Excursion companies

[Vmanders]

Does Princess use local tour companies for their excursions?  If so, is there any way to find out which company will be giving a specific tour.  There is some discrepancy in the details on one excursion we want to take and when I talk with Princess agents they don’t seem to understand. Thank you. 

[mom says]

1. Yes

2. No.

3. Not unusual at all.

 

Have you tried discussing the discrepancy on your Roll Call?

[drowelf]

I believe all the cruise lines use local companies. I know this, because when we went to Greenland last August, I could not book a tour with some of the locals, as Princess had contracted for their services. Princess gobbled up most of the available capacity in those ports. Plus it only makes sense to use locals, no way would the company set up a tour organization to just service the few times a ship makes ports every season.  The only exception to this that I know of is Alaska where some of the land tour companies are subsidiaries of the various cruise lines, simply because there is enough business for the entire season as the ship go back and forth on the same itinerary for several months. 

[SCX22]

TBH, the pre-cruise agents will be clueless to the excursions themselves, as they too are only reading from the descriptions you are reading.  If anything, book the excursion with Princess now and ask the Shore Excursions staff once onboard.  If the answer they give is not to your liking, cancel the excursion.  Totally understand if you are trying to decide whether to book independently or with Princess, it's just that it's hard to get an accurate answer pre-cruise.  Also cruise lines don't stick to one tour operator in port; they go with which one can give them the most margin on the listed price to passengers for the excursion offered.

Edited April 19, 2023 by SCX22

[arizonaperson]

2 hours ago, Vmanders said:

Does Princess use local tour companies for their excursions?  If so, is there any way to find out which company will be giving a specific tour.  There is some discrepancy in the details on one excursion we want to take and when I talk with Princess agents they don’t seem to understand. Thank you. 

Perhaps give more details here. If cruise critic members knew what you were looking for in the description ,perhaps somebody has taken that tour and can answer your question .

[Paula_MacFan]

I typically Google the tour using Princess' description and can usually see from the results what company they are using.  From there I read reviews and compare prices.  Sometimes even the pictures they use in their descriptions match the vendor's website for further confirmation.  You might also post the question regarding the specific tour on the corresponding port page here and see if anyone has taken that tour and what the reviews or comments are. 

 

 

[Essiesmom]

Perhaps ask on the Ports of Call board here for Alaska.  Experienced Alaska cruisers and locals might be able to help you, or make better suggestions.  EM

Edited April 20, 2023 by Essiesmom

[DallasGuy75219]

15 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

I typically Google the tour using Princess' description and can usually see from the results what company they are using.  From there I read reviews and compare prices.  Sometimes even the pictures they use in their descriptions match the vendor's website for further confirmation. 

Just be aware that if the description and tour length aren't the same, the tour they do for Princess might be different from the tour(s) they sell independently.

[Paula_MacFan]

1 hour ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

Just be aware that if the description and tour length aren't the same, the tour they do for Princess might be different from the tour(s) they sell independently.

That's why I compare as I stated in my post.  The Princess website lists specific travel times and times at each attraction under the Excursion Details tab of the description.  It's fairly simple to compare to the vendor's description using this tool. 

 

Plus the OP's question was 'does Princess use local vendors' not 'do Princess tours match local vendors'.  I was answering their question on some ways to determine that. 

[Vmanders]

Thank you for all the responses. While I was looking for answers, Princess went and increased the price of the tour. Decided we will go with an independent tour. It’s much cheaper and includes more and probably is by the same company after reading the descriptions as suggested by Paula_MacFan.  

[nini]

Last year, I wanted to book a certain tour in Ketchikan and was unable to book online, as it said it was unavailable.So, I phoned the tour company and the owner aid that Princess had booked the day with them. So, I booked online with Princess. The price was $5.00 to $10.00 higher but that was fine with us. It was a fabulous day and tour.

[cruisequeen4ever]

We have long wished Princess had a Shore Excursion department you could call pre-cruise to get more excursion info. Unfortunately, they don’t have that. 

[MissP22]

On 4/22/2023 at 1:36 PM, nini said:

Last year, I wanted to book a certain tour in Ketchikan and was unable to book online, as it said it was unavailable. So, I phoned the tour company and the owner aid that Princess had booked the day with them. So, I booked online with Princess. The price was $5.00 to $10.00 higher but that was fine with us. It was a fabulous day and tour.

Usually the difference between a Princess excursion is much more than that. I've seen it at 30 % or more at some ports and that was a long time ago. 

 

[Guest ldtr]

3 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Usually the difference between a Princess excursion is much more than that. I've seen it at 30 % or more at some ports and that was a long time ago. 

 

In Alaska the number of ships is resulting in most of the excursion capacity of the organized companies being taken up by cruise lines. Still some smaller boat charters, flight seeing, and at the harbor independents. A lot of tour companies did not survive Covid and the capacity has not come back as fast as the cruise ship visits. Thus resulting in higher independent prices and less availability depending upon the number of ships in port on that day.

[MissP22]

50 minutes ago, ldtr said:

In Alaska the number of ships is resulting in most of the excursion capacity of the organized companies being taken up by cruise lines. Still some smaller boat charters, flight seeing, and at the harbor independents. A lot of tour companies did not survive Covid and the capacity has not come back as fast as the cruise ship visits. Thus resulting in higher independent prices and less availability depending upon the number of ships in port on that day.

Good to know. 

We haven't taken an Alaskan cruise in 15 years, but I'll keep it in mind.

[xamsx]

We have not cruised Princess since 2019. We usually cruise Celebrity, but after we experienced their changes after Jan 1, we decided to move around and have a few Princess, Celebrity, and Silversea  (also RCCL) cruises booked.

One thing I absolutely loved when I saw it was that Princess had ratings and reviews left for their excursions. I was able to read the details + reviews, go to look at private tours and compare the day's itinerary + price. I also didn't find Princess' prices to be more expensive than Viator's, which surprised me.  Direct was the best price (if it could be had), but Princess vs. Viator? Very competitive. That might be a YMMV, however.
 

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, xamsx said:

We have not cruised Princess since 2019. We usually cruise Celebrity, but after we experienced their changes after Jan 1, we decided to move around and have a few Princess, Celebrity, and Silversea  (also RCCL) cruises booked.

One thing I absolutely loved when I saw it was that Princess had ratings and reviews left for their excursions. I was able to read the details + reviews, go to look at private tours and compare the day's itinerary + price. I also didn't find Princess' prices to be more expensive than Viator's, which surprised me.  Direct was the best price (if it could be had), but Princess vs. Viator? Very competitive. That might be a YMMV, however.
 

Viator is basically a third party booking agent, that, as with Princess, takes a percentage of what you pay.

[nini]

6 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Usually the difference between a Princess excursion is much more than that. I've seen it at 30 % or more at some ports and that was a long time ago. 

 

 

Yes, we were very fortunate. And the tour company was owned and operated by a local family who did a fantastic job.

[MissP22]

1 hour ago, ldtr said:

Viator is basically a third party booking agent, that, as with Princess, takes a percentage of what you pay.

The times we take tours, we book directly with the owners and have always paid less. 

The only time we feel pressured to use Princess tour might be is when there might be a considerable distance traveling to the attraction and in the Caribbean that's usually not the case. 

[xamsx]

6 hours ago, ldtr said:

Viator is basically a third party booking agent, that, as with Princess, takes a percentage of what you pay.

I am pretty sure everyone knows the third party takes a cut, including the cruise lines. 🙂

Edited May 3, 2023 by xamsx

[nini]

1 hour ago, xamsx said:

I am pretty sure everyone knows the third party takes a cut, including the cruise lines. 🙂

 

Actually, you would be surprised at how many people are unaware of that. We have witnessed fellow cruisers get a phone call from Viator the day before their excursion and Viator is cancelling on them. I have told many on CC that Viator is a third party and we book directly with the tour company,

[jeromep]

On 4/19/2023 at 11:39 AM, Vmanders said:

Does Princess use local tour companies for their excursions?  If so, is there any way to find out which company will be giving a specific tour.  There is some discrepancy in the details on one excursion we want to take and when I talk with Princess agents they don’t seem to understand. Thank you. 

I think your questions have been well answered, but I agree with @mom says, get into your roll call and talk with those on your sailing.  They likely have good suggestions about excursions on your cruise and where to get them.

 

As for Princess having a pre-cruise excursion desk you can talk to, they don't, and it is disappointing. Sounds like you are booking direct with Princess.  I moved my next cruise to a TA to handle because there were some discrepancies that my Princess Vacation Planner couldn't iron out and I got tired of being one of thousands of clients.  My TA has access to resources for booking tour provides independent of the cruise line, and their offerings are quite impressive.  They also only direct you to tours or excursions which line up with your ships ports of call and times in port.  However, if you book independent, make sure that you are staying on top of the actual port times posted the day you are in the port, as those can change.  And your tour operator needs to be aware of those actual port times.