Shore Excursions

[Mrdell]

Hello all... just wanted to get a little feedback. We have taken quite a few NCL cruises and always found that their shore excursions to be priced very high so we usually make arrangements on our own. We have now starting to do some Celebrity cruises and their shore excursions seem to be a little more reasonable. Is this just my imagination or has anyone else compared prices and come to the same conclusion? Thanks for your feedback 🙂

[Bruin Steve]

A lot depends on when you book those shorexes...

We usually don't do a lot of shorexes since we prefer smaller group sizes and more control that we get with private tours, but, sometimes we do book a few depending on the situation.  On our most recent back-to-backs (Celebrity Reflection--Baltic/British Isles), for various reasons, we booked a fair number of shorexes...and we booked them EARLY...We also got in on a "20% Off" sale--something Celebrity seems to do often...So we got them all at some fairly low prices...BUT, over time, we noticed that most of the shorex prices went up...and considerably.  By the time of the sailing, most were more than double what we had paid.

 

So, I guess my advice is that, if you like the current prices, book now.  Watch for sales.  Unfortunately, you have to pay in full at the time of the booking.  If they run a sale and the price goes down, what you have to do is to cancel and rebook--so, you get to pay a second time, then get a credit on your credit card for the cancellation.

[jelayne]

I have rarely found a Celebrity  excursion that is competitively price compared to a independent tour.   We only use ships excursions when there is a very tight Port time  and a considerable distance to the destination.  Then we will book a ship tour for the security of knowing the ship will not depart without us.

[srdancer]

We generally  use them in tender ports unless we are just walking around on our own with no tour at all. 

[Fouremco]

2 hours ago, jelayne said:

I have rarely found a Celebrity  excursion that is competitively price compared to a independent tour.   We only use ships excursions when there is a very tight Port time  and a considerable distance to the destination.  Then we will book a ship tour for the security of knowing the ship will not depart without us.

That is our approach as well. We have two more Celebrity cruises booked and, having reviewed their offerings, event with the recent sale, decided to pass due to the pricing.

[Tatka]

4 hours ago, Mrdell said:

Hello all... just wanted to get a little feedback. We have taken quite a few NCL cruises and always found that their shore excursions to be priced very high so we usually make arrangements on our own. We have now starting to do some Celebrity cruises and their shore excursions seem to be a little more reasonable. Is this just my imagination or has anyone else compared prices and come to the same conclusion? Thanks for your feedback 🙂

 

NCL has the most expensive everything that is in "Free at sea" packages.

Alcohol package is $99 (does not include coffee and water!) , because it is offered for "free" to majority, but gratuities on $99 is almost $20

 

Excursions are more expensive because "Free at sea" perk has $50 off per cabin per port, so price needs to be jacked up. 🙂

 

Still cruiselines' excursions are always overpriced, but they sometimes make sense when they are offered for times when it is difficult to organize something on your own or private tour.

[Mrdell]

Thank you all for the very helpful information