Excursions Through Carnival?

[Rottweiler Puppy]

or book em privately.

 

Pros and Cons?

 

I know its cheaper and looks to be a better experience wit private from what I have been reading on the other section. Just wondering if booking it through Carnival has any better benefits.

[luvspianobars]

The size of the group on a Carnival excursion can be huge. That takes away from the experience for me.

 

We like to get the culture from the locals and have never had any issue booking or arranging tours and excursions with them. Have always gotten back to the ship in plenty of time too.

 

Carnival already got alot of my money from the booking and sail and sign. So I would rather see the local people get some money.

 

If you are considering doing a lengthy tour say Mayan ruins in Cozumel, then it may make sense to go with Carnival since any delay will result in missing the ship, if there is a delay Carnival is responsible to get you back on the ship as opposed to doing that excursion on your own and running into a time issue, you are on your own. Just expect a very large crowd and a rushed visit at the ruins. (Some members of our group opted to visit the ruins with the Carnival excursion...their opinion...too many people)

 

Just my two (or three) cents.:D

[tak81288]

The major benefit is if the ship excursion is running late the ship will wait for you.

 

When booking privately just watch the times closely and give yourself plenty of time to get back. If you want to do a long excursion that will take you far from the ship and the time to get back is close to when the ship leaves, it is better to book the excursion thru the ship just in case.

[cruisy-suzy]

Benefit: If you are at a tender port, not a docked port, you might get off the ship earlier if you book a Carnival excursion. They get priority.

 

Drawback: Always costs more.

 

Where are you going?

[ramrax4]

We have done both. If you book independent from carnival make sure you give yourself enough time to get back to the ship it can and will leave without you. It might be a good idea to have a back up plan for getting back to the ship on time. There have been two occasions that we would have been left behind had we not booked thru the ship. The first time was a horseback riding exc. in Hawaii...the tour bus sideswiped another bus leaving port..this caused the first delay then on the way back the bus tried to cross a narrow bridge the same time as a car and hit the embankment blowing out the tire. We were stranded for 2 hrs waiting for a new bus then hit work traffic on the way back. They had to hold the ship for 1 1/2 hrs for us. The 2nd time was to a mayan ruin, traffic delays, caused us to run an hr behind we were the last tender back...again the ship was held over for us:)

[golfadj]

We almost always book private and most experienced cruisers will do the same.

 

Only advantage is for unforseen major delay getting backto the ship.

 

We always make sure our tour is scheduled to be back at least 90 minutes before sailing time and very often even more.

[kingoftheicedragons]

I sometimes book through Carnival, and sometimes book private companies.

 

Pros of Carnival: the ship won't leave without you, everything is planned for you, so no homework of finding a good company. Cons: the price. Lots of people. Sometimes not the best tour company. You may not have time for the places you really want to do, even if it says you're going someplace, it may be a very brief stop.

 

Pros of an independent company: Cost. Fewer people. Sometimes more knowledgeable or better tour company. More customizable, as there are fewer people, so they can take a vote on where and for how long you'll go somewhere. Cons: You have to take the time to research companies. One or two loud people could "hijack" a tour by saying they'd want to spend more or less time at a stop. In theory, you could miss your ship.

[TheGrandparents]

The major benefit is if the ship excursion is running late the ship will wait for you.

 

 

 

....and for that reason alone most of the time we now gladly pay the extra few $$ for piece of mind.

 

 

We were delayed in San Juan on a Carnival excursion and it was us that the ship waited for!

[RWolver672]

Benefit: If you are at a tender port, not a docked port, you might get off the ship earlier if you book a Carnival excursion. They get priority.

 

Just got off the Dream a week ago. Wife booked the cave tubing excursion in Belize through the ship for herself, son and nephew. They were suppose to be in the main theatre at 9:15 for a 9:45 departure which they were. They never boarded a tender until 10:30 because of the amount of people trying to get off the ship. When they finally got to the bus to take them to the excursion, they were told that only two of them could go because they were so late that the last bus had already filled up.

 

1. It was not their fault that they were late. They were in line at 9:15 like they were suppose to be.

 

2. In this day and age of computers, I can't believe that they can't keep better track of how many tickets they sell versus the capacity of the excursion.

[med2cruise]

We have been on 2 cruise and a 3rd booked this year. The 1st was a Medeteranian cruise with 9 ports, only 1 excrusion was through the cruise ship, all others were on our own with information mainly from cruise critic to guide us. Last year 3 tours op our own and 3 tours on our own this year. I wouldn't hesitate to book on our own as you do get a different experience. Last year in Jamaica there was supposed to be other people with my family, they didn't show, we had a private tour of Jamaica. It was great. The people that you meet are amazing as they are knowledgable about their land.

 

I am not into bulk excursions and we always allow extra time in the morning and at the end of the day, we have never been close to missing the ship for any reason.

 

Karen

[Bigwave1129]

My DW always worries about missing the ship. Although, we research and look around a great deal, we generally book through the ship. If she is worried the whole time we are on an excursion, it is not worth the money we saved. If we can walk and stay close to the ship, we will do something on our own, but if we are going any distance away, we book through the ship. Her piece of mind is worth a few extra dollars.

[Rottweiler Puppy]

First excursion is Cozumel. We get in I think 8am (dont know if thats ship time or local) and we are there until 10pm Looking to book the dune buggy excursion. Either privately or through Carnival. Looks like we will have plenty of time to get to the ship.

 

Local tour is scheduled to be picked up at 10am if booked privately, I am guessing local time. Going through Carnival its departure is 9AM (ship? local?) . Looks like going through Carnival is taking a good risk of missing the tour.

 

What I am worried about now is getting off the ship in time. Last cruise I did was on a 22k ton ship. Not crowded and getting off was quick and easy. This is a Carnival ship, big one 110k tons. and its probably going to be packed big time.

 

From what I hear, getting off a Carnival ship is a pain in the ass process that involves waiting around about an hour and a half on average even if you show up early. I will have to figure out a way of eating really early in the AM (is it possible?) and then camping out for the tender I guess.:(

[ferfoodle]

We do both, depends on the tour and ports For me, I follow my gut. Our upcoming cruise takes us to Cozumel, Belize and Grand Cayman.

 

Our beach day in Coz and my gut says - just take the taxi to Mr. Sanchos or Nachi. It will cost us less (about $140 for 2 with taxi - less if we find another couple to split taxi) and be a lot less crowded than going with Carnival to either Playa Mia or Isla Pasion ($160-$180). I feel comfortable enough to know we will get back to the ship in plenty of time.

 

Our culture/history tour in Belize and I feel - take the Carnival tour to Altun Ha Mayan site & River Wallace because of time restraint. The ship will wait for us. We would prefer to see Lamanai this way, but going privately just seems too risky and the price difference is about $30 for the two of us- well worth the extra dollars for peace of mind. I wish Carnival offered Lamanai, but they do not.

 

Our rays and snorkling day in GC - going independantly again. There will be 3 other ships in GC the same day and I think being on a smaller tour than the ship offers will be a better experience for us. It will also save us about $65, and I still feel comfortable getting back to the ship in plenty of time.

[jackdis]

I'm in agreement with a lot of the previous posters. We have done both, and tend to do private more often, but we just got off the Dream last week, and for Belize, we booked cave tubing through Carnival. Seemed like the better thing to do.......priority tender, Carnival sponsored, and got back in time without any worries.

 

Our meeting time for tender was 8:30 and it was closer to 9:30 that we got called. The ship waited for people to get back from tours which ran late. (We were back in time. It was groups after us.)

[Not Revealed]

We just returned from a cruise on the Carnival Ecstasy. One major advantage to booking excursions through Carnival was apparent when our initial cruise was delayed because of weather. We postponed the cruise to another departure date, and the excursions through Carnival were automatically refunded without any problem.

 

We also had a Harley-Davidson tour scheduled for Cozumel. The tour group had a motorcycle waiting for us at the dock. It was an incredible way to see the island. The tour guides led us to all the best riding areas, deserted beaches, and cultural features we would have never found on our own. What a great ride!

 

For less complicated excursions (such as snorkeling), we arranged those ourselves when we arrived at the port.

[cruisy-suzy]

Just got off the Dream a week ago. Wife booked the cave tubing excursion in Belize through the ship for herself, son and nephew. They were suppose to be in the main theatre at 9:15 for a 9:45 departure which they were. They never boarded a tender until 10:30 because of the amount of people trying to get off the ship. When they finally got to the bus to take them to the excursion, they were told that only two of them could go because they were so late that the last bus had already filled up.

 

1. It was not their fault that they were late. They were in line at 9:15 like they were suppose to be.

 

2. In this day and age of computers, I can't believe that they can't keep better track of how many tickets they sell versus the capacity of the excursion.

 

What a mess!! What did they end up doing? And hopefully Carnival did not argue about providing a refund?

[cruisy-suzy]

First excursion is Cozumel. We get in I think 8am (dont know if thats ship time or local) and we are there until 10pm Looking to book the dune buggy excursion. Either privately or through Carnival. Looks like we will have plenty of time to get to the ship.

 

Local tour is scheduled to be picked up at 10am if booked privately, I am guessing local time. Going through Carnival its departure is 9AM (ship? local?) . Looks like going through Carnival is taking a good risk of missing the tour.

 

What I am worried about now is getting off the ship in time. Last cruise I did was on a 22k ton ship. Not crowded and getting off was quick and easy. This is a Carnival ship, big one 110k tons. and its probably going to be packed big time.

 

From what I hear, getting off a Carnival ship is a pain in the ass process that involves waiting around about an hour and a half on average even if you show up early. I will have to figure out a way of eating really early in the AM (is it possible?) and then camping out for the tender I guess.:(

 

Hi Puppy,

 

Cozumel is a port where you (almost always) dock at the pier. The ship generally does not anchor out away from shore, which is when you have to get on the tender boat (lines, waiting) to get transported to land. I've been there probably six times and we always docked. In this case, you don't have to wait very long at all to get off, usually 10 minutes or less. Belize and Grand Cayman are always tender ports. . . you should be able to check your itinerary to find out which ones you'll dock at and which ones the ship anchors out and you take the tender boat.

 

Yes you can eat really early in the AM. Lido deck bistro starts around 6:00 am and the main dining room could be an option too, plus there is always room service.

[PROCRUISE]

We almost always book private and most experienced cruisers will do the same.

 

Only advantage is for unforseen major delay getting backto the ship.

 

We always make sure our tour is scheduled to be back at least 90 minutes before sailing time and very often even more.

 

Good advice! This what we do and have never had a problem. I often remember a private tour we went on last December. The company was highly recommended on CC but a couple on the tour were worried to death about not missing the ship. The tour guide stated: with the advent of the internet, if we ever miss a ship sailing, our business will be destroyed overnight once word spreads on everyones computer, therefore, we WILL NOT EVER miss a ship! Just make sure you use a well recommended tour company and for long tours, like Tulum, it is best to use the ship excursion.

[cruisinthemed]

We do both, depends on the tour and ports For me, I follow my gut. Our upcoming cruise takes us to Cozumel, Belize and Grand Cayman.

 

Our beach day in Coz and my gut says - just take the taxi to Mr. Sanchos or Nachi. It will cost us less (about $140 for 2 with taxi - less if we find another couple to split taxi) and be a lot less crowded than going with Carnival to either Playa Mia or Isla Pasion ($160-$180). I feel comfortable enough to know we will get back to the ship in plenty of time.

 

Our culture/history tour in Belize and I feel - take the Carnival tour to Altun Ha Mayan site & River Wallace because of time restraint. The ship will wait for us. We would prefer to see Lamanai this way, but going privately just seems too risky and the price difference is about $30 for the two of us- well worth the extra dollars for peace of mind. I wish Carnival offered Lamanai, but they do not.

 

Our rays and snorkling day in GC - going independantly again. There will be 3 other ships in GC the same day and I think being on a smaller tour than the ship offers will be a better experience for us. It will also save us about $65, and I still feel comfortable getting back to the ship in plenty of time.

 

When in Cozumel...What are you getting for $140? Is this a long distance from the ship? Is it an all inclusive resort?

[raylene5]

We've only been on two cruises...the first one, to Cozumel, we didn't do any excursions at all because DH was on the cruise for a conference and I was alone with a 2 month old baby :) Second time, we booked excursions through NCL at San Francisco and Victoria, Canada.

 

For our upcoming Mexican Riviera cruise on Spirit, we booked 2 excursions through Carnival. We are a pretty large party (Me, DH, four small children and Nana) so simply finding a taxi to give us a tour is just not feasible. Plus, my husband is SUPER paranoid about being in Mexico as it is. But the main reason we went through Carnival is because of the hassle of having to go through another agency. Having to prepare for this trip as a family of 6 was hard enough. I just didn't have a lot of time to do the research.

 

If it were just my DH and I (as I hope it is next summer to Alaska!) I would be a lot more willing to go with an outside agency. I don't think making it back to the ship is something to really worry about. The private agencies very much want to stay in business and won't if they are late to the ship.

[M&T30]

This upcoming trip we're using excursions thru Carnival. On our last cruise, while in Antigua, we used a private taxi service to go to the beach on the far side of the island. When we got picked up and back to the ship, the taxi driver said that we owed more than what we were quoted. We ended up paying just as much, if not more as going thru Carnival.

 

Also, we have peace of mind knowing that the Ship will wait for a Carnival excursion if necessary.

[RWolver672]

What a mess!! What did they end up doing? And hopefully Carnival did not argue about providing a refund?

 

Wife and son went on the cave tubing excursion. Nephew who is an adult was told that he could go on an airboat tour for the same price. Wife had paid for all three excursions. Nephew agreed to go on the airboat tour alone. When the three of them got back, we checked our TV account and found out that they had refunded the cave tubing tour, but charged us for the airboat tour which was $10 more. Wife went to excursion desk and they told her that nephew was told it would cost more. Nephew swears they told him there wouldn't be a difference in price, they swear otherwise. Guess who won. It wasn't us. Wife had already left on the tubing tour so she didn't hear what the agreement was and couldn't really fight it.

[Aplmac]

They were suppose to be in the main theatre at 9:15 for a 9:45 departure which they were.

They never boarded a tender until 10:30 because of the amount of people trying to get off the ship.

When they finally got to the bus to take them to the excursion, they were told that only two of them could go

because they were so late that the last bus had already filled up.

 

1. It was not their fault that they were late.

They were in line at 9:15 like they were suppose to be.

 

2. In this day and age of computers, I can't believe that they can't keep better track

of how many tickets they sell -versus the capacity of the excursion.

I would have been seriously pixxed-off!! :(

.

[sandyoftheseas]

When we went on our Panama Canal cruise some from our group pre paid for a private tour. Due to a transportation strike the captian decided not to stop in Guatemala. Because me and my DH booked a ship tour we recieved a refund the group with the private tour did not.

[Smart Arsenal Fan]

My biggest plus for the "ship sponsored" tours is that I am 100% sure, the cruise lines required that they are insured up the ying-yang and then some! An independant? I'm just not (as) sure.

 

Obviously its all depending on the excursion, an independant beach day at a Big Resort, I'm not worried... but, say a, "Captain Bob's Island Van Tour"?

 

 

(no offense, if there's really a Captain Bob reading this...lol)