Shore excursions

[PrincessLuver]

On 10/7/2019 at 7:23 PM, Hlitner said:

I will try to be very honest (perhaps too honest) when responding the OP's post.  DW and I have been traveling extensively for many decades (on cruises and land) and generally go our own thing.  We only book cruise line excursions when they do something we want to do and that its nearly impossible for us to reasonably do it on our own or perhaps with a small group private tour.

 

Over the years we have helped many folks who wanted advice on doing their own thing...especially in Europe.  We have also spent hours talking with other cruises (while on our cruises) about how to do things on their own.  We eventually learned that there is a segment of the cruise/travel world that are not well suited to doing anything (or very little) on their own.  At one time we tried to convince some of these folks that they could save a lot of money and have more fun by doing their own thing.  But we finally realized that, for whatever reason, some folks just cannot be comfortable on their own.  The OP and spouse sound like they fall into this category.  So, in their situation, we would advise spending the big bucks and sticking to the cruise line excursions.  Perhaps on a future European trip you will feel ready to venture out on your own, but just reading your post makes it sound like now is not the time.   We hope you have a terrific cruise :).

 

Hank

 

I agree too with your recommendations.....we have cruised all over the world on Princess and always do our own thing when we get to port and also have found great tour operators through recommendations on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor.  

 

We have never had a problem and do not buy into the concept "if your excursion does not make it back tot the ship you are screwed."  They always make it back on time and they are use to working with cruise passengers because recommendations drive their businesses.  

 

Also we have found privates excursions to be much more affordable,  fun, comfortable, and extensive then what you can get through Princess.

 

I like your suggestion of them doing excursions through Princess for the OP's peace of mind that they hinted at needing on this trip.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We almost always either DIY or do private excursions.  That said, last December in St. Kitts we got back to the ship literally at the last minute--they were taking up the stairs behind us--from a private excursion.  We loved the tour and our guide, but he was so determined to take us around the entire island that we came within a hairs-breadth of missing the ship.  

 

We arrived exactly 30 min. before sailing, which was the ship's deadline.  At least on Celebrity, believe it that you will not get on the ship if you arrive even a couple of minutes later.

 

We should have pro-actively told the guide we just wanted to go back to the ship at some point, but not knowing the distances well enough, didn't realize just how long it would take from where we were.  Lesson learned, and we were very lucky.

 

Still going on private tours though!

[Thrak]

In Barbados do a Princess tour. Period. Weird port. BUY SOME RUM. Buy some Foursquare rum. Ignore the other brands. Buy a lot of Foursquare rum and send it to me. Trust me...

 

Seriously though, Barbados is not the best port in which to simply wander around. Go to the distillery and buy Foursquare rum. Send it to me. Listen to me... Send it to me...

[tip]

On ‎10‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 2:27 AM, caribill said:

 

"...Do not be scared by the cruise line into only booking ship's excursions...

 

The benefits of a private tour are several:
o A smaller group than a ship's tour which means you will ride in a smaller vehicle.
o A smaller vehicle often means you can be dropped off/picked up closer to sites than the big buses can go.
o A smaller vehicle often means you can go to sites the bigger buses cannot
o A smaller group than a ship's tour which means people get back to the vehicle quicker. Less chance of having to wait for someone who lost track of time. Certainly quicker at a rest room stop to wait for ten people than 30 or more.
o A smaller group means you can often see more sites in the same amount of time that a ship's excursion takes.
o A private tour does not have to spend time at a souvenir stop unless your group wants to. Almost every cruise line's tour involves a shopping experience that could be a waste of time at a shop the tour company gets a kickback from.
o A private tour usually costs significantly less than a cruise company's tour. Sometimes it costs about the same or a little more, but the benefits of the smaller group make it worth it..."

 

 

 

I was going to write a response, but your post sums it up quite nicely.

The OP has chosen to go with the ship sponsored excursions which is her/her right.

As for me, we have been on over thirty cruises and have taken dozens of private excursions and have never had a problem.  We always time our return to the ship to be a minimum of one hour before "all aboard."

 

My advice to others contemplating ship sponsored excursions would be to run and not walk by the shore excursion desk unless of course you want to spend your hard earned money on over priced cattle herds.

 

 

Edited October 13, 2019 by tip

[Ombud]

Normally I do my own thing but Princess does run some small group excursions.  Haven't been to the Caribbean in over a decade but booked 1 in Bali with 7 others so they do happen. Turns out the tour company needed that van for the elephant tour so I wound up with almost 20 others. Great tour but informed the excursion desk that it was misrepresented so they credited me 40% of all tours booked (other 2 had 20 also!)

[mreasier]

Just a couple of points.  First, has anyone actually heard of someone missing the ship while on a private tour booked ahead from a private tour company?  I certainly have not.  Those I have heard about or seen on YouTube all appear to be power shoppers or power drinkers who lost track of time.

 

Second, it is not true that the ship will wait for you if you are on a Princess tour.  They do guarantee to get you back to the ship at no additional cost, but it may be at the next port (or 2 or 3).  On a 49 day cruise around South America on the Grand Princess in 2013, our roll call organized about 90 private tours.  Not a single one of them was late getting back to the ship.  However, a Princess tour to Machu Picchu had transportation delays.  The ship did not wait and the passengers did not catch up with the ship for a port or two.  It did not cost them any $ but they were not happy.  Many private tour companies do offer the same guarantee.  There can be several reasons why a ship cannot wait, even for a ship's tour.  Tides and berth reservations are just a couple of them.

[Daniel A]

On a somewhat related topic.  Can you cancel a Princess excursion that was pre paid through the personalizer and get a full refund?  Can you do this with private tours? 

[Kingofcool1947]

On 10/7/2019 at 6:51 PM, DMT1970 said:

My husband and I will be cruising on the crown Princess 11/7/19.    We are not very adventurous and quite frankly a little afraid of touring on our own in ports.  However the shore excursions seem so pricey.   Does anyone have any suggestions/words of advice about touring outside the cruise line?  I have been advised by other people we know to ONLY book excursions thru the ship.  We will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and are really looking forward to this trip but honestly I am REALLY stressing over these dang shore excursions..  Thanks, Denise

 

You are on vacation.  Minimize activities that will cause you stress,  including booking independent 3rd party shore excursions.  By your own admission, “we are not very adventurous, and quite frankly a little afraid of touring on our own in ports”.   IMO, Bite the bullet,  and spend a little more money for the peace of mind, and only book the Princess  shore excursions.  Stress free.

Enjoy your cruise.   😀

Edited October 13, 2019 by Kingofcool1947

[Daniel A]

6 minutes ago, mreasier said:

 

Second, it is not true that the ship will wait for you if you are on a Princess tour.  They do guarantee to get you back to the ship at no additional cost, but it may be at the next port (or 2 or 3). 

From the Princess Web Page for shore excursions "Guaranteed Return to Ship is our promise that the ship will wait if your tour runs late. " I don't see a guarantee to "get you back to the ship at no additional cost."  If Princess is guaranteeing in writing that the ship will wait and they fail to honor the guarantee that the ship will wait then the PAX should have some recourse from Princess.  Of course, there may be issues beyond the ship's control such as major tide drops or other things but the cruise line will usually only offer excursions that return to the ship well before sailing time. The number of times when the ship absolutely cannot wait and when a Princess tour is late intersect is infinitesimal.

[Tatka]

On 10/7/2019 at 10:23 PM, Hlitner said:

Over the years we have helped many folks who wanted advice on doing their own thing...especially in Europe.  We have also spent hours talking with other cruises (while on our cruises) about how to do things on their own.  We eventually learned that there is a segment of the cruise/travel world that are not well suited to doing anything (or very little) on their own.  At one time we tried to convince some of these folks that they could save a lot of money and have more fun by doing their own thing.  But we finally realized that, for whatever reason, some folks just cannot be comfortable on their own.  The OP and spouse sound like they fall into this category.  So, in their situation, we would advise spending the big bucks and sticking to the cruise line excursions.  Perhaps on a future European trip you will feel ready to venture out on your own, but just reading your post makes it sound like now is not the time.   We hope you have a terrific cruise :).

 

Hank

   Completely agree with you. I find myself doing this from time to time. Lately I don’t do this much as I realize that when I’m trying to convince other cruisers in doing private tours or own things I’m depriving cruise lines from making more $$$. It will hurt their bottom line and in so,e ways will hurt me too. So I can give general advice and where to look when cruiser asks my opinion. If somebody is really asking specific questions and I can provide information I will gladly share it. 

This is as far as I’m willing to go. I agree I don’t want to be responsible for people who cannot manage time. When cruise line says ship will not wait it’s absolutely right.

[Tatka]

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

On a somewhat related topic.  Can you cancel a Princess excursion that was pre paid through the personalizer and get a full refund?  Can you do this with private tours? 

    All private tours we used did not require any payment till the end of the tour. We booked them and they just took our emails , names and date when our ship arrives. My husband is very inflexible with giving his credit card to somebody other than standard travel companies  (I know there are secure ways to do it, but he prefers cash at the end).

[Hlitner]

3 hours ago, Daniel A said:

On a somewhat related topic.  Can you cancel a Princess excursion that was pre paid through the personalizer and get a full refund?  Can you do this with private tours? 

The answer is that it depends on the terms of the particular tour.  Cruise line excursions can generally be cancelled without penalty up until a certain point (can be a few days prior to the tour and sometimes up until the day before).  Private tours are all over the place when it comes to deposits, cancellations, etc.  There are plenty of private tours that do not even require payment until you go on the tour, but these can also have their problems if there are some no-shows among those who sign up.  

 

We have actually taken private tours where the payment is not made until after the tour.  Bottom line is that you should carefully review the terms/conditions before you book.

 

Hank

[Paula_MacFan]

Everyone has already given good advice on using Princess tours vs private.  My only other comment is by waiting until a few weeks prior to your cruise you may find many of the excursions are sold out.  Also by waiting you run the risk of paying more than if you had booked in advance.  When we know there is a tour we want, we book it as soon as it's available.  Most shore excursions, in my experience anyway, are available 6 months or more in advance.  Excursions for our Sept 2020 cruise have been open for months, so about 1.5 years in advance.  And yes, I have booked several already. 

 

We are normally very independent, but on some itineraries it's worth it for peace of mind to use Princess tours.  

 

I also like to do plenty of research on each port and know in advance what we want to do.  We've done some outdoor/off-road/adventure type tours for which we took appropriate clothing and gear.  I can't imagine getting off a ship, wandering around looking for something to do wasting valuable time, then settling for whatever was available.  But that's just me.  

Edited October 13, 2019 by Paula_MacFan

[Mike45LC]

I think the tours I booked through ViaTour have a 24 hour advance cancellation policy.  ViaTour is not a tour operator but is a very good tour booking company, and I has everything been very happy with it.

 

we did pull a “no show” for one of these, with only last minute notice to the tour operator (we didn’t want them waiting for us when we had made other plans), but I expected to forfeit the pre-paid fare.  

 

most of the ViaTour arranged tours were paid by credit card up front, but a couple were cash paid to the guide/driver at the time of the tour.  I don’t know the policy if we were to not show up when we had not paid.

 

take whatever tours you are comfortable with.  Language barriers, other customs, how far off the beaten track you are going, all are factors!!  The bottom line is to enjoy the experiences!

 

[mreasier]

7 hours ago, Daniel A said:

From the Princess Web Page for shore excursions "Guaranteed Return to Ship is our promise that the ship will wait if your tour runs late. " I don't see a guarantee to "get you back to the ship at no additional cost."  If Princess is guaranteeing in writing that the ship will wait and they fail to honor the guarantee that the ship will wait then the PAX should have some recourse from Princess.  Of course, there may be issues beyond the ship's control such as major tide drops or other things but the cruise line will usually only offer excursions that return to the ship well before sailing time. The number of times when the ship absolutely cannot wait and when a Princess tour is late intersect is infinitesimal.

Interesting wording from Princess.  The guarantee is "return to ship".  Waiting is a "promise".  The chance of Princess not waiting and the chance of a private tour being late are both infinitesimal.

[Pierlesscruisers]

22 hours ago, PrincessLuver said:

They always make it back on time and they are use to working with cruise passengers because recommendations drive their businesses.

 

Excursions certainly do not "always make it back on time", even the Princess sponsored ones! Last year we ended up waiting for 2 hours  in Astoria for a bus to get back so the ship could leave! (Yes, it was a Princess sponsored one. Things happen, no matter who sponsors the trip!) Had the same thing happen with 2 bus groups earlier this year on another cruise but luckily these were only about 1/2 hour late. There may have been others that weren't Princess sponsored but you'd never know that unless you knew someone who was on the excursion and couldn't find them after sailing I'd suspect or heard someone talking about it.

 

Tom

[polmcs]

We were on a Princess organized tour in Hilo where the weather was foul and traffic was a mess. We ended up getting back to the ship about 30 mins after it was scheduled to leave for Kona and the ship was still there. I’m guessing that as it was a quick overnight cruise to the other side of the island, that there was no immediate rush to leave port. 

 

A few few years back on a stop in the Dominican Republic (we stayed aboard the ship) the weather was rather inclement (it seems to follow us around 😉 ), so much so, a road washed out, so the Princess tour was hours late in returning. Again the ship waited. Who knows if the ship would have waited for any private tours affected by the landslide, if the Princess tour was not affected.

[Daniel A]

9 hours ago, mreasier said:

Just a couple of points.  First, has anyone actually heard of someone missing the ship while on a private tour booked ahead from a private tour company?  I certainly have not.  Those I have heard about or seen on YouTube all appear to be power shoppers or power drinkers who lost track of time.

 

Second, it is not true that the ship will wait for you if you are on a Princess tour. 

See posts 41 &42.  Now you've heard of tours being late and the ship waiting for the return of the Princess Excursions.  I hope this helps.

[mreasier]

27 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

See posts 41 &42.  Now you've heard of tours being late and the ship waiting for the return of the Princess Excursions.  I hope this helps.

Yes, I am quite aware of Princess waiting for one of their tours being late.  I still have not heard of anyone being left behind because a private tour was late.  

[LMADAMS91]

On 10/8/2019 at 10:17 AM, Loritd said:

We do both ship tours and independent tours. If what we want to do is far from the port or we don't speak the language we do ship tours. In the Caribbean you should be ok using reputable tour companies. 

This is what my husband and I do as well.

If you go outside the cruise line, just be sure to research the company you are considering and where you plan to visit. For the most part, independent tours are smaller and much nicer than the cruise line tours (in our experience, at least.)  The ports you are visiting should be pretty easy to find outside vendors ahead of time.  

We've used Tours by Locals several times and been very happy with the results....again, read the reviews on the site and verify with the guide that what you think you are getting is actually what they plan to do.  

Love those ports....

Have fun!

 

[caribill]

8 hours ago, mreasier said:

Yes, I am quite aware of Princess waiting for one of their tours being late.  I still have not heard of anyone being left behind because a private tour was late.  

 

There are two ways to interpret what you said.

 

(a) Private tours get back in time so there is no need for the ship to wait

 

(b) Private tours are late and the ship waits for them

 

In a few cases the ship may wait a few minutes if they know passengers are not back yet, but Princess has no idea if they are on a late private tour or have lost time in a shopping mall or are in a bar somewhere. So, if it is practical they may wait a few minutes, but not a long time if all the Princess tours have returned.

 

[mreasier]

3 hours ago, caribill said:

 

There are two ways to interpret what you said.

 

(a) Private tours get back in time so there is no need for the ship to wait

 

(b) Private tours are late and the ship waits for them

 

In a few cases the ship may wait a few minutes if they know passengers are not back yet, but Princess has no idea if they are on a late private tour or have lost time in a shopping mall or are in a bar somewhere. So, if it is practical they may wait a few minutes, but not a long time if all the Princess tours have returned.

 

All I was trying to say was that the risk of being left behind if on a private tour is way overstated.  I have not seen a single post here on CC where someone on a private tour reported being left behind.  I have not seen a single YouTube video that said the that the late people were on a private tour.  I have seen plenty where it was clear the people were shopping, drinking or just unaware of time.  I'm not saying it hasn't happened, but I have not heard of it.

 

While we have not cruised as much as many here, we have cruised over 400 days on 36 cruises, stopping at over 150 ports in over 50 countries.  We have done mostly private tours on these cruises, most in small groups of 5 to 15.  No one in any of these tours has ever mentioned even being close to being late.  As others have stated, common sense and precautions should be followed.  On any tour I organize, I make it clear we are to return to the ship 1 hour before all aboard time.  If the tour involves some distance driving, I make sure we go to the furthest point 1st, and then work our way back.  As others have also stated, we only book with reputable companies with liberal cancellation policies and missed port refunds if any up front payments are required.

 

The savings are considerable.  In June of 2018 in Stavanger, Norway, we booked a 3 hour scenic cruise down the Lysefjord thru a local company.  Princess offered almost the exact same tour. Their price was $380 for two. It cost us $125 for two. The Princess tour did include “refreshments”. Unless they were Dom Perignon and beluga caviar, not exactly a good deal.  That is the way they get around their best price guarantee.  You will usually find that the Princess tour is just a little different than those offered by private companies.  Not anywhere near enough to justify the additional cost, just to make it different.

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, mreasier said:

All I was trying to say was that the risk of being left behind if on a private tour is way overstated.  I have not seen a single post here on CC where someone on a private tour reported being left behind.  I have not seen a single YouTube video that said the that the late people were on a private tour.  I have seen plenty where it was clear the people were shopping, drinking or just unaware of time.  I'm not saying it hasn't happened, but I have not heard of it.

 

While we have not cruised as much as many here, we have cruised over 400 days on 36 cruises, stopping at over 150 ports in over 50 countries.  We have done mostly private tours on these cruises, most in small groups of 5 to 15.  No one in any of these tours has ever mentioned even being close to being late.  As others have stated, common sense and precautions should be followed.  On any tour I organize, I make it clear we are to return to the ship 1 hour before all aboard time.  If the tour involves some distance driving, I make sure we go to the furthest point 1st, and then work our way back.  As others have also stated, we only book with reputable companies with liberal cancellation policies and missed port refunds if any up front payments are required.

 

The savings are considerable.  In June of 2018 in Stavanger, Norway, we booked a 3 hour scenic cruise down the Lysefjord thru a local company.  Princess offered almost the exact same tour. Their price was $380 for two. It cost us $125 for two. The Princess tour did include “refreshments”. Unless they were Dom Perignon and beluga caviar, not exactly a good deal.  That is the way they get around their best price guarantee.  You will usually find that the Princess tour is just a little different than those offered by private companies.  Not anywhere near enough to justify the additional cost, just to make it different.

Just to add to this---most if not all of the posts where it is said how grateful the poster was to be on a ship's tour because they were late and the ship waited, mention traffic as the main reason for being late. Well, if the ship is waiting it is not going to turn away those who got back late because they were on private or self tours and also got stuck in traffic. Granted they may spend time worrying that the ship's tour folks do not, but still they do get back on the ship also.

[jsquared]

16 hours ago, mreasier said:

Yes, I am quite aware of Princess waiting for one of their tours being late.  I still have not heard of anyone being left behind because a private tour was late.  

We visited Costa Rica on our first cruise (10-day Panama Canal in late 2003). We were on the ship's rainforest canopy tour. The total tour group consisted of 2 buses and on the drive between the port to tour we ran into an area in which the road was down to a single lane and sat at a full stop waiting for our turn to go for about 45 minutes. The 2nd bus didn't make the first window and had to wait an additional 45 minutes. We arrived back at port about 20 minutes after we were supposed to have sailed. The 2nd bus arrived about 30 minutes later and drove right up to the ship. Passengers were rushed right on board, everything was closed up, and we pushed away fairly quickly. We were fully away from the dock when a car was seen speeding down the pier. Two people jumped out of the backseat and were jumping up and down waving their hands in the air. We did not go back from them. I do not know for sure why they were late but I've always assumed that they had gotten stuck in the same construction zone that we had but had been on their own.

[mreasier]

15 minutes ago, jsquared said:

We visited Costa Rica on our first cruise (10-day Panama Canal in late 2003). We were on the ship's rainforest canopy tour. The total tour group consisted of 2 buses and on the drive between the port to tour we ran into an area in which the road was down to a single lane and sat at a full stop waiting for our turn to go for about 45 minutes. The 2nd bus didn't make the first window and had to wait an additional 45 minutes. We arrived back at port about 20 minutes after we were supposed to have sailed. The 2nd bus arrived about 30 minutes later and drove right up to the ship. Passengers were rushed right on board, everything was closed up, and we pushed away fairly quickly. We were fully away from the dock when a car was seen speeding down the pier. Two people jumped out of the backseat and were jumping up and down waving their hands in the air. We did not go back from them. I do not know for sure why they were late but I've always assumed that they had gotten stuck in the same construction zone that we had but had been on their own.

Yes, could be they were on a private car tour, maybe even booked at the dock.  We avoid these types of "tours".  Or they could have been at a bar and caught ride back to the port or a number of other possibilities.  We book with tour companies who tend to have multiple vehicles and drivers who communicate problems with each other.  They also have a reputation to protect.  Something else everyone should do is bring the Princess Port Guide with them in each port.  It has phone numbers to call in case there are problems.  If the captain knows you are only a few minutes away, he might stay.  If he doesn't have any idea where you are, he will probably leave.