Ship's excursions or book your own

[beamer101]

We were on the Jade in March/April and booked all of our own excursions. The two photos below show why!! The first was taken looking down the hill at Ephasus and shows the crowd in front of our privately arranged tour which was comprised of 16 people plus the guide.

 

Then, when we got to the library (two story building in the photo above), this is what it looked like looking back up to where we had been at the first photo:

 

The huge NCL tour buses had rolled in and the sheep were being led by the umbrella toting tour guides speaking into their headsets.

 

Sorry, but private is cheaper and more personal than going with the "safe" ships tours.

 

Just my opinion!

[fayruz]

In places like Egypt, going private, could result in arriving late at the ship. Cruise tours are normally 25% more than what you would pay if you did the same tour by yourself - and - there would be no souvenir stop :)

 

I tour by myself where I know I can go alone and safely return to the ship in time.

[Ms belp]

Good for you.:confused:

[2Cruise4Ever]

The only time we will do a cruise line sponsored excursion is if we are going to a place we've never been before. Otherwise, we do our own excursions. The ports of call boards are awesome for planning those ahead of time.

[garycarla]

In places like Egypt, going private, could result in arriving late at the ship. ....

 

I suppose that is possible. But, since the stop there is usually two days, and we took a tour that went to Cairo and came back the first night, it was pretty much impossible for us to miss the ship.

 

This talk about a tour not getting back in time gets a bit blown out of proportion. We have never worried about that.

[mp8shnt]

We were on the Jade in March/April and booked all of our own excursions. The two photos below show why!! The first was taken looking down the hill at Ephasus and shows the crowd in front of our privately arranged tour which was comprised of 16 people plus the guide.

 

Then, when we got to the library (two story building in the photo above), this is what it looked like looking back up to where we had been at the first photo:

 

The huge NCL tour buses had rolled in and the sheep were being led by the umbrella toting tour guides speaking into their headsets.

 

Sorry, but private is cheaper and more personal than going with the "safe" ships tours.

 

Just my opinion!

 

Did your local tour guide take you to any local stores like carpet? Ours did in Kusadasi for Ephesus.....although we now own a very nice silk entry hall rug ($1,000), the deviation to the rug store was not on my list of things to do.

[Giantfan13]

We have tried to do at least one crusie a year for the past 7-8 years. The last time we did a ship's tour was on our very first cruise, to NCL's island. And that was just to get the snorkeling equipment. Since we have been to Alaska, Hawaii, the Baltics, Mexico and the Caribbean, and have always done everything on our own. Now that also means we have booked tours, like in St Petersburg, but they have always been independent tours from the ship, costing a lot less and seeing a lot more. We are going back to Alaska in a few months and have already rented a car, and booked a kayak tour on our own.

Some people feel they need the security of the ship's tours, so if that's their thing, go for it. Not us. We like to go at our own pace, stop when we want, and go when we want. If we want to shop, we would like to pick our own stores, not the ones NCL hustles us into, so they can make a bigger profit.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[beamer101]

Did your local tour guide take you to any local stores like carpet? Ours did in Kusadasi for Ephesus.....although we now own a very nice silk entry hall rug ($1,000), the deviation to the rug store was not on my list of things to do.

One of the really nice parts of doing our own tour was that the tour guide left it up to us whether we went to the rug factory or not. We did choose to do so and indeed purchased a rug (way more than $1,000 unfortunately!!), but on another private tour in Cairo, we were able to say no to anything other than the antiquities (pyramids etc) that we had come to see.

[fayruz]

I suppose that is possible. But, since the stop there is usually two days, and we took a tour that went to Cairo and came back the first night, it was pretty much impossible for us to miss the ship.

 

This talk about a tour not getting back in time gets a bit blown out of proportion. We have never worried about that.

it happens, unfortunately.

Some persons who went to see Capri on their own missed the boat back to Naples and had to reach the ship in Alexandria on their own.

[mp8shnt]

it happens, unfortunately.

Some persons who went to see Capri on their own missed the boat back to Naples and had to reach the ship in Alexandria on their own.

 

We did Capri AND Sorrento last year off the Gem on our own - made it back on time.

[romanroxy]

I like your photos...that's what we saw at every port. :D

 

My hubby would whisper to me that he was glad that we didn't do the ship's excursions when we saw these mass crowds of tour groups. We would briefly listen to some of the tour guides as we walked by and didn't seem that impressive to us. Half of the time, you couldn't even hear them.

 

On our very 1st cruise, we signed up for the ship's excursions at every port and started to realize why we didn't like it. I guess the only thing I like about the ship's excursions is that it gives me an idea of what to see and do in the ports and how much money we save by not signing up....:p

 

Although, it was time-intensive to research each port to the point of almost caving and signing up for the ship's excursions, I'm very glad we did shared private tours with 4 others and did some ports on our own.

 

For example: POMPEII Excavation (ship): 81 euro pp (admission, ride, guided tour) 3.75 hrs

On our own: SITA bus directly to Pompeii: 5 euro pp round trip, plus admission 11 euro pp. Self-guided. See what we want at our own leisure.

[NicksPhilly]

We have done both,NCL's,and our own excursions.

When we do our own,We stay within a few miles of the ship.

The last thing I want is to miss the boat,as with NCL, they will hold the ship.

[fayruz]

We did Capri AND Sorrento last year off the Gem on our own - made it back on time.

depends on how much time you have to do the tours. I don't think you saw much, anyhow.

The boat takes half an hour (at least) to get to Capri, another half an hour to get back. Then you go up the funicolare (or take a cab): Capri is not only the Piazzetta, there is Villa San Michele, you need at least a couple of hours to tour around.

Sorrento : it tales an hour to get from Naples to Sorrento by car, and there you walk around, and an other hour back to Naples.

Maybe you tour faster than me :)

[alwayssingin]

The Ephesus tour was the only tour we've ever paid for on any of our cruises, and that was because our Travel Agent (in Athens) recommended we do so. He even gave us a list of things to do on our own and how to go about it for the rest of our Mediterranean cruise. One of the fun things about cruising for us is doing the research and planning our own excursions. We've never been worried about missing the ship.:)

[mp8shnt]

depends on how much time you have to do the tours. I don't think you saw much, anyhow.

The boat takes half an hour (at least) to get to Capri, another half an hour to get back. Then you go up the funicolare (or take a cab): Capri is not only the Piazzetta, there is Villa San Michele, you need at least a couple of hours to tour around.

Sorrento : it tales an hour to get from Naples to Sorrento by car, and there you walk around, and an other hour back to Naples.

Maybe you tour faster than me :)

 

We did the hydofoils......Naples to Capri, Capri to Sorrento, Sorrento to Naples....easy as can be.

 

We did the funnicular on Capri to the top - and had a Sit Down waitered lunch at a fabulous restaurant overlooking the sea.

 

We walked arround Sorrento and had coffee in a cafe. We walked up and down from the marina to get to Sorrento.

 

All in all, quite relaxing - maybe it was the wine we had at the Restaurant in Capri with the fabulous views.

[STARFISH*4]

we do both...depends on time, place, finding a GOOD independent tour...just depends....we have been on GOOD tours and NOT SO GOOD tours both with the ship and off!

[sparks1093]

We've done it both ways and I kind of prefer the ease of booking through the cruise line, even with the extra expense. 1, I don't have to pay for the excursion until the end of the cruise- 2, I don't have to worry about having to contact anyone if the ship misses the port- 3, I don't have to find a tour operator and book the tour, either before we leave on the cruise or after we get into port (which is another issue in and of itself).

[fayruz]

We did the hydofoils......Naples to Capri, Capri to Sorrento, Sorrento to Naples....easy as can be.

 

We did the funnicular on Capri to the top - and had a Sit Down waitered lunch at a fabulous restaurant overlooking the sea.

 

We walked arround Sorrento and had coffee in a cafe. We walked up and down from the marina to get to Sorrento.

 

All in all, quite relaxing - maybe it was the wine we had at the Restaurant in Capri with the fabulous views.

 

oh, sorry :) : I thought you wanted to see something in Capri and Sorrento, maybe driving down the Costiera Amalfitana, not only lunch and coffee. Try Portofino if you stop in Genoa or Savona.

 

Yes, if it is only to walk around and you are in a safe country, it is better to go alone. It costs less and you don't have to have shopping sessions imposed on you.

[beamer101]

We've done it both ways and I kind of prefer the ease of booking through the cruise line, even with the extra expense. 1, I don't have to pay for the excursion until the end of the cruise- 2, I don't have to worry about having to contact anyone if the ship misses the port- 3, I don't have to find a tour operator and book the tour, either before we leave on the cruise or after we get into port (which is another issue in and of itself).

I will say that you have a very valid point in favour of booking NCL tours in that payment for the private tours was cash at the end of the tour. So, we ended up carrying a fair chunk of cash in moneybelts during the tours. To us, this was not a huge issue, but to some it would likely be more so.

 

One other point in favour of booking private that we did not mention is the fact that someone somewhere on that 50 passenger bus is going to doddle or be late or be big enough to take up most of your seat as well as his/her own or do something consistantly annoying all day. You do not have any idea which passenger it is when you get on the bus in the morning, but he/she is lurking there waiting to aggrevate you!!!

[sparks1093]

do something consistantly annoying all day. You do not have any idea which passenger it is when you get on the bus in the morning, but he/she is lurking there waiting to aggrevate you!!!

 

I bring the annoying/aggravating people with me- I travel with my kids;).

[2Cruise4Ever]

I bring the annoying/aggravating people with me- I travel with my kids;).

 

I second that! And, sometimes DH is included in that type, too :p