Royal Private Journey's

[mom2miracles]

Has anyone use this service for shore excursions? Any feedback?

[PIC33]

Pre-pandemic we used PJs often with mixed but generally good results. Worst experiences were in the Caribbean; best in Europe, Cuba and New Zealand. 

PJs are stupid expensive, but the affiliation with the ship has perks like pier-side pickup/drop-off and maximum time touring without worry of being left behind. And no miserable waits for the group to assemble or at those painful mandatory shopping opportunity stops with regular excursions.

Usually the PJ offerings are very similar to the regular shore excursions, and by the same vendors. But customization options are endless, so if you want to skip some items in a "canned" itinerary for other stuff from a different itinerary it's easy to arrange. This ship vendor affiliation is also a big plus if the PJ ends up being less than perfect, because Royal will want to make it right with a partial or full refund, which we appreciated on the lousy Bahamas and Jamaica PJs we did.

Once you let the PJ folks know what you are interested in they will get a quote from their vendors, usually with different options for you to choose from.  Then negotiate/modify from there.

I have turned down several PJ price quotes as being waaay too expensive for what was offered. Others have turned out to be an excellent value for the experience received.

 

[badvector]

We used it back in 2018 for a group of 10.  It was in Costa Maya and I think it ended up being only $10 more per person than a normal excursion.  It was probably one of the best excursions we have been on. 

[jean87510]

i just tried them for Cozumel to get a different experience.  I explained I have been there many times land and sea but have never been to the caverns, the north portion of island, love snorkeling...  I tried to make it easy.  Their trip was hanging out at Punta Sur and snorkeling for 4 hours for $500.  I said a rental car let alone the SHIP excursion is cheaper than that.  I could charter a boat for 4 hours for less than $500.  So my husband and I are actually renting bikes that day.

[shutterbug63]

I've never used them, but I got a quote for a private tour for our upcoming May sailing in Aruba. It was basically a ship excursion with a private driver. They wanted $1,470 for two people for this. I almost fell over.  I've looked and I can book a private jeep tour with a local operator for less than that.

[jean87510]

I looked into them years ago for Cartegena Spain as we were there on a Monday when nothing or not much is open.  They were offering a tour to the sites that weren't open for a ridiculous price.  I ended up just doing a walking food tour for $40 a person.

[pcur]

I prefer SEG or Viator.  They are similar to RCCL's excursions, just as reliable, and usually lower cost.  Royal Journey's is just too pricey IMO.

[karnze]

We have been looking into these as we have young children not eligible to be vaccinated. We received two quotes for days at resorts. One was fairly reasonably priced, the other one was outrageous. 

[lesliekamm]

We just used this in October for the first time and had the most awesome experience ever.  Because children under 5 could not go on any kind of swimming excursion and yet needed to be on an actual RC excursion to get off the boat - it was the only way we could get my little fish of a granddaughter in the water.  It was ridiculously expensive, but there were 11 of us on a large private catamaran.  The personal attention was amazing and they made sure the fish were swarming my grandson!  We were also very late getting back to the boat (having to hold the ship for us - yes, that late) and it was such a relief that the ship had to wait for us.  This is very expensive, and it won't be done on every cruise, but it was so worth the money.  We all still talk about the great time we had snorkeling over various ship wrecks in St Thomas!

[ChickonRules]

On 2/8/2022 at 8:05 PM, karnze said:

We have been looking into these as we have young children not eligible to be vaccinated. We received two quotes for days at resorts. One was fairly reasonably priced, the other one was outrageous. 

How much was the reasonable price one? 

[Edmontoncruisers]

We just got a quote for a tour in Seville this July.  The quote is for four adults.  It's for a 7 hour excursion of which 3 1/2 hours are driving ! No lunch, beverages etc. included. No tips included. Only included are entry fees to Seville Cathedral and Alcazar driver and tour guide. The price quoted is $2,658 USD !!!

 

We have done other private tours in Europe with a different provider for a fraction of this cost ! As much as we would like to use RCCL, we just can't justify such a high price !

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, Edmontoncruisers said:

The price quoted is $2,658 USD

Welcome to CC, 2022 and inflation.

[cruizzing]

I was quoted $1340 for 7.5 hours in Curaçao and $1330 for 5 hours in Aruba, but did not end up booking either.