Advice from those who skip Caribbean excursions

[weltek]

We are taking what is likely to be our last of many Caribbean cruises. With covid, the appeal is wearing off and we have a lot of other vacations we want to spend our money on. For the upcoming cruise, we only have one new stop, in the Dominican Republic, and we are thinking of just doing food/drink/beach days in all the ports. We are not huge beach people...a few hours is adequate, so we will likely opt out of the beach at least one place. I'd like to hear from others that do a lot of Caribbean cruises, but are kind of done with the excursion life and just get off the ship to stretch your legs and have some local food/drink. Do you leave your cruise as satisfied as you used to be when you did more in the ports?  We always had fun on our privately booked tours, doing everything from boat trips, snorkeling, Mayan ruin tours to dune buggys. And we've occasionally spent days here and there walking around on our own. We've just never spent a whole cruise doing that. Heck, I know there are some people who even stay on board the entire cruise and are happy, but that's not our style. 

 

[1025cruise]

I cruise for the relaxation. A week where I don't need to do or decide anything. If I see a port, I do what I want. But a week where I don't need to think about what's for dinner, or anything like that is usually why I cruise.

[nybumpkin]

We've done this several times. The last time we were in Nassau we disembarked, walked around, bought a pair of flip flops for our son (who left his at home), and went back aboard the ship. We had visited twice before and didn't have an excursion in mind.

[mom says]

Meh.  Cruise satisfaction, for us, has to do with whether or not it met our expectations. If I only want to relax and just walk around and get a drink or food in our ports and I do that, then I'm satisfied. Our last Caribbean cruise was a B2B western/eastern where we only got off the ship in 2 of the ports, and then only for a couple of hours. It was lovely. 

[Markanddonna]

The Caribbean sort of melds into the same experience for us since we have been to many islands several times. I would suggest spending your money outside of the Carib. Venture over to Europe!

[rkacruiser]

If it is a Caribbean port that I have not visited, a general island tour is what I am likely to book.  If it is a port that I have visited before, just wandering around with a stop at a nice looking establishment for some refreshments is what I prefer.  During one cruise not so long ago, the purpose of my port visits was to determine which port served the best Rum Punch.  I drank a Rum Punch at every port I visited.  The winner was Castries, St. Lucia at an establishment in their port complex shopping area.  

[Skippy]

On our most recent cruise, we did only 1 excursion and stayed on the ship during the other 2 port stops cause we had been there done that. The purpose of this cruise was to relax and unwind and sure enough we were able to do just that. It was nice being on the ship while it was empty. The excursion we did go on as well worth it. It was the Rio Secreto cave tour in playa del carmen. Super awesome. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

With a VERY few notable exceptions, most Caribbean islands are “one and done.” 

[Hlitner]

My answer to the OP is yes!  LOL.  We have been at this cruise game for nearly 50 years and cruise all over the world.  But we still like to spend a few weeks a year cruising in the Caribbean.  We have been to just about all the islands/ports many times, have our favorite beaches (we are beach people), but these days we are likely to spend a majority of port days on the ship :).  To us it is just a relaxing cruise in usually good weather where our major activity is laying in deck loungers reading our books.  We enjoy the cruises as much now as in years past but simply have different "wants."  By the way, having several hundred Caribbean port days as found us never booking cruise line excursions.  We have a strong dislike of large group tours whether it be in St Thomas, or Shanghai.  

 

Hank
"

[Mary229]

The only time I use an excursion in the Caribbean is if I am going up into the mountains where the roads are notoriously slow and the vehicles notoriously unreliable.  Then I use a cruise ship excursion.  There is usually plenty to do I walking/biking distance or a simple taxi drive away. 

[Laurie S.]

I cruise for the ports and dive at every port.  Wouldn't think of staying on the ship and missing out.

[Joebucks]

Port of calls for us are usually beach, food, and town days. If there's something we absolutely have to see, we will do it. My favorite type of excursion if we do one, is some type of boat / catamaran. There are always tons of operators, and they are often very cheap right in port, vs paying 4x through the cruise. 

 

I've never been part of the whole "one and done" VIP crowd. I've been to my local downtown hundreds of times, and local beaches dozens (which aren't as nice as the Caribbean). I would be quite content visiting a beautiful Caribbean beach 5-10 times in my life. Not to mention most islands have multiple, beautiful spots. Take Nassau for example, we are spoiled because of its accessibility. So the cool thing to do is to poo poo on it. I have many many very fond memories there, yet there is still more I could see.

[Lois R]

Hi,😀 to the OP, the title of your thread is asking for advice but as you can, you are going to get lots of different forms of it........some folks only do xxx, while other folks do yyyy. Others, do a bit of both. Not sure what advice you are actually looking for.  I sail solo and as much as others seem to "hate" cruise line excursions, I have done many over the years......(yes, I said hate). I guess I could have said "dislike very much" but I have had some very good cruise line tours. 

I have been to the Caribbean many, many times and sailing there again in January. I am not sure if I will be getting off the ship as I have been to all the ports before. I enjoy a place in the shade with a book, a drink and lounger........but if it is a place I know, and I feel like just walking around, I may do that too. The Caribbean is not something I need to decide ahead of time.  I know what I don't like to do, I am not a snorkeler and I am not into "heavy hiking".......so I always rule them out. I love a good culinary tour and also enjoy sightseeing/walking tours.  But I must admit, I don't always get off the ship anymore, especially in the Caribbean. 

 

 

[Flatbush Flyer]

4 hours ago, Joebucks said:

Port of calls for us are usually beach, food, and town days. If there's something we absolutely have to see, we will do it. My favorite type of excursion if we do one, is some type of boat / catamaran. There are always tons of operators, and they are often very cheap right in port, vs paying 4x through the cruise. 

 

I've never been part of the whole "one and done" VIP crowd. I've been to my local downtown hundreds of times, and local beaches dozens (which aren't as nice as the Caribbean). I would be quite content visiting a beautiful Caribbean beach 5-10 times in my life. Not to mention most islands have multiple, beautiful spots. Take Nassau for example, we are spoiled because of its accessibility. So the cool thing to do is to poo poo on it. I have many many very fond memories there, yet there is still more I could see.

While I understand your point of “always more to do,” the flip side is that a lot of that Caribbean time could be spent in what you (or I) would find to be far more attractive and interesting places. 
But, of course, where you live can be a major factor in where you “set the bar” for your expectations. For us, most of the Caribbean will remain “one and done.”

[Top_of_the_Cube]

Love the Caribbean!

 

We have only "not gotten off the ship" one time.  Nothing against the port, just needed an extra rest day.  We did enjoy the mostly empty ship.

 

Otherwise, we have been successful at doing something cultural, something adventurous, and something beachy on every cruise.  We use cruise-sponsored and private excursion operators, and sometimes hire a taxi and head out on our own.

 

While I have participated in a few excursions and activities that are "one and done", every port has some things that I haven't tried yet, and things that I have done but want to do again.

[marco]

We're going to be taking the 32nd anniversary of the "Friends and Family Annual WInter Caribbean Cruise" in January..  It's been several years now that a lot of us don't even get off the ship.  The ship is the destination for us and whilst in port, the best time to be on the ship is when most everyone else is off.