Excursions (again)

[itonlyrains]

We are going on a cruise for the first time (ever) with Marella in April (Caribbeans) and have a few questions on excursions:

 

• Book online vs on-board? Since it's our first, we do not know how much time we can handle travelling each day (with a 7yo as well), so we can book first few days online, but then wanted to have more flexibility with our plans. Will excursions fill up quickly when on board and there is a risk we run out of options?
• Do they all start at the same time? The ship will be spending 8-10 hours in each port and excursion can be only 2-3 hours, so can we do multiple ones per day? The online booking system doesn't allow that...
• Are there any places on the way that are particularly good for getting excursions locally: i.e. you can step off the ship and get picked up right there and returned back to the ship, not ripped off and safe? Our islands are: Barbados, Puerto Rico, U.S Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, St Vincent, Antigua, Dominica, Martinique, St Lucia, Grenada. 

 

Thank you!

[Pensioncruiser]

Hi and welcome, strongly recommend that as it's your first cruise you go with the ship's tours until you get a feel for the cruise life. Remember if you are late back to the ship, for any reason, on an excursion other than a ship one they will sail without you. 

They do have AM & PM excursions. 

Also they allow you to cancel so long as you give them a day's notice with a full refund. 

Probably as you are going for two weeks you could try one on change over day as you have a lot more time. 

Enjoy, you will have a great time. 😎 

[sagaris]

Barbados, St Vincent, Antigua, Dominica (not a lot to see, so a trip is best) Martinique (as Dominica) St Lucia and Grenada are all ports where you can get off, there are loads of taxis that do trips and are loads cheaper than the cruise ones. We always book trips that leave early and so gives us plenty of time to get back.

 

Molly

[paularmstrong]

Most ports there will be a row of taxis taking people on excursions , beaches , boat trips , pretty much whatever you would like to at a fraction of the cost of ships excursion . Be careful not to go too extreme in case of late arrival . the ship will not wait

[dronnygirl]

The Caribbean is the easiest place for DIY trips. Try to get off the ship early and there will be loads of taxis and mini buses waiting. They all do the same trips and will have a map to show you where they go and how long the trip will be.  We prefer to go in the morning and then have a wander around the port town when they drop us off. No need to book ship trips which will be very expensive.

If you look at Cruise Critic ports of call you will find lots of info about each place.

Enjoy your cruise

[Sheila127]

Hi, I went to the Caribbean as a solo three years ago and visited all the same islands you are visiting.  Was nervous about leaving the ship and using the minibuses outside but it was easy, safe and so much cheaper.  I would take a trip in the morning lasting 2/3 hours so no worries about missing the ship and then on return explore locally!

[itonlyrains]

Thank you, everyone! We probably only pre-book must see trips to start with and see how much extra we want to do during the cruise. Good to know that outside options will always be there.

[Sal21]

Do we need Estas for visiting US Virgin Islands and San Juan Puerto Rico while on Marella cruise? Very confusing advice ! 

[Sheera07]

We have got one , I am sure it tells you on the marella visa page .

[Sal21]

22 minutes ago, Littletinker said:

We have got one , I am sure it tells you on the marella visa page .

Thank you but Visa page gives you a link to another page which doesn't work!

Looked at Estas application, did you put "in transit" ? 

[itonlyrains]

Yes, you do need esta. And not, it's not transit. We had to put n/a into most address fields and mention cruise ship name and it was approved with no issues.