Booking Excursions through private vendors

[cjar855]

Is it better to book excursions on line for private vendors, or would they also be available at the dock. We are looking especially for St Maarten, St Kitts and St Lucia..Has anyone had luck doing this at the dock?:confused:

[mrpayroll]

There are usually vendors at the dock looking for business. A lot of the " well known " vendors are booked beforehand so you run the risk of not getting them.

[cjar855]

There are usually vendors at the dock looking for business. A lot of the " well known " vendors are booked beforehand so you run the risk of not getting them.

Thanks. I see you are doing the same cruise as we are a couple of weeks before. Did you book any excursions at those Islands that you could recommend?

[golfadj]

We prefer going to the port of call threads and reading up what others have done and recommend. Than we will contact those tour guides and make our plans.

 

Getting someone at the port you run the risk of getting someone not reliable or after having you wait while he gets people deciding that he does not have enough people and the price is now double what he quoted. This has happened to us.

[serene56]

I agree that going to the port of calls thread and getting someone that comes recommended. Waiting til you get to the pier--- you dont know who you will get- (are they insured?) will they make sure you get to the ship on time. (heck, you dont know if its their first try at this.

 

Lots of recommendations

[Caribbreeze]

Is it better to book excursions on line for private vendors, or would they also be available at the dock. We are looking especially for St Maarten, St Kitts and St Lucia..Has anyone had luck doing this at the dock?:confused:

We agree. We've found reputable people on-line, with recommendations from the Port of Call boards here. People from Cruise Critic have never steered us wrong. I can vouch for the following people:

Captain Alan's Snorkel Adventure on St. Maarten (599-580-0377) and Thenford Grey on St. Kitts (869-465-2152). Hope I don't get scolded for posting phone numbers. If they get deleted, I'm sure you can find both of their websites on the boards.

Have fun! Love St. Kitts! Watch out for those monkeys:)

[Anyislandwilldo]

We found a lot of our tours by reading people's thread that were posted as they just got off the ship we were going to take.

[cjar855]

Thanks all for the good advice. I will check out the Ports of Call boards.:)

[dallas52]

you can find out all you need on those port of calls. have used many of them and never had a bad time.

[ChefSusan]

I would definitely check out the Ports of Call forum, as well as the Roll Call for the ship that you will be on. I bet you will find a plethora of information on the ports that you will be going to.

 

We have found that by booking privately in advance, the price is locked in, the itinerary is locked in, and you have nothing to worry about. If you book once you get off the ship, there is no way to know about the company's reputation, the length of the excursion, as well as how long it will take them to "fill" the vehicle for the trip.

 

Regardless, good luck with doing your research!

[mrpayroll]

Thanks. I see you are doing the same cruise as we are a couple of weeks before. Did you book any excursions at those Islands that you could recommend?

St Maarten we are booked with Bernard Tours

St Lucia we are booked with Spencer Ambrose

St Kitt we are booked with Thenford Grey

After reading MANY good reviews on here about these three we decided to go with them...