gtm6807

Thanks to everyone for the replies. Sorry for the delay in replying - here is how we got on. First of all the Facebook group is legit. Marion and her team are doing a great job organising excursions for many people, often at short notice. We ended up booking two excursions through them - the Pirates excursion in St Vincent as well as the Death in Paradise excursion in Guadeloupe. Both were great and no payment was made until the day (I see there have been some issues with no-shows, so we'll see how long that lasts....). There was an issue with two people who had booked an extended tour in St Vincent, however that appeared to be an issue with the local tour operator, who couldn't facilitate two separate tours). For the remainder of our stops we had a mixture of Marella excursions and doing our own thing. First experience of a cruise was very positive, loved it and would certainly do it again for certain destinations and if the cost is right! Thanks Gavin.

Thanks again - still looking at options. To be fair on closer inspection the FB group aren't asking for money up front (pay on the day), so no risk other than having to go with the taxi option on the day if the organised tour wasn't to happen.

Thanks for the replies guys @rickpo I joined that FB group and it looks good. Slight concern though is that it seems to be *very* new (only created in June 2023 and - if I read correctly - their first bookings were due to take place yesterday or today!). Happy to be proved wrong on that! Would really like to see a bit of feedback before giving them my money 😉

Hi First post so go easy lol! First cruise too TBH!!! So we booked the "Cocktails and Coconuts followed by Tropical Shores" cruise, departing Manchester on 16th November. One of the many attractions of this cruise for us was the stop in Guadeloupe on 22nd November, where we really want to do a tour of the "Death in Paradise" filming locations around the Deshaies area. I'd been in email contact with TUI until early last week as the Guadeloupe excursions hadn't been loaded on our Cruise Control. Late last week they were eventually loaded, and there was a "Death in Paradise" excursion - however it was sold out within hours and we missed out 😒. So it seems there are now 3 options and I'm not sure which is the right one to go for: (1) Wait until on board and ask about additional availability on the above excursion. This was TUI's suggestion. However I don't like this option as if there is no more availability by then it will be difficult to arrange one of the other options. (2) Car rental + DIY tour. I'd normally be happy to do this myself but aside from needing to leave plenty of time to get back (ship is only in port from 08.00 to 16.00), I'm finding it difficult to find a rental agency that is close to the port, will do a one day rental, and that has good reviews. (3) Private tour. I've checked this out and it looks good but pricey at €210 for 2 people (€250 for 4). That is unless we can find another couple to share the cost with!!! So just wondering if anyone else has done a tour like this using any of the above options, and what the best way forward might be? Any suggestions would be welcome 👍 Thanks Gavin