Why such a huge mark up on shore excursions?

[mcbrides]

I fully expect there to be a slight mark up on shore excursions that are booked through RC. I suppose you are paying for the "convenience" of not having to research different options on your own and avoid worrying about the ship departing without you. However, some of the excursion mark-ups are outrageous! Many of the tours are easy to find on-line, and you can easily compare the additional money RC is charging its passengers. And for most of the tours, you have no choice but to book through RC because of the tour company's "contract" with RC. For example, the Helicopter tour that is availabe in Antigua is $60 more per person than Caribbean Helicopters itself charges if you book directly through them. But of course, you can't book through them because of their contract with RC. There are a number of shore excursions we would love to do, but my fiance and I refuse to pay more than $100 over the actual "cost" of the tour just because of RC is trying to nickel and dime us in yet another way. Sorry for the negativity, because I will enjoy every moment of our cruise--but I won't contribute to this racket. I hope the tour operators realize the problems this will cause their business if RC insists on overinflating the cost of the shore excursions.

[BaumD]

Why can't you book directly? Why does RCCL do it - because they can and people pay.

[isujim]

Just another profit center for RC..........while I don't blame them.......I would book on my own if you could.

[happysinglemom]

I keep hearing this, but I did not find it to be true in my case. I booked only 3 excursions, all directly with the companies - and all were very expensive, more than the RCCL versions. I booked Eli's Antigua tour, the Silver Moon 5 hr cruise in Barbados, and the Jungle Tour in St. Lucia. They are all highly recommended, and I fully expect to enjoy them, so I'm not too worried about the money difference - I don't think the RCCL versions would be near as good.

[xpcdoojk]

Will the other operators if they are delayed and you miss the sailing, make the ship wait. The answer is no. What is that worth? If you miss the ship I would guess it is priceless. I book my own excursions all of the time, but there is an additional value offered by the cruiseline that the other excursion operators can't give.

 

 

jc

[Family of 14]

The biggest benefit I see with booking on your own is getting individualized excursions. You don't have to line up in a cow stall with 150 other passengers, waiting in the hot sun for your transportation, lining up and be lead like school children and be mashed together on a bus or ferry.

 

You can be more flexible with your schedule if you book on your own and usually the crowds are not so bad. Sometimes, you can save money depending on how far you have to travel to reach your excursion.

 

We found that the mark up on one of our excursions wasn't anymore than the price it was going to cost us pp, plus the cost of a taxi.

[MattInFLL]

Have you tried portpromotions.com ? And the port of calls board here? There are ways around the "RCI has us all booked out that day.." response for many excursions. And sometimes you get better tour operators who do not contract with RCI. The day we were in Juneau, RCI was using a different vendor, and none of their copters could take off due to fog. OUrs did, because it was located in a better place.

 

I always try to book my own... but have also booked many through RCI directly. Hate the "cattle" mentality, but it is sometimes nice to just step off the ship and be directed right to where you have to go.

I know there's that whole thing about the ship leaving without you.. but personally, I would never book any excursion that cut time that close..

[pieshops]

one other advantage is if your ship is tendering you get to be the first off

[ondeckatsea]

Unless we are in a potentially dangerous area we do our own booking and save about 50% of the cost of a ships tour. We haven't been disappointed yet with private tours but have felt ripped off many times going with the ships tour. It's a big profit maker for them. Also, if you find a tour guide on your own (there are always plenty of them around) you are helping the local economy which usually needs it a lot more than the cruiselines. They will take you to the exact places and often some extras.

[momofmeg]

Not always a huge markup. Hubby and daughter did the dolphen encounter in Nassau 3 years ago. The ship (RCCL Sovereign) charged $85. He could have booked it on his own for $75-so they paid $20 extra. He was concerned about transportation which is why he booked it through the cruise ship. If he had realized the people pick you up like a block from the cruise ship he may have booked it on his own-but it was worth the $20 extra not to worry about transportation.

[savva0122]

I agree that I find the tours to be expensive, but even more so for the recent European Cruise we went on. Some of the day long tours were £90 (~$160) which we managed to do separately for less than half the cost. Sadly most of our table were first time cruisers, who got duped into booking lots of tours, who will cruise again, but who will not do the tour thing again because they are too darn expensive. I plan to do a couple of tours in November - to El Yunque in San Juan because I want to go their and probably a tour in Miami to get off the ship and transfer to MIA, but that's it

[SUSANITA]

I refuse to pay for ships tours. Not when I can get a better, cheaper, more personalized tour for 1/2 the price, on my own time schedule for the most part. Every tour I've taken has been individual, and I have never had a problem getting back to the ship on time.

 

Not only do they mark these tours WAY up, they most likely have negotiated rates far, far lower than we could ever get. So the markup you see is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

They can double the rates for tours, and have 1/2 the people take them, or they can be reasonable and sell more. It's a shame that they choose to stick it to us.

[bUU]

What makes it "irresponsible" to better fulfill obligations to the owners? What makes it "unreasonable"? You can not like the way someone is doing something, without that person being wrong or bad or evil.

[Marialivia]

Help! (Please) We will be on the VOS 9-night cruise leaving 9/10. I have no idea how to go about booking excursions on my own and had planned to go online tomorrow to the RCCL site for this purpose. On previous cruises we booked excursions right on the cruise ship after receiving ample info from ship personnel, the newsletter, etc. I don't remember the cost, but it wasn't outrageous. If someone could tell me an alternate way to search out excursions, I'd much appreciate it. :confused:

[lanabanana]

Go to the ports of call boards and click on the ports you will be visiting. Ask for help/suggestions for each individual port and people will make suggestions. I've booked our excursions in Belize and Grand Cayman online with private vendors who are highly recommended. Very easy to do. Good luck!

[MrsPete]

Why do they charge so much? Simple: People are willing to pay it! I think people are willing to pay for several reasons:

 

1. They don't know how to research the information on their own, or they don't have time to do it, or they're first-timers and don't realize that other options exist.

2. They are afraid of "going it on their own" in a foreign country, and they're afraid they'll be lost.

 

I agree with the others who've said that they don't enjoy the ship excursions because of the "cattle" mentality. I don't enjoy being part of a large group for excursions.

[yarlenna]

There ARE a few advantages to booking a tour through the ship especially if time is tight and/or it is a tendered port.

1. You are guaranteed that the ship will wait for you if the tour is delayed at all. If you are not on a ship sponsored tour, they don't have to wait for you if you get a flat, or your car's engine over heats etc.

2. You are on ship's time - so there is no confusion about when you get picked up etc. Many of the islands arein a different time than the port where you embarked. Sometimes the ship changes to local time. Some time it does not.

3. If you are unhappy with the tour you have some (ok not much) recourse.

Do I usually book through the ship? NO! But, there are times when it is wise.