Experience with Celebrity Small Group Tours?

[Iamthesea]

We normally join others on our Roll Call for private small group tours - 6-8 persons, but our RC for an upcoming cruise is not very active.  I have been looking at a tour sponsored by Celebrity for the port city of Montenegro.  Having been there before, and seeing the winding roads, I think DH and I would be more comfortable doing a tour through Celebrity this time. However, we do not want to be on a large packed bus.  We want to explore more of the villages along the mountain sides.  Celebrity is offering a small group tour.   Does anyone on here have experience with either a small group tour in Montenegro, or any small group tour that is offered through Celebrity?  How many passengers does Celebrity consider small?

Edited January 26, 2019 by Iamthesea

[PSU]

We were on a small group tour on the Amalfi Coast. We really enjoyed it and there were 12 people on the mini=bus. 

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, PSU said:

We were on a small group tour on the Amalfi Coast. We really enjoyed it and there were 12 people on the mini=bus. 

 

How did prices compare to a non-Celebrity group tour?

 

[scrapcreator]

I booked a small group tour through Montenegro M Tours and I would highly recommend this company based on our experience. Mladen is the owner and Veljko was our driver and tour guide. Four others from our Roll Call ended up joining us. 

 

We we toured Perast, Budva, and Kotor. We were the first taxi boat to visit Our Lady of the Rocks that morning. 

 

There are other tours tours listed on the website.  

Edited January 26, 2019 by scrapcreator
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[PSU]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

How did prices compare to a non-Celebrity group tour?

 

 

We try to do Celebrity small group tours if we aren’t doing private tours. It depends on what country you are touring. From what I remember, the one in Italy was $140 a person on Celebrity, but the private tours were in Euros and were at least $90 Euros per person. In Spain, the private tours were cheaper, especially with Spain Day Tours. Sometimes I don’t want to bother organizing a private tour, but if we do use Celebrity, it is a small group tour or just transportation to a city like to Seville on your own.

[Jim_Iain]

3 minutes ago, PSU said:

 

We try to do Celebrity small group tours if we aren’t doing private tours. It depends on what country you are touring. From what I remember, the one in Italy was $140 a person on Celebrity, but the private tours were in Euros and were at least $90 Euros per person. In Spain, the private tours were cheaper, especially with Spain Day Tours. Sometimes I don’t want to bother organizing a private tour, but if we do use Celebrity, it is a small group tour or just transportation to a city like to Seville on your own.

 

Thanks for the information.   The prices you quote are about what I was expecting / seeing.   I've booked a number of private tours through Tours by Locals for just the 2 of us at about the same price as the Celebrity Small Group tours.   

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Thanks for the information.   The prices you quote are about what I was expecting / seeing.   I've booked a number of private tours through Tours by Locals for just the 2 of us at about the same price as the Celebrity Small Group tours.   

 

That's a good price for a private tour for 2.  I always try to arrange Roll Call tours for 6-8 which brings the price down to the cruise line big-bus tour but with a tailored experience.  The prices I have seen for private tours arranged by ship concierges are even higher than third-party private tours.

[Iamthesea]

17 hours ago, PSU said:

We were on a small group tour on the Amalfi Coast. We really enjoyed it and there were 12 people on the mini=bus. 

 

Thank you.  That's what I needed to know...perfect!  

 

We are not really concerned about the cost this time as we have some OBC to use online.  I had not thought about the fact that the online tours are in USD.  That's a plus!  And I agree with you that sometimes it's easier when not having to plan a private excursion.  I am trying to get one planned for Zadar and sharing with the RC.

 

Safety, small group, and being somewhat in the hands of Celebrity is priority for us on such a long tour - 7 hours.  My DH will be on his first big trip after open heart surgery.  

[PSU]

19 hours ago, Iamthesea said:

We normally join others on our Roll Call for private small group tours - 6-8 persons, but our RC for an upcoming cruise is not very active.  I have been looking at a tour sponsored by Celebrity for the port city of Montenegro.  Having been there before, and seeing the winding roads, I think DH and I would be more comfortable doing a tour through Celebrity this time. However, we do not want to be on a large packed bus.  We want to explore more of the villages along the mountain sides.  Celebrity is offering a small group tour.   Does anyone on here have experience with either a small group tour in Montenegro, or any small group tour that is offered through Celebrity?  How many passengers does Celebrity consider small?

I just checked for our upcoming Adriatic cruise from Venice and the small group tour says it could be a maximum of 20. I guess it depends on the sailing and country. Although We have taken a few Celebrity small group tours and there were never 20 people. Hopefully in your case there will be 12 or 14. 

[Iamthesea]

I missed seeing that on the tour page I was looking at, but 20 is still not too bad.  

[SteveGT3]

We have almost exclusively switched over to using independent tour providers rather than anything the ship offers, including small group tours. The independents are always priced lower than any ship-sponsored tours, and our "groups" have always been only my wife and me paired up with our tour guide and a driver,  if the tour guide did not drive. On the past 2 cruises (Equinox & Azamara Journey), we had a private tour in Barbados and 3 different tour providers in the 3 ports we visited in Cuba. All were outstanding. If you do not mind hunting online, the Port boards on CruiseCritic and searching on TripAdvisor will both give you names of many good tour providers.

[Iamthesea]

Yes, as I mentioned in my original post, we also prefer independent or private tours with a few others.  For Montenegro, we would prefer to take a small ships tour.   On the same cruise we will book one other small group tour sponsored by Celebrity.  The rest of the ports will be done either independently or with another couple or two from the RC...should we get a group together.