NCL Shore excursions

[DiamondBill102]

I'm booked on my first NCL cruise.  Have sailed on Carnival multiple times.   How are the shore excursions on the ship?  We sailing to Italy on the Epic.  I'm really looking forward to going to the Vatican while in Rome     Does it pay to book direct with the ship or should I look for private tour operators?   

[poohdreaming]

When is this cruise? I hope it not anytime soon or this year (2020).

But to answer your question - please research shore excursions. NCL shore excursions are usually more expensive.

Some would use NCL shore excursions if they have shore excursions credits or discounts, the other reason is because they are guaranteed that the ship will wait if getting back to the ship late from the shore excursion and a shore excursion that no other tour operators have but only NCL.

[DiamondBill102]

Not until 2021 so we good.   I was looking at a few excursion in Rome and noticed 200.00-300.00.....Carnival doesn’t have any that high.  Was just curious if this was normal.  

[mdsgu]

On 3/10/2020 at 8:16 PM, DiamondBill102 said:

I'm booked on my first NCL cruise.  Have sailed on Carnival multiple times.   How are the shore excursions on the ship?  We sailing to Italy on the Epic.  I'm really looking forward to going to the Vatican while in Rome     Does it pay to book direct with the ship or should I look for private tour operators?   

Definitely independent. Try Best Rome Driver. Top notch service. They will arrange your transportation and skip the line tickets. Look for my NCL Jade review from May 2019. 
 

And, yes, European excursions are certainly more expensive than US or Caribbean excursions. 

Edited March 12, 2020 by mdsgu

[ano]

55 minutes ago, DiamondBill102 said:

Not until 2021 so we good.   I was looking at a few excursion in Rome and noticed 200.00-300.00.....Carnival doesn’t have any that high.  Was just curious if this was normal.  

Excursions have been becoming more of a cash cow for the cruise lines.  In a place like Italy, why not just go with one of the local tour companies? 

[DiamondBill102]

I’m just afraid of missing the ship if I get a company that isn’t reliable.