Shore Trips?

[CruzinKristin]

Has anyone used ShoreTrips.com for shore excursions rather than buying through the cruise line?   Good? Bad?  Reputable?

 

I'm looking to possibly book through them when I do the Southern route leaving from San Juan.

[paul929207]

Haven't used them, but plenty of private tours with great results.

 

Have you joined the Roll Call for your cruise? There you will often find others planning private tours

[cb at sea]

Also, don't forget that there are plenty of things that don't require ANY excursion at all!  Do a bit of research on your ports and you may be surprised how easy most things are to do on your own!

 

[CruiserBruce]

Shore Trips (and other tour brokers)are discussed on the Ports boards regularly. Pluses...good prices. Minuses...they are a broker. That means they take your money and seek out a low bid local contractor to provide the service. There are several stories on the Ports boards about poor English skills, private transfers that morphed (with multiple stops) into shared transfers, no shows...And frequently you have no way to contact the actual provider when there are issues. Customer service and follow up is sometimes reported and low or non-existent. This issue is why we have dropped using brokers, and like others here on Cruise Critic, only deal directly with vendors.

[sanger727]

I’ve used them. Agree, no better or worse than any of the many third party excursion websites. I prefer to book tours directly with the tour company but sometimes it isn’t possible. 

[SbbquilterUT]

Prefer to book directly with the vendor - read lots on Ports boards and use Trip Advisor to research.

[lenquixote66]

We only book with the cruise line.If a vehicle breaks down the ship will wait .On our first cruise we went off on our own and when we got back to the pier the ship was leaving.

[donaldsc]

1 hour ago, lenquixote66 said:

We only book with the cruise line.If a vehicle breaks down the ship will wait .On our first cruise we went off on our own and when we got back to the pier the ship was leaving.

 

Sounds like you went off by yourself and missed the ship.  The OP was asking about dealing with tour brokers versus the actual tour providers.  That is a completely different issue.  Your answer is relevant but not very relevant to the question the OP posted.

 

DON

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, donaldsc said:

 

Sounds like you went off by yourself and missed the ship.  The OP was asking about dealing with tour brokers versus the actual tour providers.  That is a completely different issue.  Your answer is relevant but not very relevant to the question the OP posted.

 

DON

 

Agree. It sounds like you, lenquixote66,  and you alone, did something that put you at risk of missing the ship. Or are you saying the ship tried to leave early? And by the way, yes, the ship will generally wait for late ship's excursions. But there have been a few reports of limitations to that general statement.

 

As very commonly discussed on the Ports boards, the private tour vendors are very rarely late...their rep would be destroyed,  and their business on very shaky ground.

[donaldsc]

10 hours ago, CruzinKristin said:

Has anyone used ShoreTrips.com for shore excursions rather than buying through the cruise line?   Good? Bad?  Reputable?

 

I'm looking to possibly book through them when I do the Southern route leaving from San Juan.

 

You can usually go on the broker site and figure out who the vendor who is actually doing the tour is.  I then go to the tour company site and book it there.

 

DON

[MicCanberra]

I prefer to deal directly with the company when organising private tours.

[lenquixote66]

There is no guarantee that the ship will wait if you book a private shore excursion.

 

Lenquixote. de la Mancha 

[SPacificbound]

We have done a lot of private excursions, either with others on our roll call or just for us. I look for reputable companies who have very good reviews and a history of good service. We occasionally do a ship's tour but not often.

 

If you go to your  roll call there may be others on your cruise who are already putting excursions together.

[CruzinKristin]

Thank you everyone, for your replies.  I have joined the  Roll Call for the trip.