Shore excursion bookings

[ISLAND DIVA]

We have booked a MED.cruise for the last of Oct /11.,when should we book our shore excursions ?

[bbappel]

We have booked a MED.cruise for the last of Oct /11.,when should we book our shore excursions ?

 

It probably depends on the excursion. We once took an after-hours tour of Saint Mark's in Venice with Celebrity. It was the best excursion we've ever taken and we booked it as soon as we could. We didn't want to miss out on this opportunity. There were other excursions still available on the ship.

 

I also use it as a budgeting device. I've paid for our excursions for our Sept '11 trip and for one night's dining at a specialty restaurant. We will prepay our drink packages too. Our final tally should be reasonable. Others who are wiser with money management wouldn't need to do that - I do. The 27 cents interest I would earn on the money isn't worth the angst.

[hylasgirl]

We have booked a MED.cruise for the last of Oct /11.,when should we book our shore excursions ?

 

 

Please please please get with your Roll Call and put together private tours. Anyone in the "know" does not book shore excursions with the ship. They are expensive, and you spend the day with 48 of your closest strangers on a motor coach. I do not recommend you seeing these amazing destinations with a ship tour. Check out the Europe boards... and see what everyone is doing. You can put together an excursion of a lifetime... with a few others on your Roll Call, it can even be as affordable as any ship tour. And SOOOO much better.

[Valley Girl of VA]

Please please please get with your Roll Call and put together private tours. Anyone in the "know" does not book shore excursions with the ship.

 

I thoroughly agree. I'm going on 9/19 Med cruise and all mine are already booked through our private roll call, including a tour the day before embarkation. I'm booked for Rome, Athens, Santorini, Ephesus, Naples and Istanbul. Smaller and more customized tours.

[FTLcruisers]

The roll call for my Med cruise is SO DEAD that I don't think I'll be able to do private tours. It took us many years of cruising before we felt comfortable to do private vs ship's tours so I will be disappointed if we can't particiate in private tours at some of our ports.

[Azulann]

Our roll call also is not terribly active: Sept 9, 10 day Eastern Med. So I suggest you do research and offer to orgainze a private tour and post on your roll call. I did and now have 10 people who will be doing a Ephesus tour. Another poster then said she would organize transportation from ship to airport.

Our group of four who are traveling together will also do three ship tours which we have also booked. I have done ship tours before and they can be excellent and fit our timetable. We are also doing three ports on our own , no need of any orgaize tour.

 

Have a great cruise.

[Lsimon]

I always start planning and booking my shore excursions ASAP, usually within 4 to 6 months for the Carribean and 3 to 10 months for Europe. Some excursions or tour guides are very popular and sell out far in advance. Because of this there is no reason to hold off on booking something once you make up your mind to do it. (other than possibly the economics of deposit requirements).

 

Please please please get with your Roll Call and put together private tours. Anyone in the "know" does not book shore excursions with the ship....

 

I disagree entirely with that statement. Those truly "in the know" know to keep their options open. We know not to have preconceived opinions as to whether one type of activity is always better than another regardless of circumstances surrounding a port.

 

I consider myself "in the know" having cruised quite a bit in the Caribbean and Europe over the past few years. Based on my experiance with many private tours and ship sponsored excursions I believe there is no blanket answer to whether a cruise line or private tour is better. It depends entirely on the tour itself as well as the cruiser's comfort level and expectations. Also keep in mind that at some ports the best thing to do might be to set out on your own to explore without a prearranged tour at all.

 

The bottom line is that one needs to do a little bit of research to decide what is offered at a particular port and what they think they'd like. At a minimum I'd recommend: Read through the cruise line excursion brochure (download from Celebrity website) to see not only what the ship is offering but what people tend to do or see at a given port. Read through the Cruise Critic port description. Browse through the messages on Cruise Critic's port of call forum for the port you are considering. When you have a tour you are considering use the search feature on Cruise Critic to see if others have left comments from past experiences with it.

[Loreto1028]

We have done a lot of research for our Med cruise this September, and are doing a combination of private and ship tours. We have opted for Celebrity's Cinque Terre tour out of Livorno as it comes very highly rated and worked out to be cheaper than the private tours. As well the ship's tour we are taking in Kotor we couldn't find a private alternative for. So far, we are very happy with the choices we have made. Some private tours with our new cruise critic friends, some ship tours and a few ports we are going to try to negotiate on our own. It all depends on your comfort level.

[hylasgirl]

Well, I totally agree with those in the "know". So you can disagree... I don't really care. I think every single ship tour is a waste of money. And get irritated with those that like to scare people into taking them.

 

I never ever recommend a ship tour in Europe. In the Caribbean, yes... it's not a big decision on who takes you snorkeling for the day. But... to trust your few precious hours to Rome, or Florence... or a stop like Naples. No, I have never EVER heard of a ship tour that is a better idea than arranging something on your own... be it a private tour, or something on your own completely.

 

I have taken a dozen or more cruises in Europe alone, and there is NO way a ship tour is better. I've done a few on my very first cruise and I will never go back. There isn't just a little difference in the service and experience you get... it's huge.

 

Think what you want... the statement I made wasn't referring to you obviously but others of us that are in the "know."

[hylasgirl]

The roll call for my Med cruise is SO DEAD that I don't think I'll be able to do private tours. It took us many years of cruising before we felt comfortable to do private vs ship's tours so I will be disappointed if we can't particiate in private tours at some of our ports.

 

 

Hopefully you can drum up some action. Keep posting... book your private tours knowing that you can cancel if you can't fill them. I've never had a problem. I find keeping your Roll Call towards the top helps. We've had slow starters but then keeping it active brought on more and more people. Good luck!

[bbappel]

I think every single ship tour is a waste of money. And get irritated with those that like to scare people into taking them.

Think what you want... the statement I made wasn't referring to you obviously but others of us that are in the "know."

 

We've done great private tours and, in places where we're comfortable doing it and when we are traveling with friends, we tend to book private tours. I'm not so willing to book with people I've only met on the CC site. One time we did it and it worked out great (Baltics - St. Petersburg) and one time it didn't work out (Villefranche). That said, the very best tour I was ever on was a ship sponsored tour, as I mentioned earlier, to St Mark's after hours. So generalizations don't apply to every situation. We couldn't have done that tour privately, it was available only through the ship.