Excursions on Grandeur

[travelnut1967]

We have booked the 9 day New England cruise aboard the Grandeur for June of this year. We are a family of 4 and want to do a nice excursion in every port. We have sailed many times on Disney cruises and have reserved the excursions without prepaying for them. I was surprised that Royal Caribbean makes you pay them before getting on ship. We have quite a lot of onboard money and were going to use that for the excursions. Do we wait till we get on board the ship to book them or pick out the ones we really want to do and then prepay those. Thanks, Steve

[Clarea]

They do hold back a certain percentage of excursion slots for onboard booking. You should plan to get to the excursion deck as soon as you board. If there are excursions that are really important to you, then I would prepay those.

[knittinggirl]

We had about $550 OBC on a Canada/New England trip out of Baltimore a year or so ago. And I'd picked all the excursions I'd planned to book on day 1. While they hold back about 20%, you can't predict which 20%.

 

All the excursions we'd planned to book were sold out. And one of them has disappeared completely. So, if you really want a particular shore excursion, then prepay it.

 

There was a trip to Fort Scammel in Portland that has disappeared, and the historic boat ride in Halifax also disappeared. For a few years, the Mt. Washington train ride disappeared, but this year it reappeared.

 

I'd suggest using your OBC for things like specialty dining and bottles of wine, and maybe photos.

[lenquixote66]

They do hold back a certain percentage of excursion slots for onboard booking. You should plan to get to the excursion deck as soon as you board. If there are excursions that are really important to you, then I would prepay those.

 

We always book Shore excursions on the ship and have never been closed out.

[Bookish Angel]

When a friend and I went to Canada/New England on Grandeur in 2010, we did all but one excursion on our own and saved an average of about 40% doing it ourselves.

 

We just Googled the ports and then contacted local tour operators, bus companies, etc. easy to do this trip's excursions on tour own because English is the primary language.

[Grannycb]

I'd vote for booking now rather than waiting. Your OBC goes down quickly when you figure in gratuities for four people.

 

One tour that was offered privately as well as onboard was the LuLu at Bar Harbor. We booked it privately and saved. If interested see what Trip Advisor has to say about it.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60709-d645876-Reviews-Lulu_Lobster_Boat-Bar_Harbor_Mount_Desert_Island_Maine.html

There is a good seafood restaurant on the corner across the street from the LuLu. It might be worth looking into if you enjoy seafood.

We also had time to take the trolley before our LuLu Lobster Boat trip. That was booked at the port, not in advance. You need to be quick at getting off the ship to do this one. Again, here is a link to Trip Advisor: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60709-d1093485-Reviews-Oli_s_Trolley_Acadia_National_Park_Tour-Bar_Harbor_Mount_Desert_Island_Maine.html

[lberney]

I'd vote for booking now rather than waiting. Your OBC goes down quickly when you figure in gratuities for four people.

 

One tour that was offered privately as well as onboard was the LuLu at Bar Harbor. We booked it privately and saved. If interested see what Trip Advisor has to say about it.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60709-d645876-Reviews-Lulu_Lobster_Boat-Bar_Harbor_Mount_Desert_Island_Maine.html

There is a good seafood restaurant on the corner across the street from the LuLu. It might be worth looking into if you enjoy seafood.

We also had time to take the trolley before our LuLu Lobster Boat trip. That was booked at the port, not in advance. You need to be quick at getting off the ship to do this one. Again, here is a link to Trip Advisor: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60709-d1093485-Reviews-Oli_s_Trolley_Acadia_National_Park_Tour-Bar_Harbor_Mount_Desert_Island_Maine.html

 

Thanks- the lobster boat tour has great reviews! That would be very cool. I had looked at the trolley tour before, but wasn't sure about it. Why do you say we would have to be quick to do the trolley? Does it fill up fast? TIA!

[Malt Scotchman]

My wife and I have wanted to see the New England fall foliage (bucket list). We love to cruise and curious if this is possible to experience from the large ships like the Gandeur.

[spookwife]

GR is not a large ship at all. Besides you have to do a road trip to see the colors and the weather has to cooperate. Too windy or rainy and they all drop to the ground early. Too cold the same thing. We missed peak color on our last GR sailing by no more than 3-4 days due to a bad storm that rolled through and took everything off the trees.

[Philly Steve]

I'd vote for booking now rather than waiting.

 

One less line to stand in once aboard? :cool:

[Malt Scotchman]

GR is not a large ship at all. Besides you have to do a road trip to see the colors and the weather has to cooperate. Too windy or rainy and they all drop to the ground early. Too cold the same thing. We missed peak color on our last GR sailing by no more than 3-4 days due to a bad storm that rolled through and took everything off the trees.

 

Sounds like we'll have to plan a cruise and hotel excursion. Still sounds like might miss all the colors but it would only be icing on the cake. The New England/Canada cruise well worth it on its own. Thanks Spookwife for the info, very helpful.