When do you book Ship Excursions

[Wayfairers]

When do you book excursions with the ship - before you sail or onboard? Why?

 

I book before I sail because, while I love to plan, once I am on the ship I just want to sit back and enjoy the trip.

[Bonnie J.]

We no longer do ship's tours so always have tours planned and ordered before we sail.

[cb at sea]

On our 1st cruise, we didn't even KNOW you could book in advance! We booked on the ship...got everything we wanted. (that was pre-computer, tho...maybe in those days, you couldn't book in advance!!! I don't know!)

 

Since then, tho, we don't book excursions at all! We study up on our ports and do everything on our own. Cheaper and just as easy!

[tip]

We no longer do ship's tours so always have tours planned and ordered before we sail.

 

We also book private tours because we find the ship's tours to be overpriced cattle herds. We too like to plan and utilize the "ports of call" threads on these boards to research these tours and then book before hand. And yes, once on the ship we also sit back and enjoy the trip knowing that we have saved some money (usually quite a bit).;)

[Krazy Kruizers]

We book our excursions as soon as we see them posted.

All too often I have seen disappointed when they got on a ship and found that the excursion that they wanted was completely sold out.

Keep in mind that some excursions have limited capacity.

[DonnaK]

We generally only book private excursions.

[STARFISH*4]

usually done before we get on the ship...sometimes we will decide to do another and cancel and book the other when we get onboard

but now that our cruiseline requires pre-pay next years cruise most all will be done on the ship.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Asap because some full up

[jocap]

We usually take pot luck, depending on how the cruise is going. We did pre-book for the Cies islands off Vigo, because of a post on cc, which told us how busy the normal ferries could be in summer. Once, a new tour of Tuscany was introduced half way through the cruise, and filled the coach quickly.

Jo.

[eh2zed]

We book mostly private excursions long before we leave

[Nebr.cruiser]

We almost never do ship excursions. We book some private tours before we leave, using these boards for recommendations, sometimes book tours at the dock and quite often just wander around town or walk to a beach (if possible) on our own,.

[Jasalth]

I have had all my excursions booked and/or deposited before we hit 150 days till we sail :)

 

I like to plan things, and pay off or plan for as much as possible before we go since I have things planned down to the penny of exactly what we NEED.

 

Since that has been covered, I am now working just for play money. Since I work from home, it is very nice knowing that I don't have to rush anymore at 90+ days. Every penny I earn is something we don't need for transportation, tips or an excursion right now, which also makes ME less grumpy since if I am having a bad day, I don't have to log into work. Like today.. it's gray and rainy and I am just not.. feeling it, so I am more than happy to read posts on CC and other forums and practice lounging around!

[luvscruising2007]

We usually book ship excursions. We almost always book ahead of time, especially excursions that we really want to do. However, we don't book excursions for every port.

I like booking ahead of time so that they are paid for before vacation even begins.

[kazu]

If I even THINK I am doing a ship's excursion. I book it early.

 

I can always change. We tend to do more privates but there is a time and a place for ship's tours. If that's what you want to do, I would book early. JMO;)

[MJC]

I like to plan ahead and we always know what we're going to be doing each day before we embark. Sometimes we do ships tours but mostly private because we hate getting on a bus, and waiting around for stragglers drives us nuts. And sometimes we like to just go off on our own and get away from everyone for a while. Our travel style has evolved since our first cruise and we're much more adventurous now, but we'll still take a ships tour if it goes where we want in the most convenient fashion.

[Skywench]

We always prefer to just play it by ear and will book something if we feel like it. I don't do a lot of excursions, except possibly if it's a port I haven't been to before. I really don't feel the need to have every day planned out with something to do.

[cruisemom42]

I only use a ship's excursion if there is absolutely no way I can either do it myself (via public transportation) or take a private tour. I'm not a big fan of the ship tours. It's not the money, it's the large group, forced shopping stops, and the fact that many times ship tours don't go where I want to go....!

[Azure Moon]

For us, it all depends on the excursion, the port, or how we're feeling (play by ear rather than planning everything).

 

Sometimes we book ship excursions before the cruise, sometimes while on the cruise - depends on the popularity, time constraints, comfortableness with a port, etc.

 

Sometimes we hire someone at the port the day we stop there.

 

Sometimes we prearrange a private excursion.

 

And sometimes we don't feel like booking an excursion or hiring someone, so we just do our own thing, whether it's renting a car and going off on our own, or just wandering around a port on foot or using public transportation.

 

Flexibility, it's great!

[thescot123]

Like to plan ahead and have what I am doing in each port scheduled in advance. Some excursions that I do are booked independent with the tour operator wanted advance booking.

[Sharon I]

We do only ship excursions just because we are sure that if we run late the ship will wait for us. We also get together to decide what we want to do for excursions and pay for them before we board so that there is one less expense we have to worry about. Of course sometimes after we get on the ship we change our mind but not very often. The ship has never had any problems with changing our prepaid excursions to a different one if we do change our mind.

Sharon I

[popanme]

We would like to find a private excursion from Port Canaveral

to The Kennedy Space Center?

[debshomespun]

We book mostly private excursions. Very few times do we book through the ship. Maybe if time is a real constraint, or if the port we are visiting is not one of the safest. I always research our port city before we go away. We try to get to see the culture of our port city, and it is very difficult when going through the cruiseline on a shore excursion with so many people. We love to interact with the island people, and in a very small group. This can usually only be done through a private excursion. I do alot of research here on the ports of call forum section for feedback from our fellow cruisers.

[fleckle]

In general we tend to avoid ship excursions because we hate being herded around like cattle and treated like kindergarten children on a class outing, wearing little tags.

 

But there are always exceptions. We will book ship excursions when the ship excursion is something unique that is not available otherwise or in a location where we would not feel safe going off on our own.

 

If it is the type of excursion where the weather will be a deciding factor in whether or not we want to go (e.g., boat rides or hikes that go out in pouring rain and heavy fog), we are willing to take our chances and wait until the last minute to decide.

 

Even when excursions are sold out in advance, there will sometimes be last minute cancellations. In many ports there are multiple recommended vendors offering very similar excursions, so if you bring along a list of phone numbers, you have a good chance of finding one that will take you.

[cruiseapril]

We book ship's excursions the first time we visit a port- in advance.

 

When we become familiar with a port, we often take a taxi to a favorite place.

 

We have been fortunate to have experienced many good ship's excursions.

[sjcruiser]

We try to read up on excursions before we board, and then decide one we sail. Most of the excursions we do come from the reviews or suggestions on cruise critic, friends or passengers onboard who have been to the port before. Sometimes we like to just get off the ship and explore.