NCL excursions vs private excursions

[susan0000]

We are traveling on the Jade in March out of Rome to 2 stops in Greece, 2 stops in Turkey and Naples Italy and planning our excursions. If we went with NCL excursions in all ports the total for 4 of us would be over $3,600!:eek: Thats a lot of money! so we are now looking into booking private excursions with others on our roll call. My concern is if we are late coming back to the boat in a NCL tour do they really hold the ship? or do they leave no matter who your touring with? Also if there are strikes or other problems? I understand each tour has their own policies and the people on our roll call have been wonderful about researching the tours and ensuring that they have good reviews but any feedback or experiences people have had would be appreciated in helping us make a decision on which way to go with this.

Thanks and Happy Cruising!

[Ilovesailing]

Depending why your NCL excursion is late or how late it will be will make the decision as to whether they will wait or not.

Most of the time they do wait and if not they will get you to the next port to meet up.

 

It's one of the main reasons to have your passport with you in case you have to fly into another country.

[Ilovesailing]

Most likely the cruise ship/line will know in advance of strikes and other situations and will decide as to go to port or not, they will also make announcements the night before if there are any changes to the itinerary.

 

The concern about Europe and off ship excursions is having to give cc or payment in advance and what is the excursion companies policy on refunds.

Most will automatically give a refund if the ship misses the port.

 

We have done close to 30 cruises all with off ship excursions and only once had a hiccup where the tour operator cancelled and we didn't know because they couldn't contact us because we don't travel with cell phones. We found out in the parking lot through a driver for the same company who called in for us. We had the reversal to CC before we got home.

[MSH from Norway]

My concern is if we are late coming back to the boat in a NCL tour do they really hold the ship? or do they leave no matter who your touring with?

 

No, they/Ncl don't always wait for their own tours.

That's dependig on so many different things, such as the timeframe, the ships way out of port, the water, time to the next port, the pilot and so on.

 

In the "dailies" you will find name, adress and phonenumber to the "agent in charge for ncl in next port". That person may or may not hold the ship for you for some few minutes, så remember to take that information with you every time get ashore on a private tour.

[HokiePoq]

Not hold the ship for their own excursions?

Haven't been that late with NCL but have seen HAL hold the ship for an overdue excursion.

Has anyone on this board had that experience, being left behind for a ship sponsored excursion? I can understand that it could happen with tides, dock rental, etc.....but not being left behind is one of the main reasons I choose ship's excursions a lot of the time.

When my HAL excursion had the vehicles stuck in the mud in the jungle in Belize, I was thinking I was glad it was a ship's excursion. (That was the same cruise they held the ship in Guatemala for the excursion that flew to Honduras. Folks would have been up the creek if left in Santo Tomas.)

[ohiotek]

Our NCL tour in Barbados was a little late and we were all worried they wouldn't wait because after we got back to the pport building, we had to take a shuttle out to the ship. On that shuttle was an NCL employee and he stated they will always wait for an NCL scheduled tour. He was calling the ship to inform them that the last tour was on our way.

[MSH from Norway]

Not hold the ship for their own excursions?

quote]

 

http://fortlauderdale.legalexaminer.com/mass-transit-accidents/irene-causes-cruise-ship-companies-to-leave-passengers-in-puerto-rico.aspx?googleid=293656

 

http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/post/2011/08/stranded-passengers-san-juan-royal-caribbean-hurricane-irene/416548/1

 

Of the 145 guests left behind, 15 of them had purchased their airfare through the cruise line and were given hotel accommodations Sunday and Monday night, and flown to Aruba on Tuesday to catch up with their seven-day cruise. The other 130 were left on their own.

[MeHeartCruising]

On a couple of my cruises to date, the ship has significantly delayed departure (30-90 minutes) so that late-returning cruise line-sold excursion groups could return to the ship. They were delayed due to various situations. Yes, the general rule is that with cruise line excursions, the ship will wait for your group to return. However, it is not an absolute rule. If the ship or it's onboard crew and passengers are in danger for some reason, they will certainly pull the ship out without hesitation. Even if this means leaving excursions behind. It rarely happens, but it could. Having said that, with proper research, there is no reason why you can't do ports on your own or to use 3rd-party tour companies instead of the cruise line offerings. Personally, I do a mix of all 3 depending on the destination, time in port, distance I want to cover, etc. But be aware, it is also a general rule that the ship will NOT delay its departure for an non-cruise line excursion group that hasn't arrived back. So if you go on your own or with a 3rd party, you should be prepared with back up plans of what to do if something happens and your ship leaves without you.