What is "On Your Own

[cruizn2escape]

I am exploring cruise tours to Alaska and noticed Princess has some that are "on Your Own" - what exactly does that mean? If you book on your own can you still book a shore excursion with the ship or do you have to find an excursion outside what Princess offers?

[Shogun]

Hi There

 

When Princess has a tour which says on your own,

 

they mean that they will take you to a place drop you off , and then you are on your own, to do what you want,

 

they will give you a place and time to meet for transport back,

 

 

yours Shogun

[Times Prince]

I am exploring cruise tours to Alaska and noticed Princess has some that are "on Your Own" - what exactly does that mean? If you book on your own can you still book a shore excursion with the ship or do you have to find an excursion outside what Princess offers?

The "On Your Own" is Princess excursion where, as Shogun said, transportation is provided to/from a central point in town.

 

This is especially important in European ports where the cruise ship may have docked where normally freighters dock and the center of town is some distance away (or unsafe to get to).

 

Some of the Alaska ports are within a short walk to town, so do your research first (e.g. look at Google maps satellite view to see the town relative to the piers). Also check out the ports section of Cruise Critic. You may find a short walk to the end of the pier gets you to a place where a local tour is available.

[Carolina Chuck]

We were on a cruisetour in June/July and on the land portion had "on your own" afternoons twice and an "on your own day". What this meant is that there were no scheduled tours/activities for this time frame. Your were free to book tours through princess or anyone else or just do nothing and relax at the resort.

[JimmyVWine]

Some of the Alaska ports are within a short walk to town, so do your research first (e.g. look at Google maps satellite view to see the town relative to the piers). Also check out the ports section of Cruise Critic. You may find a short walk to the end of the pier gets you to a place where a local tour is available.

 

The "On Your Own" reference pertains to the Cruise Tour portion of the trip which occurs either before or after one has boarded the ship. It has nothing to do with what you do while in a port during transit. While in port, all passengers are "on their own" at all times, by definition.

 

Remember that "on your own" time in Alaska means "no transportation". The land is vast, and it's not like being in, say, Florence or Venice where you can roam around the city by foot, taxi or boat. If you do not arrange for transportation, your "on your own" time in Alaska will pretty much be hanging around the Lodge, because you will be way too far from anything interesting to walk there, and there won't be public transportation to take you anywhere.

[fishywood]

I am exploring cruise tours to Alaska and noticed Princess has some that are "on Your Own" - what exactly does that mean? If you book on your own can you still book a shore excursion with the ship or do you have to find an excursion outside what Princess offers?

 

The "On Your Own" reference pertains to the Cruise Tour portion of the trip which occurs either before or after one has boarded the ship. It has nothing to do with what you do while in a port during transit.

 

If you book the "On Your Own" Alaska cruisetour you will indeed be able to purchase excursions from Princess roughly equivalent to the "included" ones in the standard cruisetours. Do a test booking for the On Your Own tour and you will be able to view the prices. Then you can crunch the numbers to see if you would actually end up spending more by electing the superficially less expensive tour. (But remember that there is still alot of free time in the standard tour during which you will have to spend money for any activity other than relaxing at the Lodge as mentioned above).

[tothemall&beyond]

In Europe, one of the main reasons to book the "on your own" is to have peace of mind about not missing the ship. If you are on an "on your own tour", Princess knows who's on it should there be a problem getting back to the ship. Without it, you could be the victim of a sudden transportation strike, which is very common in Italy and France.

[RickEk]

It appears to me that the Denali Explorer "On Your Own" cruisetours basically do not include the land excursions that are included in the regular tour like the Tundra Wilderness tour and the Riverboat cruise if you go to Fairbanks...

[beg3yrs]

In Europe, one of the main reasons to book the "on your own" is to have peace of mind about not missing the ship. If you are on an "on your own tour", Princess knows who's on it should there be a problem getting back to the ship. Without it, you could be the victim of a sudden transportation strike, which is very common in Italy and France.

 

While essentially correct, a point to be made is that you are responsible to show up at the appointed time and place for the return to the ship. If you don't, you will still be "on your own" and will have to make "your own" arrangements to get to the ship before departure and failing that, traveling to meet the ship at its next port.

[shepp]

When we were on a South America trip, we booked a day in Antigua, Guatemala "on our own," at a premium price over other options. They messed up the bus requisition, we sat around in the Princess Theater forever, and ended up spending something like an hour less in Antigua that was promised. The map they handed us was a joke, and finding the right bus back a nightmare. Not good, Princess. Not good at all.

 

On our upcoming stop at Civitavecchia, the Princess "on your own" tourist train to Rome costs five times what the luxury tourist train we booked on our own does.

 

Yeah, you get peace of mind. But sometimes you really pay for it.

[tothemall&beyond]

While essentially correct, a point to be made is that you are responsible to show up at the appointed time and place for the return to the ship. If you don't, you will still be "on your own" and will have to make "your own" arrangements to get to the ship before departure and failing that, traveling to meet the ship at its next port.

 

 

Of course. I assumed that was understood.

[beg3yrs]

Of course. I assumed that was understood.

 

I know you did but ... after suffering multiple times having to wait on a bus for tour participants who ignored instructions, lost track of time and so on, I felt it would be good to emphasize there would be no "peace of mind" if one didn't make it back to the return rendezvous point at the correct time.

 

It was just extra information in an attempt to be helpful.