Troubles

[tiffiany595]

Has anyone had any troubles with taking independent tours. I read a thread and it kind of freaked me out. I hadn't even thought of it before. But some people were saying they were glad they spent the extra money to go on a cruise sponsored trip because if any delays come up the ship will wait. I really don't want to go to Stingray City with the cruise tour. I want to go with Moby Dicks. It seems much nicer.

[stanimal]

There are two distinct schools of thought on this issue.

 

1) take the cruise tours. they will hold the boat for you if you are late, and you don't have to worry about literally missing the boat and having to arrange travel to the next port.

 

2) these independant tour operators basically live off of word of mouth and referrals. If they cause people to miss the boat, they won't be in business for very long.

 

I generally subscribe to theory #2. Get some opinions from people on this board who have taken some tours. Find out who seems to be reputable, and book with someone you feel comfortable with. The names you see over and over again on the boards just couldn't afford to stay around if they were in the habit of getting people back to the boat late.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We've found most ship tours to be over-crowded and over-priced. Ever since my husband spent the whole tour in Grand Cayman crammed into a jump seat between the rows of our small tour bus, we mostly book independently. Yes, you are taking a very slight chance of missing the ship due to some unforseen circumstance, but it is very rare.

 

We try to book tours that get back with plenty of time left before the ship leaves. We would book a ships tour only if the time in port was especially short or if the port was considered very unsafe and there weren't what I considered reliable and safe independents available.

 

These boards are a great place to find good independent tours. These people do not want bad publicity and will do their utmost to show you a good time and get you back to the ship on schedule.

[vmom]

If its a long tour with not alot of time to spare, go with the ships excursions. If its a shorter excursion, schedule it with plenty of leeway time to get back and you shouldn't have a problem. Fot stingray city tours, I wouldn't hesitate to go with a private tour as long as you are not getting back late in the afternoon. We did a private stingray city/snorkel excursion and didn't have any trouble getting back in plenty of time.