"Free" excursions from web sites??

[heydn62]

Anyone ever book through a web site that offers free shore excursion? Are these legitimate offers? I'm skeptical because they don't tell you what your options are until you book.

[MrsPete]

The islands we visit rely upon our tourist dollars for their survival. They are not going to give away free excursions. While I have not seen the websites, I'm sure it's something along these lines:

 

1. A timeshare presentation. In exchange for listening to a two hour sales pitch, you'll get a "free" jet ski rental, an island tour, or something similar. Since you have only a few hours on the island, this doesn't seem to be a good use of time.

2. You'll be allowed into a private beach or some other entertainment venue, but everything there will cost so much that you'll end up paying just as much as you would've with a reputible company.

 

There's no free lunch. If you don't want to spend money on excursions, you don't have to. Just get off the ship and wander through the shops near the port. You'll have a good time, and you can re-board before the crowd and enjoy having the ship "all to yourself".

[TrustNoOneKMC]

I assume you are talking about the sites for cruising that Legitimately offer a free excursion by booking through them, and not a timeshare deal. I was looking into one of these sights, and called to ask about that. She told me that for the Carnival Glory sailing (7 days $625 per/person) you got up to 2 free excursions per stateroom, with a cost value of approximately $30-$35. (She did say after selecting to book, you could choose a shore excursion online) I do not remember exactly which site this was, however - be sure to ask if you can get a discount on your cruise if you don't choose this option. If I chose not to take the free excursion, I reduced my cruising rate per person by more of than the value of the excursion. I was actually gonna book through this site, but called Carnival first. Surprisingly, they gave me almost the same rate ($10 higher) but with a much better cabin, because I was a previous cruiser on their lines. (This price was over $100 lower than what the Carnival site was offering on-line). If I hadn't called Carnival, I definately would have booked with the site though. Hope this helps. (Or at least makes sense!)

[discjoker]

For the most part these are legitimate and have nothing to do with timeshare presentations. Agencies are using this as a tool to get around the "no discounting" policy that cruise lines have put into place. Instead of advertising a lower price than the cruise line they are offering extras like "free shore excursions", "free insurance", etc.

[heydn62]

I was referring to the sites that offer excursions if you book the cruise online. Sorry for not being clear on that.

 

What kind of excursion can you get for $30-35? Must just be a bus ride to a beach or something like that.:)

 

Thanks for the replies.

 

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