a private tour although it may work for you. A couple of the things that I like about private tours are flexibility, the ability to walk into a small restaurant that the guide knows personally or not trying to keep a large group together. When I set up a private tour, I keep my maximum group size to 8 or maybe 10 people at most. I often even do private tours with 4 people. However, different strokes for different folks. I think of a private tour as Mrs Ldubs and me, the tour guide and the driver. Or alternatively, a small group, as you say. And yes, flexibility. Not to say the group tours organized through roll calls are not good. I am certain they are much better (and a bargain) compared to most ship excursions. Hopefully any shenanigans about making money at the expense of fellow passengers is the rare exception. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare brillohead Posted April 10, 2019 #78 Share Posted April 10, 2019 I've been around here for almost 15 years now, and I've never encountered another passenger who was selling a tour that they were operating themselves. I have organized snorkel excursions a couple of times that I wanted to do myself, and gotten additional people to join me in order to make it economically feasible for me to do a private excursion. And like many others have mentioned, this was all done with everyone knowing who the tour operator was and everyone paying him in cash on the day of the tour. (I detest large snorkel groups with a passion.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mnocket Posted April 10, 2019 #79 Share Posted April 10, 2019 3 hours ago, brillohead said: I've been around here for almost 15 years now, and I've never encountered another passenger who was selling a tour that they were operating themselves. And yet they exist. I've only encountered one couple who does this, yet I have run across them on two different cruises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chamima Posted April 11, 2019 #80 Share Posted April 11, 2019 23 hours ago, brillohead said: I've been around here for almost 15 years now, and I've never encountered another passenger who was selling a tour that they were operating themselves. I have organized snorkel excursions a couple of times that I wanted to do myself, and gotten additional people to join me in order to make it economically feasible for me to do a private excursion. And like many others have mentioned, this was all done with everyone knowing who the tour operator was and everyone paying him in cash on the day of the tour. (I detest large snorkel groups with a passion.) 19 hours ago, mnocket said: And yet they exist. I've only encountered one couple who does this, yet I have run across them on two different cruises. And we have only encountered one woman does it but she , also, seems to be on many of our cruises. I'm sure she's also on many more cruises than just the ones we're on. I guess it's easy to cruise a lot when it's either free or a means of making money. And, brillohead - that's why most of us spend time and energy organizing tours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho_proudfoot Posted April 11, 2019 #81 Share Posted April 11, 2019 We have done numerous private tours. A few times, some shipmates have said "that sounds fun, can we join you?" Always, always, always we have said yes, of course, would be great to have you along. Split the cost evenly between the party (or in the case of a couple of Segway tours, they just paid the operator the additional cost direct) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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