caribbean shore excursions

[jackdec]

We are going on the Equinox on 2 Feb and want to know is it better to go on the excursions organised by the ship and were can we view the list of trips. Just afraid if I get any other trips from the port they may not get us back before the ship leaves.

Any suggestions.:confused::confused::confused:

[cruisestitch]

Advantages to ship's excursions: can be booked ahead of time, the ship will wait for you if late (barring extreme circumstances), can be put onto ship's account if booked on board (using up OBC if any)

 

Advantages to private excursions: can be tailored to your needs, usually less expensive, usually smaller groups,

 

My advice is to go to your Roll Call and see if any of the Cruise Critic members are putting together groups for private excursions and compare prices to what is quoted on the Celebrity website.

[mcrcruiser]

We are going on the Equinox on 2 Feb and want to know is it better to go on the excursions organised by the ship and were can we view the list of trips. Just afraid if I get any other trips from the port they may not get us back before the ship leaves.

Any suggestions.:confused::confused::confused:

 

In the Caribbean we don't concern about getting back to the ship on time. You can take taxis to beaches or do a tour . Take a look at the port section on these boards & get other cruise ciritc members info ;).Just click on Caribbean ports. Good luck & enjoy your cruise:). BTW ,you will save a lot of money investigating before you go on your cruise:D.

[Keith1010]

The key is if you do a private tour to pad the time to ensure you get back to the ship well before the sail time.

 

There are also many things you can do on your own without the need for either a ship or a private tour.

 

Also good to check out your roll call to see what others are doing.

 

Keith

[Lsimon]

There a lot of people on cruise critic who would 'never' do a ship's excursion and other who would 'only' do a ship's excursion. I think both groups are missing out. We tend to do more touring on our own but will occasionally do ship's excursions as sometimes they have the best option for us. The only ship's excursion we never consider is a simple trip to the beach in the Caribbean. We just take a taxi to the beach and head back in plenty of time to do a little shopping near the pier and then re-board the ship well before the published last time to board.

 

But the bottom line is that you should do what makes you most comfortable and don't worry about other's opinions. If you would worry too much if you take a private tour then by all means stick with the ship's tours. There is nothing wrong with that if you'd enjoy it the most overall.

[jackdec]

Thanks for the advice will post on the board and hopefully will get some good company.

Dec

[jackdec]

Thanks Larry. i would love to meet people doing trips they have done before as they will know the ropes. Regarding the Beach, I agree the best way is to get a private Taxi. There bound to be able to get people back in time if you leave early from the beach.

[jackdec]

Thanks for the help. Any info is good as the more I speak to people like you the wiser I may get.

Dec.

[sbt518]

We usually do longer excursions with the ship and shorter ones on our own.

For example on our last cruise to the Western Caribbean, we went to the beach in Honduras by contacting a local resort and arranging the day trip through them, it was half the price of a similar ship excursion.

But on that same cruise we took the ship excursion to Tulum to see the Mayan ruins because that involved a ferry and a bus ride and was about 7 hours. I wouldn't chance a breakdown or something going wrong with the bus in mexico and missing the ship b/c I wanted to save money. But a quick taxi to the beach or around an island seem reasonable to me.

 

Like previous posters have said, do what you feel comfortable with and do your research before. I've found so much info on the port boards on this site.

[gyanhumara]

... We just take a taxi to the beach and head back in plenty of time to do a little shopping near the pier and then re-board the ship well before the published last time to board.

 

How do you usually define "well before" -- an hour? Half hour? Something else? This will be the first time for us taking a DIY excursion at a cruise port.

[Lsimon]

How do you usually define "well before" -- an hour? Half hour? Something else? This will be the first time for us taking a DIY excursion at a cruise port.

 

I guess it depends on the time in port and one's comfort zone and the distance from port. The bottom line is it is always early enough that I don't have to think twice about the possibility of missing the ship. I'd much rather have time to get cleaned up from the day and be poolside, at the aft bar, or on our veranda, to relax and enjoy the sail away then looking at my watch wondering hoping there is no delay on the way back.

 

If I was going to Trunk Bay on St. John at a St. Thomas port of call where I'm depending on 2 taxi rides (sometimes in heavy traffic close to port) and a ferry to get back to the ship I might want to plan on getting back a couple hours early or more. If I'm at a port where traffic is light and the beach is 15 minutes away then I might be happy planning on getting back 1/2 hour or 45 minutes before sailing. If I'm shopping and it is only a 5 minute walk to the ship I might be happy heading back in time to board 10 or 15 minutes before sailing. As I was leaving the port in the morning I'd take note of how long the walk is from where the taxis leave you off at the port to the ship and factor that in - sometimes that is a 20 min walk.

[Bobed1927]

If you take a taxi to a beach you can avoid being stranded by not paying the taxi until he picks you up for the return trip to the ship.

[niborHS]

You might also want to base your decision on how many of you will be travelling. When my husband and I cruised with our children when they were younger, we often either rented a jeep, or hired our own driver, as it worked out to be less expensive, and we weren't stuck dragging our kids on a shopping expedition. When we are alone, then there isn't as much of a price difference, so there were times we took the ship's excursions.

I also agree that going on the Port of Call board will come up with some great suggestions. We found many good connections there to private tours that worked out great. Everything from Dunns River Falls in Jamaica, to a private driver in Mazatlan worked out very well for us.

St. Thomas is one of the places where you should make sure you allow for traffic. Getting to the port in time for the ship's departure can take a long time coming down the winding road around the island.