Excursion question from a first timer

I will be going on my first cruise (Panama canal) in December. I'm trying to choose excursions/plan port days but I have questions.

1. One of our stops requires a tender. I want to do one organized activity (snorkelling type thing) then go solo. Is that an option? Do they bring you back to the boat, or to some sort of tender stop?

2. Thoughts on independent excursions? How would that work? Is it risky? Are there companies that sort of work the tour circuit, or is it unique to each stop?

Thanks

I will be going on my first cruise (Panama canal) in December. I'm trying to choose excursions/plan port days but I have questions.

 

1. One of our stops requires a tender. I want to do one organized activity (snorkelling type thing) then go solo. Is that an option? Do they bring you back to the boat, or to some sort of tender stop?

 

2. Thoughts on independent excursions? How would that work? Is it risky? Are there companies that sort of work the tour circuit, or is it unique to each stop?

 

Thanks

What ship? What ports? What times?

I will be going on my first cruise (Panama canal) in December. I'm trying to choose excursions/plan port days but I have questions.

 

1. One of our stops requires a tender. I want to do one organized activity (snorkelling type thing) then go solo. Is that an option? Do they bring you back to the boat, or to some sort of tender stop?

 

You will be returned to the tender location.

 

2. Thoughts on independent excursions? How would that work? Is it risky? Are there companies that sort of work the tour circuit, or is it unique to each stop?

 

In my opinion the risk is not worth it. If you are on a Princess booked excursion they will hold the ship if you are late. If you are on an independent one they will not.

2. Thoughts on independent excursions? How would that work? Is it risky? Are there companies that sort of work the tour circuit, or is it unique to each stop?

 

In my opinion the risk is not worth it. If you are on a Princess booked excursion they will hold the ship if you are late. If you are on an independent one they will not.

 

I think it depends on the excursion and the port. If you're on an excursion that takes you a long way from the port or if you're at a port where you can't find established, well-reviewed independent tour companies, you might well want to go with a ship's tour. Otherwise the established, well-reviewed independent tour companies typically offer the same guarantees as the ship's tours (refunds if the ship can't make the port, guarantees they'll get you back to your ship on time, etc.) and may be more customized to your needs.

 

I would ask on your Roll Call what others might be doing and check also Port-specific threads to see what others might have done in the past and recommend.

 

It's worth noting that Princess doesn't guarantee that they will hold the ship for you, only that they will make sure you get back to the ship -- which may be at the next port in the rare event that a tour runs into significant delays.

refunds if the ship can't make the port, guarantees they'll get you back to your ship on time

Get a guarantee on this one, in Kirkwall there are tour operators who will not refund and tell you to claim insurance. I have seen elsewhere where there is only a 50% refund.

Caveat Emptor

OK, maybe it's because I'm, um, a value shopper, but during eight months aboard Princess, I've only booked maybe half a dozen ship's excursions. One was great, a couple mediocre, and a few were flops. And I suppose I saved thousands of dollars. (Pay Princess to drive you to the train station at Civitavecchia and put you on a train to Rome instead of independently booking first class on a high-speed train at a fifth the price? No thanks. Take a public bus to a near-deserted snorkeling beach on Aruba for less than five bucks round trip? Yes please.)

I suppose it depends on your comfort with being an independent traveler, your willingness to schedule things so you have a nice cushion, and your aversion to being herded around in groups of 40.

Most port tour operators are locally based (though I seem to recall businesses that dealt with several Caribbean ports). Most of them are also very experienced with cruisers and know how to get you back to port in plenty of time; their reputation depends on it. And there can be definite pluses sometimes. On the Falklands, a number of Princess penguin-spotting tours were cancelled due to lack of transport, unlike our tour with a private operator. In Iceland, one of our most memorable trips was along a mountain road Princess' larger buses couldn't handle.

I'm not saying that getting left behind can't and doesn't happen. (Though IMO it's as often because someone spent too much time at Señor Frog's than because their private tour was delayed.) The only time we cut things really close was when we insisted on riding the roller coaster at Yokohama. Lesson learned.

But by all means book ship's excursions if that's your thing. After all, I own Carnival stock. :)

Zeldon... Welcome to Cruise Critic! :D

Please give us more information ... which ship, which port stops, etc. ... so we can be more helpful to you. :)

When I plan, I look at many things. First, get familiar with the port and decide what you might be interested in doing or what you don't want to miss.

Then know how long it will take you to get there. If you have a tender port and very little time there, I personally wouldn't do independent travel unless I gave myself a LOT of extra time. I probably would do a ship's tour or keep it simple, like just shop or do a hop-on/hop-off tour or find out if there are companies right at the pier who offer tours. If you have plenty of time then...

Know your budget. If you have a lot of OBC, then by all means, use it for ship's excursions. If you don't have much, then research the cost of a private tour company vs. a ship's tour. For private tour companies, I read the reviews and start by contacting three or four and get an itinerary, quotes, payment information and cancellation policy. Then I move onto more quotes if the first group didn't meet my expectations. The private tour companies don't usually "work the circuit," but they might work the region. If organized tour options are too expensive, then look into independent travel. Or look into that first if you enjoy that. Some do.

Know how comfortable you are with independent travel, as well as how easy it is to get to that means of travel from the ship. Sometimes it can be complicated, and I don't need the stress of wondering if I'm going to get to the ship on time. But always give yourself lots of time and have a back-up plan.

I have done all of the above - every cruise is different, at least for me!

Thanks everyone.

Stops are (with time in 24hr format): Falmouth, Jamaica (9-17); Cartagena, Colombia (9-15); Panama Canal (6:30-15); Colon, Panama (17-20); Limon, Costa Rica (7-18); and Grand Cayman (7-16).

Falmouth, Panama Canal, and Colon - not sure what I'm going to do. Any recommendations are welcome.

Cartagena - going to go solo. I prefer to wander cities on my own, not with a group. Very excited about this, hate that it's so short.

Limon - definitely going to go with an excursion. Not ziplining (not at this stop), but other recommendations welcome.

Grand Cayman - I hear it's small and easy to navigate. My goal (schedule permitting) is to do some sort of snorkelish expedition (never done it before, want expert guidance), then go to Hell or some rum cake thing or something on my own. There are tours that include both with things I don't want to do (Turtle farm, stingray something - I have reasons). Because it's a tender port I wasn't sure if I'd be going back and forth to the ship (in which case suck it up and do the expedition) or just to some default stop (I can theoretically go solo).

Cartagena: be prepared to be bombarded by "beggers" who are trying to sell you just about anything. I found a way to get rid of them, agree a price after a long haggle and then offer the golden USA dollar coins.

In a city setting I'm comfortable going alone. I've traveled enough that I'm not concerned - ex. Cayman and Cartagena.

Some place like Limon no way I would risk that. Too many things could go wrong.

Colon I would do an excursion, only because it's soo so short.

While I shop a little, it isn't in an of itself an activity for me, unless it;s exceptionally unique and special (like souks in Marakesh)

The day you're doing the Canal, the only way you can get off the ship is an excursion thru the ship. It gets boring sitting around in that lake waiting to go back through the lock. ;)

The stop in Colon is only to pick up the passengers that took tours in Gatun Lake. Since you will be taking a tour from the ship in Gatun Lake, you won't have an opportunity to take another in Colon. EM

The day you're doing the Canal, the only way you can get off the ship is an excursion thru the ship. It gets boring sitting around in that lake waiting to go back through the lock. ;)

Are you referring to some excursion or to staying on the ship?

I get the impression you suggest doing an excursion that day,

You can also get shore excursion tips and information specific to your cruise on your Roll Call and Ports of Call Board.

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As I recall, in Gatun Lake/Colon the only way you can get off the ship is on a Princess tour. That's where we took the one ship's excursion I loved, visiting the Embera Indian village. It sounded hokey ("Go see the happy natives in their primitive environment") but was actually wonderful.

From your description you are doing a partial canal transit on Coral or Island Princess.

For the canal, you will enter about 7 AM and go through the Gatun Locks. The ship anchors in Gatun Lake and lets off passengers ONLY for Princess tours. Lots of tours there, but if you enjoy the locks I would recommend the tour that does the rest of the canal in a smaller boat. This takes you over to the Pacific side and brings you back on a bus. While you are gone the ship goes back down through the Gatun Locks and docks in Colon. All passengers who took tours meet the ship there. This ship is not in Colon long enough to get off there to do a tour but there is some shopping in the port.

We are not fond of Falmouth, but if you have never been to Jamaica there are a ton of things to do. Having been there many times we generally go to an all-inclusive resort. This can be done either through the ship or book online. Tubing, Dunns Falls, Blue Hole - lots to do.

Limon is a long way from anything. Most tours are 8 hours or up and should be done through Princess. You can book the canal ride online (maybe 5 hours total). Really depends on how long you are in port. There are local good operators.

Cartagena is HOT. Easiest to take some kind of tour but lots of folks take cabs into town (long walk down the pier, too). Best if you know Spanish. Old town and the fort are kind of neat if you haven't been there. Locals can be a bit pushy selling stuff.

Grand Cayman is your tender port. Ton of tours and snorkel boats sell tours right on the dock or online. Advantage of local is smaller group - our last Princess tour had three buses of people on one snorkel boat. That said, the boat was more like a ferry and had great stairs to get into the water. And of course any tour there should go see the stingrays. Our son just rents a car, which works fine if you want to go to the beach or the east end of the island. We've also missed this port twice due to weather. Early Princess tours take you as a group on a tender and meet a bus onshore. Later tours or private just take a tender to the dock (maybe 1/4 mile from the ship). All tours private or Princess drop off in town (a few blocks long) so you can shop and you just go over to the tender when you want to return to the ship (allow an hour before the last tender time).

Before you do anything, go to the Cruise Critic boards for each of the ports you are going to and read up on what other folks recommend. Also join your roll call on this board and see what other people on your cruise are thinking of doing. You might want to join up on a private tour with them. Since this is your first cruise I would recommend either going with Princess tours (easiest) or with other folks from the ship, but on our own isn't impossible - just keep track of ship time.

By the way, the partial transit is one of our favorite itineraries - there is a lot to do and lots of interesting places to see.

I did that cruise 4 years ago, when my son was 2. Please click on the link in my signature line for a description of all the private tours we booked with well established companies. All of the private tours were fabulous, especially the city tour of Cartagena, which is a gorgeous city. The only tour that wasn't good was the princess tour, which we had to book in order to get off the ship in colon. It featured a wildlife cruise with no wildlife (which happens) and we weren't told what time we would be allowed to reboard the ship, which ended up with us holding a screaming toddler for an hour in port who needed to nap. We hope to never be required to do another ship tour again.

We didn't visit the grand Cayman Islands on this trip, but did on a previous one. Stingray city and snorkeling is great, and their tutle farm is nice. There are lots of well established reputable tour operators there, and you can find them either on the port of call board or on TripAdvisor.

The only port I've visited without lots of well established tour operators was in Guatemala, so you will be fine. People would post if they didn't make the ship, and that would decimate the company's reputation.

Thanks everyone.

 

Stops are (with time in 24hr format): Falmouth, Jamaica (9-17); Cartagena, Colombia (9-15); Panama Canal (6:30-15); Colon, Panama (17-20); Limon, Costa Rica (7-18); and Grand Cayman (7-16).

 

Falmouth, Panama Canal, and Colon - not sure what I'm going to do. Any recommendations are welcome.

Cartagena - going to go solo. I prefer to wander cities on my own, not with a group. Very excited about this, hate that it's so short.

Limon - definitely going to go with an excursion. Not ziplining (not at this stop), but other recommendations welcome.

Grand Cayman - I hear it's small and easy to navigate. My goal (schedule permitting) is to do some sort of snorkelish expedition (never done it before, want expert guidance), then go to Hell or some rum cake thing or something on my own. There are tours that include both with things I don't want to do (Turtle farm, stingray something - I have reasons). Because it's a tender port I wasn't sure if I'd be going back and forth to the ship (in which case suck it up and do the expedition) or just to some default stop (I can theoretically go solo).

Colon: Your ship will transit the Atlantic locks then sit for some time in Gatun Lake. Passengers that have booked Princess' Panama tours only will be tendered to a dock where a tour operator will be waiting. The tour will return to the dock in Colon. Passengers remaining on the ship are not permitted on the tenders. They will be able to exit the ship in Colon later in the afternoon. There is a large warehouse there with vendors selling all kinds of items. There isn't much else to do there during the short 3 hour stay.

Falmouth:Basically you are at a fairly large dockside mall where you can just walk off the ship. Tours that are sold by Princess are the same kind of tours that you can book privately. At Falmouth you are fairly far from Duns River Falls a popular attraction.

Grand Cayman. Very walkable town. Tender port so you have to arrive early at the tender tick location if you want to be on one of the first tenders.

I see you have joined your roll call. This is the place where you can join private tours.

It's interesting that I am planning the exact same cruise. We have a group of 16, and with groups, you get a lot of OBC per cabin, so that factors into it. This is what I have decided:

Falmouth - ship's excursion since I have read you don't really want to venture on your own outside the port area and our group is varied in age, so everyone will want to do something different. I would look into a private excursion if I didn't have OBC to use.

Cartagena - I have booked a private excursion for our group since no ship's excursion sees everything we want to see. A private excursion does this for us. It's about the same price as a ship's excursion but we can customize it to do what we want.

Panama Canal - we are all taking the tour with the ship that goes through the rest of the locks to the Pacific Ocean. There are no other options on this day except to go with the ship's excursions.

Limon, Costa Rica - Nothing is nearby, so we are taking a private tour so we can see what we want to see: a cruise of the river, wildlife up close, banana plantation, a tour of Limon and more. This is also MUCH cheaper than a ship's tour and gives us a nice highlight of the area.

Grand Cayman - taking a ship's excursion or doing it on our own since everyone in the group will want to choose something different and it's an easy port to do on your own