"On your own" excursions - a rip off?

Can I please ask what people think about the value of excursions, specifically "go it alone" ones?

I am going on the Britannia later this year in the Med region and just want to have some chilling days where my son and I can go to the beach or into the city at our leisure. However, the cost advertised by P&O for these trips seems high. At Vigo they want £19 and £9 for adult and child respectively (which isn't too bad) but a Cadiz they want £38 and £29. Nearly 70 quid for what is really just a glorified bus ride into town seems a rip off. Would I be better off just trying to get a taxi locally for this sort of stuff?

Many thanks.

At Vigo and Cadiz you don't need any transport into town as the ships docks literally in the the town centre. Walk off the ship and you are right there.

Brian

Cadiz has a really good sandy beach in easy walking distance from the ship. Cadiz is really pretty, no need to do the HOHO bus either, last time we took a coastal walk which was really enjoyable but you could just head straight for the beach if you wanted.

Vigo is again easy DIY. It has a church on a hill.

As far as "on your own" trips, if there is a sizeable distance like Rome you could be happier with organised cruise transport so you are not panicing about getting back to the ship. For a beach however it is always easier to go on your own and a lot cheaper.

Is the Cadiz one just into the town or do they take you somewhere else ? Cadiz is often used as the port for Seville or Jerez.

I agree Cadiz is a great walk-off port and there is absolutely no need to get transport to go elsewhere unless you have somewhere specific in mind. A lovely port of call.

We never do a ship's trip unless it's not practical or advisable to go it alone. for example we have done the train to Rome on several occasions but more recently have decided the 'Rome on your Own' suits us better as although it's more expensive to do it that way, we've found we have significantly longer in the city. If we go on the train we set off back to Civitavecchia early afternoon to get back in good time and allow for delays and now prefer to have a couple of extra leisurely hours in Rome rather than be worrrying about public transport. It's horses for course - lots of people do go to Rome on their own.

We do our homework in terms of what we want to do in each port then weigh up how easy it is to DiY - if there are issues of train times/distance /security then we'd elect to do the ship's trip instead.

In general, beaches and other 'chill out' destinations won't be within easy walking distance of the ship. Well, there might be a basic beach or whatever but the excursion should be to a better one. The big advantage of doing the excursion is that, as long as you make it back to the pick-up point at the correct time, you don't have to worry about getting back to the ship. Even if there are then traffic problems, the ship will always wait until all the excursions are back, whereas they may not wait for taxis to return, or trains that have been delayed, etc. The downside, as you say, is that excursions can cost quite a lot of money.

I would have thought you could do both. There will be some ports where you and your son can expore on your own. Can you involve your son in the fact-finding about those ports? Google maps, bus/train options, etc? Then there may be other ports where it might be snide to let P&O take the stain - just enjoy the time with your son.

We usually mix'on'match during a cruise - we'll do some excursions and some ports on our own. I'll be honest, as we've got older we're doing more excursions, perhaps. Not because we're less fit, but we're beginning to value freedom from hassle and worry more and more.

Cadiz is often used as the port for Seville or Jerez.

Is Seville worth visiting, or would it be better to remain in Cadiz?

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I would have thought you could do both. There will be some ports where you and your son can expore on your own. Can you involve your son in the fact-finding about those ports? Google maps, bus/train options, etc? Then there may be other ports where it might be BETTER to let P&O take the stain - just enjoy the time with your son.

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I can't think how 'better' got turned into 'snide'......

Is the Cadiz one just into the town or do they take you somewhere else ? Cadiz is often used as the port for Seville or Jerez.

For the price quoted by the OP I think the Cadiz one must be for Seville (or Jerez!)

i think the alarmist always try to put you off DIY-ing by telling you that if you don't do a tour then you might miss the ship. Since our first cruise we've pretty much always organised our own trips all around the world and not only is it much cheaper than the cruise line, you also usually have longer at the places you're visiting. We use either taxis, private tours or local buses. The problem with ship's tours is that you can only go as fast as the slowest person and with repeated stops for toilets, shopping, waiting for the coach etc you waste too much time fitting in with what other people want. And in answer to your question they are really over-priced.

If I were doing the ports you were, I'd take a taxi to the beach / town I wanted to visit and arrange for the taxi to come back at a set time. Key to this is allowing a 'cushion' of about 1 hour so you get back to the ship well before sail-away.

Is Seville worth visiting, or would it be better to remain in Cadiz?

Seville is a lovely city & definitely worth a visit. I've not been to Cadiz so I can't help with which is better.

Cadiz is a lovely city to walk about. Pick up a map as you walk out through the cruise terminal and follow the coloured lines. We ended up going through a lovely park, past the beach and onto the 'island' at the end.

Then we walked through some of the lovely narrow streets where the cars park so haphazardly that they all have parking-induced dents all over them! We found a lovely little square with a fountain and more locals than tourists and sat in an open air cafe enjoying people watching.

Is Seville worth visiting, or would it be better to remain in Cadiz?

If you have never been to Cadiz then I would enjoy it as a destination in its own right. Seville is a lovely city too but I would not be spending money and time going to Seville without seeing the beauty of Cadiz. On another cruise you might opt for Seville instead.

What other ports are you going to? Maybe we can help. :)

Hi There,

Sadly a lot of the tours on offer are quite a rip off, having said that some are not as an example the Walking Tour of Rome, certainly helps you get a good sight of what Rome is about.

Already you have been advised rightly re Cadiz, fantastic beach just 10 minutes walk through the town, past the Catherderal, and there you are at least 5 miles of sand.

In Vigo you can take one of the local 'commuter' boats across the bay takes about 15 minutes, and again super beaches.

Have a great trip:):):)

We never do ship excursion because they are very overpriced and we don't want to be herded around with 50 other people. We decide what we want to do/see in each port and either book a tour with a local operator, take the local public transport or a HOHO bus.

Seville is a beautiful city but IMHO needs a lot more time than a day off a cruise ship. In Vigo the ships dock right in the town where taxis, buses and the HOHO are available.

We never do ship excursion because they are very overpriced and we don't want to be herded around with 50 other people. We decide what we want to do/see in each port and either book a tour with a local operator, take the local public transport or a HOHO bus.

 

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Have to say that we have always booked ships' excursions and for P&O we don't find them over priced. (Flame me now, but that is our opinion). Celebrity was far more expensive.

 

We don't find ourselves with 50 others and what we do have is peace of mind that whatever happens the ship will wait for us. We have heard some horror stories of people on private tours who have almost missed the ship due to traffic accidents etc and we are happy not to have to worry about that.... everyday life is stressful enough.

 

Ok, some tours are better than others, but we can live with that. And I have to say, we have met some great people on organised tours.

 

In some ports we have 'done it ourselves' after doing our homework - nothing too far out. E.g. we would DIY in Rhodes but not in somewhere like Rome / Paris where the port is a long way away.

 

Similarly, when we went to Israel we paid a fortune for the trips but we felt safer. Other did private tours - each to their own.

 

Just our opinion, but I do think that new cruisers need to be aware that the ship does not wait for you if you are not on one of their excursions AND not all ships' excursions are bad !

 

:)

On our forthcoming Mediterranean cruise at the end of this month we have prebooked a P&O excursion to Rome to see the colosseum, due to the distance from port and hopefully to avoid queues at the colosseum.

We've paid over £3K for our cruise so another £50 each for an excursion doesn't worry me. The last thing I want whilst on holiday is to get that dreaded sunken feeling in the stomach when you realise you might miss the ship.

For Monte Carlo and Gibraltar and cities that are a short distance from port, we will do our own trips.

We never do ship excursion because they are very overpriced .

Have to say that we have always booked ships' excursions and for P&O we don't find them over priced.

I have to agree with Presto2 on this one.

Ships tours are slightly more expensive,

but how much does a peace of mind cost ?

If the tour bus breaks down, the ship waits for you.

If your tour is running late, the ship waits for you.

You get the message.

Some times being thrifty or cheap does catch up with you.

The last thing I need after a shore excursion is meeting the ships agent on the (ship-less) pier with my passports in hand !!

.

Well, obviously everybody to their own. We have seen the 'rum runners' in the Caribbean running along the quayside as the ship is about to leave, but that is normally because they have been enjoying one too many rum punches.

In Gdynia we did book a trip to Gdansk due to time constraints and because it was fairly complicated to get there and back.

However, in places where transport and ports are easy we would never bother with a ship excursion. I find the research and planning all part of the fun.