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amazonracer
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“Is it just me” or is there far less private tour operators in Europe. We did private tours on 2 cruises before Covid and going to the British Isles in September. And the one or two I found seem really expensive. The ship tours seem to be a better way to go currently. 

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Depends on what you're comparing Europe against.

Certainly a lot fewer and more expensive than in the Caribbean or S E Asia or Alaska.

 

But there are big differences ...............

............ The infrastructure in Europe is waaay better, so public transport (mainly buses & trains) is the way to go.  You need to do your homework before your cruise, but frequency, reliability and quality are good, and fares are low. For instance if Dun Laoghaire is one of your ports, the DART train takes you to the heart of Dublin, local buses can take you  to specific places that you want to see or the ho-ho buses take you to all of them.

.......... Tour operators are more-closely regulated than in many parts of the world. Vehicles are regularly inspected, insurance requirements are high as are many other overheads & taxes, all included in the price. Hence prices are higher.

............ speaking of taxes, the price you see is the price you pay. Taxes are included, as are other obligatory costs such as tolls.

........... The demand for tours is low because most visitors - even from other European countries - travel by car. Their own, or rented in resort. Much the same as in the US.

..........ports aren't necessarily located close to sights. Invergordon for instance.

........ and some visitors use a cruise port-of-call to visit iconic places some distance away rather than seeking out great places locally. For instance Portland to Stonehenge (almost 2 hours e/w) or Bath (over 2 hours e/w) rather than Corfe Castle (under an hour) or the Jurassic Coast (you're pretty-well there already). 

 

IMHO ships' excursions are rarely the best way to go, but to avoid them you have to do your homework cos you won't see vans lined up touting for business at the ports.

 

JB 🙂

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Ship's excursions have always seemed expensive. If you do a bit of Googling, you can often find the operator and you'll see a cruise price much inflated from its usual price. Who knows how they and the cruise line share out what is really an indecent amount of profit.

 

That said, we are looking to book a cruise with Oceania. It comes with an option to take four freebie excursions which we know from experience can be a good bet for those ports where things might be a bit limited in scope. Literally, this afternoon, I've started to work through the various ports and try to work our what we might do. There will be the freebie excursions where other options are limited, maybe some directly booked things but, in the main, we'll work out our own walking tours. It's fun to  explore.

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22 hours ago, amazonracer said:

“Is it just me” or is there far less private tour operators in Europe. We did private tours on 2 cruises before Covid and going to the British Isles in September. And the one or two I found seem really expensive. The ship tours seem to be a better way to go currently. 

One reason why is stated,  Covid.

 

It killed the tourist industry for the best part of two years.  Any UK company doing private tours for cruise passengers will have been hit heavily and when things opened up staff had found other jobs.  Its the same reason UK airports are struggling, they can't get staff.

 

Brexit also hasn't helped as tourism work is good work for foreign students, especially those with language skills.  Unfortunately getting work in the UK as a non UK resident is now far tougher than it once was.

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