first time help for special cruise

[Boston Bill]

I am new here so if I am asking a question that has been answered before I hope you will cut me some slack. I am going on the Legend in June and this will be our first CCL cruise. We have cruised before 12 ago on NCL but are now trying a cruise again. My question is the tours in Europe which we are excited about but cannot decide if we should book through the cruise line or not. What is the reason people do and do not book through Carnival and will they give lectures about the places we are cruising too? Thank you for your help and it is nice to be with you all.

[sanmarcosman]

Carnival doesn't provide port related cultural seminars that are intellectually stimulating on their Med. cruises. They will have shopping talks to steer you to the stores which give them a kicker for referring guests and the excursion desk is available to sell you their land tours but that's about it. You may try Celebrity Cruise Lines as I know they offer stimulating authors and noted authorities to lecture on their cruises to Hawaii, for example.

 

Good Luck and Happy Landings

[katisdale]

I do both independent and ship sponsored excursions. I feel the big plus for independent tours is that I am in charge of seeing what I want to see and the size of the tour group is much smaller which gives a more personalized feel. I think ship's tours are good for an overview but you will typically be on a large bus with 30 to 40 fellow cruisers who may or may not be easy to travel with. One big plus for the ship's tours is that they will wait for you if your bus is late returning to the port.

[Sixtytwo]

There are pros and cons to doing "on your own" as well as ship sponsored tours. Because your post did not say which European ports your cruise was stopping at, it would be difficult to answer one way or the other. On our eastern Med cruise, the places we ported were small and we enjoyed self-guided tours of the local area around the ports. Did not do one sponsored tour and had a blast just wandering around on our own. But, if you port in Petersburg Russia, then I might be more inclined to take a sponsored tour. But, just keep in mind that the ship will only wait for passengers whose ship sponsored tour is late getting back to port.

[luv2cruiseny]

test

[hbrote]

Boston Bill, I would join the "Roll Call" for your booked or tentative cruse and see what other folks are doing. On our upcoming cruise we have private tours booked along with Carnival Excursions booked. No seminars are needed if you research your ports and what they offer that you would be interested in. I believe this is the "Fun" part planning your cruise. Which ever you chose, please have a wonderful cruise. Oh, bye the way I'm an ol' Wooster boy.