Virgin's Shore Thing Ibiza excursion "Best of Formentera"

[vivace91]

We're sailing on Scarlet Lady Sept 22-29, 2024 .We have an overnight stop in Ibiza.  Can anyone comment on taking the ship's tour to Formentera? We've been to Ibiza town before and want to see Formentera this time.

The ship excursion is 8.5 hours long (8am to 4:30pm), a good amount of time, but the description of the tour is extremely vague. It only says you take a ferry over/back and will go to two beaches, Ses Illetes and Es Pujols, and  "swim, shop and dine at your leisure".  It gives no information on transportation from place to place (after the ferry ride) or any itinerary time frame. I'd love to book us somewhere for lunch but I have no way to know where we'll be and when. Or if sunbeds or anything is included for the price $220p/p. Do we need to rent bikes or something to get around the island?  Will more information be emailed at some point or do you only find out on the ship? Wondering if I should cancel the ship excursion and just plan my own day?  This is our first cruise with Virgin. Thanks for any insight you can give! 

[Tyler414]

I’m interested as well.  I have this booked as of now (different sailing dates) and you bring up great questions.   Google maps helped me figure out where one of the beaches is, and it appears to be somewhat close to a “restaurant” food building.  Following along, hoping someone has some experience on this excursion. 

[kaysha2004]

I can't comment on this specific excursion, but having sailed 8 times on Virgin, I can say that their tour descriptions are very vague, and if you call VV, the phone rep just reads from the website the same content that you are viewing.  They have no additional information to offer.  Here's what I do:  Book the tour, and on embarkation day, get the details of what I need.  If it's not satisfactory, then I cancel it.  In the meantime, I book an alternate excursion on my own.

[BrianB1964]

We will be on the June 30th Cruise and were thinking the same thing about visiting Formentara.  Being the ferry cost is about $30 euros each way, is it worth the $160pp?  

Was thinking of booking the ferry and then renting a scooter on the island to tour the island and beaches.  

[Tralfaz1138]

20 hours ago, kaysha2004 said:

I can't comment on this specific excursion, but having sailed 8 times on Virgin, I can say that their tour descriptions are very vague, and if you call VV, the phone rep just reads from the website the same content that you are viewing.

Since most of the excursions are basically 3rd parties they've booked, I usually search for tours that use generally the same one sentence description as Virgin's excursions.  Then see how Virgin's vague description matches up with the other tours description.  At the end of the day, most non-private tours of a particular area follow the same general itinerary so it's a half decent place to start.  Plus it gives me an idea of how the pricing compares between the 3rd party and Virgin.