Savings Tip #3

[bombero]

On a budget and want to take a tour? You can book your own tour/excursion after you arrive in port and save 50% off the same ship tour/excursion. Ever notice all those vendors holding up signs advertising the same tours that are advertised on the ship? You can save 50%, and most of the time get a better tour/excursion. These guys are independent vendors and have business cards and email addresses, and will give you a good tour in hopes of a word of mouth referral to friends.. I know I will catch alot of flack on this, as alot of people think this isn't safe, but we've done this a least 2 dozen times without a hitch... Bombero

[serene56]

I will book independant vendors unless a tour I am interested in will take a long time- and cutting it clost to getting back to the pier before we leave.

 

Lots of tours for 3-4 hours can save you lots of money by doing them yourself. Also- these tours are less crowded then the ship excursion.

[Nitemare]

Bombero: Will they hold the ship if your independent tour is late returning?

 

Yes, you will save money by going your own way. But 1 missed return to the ship is gonna cost you tons more than you'll save that way.

[lougee1043]

nitemare

 

if you book an independant and its late getting back to the ship you can wave good bye to it from the pier as it sails off into the sunset --- and you are left to your own devices and costs to catch up with the ship at its next port--this is the one advantage of booking thru the cruise line ---i have done both and my deciding factor is how much time is available if something should happen to the independant tour--flat tire- break down etc etc

[bombero]

I said I'd get a lot of flack from this.... You know, sometimes you just have to use common sense.. If you were booking a flight because you needed to be at the pier to board a ship that leaves at 5:00 and the airport was 15 minutes away and the plane arrived at the airport at 4:55. Would you take it? From reading these boards, some of you probably would, then you'd complain that it was the airlines fault you missed your ship, because you had 5 minutes to pickup your luggage, get a cab, and travel the 15 minutes to the ship, and that should have been plenty of time.. Sometimes you just have to use common sense... As for us, we will continue to use private vendors whenever possible.... Bombero

If any of you have a problem with any of the "tips" I've mentioned, just don't use them.....

[Nitemare]

I'm confused by your definition of "a lot of flack", but since this board attracts a lot of newbies, I think it's important to point out the major drawback to your suggestion of booking shore excursions on your own, namely, if something happens to your tour, and you don't get back to the ship prior to sailing, you are responsible for getting yourself to the next port.

 

Not mentioning that in your original post could be quite hazardous to a traveler's vacation.

[Travel Angel]

While I will aggree with the OP to a point, I may add that if you do a little research BEFORE the cruise, often times you can find a vendor online and get feedback from others that have used them, BEFORE GAMBLING with anyone right off the ship !

 

When the cruiseline has a tour that I really like (when in a port of call other than the caribbean) I would for sure book with them as I would hate gambling that either I would not make it back to the ship on time -or- that the company awaiting my business right off the ship was reputable or not.

 

Basically..... MY TIP = BUYER BEWARE !

[lougee1043]

I said I'd get a lot of flack from this....QUOTE]

 

i certainly hope that you didnt take any of my comments as flack ---as i posted i have used both types of excursions and i just tried to explain the downside to booking independently ---if i had an independent morning tour that ended at 2 and the ship sailed at 5 i would book the independent and save money just as you stated ----------but if the tour ended at 4 i would go with the ships tour and consider the extra money spent as insurance

[bombero]

Certainly not Lougee1043.. In fact I agree with you.. Bombero :)

[pcann]

I do the vendors everytime myself. These people know the cruise ships schedule better than we do. They have ships coming and going daily, this is their way of life and their business. They are relaxed about making sure we are back in time and we are the nervous ones. How many people have missed their ship? I have not read any on these boards?

[waterbound]

We normally use independent vendors on our excursions and save quite a bit of money.. Although on our first cruise we took the shark ray alley tour in Belize and the boat that was taking us back to the ship ran out of gas.. We were all late getting back to the ship and luckily that one was thru Carnival otherwise they wouldnt have waited for us.. But even with that happening, we still use independent vendors most of the time.. of course you do have to look at the times being offered and make a personal decision if its best to go on your own or pay twice as much and go with theirs.. We've done both ...

[cruisintwinsmom]

We used private tour guides when we were in Europe this summer, but I hired them all ahead of time with recommendations from the cc board. How do you judge a vendor at the pier? Do you talk to several, or do you take the first one you come to? Appreciate the help.

[bombero]

That's a good question Crusintwinsmom. :cool: .. We generally talk to several and ask what they have to offer, ie. vehicle condition, duration of tour, price, their itinerary, as compared to what the ship offers, and very important, can we pay when he gets us back to the ship.. Most of the time, a good one will tell you all this before you get a chance to ask... Bombero

[cruisintwinsmom]

We will be in Bermuda next June and had read where people just grab someone at the dock then take a quick tour to get a feel of the island. Now I know how to handle it!;)

[bombero]

Happy Sailing Cruisintwinsmom... Glad I could help.. Let us know how you made out on your adventure... Bombero ;)

 

 

We will be in Bermuda next June and had read where people just grab someone at the dock then take a quick tour to get a feel of the island. Now I know how to handle it!;)

[hkolln]

I've always used independent tours. You have to just watch the times and schedule them for enough time to get back to the ship. Those tour companies also know the ships hours in port. I know on our last cruise all the tours we took we saved ALOT of money by doing them ourselves instead of on the ships tours. And they all knew the time of our last tender too and made sure we were back way before that time. They all worked with us. I would think that getting you back late would really hurt their business!

[HOSKI]

We use independent vendors and buy cruise insurance so that if we are late we have transportation to the next port. Research is the key and also keep in mind that these people make their living from cruisers so they are used to the schedules and getting you back. I prebook before getting to the port and make sure they know what time I want to be where. Also, I book them for the time we are getting off the ship and let them know we plan on shopping after so that if we are running late we have time built in.

[madelinerose]

Perfect reasons why we don't book the tourist-trap excursions. :eek:

 

Do some research and do your own thing. ;)

[WiscCruiser]

We've wrestled with the same question. We always wanted to rent a jeep and tour St. John's island on our own. But, we frequently heard, you can't trust the ferry schedule from St. John back to St. Thomas. So, we never did it. Well, the last time we were there, we decided to throw caution to the wind and did the excursion on our own. Had a wonderful time and absolutley no problems with the ferry.

 

So, that's my story. In answer to your question, should you take the ships tour or save some money and do a private excursion. I'd say, choose the private excursion.

 

I figure, "If I am going to get stranded some place, what better place than a Caribbean island."

[zetnic]

Hi,

We are scheduled on a Scandanavia cruise next May and I would like to ask cruisintwinsmom what ports she arranged tours at. I too like to arrange my own tours. Have done both, ahead of time and at the dock. Zetnic

[cruisintwinsmom]

Hi,

We are scheduled on a Scandanavia cruise next May and I would like to ask cruisintwinsmom what ports she arranged tours at. I too like to arrange my own tours. Have done both, ahead of time and at the dock. Zetnic

We were in the meditteranean (sp?) so can't help you with Scandanavia. We had booked that for next year, however, was afraid of conflicts with kids schedules. I would suggest to go to the Europe port and post there. BTW, when you go next year would love to hear who you used for the ports and how you like them, as hope to book for summer of 2006.:)

[brillohead]

FWIW, some of the time, depending on the port and depending on the time, you're actually on the SAME excursion as your fellow passengers! We had this happen at an all-inclusive in the Dominican Republic, as well as on snorkeling excursions in Grand Cayman and Costa Maya.

 

So one way to have "insurance" about the ship waiting for you is to make sure that they already have some people from your ship booked on their excursion -- the boat may not be waiting for YOU, but it WILL be waiting for the passenger on the seat next to you who paid Full Price And Then Some. ;)

[cruisintwinsmom]

What a great suggestion!:D Will remember that for future cruises!

[brillohead]

What a great suggestion!:D Will remember that for future cruises!

No problem... I've learned that there's often a misconception that the tours offered by the cruise line are actually operated by the cruise line. Rather, the tours are operated by Joe Tour Company (which in some cases may be Joe and Fred and a couple of natives as "crew", rather than an actual "company") which pays a commission (a really STEEP commission) to the cruise line for selling his tours on ship to the captive audience of suckers. :p

 

Just don't forget that my method is NOT foolproof -- you've still got an element of risk: 1) There may not be any openings on the tour you want to take, or 2) There may not be anyone else on your ship wanting to take the same tour even though there are openings, or 3) There's always the chance that the tour operator could lie to you about having others from your ship, etc. (If you've got a good eye for faces, though, you can look around and see if you recognize anyone from your ship. You can also check w/ the onboard salesperson to see which tours that you're interested in have had sales already and/or still have openings, etc.)

 

It's also a good idea to find out more about each individual port before you go, too. I've had people recommend that we NOT do the "independent booking" thing at Ocho Rios b/c there is a history of scams at that port (take your money and leave you at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, etc). Not EVERY tour operator in O.R. does this, mind you! It has just happened enough that it's one of those places that you're generally better off using the Pay-Full-Price tour from the ship. I haven't been to O.R. in 17 years, but my memories from then make it easy to believe that something like this could happen, so I'm taking the advice of those who have been there more recently and booking through the ship on that one.....

[RennFan]

I have been doing some research for my Oct 30th cruise on Voyager of the Seas, and I've found some things that are actually better through the ships.

 

I wanted to do the Breezes resort in Nassau, which is all inclusive, and through RCCL, it's $78 per person, and you leave the ship at 8am, and stay till probably around noon because the ship leaves port at 1pm. I called Breezes and while they offer one day passes, they are $60 per person and you can't get in until 10am. And I can't find taxi rates for Nassau. So, fur an extra $18 per person, you get 2 extra hours at the resort. For me, that's worthwhile.

 

On the other hand, I was looking at a 'Walking Tour of Old San Juan' on the excursions website which was like $22 or $24 per person, I looked on the Puerto Rico website and Taxi service from the ship dock to Old San Juan is only $6. That's a huge savings. And then we walk around on our own and go where we want.

 

I'm still trying to decide for Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas. I want to see the sites and the forts, and it seems as though you could do that on your own, but I'm not sure how close/far that is from where the ships dock. Anyone know anything about St. Thomas and whether it's better to just tour on your own or through the ship?