Join an excursion tour at the port?

[OrangeStorm]

Is it safe to join an excursion upon arrival at the port? I don't want to waste too much time shop around and bargain at a foreign country but my friend doesn't want to book ahead of time because of unpredictable weather. Are the tours at port reliable and how are their price compare to the tours that are sold online? Any suggestion is appreciated. Thanks.

[bostonbill]

just don't use Island marketing/ wave runners.....I posted a negative....but honest....post about them and it was removed by cruise critic......I guess it is not allowed to be critical on cruise critics

[OCNJ Cruiser]

huh..interesting...I read that thread but thougth it was honest and not over exaggerating. Did the moderators tell you why they removed it?

As for booking excursions at the pier-I have never had a bad experience with this. Everytime I visit an island and i just want an island tour-this is waht i do. If it is something more involved(like horseback riding or a private beach that only accepts a certain amount of people) I book ahead. If you want to snorkel, walk down to eden rock...great off the beach snorkeling and I think they can take you out for a snorkel tour. Or just grab a cab to Seven Mile Beach. You can book parasailing right off the shore there(no resevations needed or accepted in some cases)

Have fun! Sometimes, the best plan is no plan!

[bostonbill]

i had to look up there policies and basicly it says you can't post anything negative unless it is in response to a question from someone else....i was pretty surprised.....i'm not a big complainer...but they underperformed.....and didn't feel bad about it and our day was ruined...

[acumenhokie]

I found the price in port and the price online to be the same. The advantage you get of booking early is that you will have a reserved space (for example - if the tour includes a boat you can only take so many people). The disadvantage is as you stated you could be paying for something in poor weather.

[taillon]

I like to book ahead just so that I KNOW that I have a spot reserved and don't have to worry about it. We booked a catamaran out to the stingrays and snorkeling and only had to put $10 down for each of us. If the ship didn't port for then we would have had that refunded...if we chose to not go b/c of rain then we would just be out the $10 which isn't too bad of a deal. I don't know how the other tour companies do it, but this was our experience last month.

 

By the way, I LOVED our excursion!!! It was amazing!:D

[BayStateguppy]

What catamaran company did you use, taillon?

[taillon]

What catamaran company did you use, taillon?

 

 

We used stingraysailing. com

 

Chip was waiting for us when we got tendered in, put us his large van/bus and took us a short drive to the catamaran (Far Tortuga).

 

I would do it again in a heartbeat! So easy to book, great communication, and a fun filled and less crowded day!

[Stevesan]

i had to look up there policies and basicly it says you can't post anything negative unless it is in response to a question from someone else....i was pretty surprised.....i'm not a big complainer...but they underperformed.....and didn't feel bad about it and our day was ruined...

 

That couldn't possibly be the reason. There are a number of negative first posts that stay on the boards.

It's not likely a board monitor would delete your thread without a complaint from another poster.