Excursions: on your own vs ncl-sponsored

[dishealth11]

After reading the excursion postings, I can't decide whether to do ship excursions or go it solo (having done neither).

 

Curious, of the members, how many are staunch supporters of cruiseline sponsored tours, how many want their independence?

[rundogrun]

For us, we prefer to book our own. Any cruiseline excursion we've taken we've found to be over-priced and never quite living up to the descriptions.

 

The Port of Call section of cruise critic is an excellent resource for this.

[karfest]

The only time we did a ships excursion was our first cruise when we didn't know any better.

 

With the help of these boards you should be able to plan your own and save lotsa $$$.

 

Some people prefer the ships excursions because you won't miss the ship, but if you plan correctly it shouldn't be an issue.

[dishealth11]

As a first timer - and a scaredy-cat, I'm going to do primarily ship-sponsored. However, I did like someone's idea of visiting Atlantis at night. At least I know I'll be back before morning:D

[cliffd64]

Here's the scoop: You can find better, and less expensive shore excursions on your own, especially if you do the leg-work before you leave home.

 

The only thing you give up by doing this is the security in knowing the ship will not leave without you if you are delayed in coming back. If you are on your own, you truly need to be aware of the time and make certain you are back at least a half hour before departure time. Make sure your watches are set to the correct time (ships time) and PAY ATTENTION :)

 

On a ship's excursion, even if you are HOURS late, the ship will not abandon you.

 

If you are comfortable with this arrangement, by all means make your own arrangements for shore excursions... On our last few cruises we did a little of both... a combo of our own trips is some ports AND ships trips in a couple of the other ports.

[dishealth11]

On a ship's excursion, even if you are HOURS late, the ship will not abandon you.

 

 

I love that! Nothing like a sure thing.

[NJcruiser21]

i voted for NCL sponsored. this being my first cruise, i went with the NCL excursions but probably in the future I would do half and half.

[ute_fan]

On our 1st cruise we only did ship sponsored excursions -- we weren't brave enough to venture off by ourselves. Our 2nd one (in Alaska) we did some of both -- we rented a car and drove to Emerald Lake, and booked an independent tour in Ketchikan. We did use the NCL Tracy Arm/Sawyer glacier tour that can only be booked through the tour, as you tender back onto the ship after it meets you in Tracy Arm, and a jeep tour in Wrangell.

 

This time, we've booked 2 NCL excursions -- in Belize, we're going to Lamanai. Due to the length of this excursion it takes more of our port time, and I just wouldn't be comfortable booking it with an independent. In Roatan we're going to do the Dolphin Swim/Tabyana Beach excursion -- the only way I know of to do both is to go through the ship. Cozumel and Cancun will be independent, probably last minute decisions.

[98Charlie]

98charlie and I are not much into organized vacations, like to go out on our own and do independent traveling mostly. Never thought we'd like to cruise until we took our first one 3 years ago. We're now about to leave on cruise number 10 and loving the freedom we have in planning our own time within ports.

 

We have booked about four ship excursions during all of these cruises. Haven taken off on our own to venture to areas many ship passengers didn't know were available -- specially on the Mexican Riviera. But we're always mindful of the ship's sailing time and never cut our time too close.

 

Have read horror stories of pax who fell asleep on the beach or forgot what time their ship was keeping while on an independent tour. I never want to be left behind when the ship sails. Too much good food and good times left onboard to spend my remaining vacation days left while in a foreign port and my vacation clothes sail without me. :eek:

 

Just use caution when you go out on your own for port excursions. Lots to see in those ports others may never see or want to hear about what you saw.

 

Dianne

[Jim Gallup]

There is another extremely important issue with tours that hardly anyone ever thinks about - safety and insurance.

Most cruise lines require tour operators to carry a minimum $5 Million liability insurance for EVERY person on the tour.This covers a multitude of accidents that can and quite often do happen on tours. The Cruise Line's Insurance Carrier further requires each tour operator to prove that proper safety training and safety equipment are being properly used. They also require proper local licensing.

All these requirements cost quite a bit of money, and drive up the cost of the tour. But they also preotect your cruise and your life.

 

Taking the independent tour is often cheaper, and many times more fun. But if something goes wrong (and it often does) you are simply out of luck, and on your own, in a foreign country.

[dishealth11]

Do you really mean "often"? Yikes:eek:

Hey, are there any statistics on excursion accidents?

 

 

There is another extremely important issue with tours that hardly anyone ever thinks about - safety and insurance.

Most cruise lines require tour operators to carry a minimum $5 Million liability insurance for EVERY person on the tour.This covers a multitude of accidents that can and quite often do happen on tours. The Cruise Line's Insurance Carrier further requires each tour operator to prove that proper safety training and safety equipment are being properly used. They also require proper local licensing.

All these requirements cost quite a bit of money, and drive up the cost of the tour. But they also preotect your cruise and your life.

 

Taking the independent tour is often cheaper, and many times more fun. But if something goes wrong (and it often does) you are simply out of luck, and on your own, in a foreign country.

[cliffd64]

Do you really mean "often"? Yikes:eek:

Hey, are there any statistics on excursion accidents?

 

 

Well, speaking from MY experience with my own tours... NOTHING bad has happened ... you just need to do the same research you would do for a local business... only pick the most recommended and the best suited :) If they are in this business to succeed, they ALL have insurance :)

[hotspur]

We've done both ship's excursions and port trips on our own. We have no hard and fast rule. It depends on the circumstance. In Istanbul and Kusadasi we booked personal tour guides on-line. There was little risk in Istanbul because the ship was overnighting there, and it was worth it to us to have a private guide. And, given the dollar/Turkish lira issue at the time, the personal tour was no more expensive than going with a busload of others. For all but two of our other Mediterranean stops we hired taxis or minivans, or took buses, and did things on our own. For example, the complexity of arranging a trip to Siena and San Gimignano from Livorno convinced us to use the ship's tour.

 

For our upcoming Alaska trip we priced out the Skagway train ride and found it wasn't worth the difference ($10) to book it on our own. Similarly with the duck-boat ride in Ketchikan. If, for whatever reason, the ship didn't get to Skagway we stood to lose too much for the small savings. In the Caribbean we pretty much go independent. We're not into hugging turtles or sting rays, so we find other options of greater interest to us.

 

In our trans-Atlantic on the Norwegian Dream in the fall of 2002, a group of eight or ten of us here on Cruise Critic arranged for tours of the Normandy beaches and the highlights of Iceland. It was great doing it with a small group and in Iceland we arrived at the key sights before all the ship's buses. In many cities (e.g., Glasgow, Dublin, Halifax, Barcelona) there are hop-on, hop-off buses you can ride for a daily fee that take you to all the high spots.

 

Bottom-line, I guess our response is "it all depends" on the port, the prices, whether the ship is docking or tendering (priorities, you know), what appeals to you in the particular port and how easy is it to do it on your own.

[frontrangecruiser]

I think it depends where you cruise to. We have cruised to the Western and the Eastern Carribean and now our last cruise back to the Western Carribean, we booked excursions on our own. I must say that the excursions on our own, they were less crowded, friendlier guides and MUCH cheaper.:)

 

When we go to Hawaii next year, we will probably do the ship's excursions since we haven't been there.;)

[Welove2cruise2]

The first time we cruised (to Bermuda on the Majesty) we did book a couple of ship excursions. We were glad we did, because we got a good overview of the island. Now, with our fifth trip coming up, we just "do our own thing" because we've become so familiar with Bermuda -- although DH is still eying a catamaran tour -- simply because he just loves the catamarans!

 

On our 11/28 Dawn cruise, because we weren't at all familiar with the islands we visited, we did book a few of the ship's excursions. One was a catamaran (of course -- FYI, it was Tiami) in Barbados that was great, and another was the trip to the Baths at Virgin Gorda, because we were in Tortola for such a short time. The rest of the islands (Antiqua, St. Thomas, Dominica and St. Croix) we did our own thing, or booked a private excursion (Lestor Pond in Dominica -- it was great).

 

I would recommend, if you've never been, and the time in port is short, I'd stick with the ship's excursions. Otherwise, if you feel comfortable, have a ball on your own!

[fodorspeter]

I'm going to take a wild guess here and predict that Jim Gallup is a travel agent. For some reason, TA's try to put the fear of God into people considering their own excursions. Probably because their basic assumption about cruisers is that they are helpless creatures who can't cross the street on their own, much less book the right cruise without their far superior knowledge. A statistic to keep in mind is that 80% of excursions booked on Caribbean cruises are independent of the cruise line.

 

To frontrangecruiser - why would you not book your own cruises in Hawaii - part of the USA you know.

 

Peter

[fin]

Since last September I have taken over a dozen ship sponsored shore excursions, most of them by NCL. Without exception they have been way above average tours. The guides have been friendly and spoke good English and were able to answer all questions. The overflight over Antartica was very nicely done with a cabin crew of six to attend to 44 passengers. I have not had ANY tours arranged by the ships that had any problems of any kind.

On the Belize trip to Xuantanich however, there was a serious road accident ahead of us on the return to the ship, and traffic was tied up for an extended time. For me, it was well worth the extra cost to know that the ship was not going anywhere until we made our way back to the tenders.

I suspect that the price difference between the ships tour and doing it on your own is probably about equal to two of the large fancy drinks in the big glasses that were so popular on the Sea.

[frontrangecruiser]

To frontrangecruiser - why would you not book your own cruises in Hawaii - part of the USA you know.

 

Peter

 

Um....Im totally unfamiliar with Hawaii....I plan to study hard during the next year though! :)

[zimmerjulie]

I voted for both. I agree that there are situations where the ship's tours are more advisable, notably in tours where there is a considerable amount of travel time to and from the ship.

[coka]

I do both but have 60% record of booking with NCL and 40% record of venturing out on own tour once I get there.

 

I base my decision on port location, time in port, condition of port, availability of taxis and number of routes back to ship, who I am with, where the ship is going next, and will I have to get there by plane or motorboat if I miss the ship...

 

I never book independently prior to arrival because I read too many experiences of ships not making it to the port that day...

 

Coka

[debjo]

We prefer to book shore excursions through the cruise line, particularly if it is our first time in a port or times when we only have a few hours in a port...that way, we don't have to waste time trying to find reliable tours once we get on shore or worry about getting lost in unfamiliar surroundings. In addition, by booking through the cruise line...THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR GETTING YOU BACK TO THE SHIP BEFORE IT LEAVES. It is a bit different if you are overnighting in a port...or spending a few days at the same port.

 

The other advantage to booking through the cruise line is the fact that if the itinerary changes, the cruise line has to rearrange their shore excursion times to meet the changed itinerary times. If you've booked something "on your own" in advance with another organization, and your ship's arrival and departure times change...you are left having to either cancel your the prearranged plans that you made or try to find another possible time slot to fit into. It could mean losing your much anticipated adventure on shore!

 

Debjo

[dishealth11]

Thank you all for the wonderful words of wisdom. I, and I'm sure others, will benefit.

[kwcrnp]

We do both. If we are familar with the port, we usually do our own thing.

 

This trip we are doing 2 thru NCL and 2 on our own. In Belize we want to go see the Ruins and it's a long trip so we just want to be safe with regard to getting back on time. In Cozumel, we're doing Xcaret and since you have to take a ferry and bus, again we wanted to be sure we would make the boat. I priced it out on our own and with NCL, avg $15 pp more with NCL and we decicded that was affordable insurance with getting back on to the boat.

 

Cancun and Roatna we re doing our own thing.

 

It's what you're comfortable with.

 

Kristi

[born2cruize]

We have had several tours through the ship that have ran over time and was fortunate that we had the guarantee that the ship wouldn't leave without us.

 

We've also done several on our own. But only if we had some wiggle room with time.

 

In July we will be on the Dream and one of the ships tours is scheduled to come back 1/2 hour AFTER we are scheduled to leave.

 

I've also done some comparision pricing and yes you can save some money on your own. I've also found some that were only one or two dollars different.

 

I've also has some that when I tried to do it on my own was told by the operator to go through the ship.

 

borntocruise

[dishealth11]

Very insightful...especially this...

 

In July we will be on the Dream and one of the ships tours is scheduled to come back 1/2 hour AFTER we are scheduled to leave.

 

borntocruise

 

care to elaborate:confused: