Booking shore excursions

[Tntt]

One of the cruise ports that my cruise will be visiting is St. Thomas, I am interesting in booking a shore excursion for Magens Bay through Royal Caribbean. I know it will probably be cheaper to book through a third party vendor, but I have also heard that if you book an excursion outside of Royal caribbean and something happens and you are late getting back to the ship, RC will not wait for you, so it is riskier, I have also heard that if you book through the cruise line and something happens they will either wait for you or make arrangements for you to get back to the ship. We have never booked a shore excursion before so I  am not sure how this works. 

Edited July 4, 2022 by Tntt

[Mum2Mercury]

Third party vendors are superior in every way -- that they're cheaper is just a bonus.  

 

If you go with a private vendor, you'll be told where to meet your ride -- almost certainly just off the docks -- and you'll travel with a smaller group, which gives you more control over your day.  Your guide will care about whether you have a good time and will give you choices:  Does anyone want to stop for a restroom?  Anyone want suggestions for local restaurants?  Does the group want to stop to shop or go straight back to the ship?  

 

Your cruise ship will let you know what time they'll sail.  Determine you'll return two hours ahead of that time and have cash money so you could take a taxi if something goes wrong.  Don't allow your group to break up on shore; be vigilant even with things like going in to the rest room.  Once we "lost" our oldest daughter when she went into a bathroom -- we didn't realize the bathroom had two exits, and she was waiting for us just as we'd told her; none of us realized we were waiting at separate exits. 

 

In your case, you're looking at one of the most simple shore excursions:  Just a beach day.  All you really need is transportation.  You can book with a shore excursion provider, or you can just get a taxi at the docks.  Islands really cater to cruise ship tourists. 

[njkruzer]

You are correct.  What is the excursion?   Is this a beach excursion? If so, all you need is a taxi in each direction.   You control the timing, just remember to leave extra time for traffic.  Also remember to stay on ship time.

[GEORGIEGIRL]

We always use "Sunny Liston' for our tours in St. Thomas. Never missed a ship in 20 years touring with him.

[MrsKMB]

St. Thomas is small and Magen's Bay is pretty close to the dock. You just need transportation there, not a tour, unless you want to visit other beaches. You probably won't need more than a few hours there. Like others said, the ship will tell you when you have to be back, and just allow extra time. I just returned form a Greek Isles cruise and they did leave people behind. 

[nzdisneymom]

When we were new to cruising,  we wanted the extra assurance of booking shore excursions through the cruiseline.  Once we had some cruising experience, we became more comfortable booking 3rd party or going out on our own.  If it were our family, we would spend the money for the ship sponsored tour this time,  but pay attention to details with an eye towards doing our own thing next time.

[LeeW]

Taxi to Magens Bay can be booked in the port - you don't need a tour.  Should be around $10pp in a truck with benches in back.  Small entry fee at the park.  Same thing coming back - taxis will be there.  Come back NLT 2 hours before boarding time, as others suggested.  Traffic last week in downtown Charlotte Amilie was pretty busy.  Have seen it take over an hour to get through there to port and last week was only about 10 minutes.

 

Any excursion provider will get you back to the port - ship won't wait for them unless their tours are also having problems.  Some ports only have one road and an accident ties up everyone.  Port to Magens Bay has multiple routes (west end is much longer though).  Even ship tours can get left behind, although they will try to wait if the port/distance to next port allow it.