About booking excursions -- with Carnival or no?

Thanks in advance for all your input on this. I've asked a couple related questions already and am very appreciative of the help of this message board!

We recently booked the Carnival Vista for our family of 5. I am somewhat overwhelmed with the selection of excursions at each port, and even more so when I briefly was googling some options outside of the Carnival system. I've read mixed reviews of the Carnival-supported excursions, in both price and quality. So what's our best bet here? Where is the best place to book these excursions? One possible limiting factor is our youngest child is 6 so he can't participate on all of them. My husband did book a Scuba excursion (through Carnival) but we do want to do a couple others as a family. If you book outside of Carnival, what are the best websites I should be looking at?

Check out the ports of call boards here on CC - there is a lot of great information there. We are beach people, so we generally just take a taxi to a beach instead of an organized excursion. The times we have done excursions I've found ideas in the ports section here, as well as in a couple of reviews I have read here.

Maybe if you tell what types of things you like to do, and what ports you are going to someone will have ideas.

Go to port of call pages for each port you are going to and read up on what others have done and the tour companies they have used.

Make sure tour is scheduled to be back to the ship well before sailaway time. We usually allow about 90 minutes unless we will be closer to the ship at which point perhaps 60.

Hi

Welcome to cruise critic.

Have you looked on this site, at the "port of call" threads. If you go to the "boards home" page and look down, you will find them. You will find a thread dedicated to each port of call. You can read up on what others have done and ask for suggestions.

Unless there are specific logistic issues with timing or distance needed to travel, a family of five would most often be able to save a significant amount of money booking with third party tour operators.

You have already seen some of what is offered through Carnival. Simply doing an internet search such as "things to do in ____" or "tour operators in ___" will give you many ideas for things you may be interested in, or even companies you might be consider. One other obvious and informative site would be "tripadvisor". Then come back to this site and ask, "which company would you recommend for ___" or "has anyone used ___company for this tour". You will get many responses. Even for the scuba diving that you have booked, you certainly would be able to find better pricing privately.

hope this helps

have a great cruise

You may also want to read through the reviews of the ports you are going to. I posted on Facebook regarding the best excursion to Cozumel and my friends chimed in. I was not disappointed with their recommendations.

As others have said, go to the ports board here. People can be very helpful out here.

Good luck!

You'll get mixed answers. Some people have to stick with the cruise line and have someone hold their hand or are just scared of "venturing out". Then others love to have fun, pay cheaper prices, and do more things. Personally, I wouldn't do a Carnival excursion if you paid for it. Go on Tripadvisor and search the ports you're visiting and see what pops up. You can also look at the ports of call forums here on CC and get ideas. Then check those vendors reviews on Tripadvisor. Make sure they have 100+ reviews and at least 4 stars. I personally stay away from the excursion brokers such as Shore Excursioneer because they're just that, brokers. Your excursions won't be with them but with independent vendors. If you use a broker then you won't get a true review of the company you'll be with that day.

Hope this helps!

Thanks in advance for all your input on this. I've asked a couple related questions already and am very appreciative of the help of this message board!

 

 

We recently booked the Carnival Vista for our family of 5. I am somewhat overwhelmed with the selection of excursions at each port, and even more so when I briefly was googling some options outside of the Carnival system. I've read mixed reviews of the Carnival-supported excursions, in both price and quality. So what's our best bet here? Where is the best place to book these excursions? One possible limiting factor is our youngest child is 6 so he can't participate on all of them. My husband did book a Scuba excursion (through Carnival) but we do want to do a couple others as a family. If you book outside of Carnival, what are the best websites I should be looking at?

Which ports are you visiting? What activities do you enjoy doing?

Many here have cruised to a lot of ports and can offer personal experiences.

I don't consider using a ship excursion as needing someone to "hold my hand" or that I'm "scared of venturing out" -- sometimes it's a matter of the port and the time -- Peace of mind is worth a certain price.

I don't consider using a ship excursion as needing someone to "hold my hand" or that I'm "scared of venturing out" -- sometimes it's a matter of the port and the time -- Peace of mind is worth a certain price.

I’m with you 100%.

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You'll get mixed answers. Some people have to stick with the cruise line and have someone hold their hand or are just scared of "venturing out". Then others love to have fun, pay cheaper prices, and do more things. Personally, I wouldn't do a Carnival excursion if you paid for it. Go on Tripadvisor and search the ports you're visiting and see what pops up. You can also look at the ports of call forums here on CC and get ideas. Then check those vendors reviews on Tripadvisor. Make sure they have 100+ reviews and at least 4 stars. I personally stay away from the excursion brokers such as Shore Excursioneer because they're just that, brokers. Your excursions won't be with them but with independent vendors. If you use a broker then you won't get a true review of the company you'll be with that day.

 

Hope this helps!

I agree with this, especially reading the reviews on Tripadvisor. The reviews on the "Ports of Call" board on here concerning excursions can be hit or miss. If you thinking about booking a particular excursion through Carnival, first read the customer reviews about that excursion on the "Excursions" page. Then check to see if that excursion, or one very similar, is listed on Tripadvisor.

We've booked third party tours, but only in ports which had the ship leaving a few hours after they returned. The Carnival tours will cost slightly more---but offer the peace of mind that the ship will not leave if the tour is late. We've been on two tours that had problems (flat tire in Barbados-no spare, HUGE traffic jam in Panama) and arrived after the ship had been due to leave. The ship waited for us. On the other hand, we've also seen the ship leave port and couples running on the dock , screaming to stop the ship-----it kept right on going.

We’ve done both, and I have no qualms about it. The thing about book thru Carnival is they are right there, and easy to find. 3rd parties sometimes you have to search for them at the port, or just outside port.

We have almost always done our own excursions through the years and it's not for everyone as it puts more responsibility on the planner than some are willing to take on vacation. I felt confident going it alone with all the help I've found on CruiseCritic and we've had great success. Once we ventured out on our own and snorkeled from shore in Hawaii and ended up swimming with dolphins in the wild. On our way back to the ship we encountered a couple who spent much more on the ship excursion for a dolphin watch tour and didn't see a dolphin. They asked us about our day and we felt bad talking about it.

However, on our last cruise we were debating between taking a Carnival excursion (cave tubing in Belize) and booking a nearly identical one ourselves to save some money. I was a little concerned about the distance from port and a transportation breakdown causing us to miss the ship. Then I read a post about Carnival's price match guarantee on CC and decided to try this option. I contacted Carnival with the details of the competitor's excursion and they matched it. I must admit that I was more relaxed than ever before knowing that I wasn't going it alone and that Carnival had my back in getting back to the ship.

On the majority of my excursions I do non ship tours. I primarily rely on the ports of call section of this site, tripadvisor, and a FB travel group. With the exception of one tour, all were excellent. Great guides, pricing, smaller groups, even at times just me and a guide or two guides.

I also will take a ship trip. Sometimes a certain area can only be access by ship only. Or if the tour is in a remote area far from port will book ship.

For example on my upcoming cruise, two of the ports are non ship tours. The one ship tour is for ruins in Belize right at the Guatemala border. Since its a ferry port,just decided to do the ship tour.

Will say this to end. Boards like this and TA are these vendors bread and butter. Great reviews mean booked tours. They want you to have a good tour and back on time

I don't consider using a ship excursion as needing someone to "hold my hand" or that I'm "scared of venturing out" -- sometimes it's a matter of the port and the time -- Peace of mind is worth a certain price.

I, too, agree with this. I have many times seen people running to the ship as we pull away. I know thousands of people never have that problem. I don’t know if I could relax and enjoy my excursion worrying about missing. Once, in Tunisia, our ship excursion van broke down. The ship waited for us. It’s peace of mind for me too. We all have different levels of concerns.

seriously? as you pull away?

 

"I have many times seen people running to the ship as we pull away"

 

 

seriously? as you pull away?

Absolutely. It even happened on a river cruise. They had to get to the next lock to get on. Generally, you hear their names being called over the intercom a few times. That’s the signal that they aren’t on the ship or hopefully just didn’t get logged in correctly.

"I have many times seen people running to the ship as we pull away"

 

 

seriously? as you pull away?

As they say "by that time that ship has sailed"

Absolutely. It even happened on a river cruise. They had to get to the next lock to get on. Generally, you hear their names being called over the intercom a few times. That’s the signal that they aren’t on the ship or hopefully just didn’t get logged in correctly.

This makes no sense at all. Why would they call a name on the intercom if they are ashore. They know who is aboard and who is not.

This makes no sense at all. Why would they call a name on the intercom if they are ashore. They know who is aboard and who is not.

Yes, that makes sense from what we passengers experience. However, as it was explained to me by a cruise director, they are making certain there wasn’t a mistake with scanning cards.

Yes, that makes sense from what we passengers experience. However, as it was explained to me by a cruise director, they are making certain there wasn’t a mistake with scanning cards.

Makes sense to me, possible a card didnt get scanned as passenger boarded.

We do both. It depends. and sometimes we just go out on our own.

When we don't book with the cruise line, I know that I accept all risk if something goes wrong with the excursion. A third party guarantee might not be. Carnival certainly isn't responsible. Nobody posting on a cruise board is going to compensate you. The buck stops with me.

We have done plenty of Carnival excursions that we were pleased with and we've also been pleased with our non-Carnival excursions. Sometimes it depends on where we feel most comfortable. In Cozumel, we just grab a taxi & head for the beach. We've been there many times & don't feel a need to book a ship excursion. In an unfamiliar port, we are more likely to book through the ship. One thing about the ship excursions is you have the ability to cancel it while on board the ship if you decide to do something else. While we've never done this, our friends did so they could go with another couple on their excursion. Had they booked independently, they would not have been able to do that as easily if at all. When we have booked independently, we always book with companies that don't require payment in full until we arrive.

There is tons of information on the boards here, so study them, check tripadvisor, see what gives you the greatest comfort level.

We just cruised recently to Roatan and saved a substantial amount of money for our party of 14 to go zip lining. I would typically book through the ship but agreed to go with the group. We used shore excursioneer and they sent us with a company that picked us up outside of the port, the driver took us to the zip line site, about 35 mins away and stayed with us until we finished. Then took us to the beach. They asked us how long we wanted to stay. My only stipulations to the group were, we are leaving as early as possible. We ported about 9am, left about 10 am for the excursion and I wanted to back to the ship with 2 hours to spare. They met both of my stipulations. We ended up staying at the beach about two hours and zip lined about two hours. We got back to the port with almost two hours to spare. Some ports I would take the risk. Some I won’t. Had the ride been more than that I would have skipped the beach and did zip line and came back closer to the port. They had a beach right there in the worse case scenario and we were going to Belize the next day and Cozumel the following day. I am very specific about being too late and being left but even then, I went outside of my normal and it turned out well. I am the resident tour director of my group.

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I, too, agree with this. I have many times seen people running to the ship as we pull away. I know thousands of people never have that problem. I don’t know if I could relax and enjoy my excursion worrying about missing. Once, in Tunisia, our ship excursion van broke down. The ship waited for us. It’s peace of mind for me too. We all have different levels of concerns.

Hi

Of course we all have heard about people being left behind. You do realize that very often this happens to people that aren't mindful of the time.

Quite often if people are overdoing it at a local bar. Maybe just forgetting while shopping. Very possible when one forgets there is a difference between port and ships time. Often people involved in accidents. Agreed.

I have been cruising many years and have followed on these boards for a number of them, and I can't remember posts (not to say that I may have missed one) where busloads of people have been left behind because they went on a private tour. So, I imagine it is possible, just not likely.

You do need to use some judgement in your planning, but there is no reason to feel afraid. The cruise lines have used this concern, specifically brought up by them, just to take advantage of people's fears. They get their excess fee at the same time that they get their additional kickback from the local provider. It makes perfect sense for the company and it's bottom line, but for a family of five that just wants make their vacation dollar go further, a little common sense and some research will go a long way.

hope this helps