Do you always do cruise ship excursions?

[rpickle]

My husband and I are taking a cruise hopefully next week (Escape- Western Caribbean) and I was told of this amazing place called Bacalar! It sounds beautiful, but I am a little weary on booking something that is not offered with the cruise line. Has anyone booked outside of the cruise line or are we better booking with Norwegian?

[ColinIllinois]

Many people book excursions outside of NCL, usually because they are cheaper. Check out the Caribbean ports of call forums and you will see many different options for the ports on your itinerary.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=587

[roger001]

If and excursion is going to take us a considerable distance from the port, we stick with NCL tours. If the tour is going to leave us stranded close enough to get other transportation back to the ship before it sails, the private is fine with us. But...just our comfort level opinion.

[brookie848]

The only place we've ever booked a ship excursion is Tortola simply because of the abbreviated time in port.

 

Do your research and decide what you are comfortable with. We have shore excursion credits for our upcoming cruises and we probably won't use any of them. Even with the credits, it is cheaper for us to do things on our own. Plus, we get to control our times and what we do.

[2ManyCruises]

I cannot remember the last time we took a ship excursion. Private is usually less crowds and less cost. As brookie848 said there are many places you can explore on your own either by walking, taxi, uber etc.

If we're in St. Thomas we take an open air taxi to the ferry doc then take the ferry over to St. John. Really easy to do excursion on your own.

 

But as mentioned above if the excursion involves considerable time and distance we would likely use a ship excursion.

Edited September 8, 2017 by 2ManyCruises

[purpletequila]

The only place we've ever booked a ship excursion is Tortola simply because of the abbreviated time in port.

 

Do your research and decide what you are comfortable with. We have shore excursion credits for our upcoming cruises and we probably won't use any of them. Even with the credits, it is cheaper for us to do things on our own. Plus, we get to control our times and what we do.

 

Same. Tortola was way too brief of a stop to risk it. But other than that, I get better deals with a better experience booking through an island based company. For example, cave tubing in Belize. It was cheaper and where the ship excursion had a solid 100+ people, my group had 6.

[shof515]

It depends on the excursion. Some tour providers only allow you book directly with the cruise line and do not accept booking.

[BayGirl22]

Almost never. But I do the research to see what the price is through the cruise vs. direct with the company. There are occasionally some that we can only do through the ship (small boat excursion through the glaciers docks on/off the Jewel) or is sold out through other paths (the specific bear watching float plane trip I wanted) so in those cases I book through the cruise. For our upcoming POA cruise I have the $50/day excursion credit and I could not find one trip worth using it for, even with 6 port days. There are 4 of us and the cost difference for NCL is always greater than $50.

 

On my first cruise 10 years ago I let my mom do the planning and we just booked excursions through the cruise line, zero research. Spent way too much time on buses and had no chance to wander around. We also spend way more than was necessary. That was not how I want to see a city, so now I'm a planner.

[sanger727]

We book many excursions independently or DIY. What's important is the travel time and logistics. What and where is bacalar and how do you plan on getting there?

 

 

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[Ginger Princess]

My husband and I went to the Seven Color Lagoon at the Costa Maya stop if that's what you're referring to. We did an excursion through Native Choice, and it was wonderful. They got us back to the ship in plenty of time. I've got a review of the excursion if you search my past posts.

[roger001]

If this is a Costa Maya port stop, search Maya Chan on Trip Advisor. It would be much closer with more time available. However...they limit the number of guests each day and this close to the cruise probably booked up already.

[FredZiffle]

We took our first cruise 30 years ago. There was no internet and no real options outside of ship excursions. Now, with sites like TripAdvisor and CruiseCritic, we always either take a private tour or go out on our own. I can't imagine paying those inflated prices to take an excursion offered by NCL. Most of the time, it's the same tour you could get much cheaper by booking it on your own. You don't think NCL actually has their own tour guides and buses located at every port, do you? They just contract with local tour companies and tack on their middleman's fee.

 

After you've taken a few cruises and feel more comfortable, you may find, like we did, that it's just as easy to rent a car or take public transportation to see some sights. A lot of these so-called tours are nothing more than transportation to a location. We started asking ourselves why we were paying $125 pp for a bus trip when we could rent a car for a fraction of that and have total control over our itinerary.

[zqvol]

My husband and I are taking a cruise hopefully next week (Escape- Western Caribbean) and I was told of this amazing place called Bacalar! It sounds beautiful, but I am a little weary on booking something that is not offered with the cruise line. Has anyone booked outside of the cruise line or are we better booking with Norwegian?

 

The travel time to Bacalar is so great that all you will do is ride ferries and the bus to get there and back. I would not even consider going there on an excursion unless it was through the ship.

[FranknBeans]

My husband and I are taking a cruise hopefully next week (Escape- Western Caribbean) and I was told of this amazing place called Bacalar! It sounds beautiful, but I am a little weary on booking something that is not offered with the cruise line. Has anyone booked outside of the cruise line or are we better booking with Norwegian?

 

 

NEVER far too expensive. If you do your homework there are lots of very reputable shore excursion companies in the ports. These guys cannot afford to ruin there reputation.

 

We had one incident years ago where our large 50 pax + bus blew at tire. We had another bus within a half hour and other buses large and small were stopping to make sure all was good and some handed out water.

[rpickle]

Thank you everyone! With this being our first cruise I am a little nervous and not sure what to expect. (Which I hate, I prefer being organized and having things planned). I just found out about CC at the beginning of this week and I very sad because we have had this cruise planned for almost a year, I am sad we are going to pay more than what we could have, but a week out, cancelling our NCL reservations seems a bit of a gamble! Hopefully my husband and I love cruising and next time we will get our act together sooner and can go off the beaten path!

[cb at sea]

We almost NEVER do anything thru the ship....unless multiple modes of transport are needed, or it's VERY far away. Otherwise, we research what and how to have fun, and just do things on our own!

[sanger727]

Thank you everyone! With this being our first cruise I am a little nervous and not sure what to expect. (Which I hate, I prefer being organized and having things planned). I just found out about CC at the beginning of this week and I very sad because we have had this cruise planned for almost a year, I am sad we are going to pay more than what we could have, but a week out, cancelling our NCL reservations seems a bit of a gamble! Hopefully my husband and I love cruising and next time we will get our act together sooner and can go off the beaten path!

 

 

 

Good plan. Yes, you can find better and cheaper activities on your own but we do prefer to plan those out ahead of time. With a week to go it may be better to stick with your current plans.

 

 

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[FranknBeans]

Thank you everyone! With this being our first cruise I am a little nervous and not sure what to expect. (Which I hate, I prefer being organized and having things planned). I just found out about CC at the beginning of this week and I very sad because we have had this cruise planned for almost a year, I am sad we are going to pay more than what we could have, but a week out, cancelling our NCL reservations seems a bit of a gamble! Hopefully my husband and I love cruising and next time we will get our act together sooner and can go off the beaten path!

 

Use CC and Tripadvisor for excursion reviews. Its quite easy and doesn't have to be an intimidating experience. But I get you being nervous first time.

[Victress2007]

Thank you everyone! With this being our first cruise I am a little nervous and not sure what to expect. (Which I hate, I prefer being organized and having things planned). I just found out about CC at the beginning of this week and I very sad because we have had this cruise planned for almost a year, I am sad we are going to pay more than what we could have, but a week out, cancelling our NCL reservations seems a bit of a gamble! Hopefully my husband and I love cruising and next time we will get our act together sooner and can go off the beaten path!

 

You can relax and enjoy your excursions, NCL will do the worrying for you. Once you have this one under your belt you can decide to take a few chances next time (or not). There are plenty of ship excursions I still do and they are not all cattle calls.

Have fun!

 

Vic

[Azure Moon]

We (me, family, friends) don't always book ship excursions.

[EleventyBangBang]

Independent tour operators know that they need to get you back to the cruise ship by a certain time, and if they were to get a reputation for not doing so, they'd be out of business soon.

 

To me, the whole "the ship will wait for you" thing is worth about 10$. So if the price difference just so happens to be that much or less, then I go through the ship.

[ClevelandCruisin]

We always do. Just our preference.

 

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[Skubi]

Thank you everyone! With this being our first cruise I am a little nervous and not sure what to expect. (Which I hate, I prefer being organized and having things planned). I just found out about CC at the beginning of this week and I very sad because we have had this cruise planned for almost a year, I am sad we are going to pay more than what we could have, but a week out, cancelling our NCL reservations seems a bit of a gamble! Hopefully my husband and I love cruising and next time we will get our act together sooner and can go off the beaten path!

 

OP don't feel bad about paying a little more for excursion. Keep in mind that also is an insurance that if there is an issue with your excursion getting back to the ship on time, that NCL wll take care of you. And if it is a tender port, you will have a designated tender to be able to meet up with your excursion on time.

 

Unless we had planned to walk to whatever was close to the port, we have always did ship excursions. This upcoming cruise is the first time that I'm taking a non-ship excursion with a group on my roll call, the person booking it has used this tour company before and has had good luck. And at least if we don't make it back on time, there will be at least 20 others from the ship with me LOL.

 

A lot of the posters that don't take ship excursions probably have a lot of cruises under their belt or have done lots of travelling. I would base your decision on your own experiences. If you do not have a lot of out of country experience, then perhaps its better to stick with ship excursions or go on a roll call excursion for a while, then branch out as you feel comfortable. Remember sometimes you pay for what you get.

[newmexicoNita]

My husband and I are taking a cruise hopefully next week (Escape- Western Caribbean) and I was told of this amazing place called Bacalar! It sounds beautiful, but I am a little weary on booking something that is not offered with the cruise line. Has anyone booked outside of the cruise line or are we better booking with Norwegian?

oh my, we almost always book through private parties or when we get off the ship, but if you are new to cruising it might be better to book through the cruise line. we did our first few cruises. The other time we book though the cruise line is if they excursion is going to present a time problem. Lets say the tour you are looking at is 5 hours long and you will only be in port for about 6 or so. Go with the cruise line, they guarantee you they will get you back to the ship on time. We also might book via the ship if the island is new and not terribly developed like what we are going to witness in Nov on the Pearl.

Now that I read this is your first cruise, yes, go with the NCL tours. You will feel more comfortable and still will have a great time.

Edited September 9, 2017 by newmexicoNita

[johnrich]

Thank you everyone! With this being our first cruise I am a little nervous and not sure what to expect. (Which I hate, I prefer being organized and having things planned). I just found out about CC at the beginning of this week and I very sad because we have had this cruise planned for almost a year, I am sad we are going to pay more than what we could have, but a week out, cancelling our NCL reservations seems a bit of a gamble! Hopefully my husband and I love cruising and next time we will get our act together sooner and can go off the beaten path!

 

 

 

We will be on the Escape with you leaving on 9/16. On our first cruise 15 years ago we did ship excursions but since then I believe we have only done one and that was on RCCL. We were the first ship to dock in Falmouth and were afraid since it was a new port the local tour companies might not have everything down yet. Good thing. Our ship sponsored excursion did not get us back to the ship until almost 25 minutes after all aboard. Luckily because it was a cruise line excursion they had to wait for us.

 

If I were you I would still check around early this week for private excursion. They are so much better and cheaper than NCL ones. I believe (but not sure) you can cancel the ones you have booked as long as it is at least one day before we sail.

 

 

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