Thanks for the shore excursion info

[Talisker92]

In somone's posting they said you can book shore excursions on line. I had to wait until 6:30 AM this morning to call RSSC because I did not have my booking number.

I registered on line,booked the trips, and now have an e-mailed confirmation. The reason I really wanted to do this was we will be on the Navigator 24 November and I wanted to make sure I got on the 2 flying excursions.

This will be our 2nd cruise with the Navigator and we are looking froward to it.

[Chat Kat]

SJ,

 

We are just of the Navigator. The shore excursion booking by web was excellent. The tickets arrived at our cabin the first day.

 

BTW, we live in Westlake Village and work in Woodland Hills

[Leejnd4]

Hi,

 

We are booked on 5/1/05 Voyager Med cruise. We're in the process of working out where we will use private tours (i.e. Revelation Tours in France) vs. ship excursions. The only problem is, apparently RSSC doesn't post the prices online until 60 days out, so I can't tell if it would be more cost effective to go w/ the ship vs. private. I suppose I could wait until Feb. to start booking but, given my propensity for instant gratification, I don't wanna! {stamping foot in temper tantrum} ;) Plus, I don't want to chance not getting the private tour I want because they're already booked up.

 

Is there any way I can find out prices for excursions now? Thanks!

 

LeeAnne

 

(Oh, btw, we live in Thousand Oaks!)

[Talisker92]

Chat Kat,

We live in Winnetka and I work in Simi Valley

[Mandypup]

Leejnd4

I can't speak for every RSSC cruise, but costs for the ship excursions vs private for our Mexico trip were almost identical (within a few $$) when you add in transportation and any snack or meals. In our case we chose private a couple of times because we wanted a specific vendor, and RSSC a couple of times because we were at a tender port for a very short amount of time.

[Leejnd4]

Leejnd4

I can't speak for every RSSC cruise, but costs for the ship excursions vs private for our Mexico trip were almost identical (within a few $$) when you add in transportation and any snack or meals. In our case we chose private a couple of times because we wanted a specific vendor, and RSSC a couple of times because we were at a tender port for a very short amount of time.

 

Wow! In my past cruising experiences, on Celebrity and Royal Carribbean, in almost every case it was significantly less expensive to go with a private tour than the cruise line's excursions. Especially in Alaska -- I found helicoptor, float-plane, kayaking and glaciar-hiking tours on my own that literally saved me hundreds of dollars over the ship's tours. Plus, they were smaller tour companies, and took only a few passengers, so we got much more personal attention than the popular (and usually fully sold-out) cruise excursions.

 

But I must admit there was always a little trepidation due to the what-if factor, y'know, like if we didn't make it back to the ship on time. If we can get a comparable ship excursion to what we could find ourselves, without paying through the nose, then that would definitely be the way we'd prefer to go.

 

So, is it really true that cost of the RSSC excursions are not jacked up the way they are on the mass-market lines? If so, then that'll save me a TON of time in doing all the research to find ones on our own!

 

LeeAnne

[Mandypup]

Here are some examples

For the canopy tour in Puerto Vallarta, RSSC charges $150 for two people which includes transport and a snack. We are paying $126 for two but have to get transport there and back. For a horsebackride in Mazatlan, we are paying $45 pp, not including lunch. RSSC is charging $72 pp, but lunch is included, as is time at a "hacienda" for relaxing (trip is 1-2 hours longer than ours). So, if we include lunch in ours, the difference is maybe $15 per person. Not a huge amount. In both cases, we went on our own because we wanted a specific vendor.

Again, I can't speak for all RSSC's trips, only this one.