Excursions: how long to get to place of pick-up?

[BobbiSox]

Is there any way to know how long the drive will be to the place where an excursions begins?  Some of us can't do the two or three hour bus ride into town. I booked a Europe cruise for 2024 so I have time to research, but don't know where to being searching so I thought I'd start here. Thanks for any suggestions. 

Edited May 21, 2023 by BobbiSox
typo

[CruiserBruce]

In our experience, most excursions either meet on board, or on the pier, and start from there. Can't think of any that start elsewhere.

 

So, I think we need a lot more specifics. 2 or 3 hour drive into town? That is usually part of the excursion. There can be a lot of driving on some all day excursions, but that is part of the excursion. Your guide/leader will be giving you information during that time.

 

As to what to do in a given port, beyond what interests you, start here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/8-europe/

[Nang]

Start by looking at HAL excursions which will give you an idea of the most popular things to do in a particular port. You can find HAL offerings by going into your booking on their website.

 

I then search on Google for "cruise ship tours from Naples" and scroll past all the Trip Advisor, Viator results to find those offered by the local tour companies. I narrow my options by cost/interest and then check Google or Trip Advisor or Viator ratings of the providers.

 

Most descriptions of the tours, including those offered by HAL, will advise on the amount of travel time. As CruiserBruce has said, the vast majority of tours commence at the port but it can be a short or very long drive to get to where the tour proper begins.

Edited May 21, 2023 by Nang

[CGinMTL]

Go to your roll call. If you do not feel comfortable booking private excursions, chances are somebody will be doing it and will need to fill a van 

Make sure you get daily notifications as these spots usually go fast 

I always trust that my fellow traveler has done homework, if it is good enough for them, and that is what I wanted to do, I book it.

Rick Steves is also a good resource for Europe 

[SuzWillCruise]

Meeting an excursion usually happens on the ship or near the ship. I think what you really want to know is “how can we avoid excursions with long bus rides?”

 

Identify excursions you think you might want to do, and then read as many reviews as you can find. 
 

I skip over lots of excursions because of long bus rides … busses are very prone to triggering motion sickness for me, and that’s never a fun part of my day.

[cruisemom42]

The Ports of Call boards for Europe in particular have quite a few knowledgeable posters who can quickly tell you about how far most ports are from the places of actual interest -- such as the Acropolis and central Athens being less than 30 minutes from the port in Piraeus, which is quite doable, versus Florence which is easily 90 minutes from Livorno (and even further from La Spezia....)

 

 

[BobbiSox]

Thank you all for your input. I booked a train ride around the island of St. Kitts recently and we were to meet at the pier. We were there ontime and waited, standing, for 45 minutes for the 'late arrivals'. Then we were loaded onto a small bus and traveled for a very long time to get to the train, all the while the driver sang religious songs and preached to us about her beliefs. It was very inapporpriate. We book all excursions andeverything else through HAL, for security purposes. 

[1025cruise]

5 minutes ago, BobbiSox said:

Thank you all for your input. I booked a train ride around the island of St. Kitts recently and we were to meet at the pier. We were there ontime and waited, standing, for 45 minutes for the 'late arrivals'. Then we were loaded onto a small bus and traveled for a very long time to get to the train, all the while the driver sang religious songs and preached to us about her beliefs. It was very inapporpriate. We book all excursions andeverything else through HAL, for security purposes. 

Curious, did you report this to the excursions staff onboard?

[3rdGenCunarder]

19 minutes ago, BobbiSox said:

Thank you all for your input. I booked a train ride around the island of St. Kitts recently and we were to meet at the pier. We were there ontime and waited, standing, for 45 minutes for the 'late arrivals'. Then we were loaded onto a small bus and traveled for a very long time to get to the train, all the while the driver sang religious songs and preached to us about her beliefs. It was very inapporpriate. We book all excursions andeverything else through HAL, for security purposes. 

 

14 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

Curious, did you report this to the excursions staff onboard?

 

It's a good idea to give feedback (good as well as bad) to shorex staff. In the case of the St Kitts train, I don't remember a long ride to or from the train, but it was 6 years ago, so I can't be sure. But waiting 45 minutes for "late arrivals" is unacceptable. Okay, wait a few minutes if some people are missing, but then get going. In my experience, there are very few late arrivals for a HAL tour. Last winter, a tour met at 8:45 for a 9:00 departure. I got there a little before 8:45, and I was the last to arrive! 

 

As for the driver, that's definitely something to address asap. No point in putting that in a review because she is probably not the only driver, so it's sort of unfair to ding the tour because of her. 

 

I read the reviews on HAL's site, but they aren't always recent, especially with the covid break. I couldn't find a way to leave reviews of the tours from my last cruise. I think HAL sends a link, but I didn't get one. I was disappointed because I had an excellent tour in Costa Rica and wanted to review it. I'm glad I went to the shorex desk to tell them how much I like the tour. 

 

[FOPMan]

it is about an hour to an hour and half between the port where the ship docks and Rome proper, and about the same between where the ship docks and Florence.

 

It is a fairly long trip between Southampton and London.

 

In Norway, there are sone excursions that make heavy use of buses, including several all day adventures.

 

It might be helpful if you shared what part of Europe you were planning to visit, and better yet, what ports.

[Cruising-along]

4 hours ago, Nang said:

and scroll past all the Trip Advisor, Viator results

Why?  Just curious.  We've used Viator (and Shore Excursions Group too) in Europe and always with good results.  

[cruisemom42]

8 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

Why?  Just curious.  We've used Viator (and Shore Excursions Group too) in Europe and always with good results.  

 

Why?  You're dealing with a middle-man and not directly with the vendor. I have found that 1) this can complicate communications in the case of changes, e.g., to meeting place or if ship is late, and 2) they take a cut of the money earned and I would rather give my business to the actual provider.

 

[CruiserBruce]

Totally agree with @cruisemom42. There are many negative comments and warnings about them on the ports boards. 

[azalice]

I have found the HAL information about excursions to be straightforward most of the time. So when I checked on their shore excursions for my cruise, it clearly said that one was a 2 hour bus ride, another one was a one hour bus ride, etc, etc. It was clear enough to make my choices more easily.

[Cruising-along]

53 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Why?  You're dealing with a middle-man and not directly with the vendor. I have found that 1) this can complicate communications in the case of changes, e.g., to meeting place or if ship is late, and 2) they take a cut of the money earned and I would rather give my business to the actual provider.

 

 

38 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Totally agree with @cruisemom42. There are many negative comments and warnings about them on the ports boards. 

Thanks.  Interesting about the warnings etc.  I've never had any problem with communications and  have had good experiences with them backing me if there are problems. Unlike when I had a problem with a local provider booked directly with our roll call... no response at all.  I do book locally, but only when I've checked them out thoroughly myself and/or I know and trust the person who recommends them. 

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by Cruising-along

[BobbiSox]

I'm not really loooking for excursion recommenations, at this point. Just wanted to know where to find the travel time to get to actual excursion. Sorry if it isnt clear. Thank you for your replies. I have see HAL posting warnings about the three hour bus ride to Paris, for example. My back injury prevents me from sitting that long. 

[FOPMan]

4 minutes ago, BobbiSox said:

I'm not really loooking for excursion recommenations, at this point. Just wanted to know where to find the travel time to get to actual excursion. Sorry if it isnt clear. Thank you for your replies. I have see HAL posting warnings about the three hour bus ride to Paris, for example. My back injury prevents me from sitting that long. 

 

HAL and most, if not all other cruise lines, usually define the start of an excursion as actual departure from the ship itself or, where the meeting point is onshore (usually within several hundred feet of the the ship or, at most, immediately outside the particular port’s security perimeter, especially for excursions not booked through the cruise line).

 

Ships’ excursions don’t generally start elsewhere.  Now, if you book with a third party (eg, not though the cruise line’s excursion office), they will likely define a meeting point not on the ship or within the port’s security perimeter. 

 

It should be pretty clear in the excursion description where a meet point is, especially if you have some geographical knowledge. For example, a tour of the Ufuzzi museum might start somewhere in Florence, not Livorno. If the per person rate was less than $100, I’d pretty much assume that to be the case.

 

 

 

 

[ChinaShrek]

1 hour ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Why?  You're dealing with a middle-man and not directly with the vendor. I have found that 1) this can complicate communications in the case of changes, e.g., to meeting place or if ship is late, and 2) they take a cut of the money earned and I would rather give my business to the actual provider.

 

Many times these middle-men can give you a much better price than by booking directly. They will buy tours in bulk and pass the savings on to cruisers. I don't care who gets my money. I just want the best deal. 

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, Cruising-along said:

 

Thanks.  Interesting about the warnings etc.  I've never had any problem with communications and  have had good experiences with them backing me if there are problems. Unlike when I had a problem with a local provider booked directly with our roll call... no response at all.  I do book locally, but only when I've checked them out thoroughly myself and/or I know and trust the person who recommends them. 

 

 

Once I booked a tour in Rome with Viator. The tour was canceled as the minimum number of participants wasn't reached. No one ever contacted me to tell me this. It wasn't until I showed up at the tour provider's office that I was told. (Viator was supposed to have emailed me. They didn't.)

 

I've also been placed on tours with more than one language when I've booked with Viator. So every time the guide explained something, she was explaining it in three different languages (and the other language speakers weren't so polite as to refrain from talking while the English explanation was being given....)

 

 

1 hour ago, ChinaShrek said:

Many times these middle-men can give you a much better price than by booking directly. They will buy tours in bulk and pass the savings on to cruisers. I don't care who gets my money. I just want the best deal. 

 

Most of my travel is in Europe, and I value a high quality tour over a cheap one. That said, I have never noticed much difference between the price charged by a particular vendor when booked through Viator or when booked independently. Which is why I said I'd rather book with the individual provider -- they get less when booking through Viator because the price is the same yet the middle man takes their cut.

 

@BobbiSox sorry for the tangential discussion. 

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, ChinaShrek said:

Many times these middle-men can give you a much better price than by booking directly. They will buy tours in bulk and pass the savings on to cruisers. I don't care who gets my money. I just want the best deal. 

But those middle men stand in the way when there is a problem..we had that problem...couldn't reach anyone to fix the problem.

 

And the low bid providers are low bid for a reason...they have difficulty getting work through normal channels. There have been several reports of poor English skills, for example.

[BobbiSox]

Speaking of excursions, I have always booked through HAL for the convenience and security. If the HAL excursions gets back late, the ship will NOT leave. If there is a problem HAL will never desert you. I don't think the other excursions, those purchased throung non-HAL agents, will be given the same courtesy. I don't mind spending the extra money, especially when I'm in a country where I don't speak the language,  I really wouldn't want to be stuck there. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

3 hours ago, azalice said:

I have found the HAL information about excursions to be straightforward most of the time. So when I checked on their shore excursions for my cruise, it clearly said that one was a 2 hour bus ride, another one was a one hour bus ride, etc, etc. It was clear enough to make my choices more easily.

 

The travel time is not always accurate. Read reviews to see if there are comments about transit time. The drive to Lunenburg from Halifax was at least a half hour longer than stated, and no visible reason, like traffic. The drive from Puerto Limon to some rainforest center was supposed to be 45 minutes. It was nearly an hour and a half. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

3 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Why?  You're dealing with a middle-man and not directly with the vendor. I have found that 1) this can complicate communications in the case of changes, e.g., to meeting place or if ship is late, and 2) they take a cut of the money earned and I would rather give my business to the actual provider.

 

 

I prefer to deal directly with vendors, too. I do find some of the middle-man sites useful for reading reviews. But one site in particular has skewed its sorting to show tours that they sell before tours they don't, very annoying. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

37 minutes ago, BobbiSox said:

Speaking of excursions, I have always booked through HAL for the convenience and security. If the HAL excursions gets back late, the ship will NOT leave. If there is a problem HAL will never desert you. I don't think the other excursions, those purchased throung non-HAL agents, will be given the same courtesy. I don't mind spending the extra money, especially when I'm in a country where I don't speak the language,  I really wouldn't want to be stuck there. 

 

Never say never. It has happened if operational concerns mean the ship HAS TO get out of port on time. That said, now that I'm traveling solo, I am more inclined to do a ship tour if the distance from the ship is long or timing is tight, or I don't know the local language. If it's a city I've been to before or it's a private excursion with a roll call group, then I'm willing to go out on my own or take a tour with an outside vendor. 

[kazu]

45 minutes ago, BobbiSox said:

Speaking of excursions, I have always booked through HAL for the convenience and security. If the HAL excursions gets back late, the ship will NOT leave. If there is a problem HAL will never desert you. I don't think the other excursions, those purchased throung non-HAL agents, will be given the same courtesy. I don't mind spending the extra money, especially when I'm in a country where I don't speak the language,  I really wouldn't want to be stuck there. 

 

That is NOT true - it is most times but not always.  
 

If the ship has to leave, it has to leave and we have left people behind on HAL tours while we were back in plenty of time on private tours.

 

That being said if you miss the ship HAL will put you up and get you to the next port just like any private reputable tour operator would do.