shore excursions

[hunnypi324]

how do I find out if the tour company are legit  and have guaranteed ship return 

[complawyer]

try and google them, some sights have reviews from prior users. usually, viator is pretty reliable.

 

what we do, however, is hire a taxi as soon as we get off the ship, show the driver the excursion description from the ship, and negotiate a price.

[hunnypi324]

thank you  

[ICutTheCheese]

1 hour ago, complawyer said:

try and google them, some sights have reviews from prior users. usually, viator is pretty reliable.

 

what we do, however, is hire a taxi as soon as we get off the ship, show the driver the excursion description from the ship, and negotiate a price.

 

Yes you can try TO Google them but as a suggestion ShoreExcursioneer is very good and hads a great cancellation/refund policy.

[1025cruise]

If you are asking about independent operators versus cruise excursions, you should post on the ports of call boards.

[BirdTravels]

6 hours ago, hunnypi324 said:

how do I find out if the tour company are legit  and have guaranteed ship return 

None "guarantee" ship return. They will provide you with a pick up time and duration. If they run long and you miss the ship, you're on your own. NCL "should" wait for you if one of their shore excursions is running late. 

[CruiseMH]

On 9/21/2023 at 2:39 AM, BirdTravels said:

None "guarantee" ship return. They will provide you with a pick up time and duration. If they run long and you miss the ship

 

A good and serious excursion operator will cut the tour to bring you back to ship in time.

The good ones even give you a written garantuee and will pay the money if you miss the ship and have to get to the next port.

[hunnypi324]

those are the one I'm trying to find out and get information about if possible 

[European_CruiseGirl]

Google the tour operators. If they have been in the business for a longer period of time you can be sure they will make sure you are back at the port on time. Being late even once would kill their business forever. I would avoid though ”a tour with a local” kind of things where the tour is not operated by a company but by an individual. They could simply change names/platforms/whatever and continue their tours even after some mishaps. 

[Catchum]

Also look for don't port don't pay options. There is never a guarantee you will be in a port on the advertised date and you don't want to be out of pocket.

[Catchum]

On 9/21/2023 at 1:39 AM, BirdTravels said:

None "guarantee" ship return. They will provide you with a pick up time and duration. If they run long and you miss the ship, you're on your own. NCL "should" wait for you if one of their shore excursions is running late. 

I have booked a number of "guaranteed" return to ship independent excursions. If you miss the ship they will get you to the next port. In reality they don't miss the ship.

[ontheweb]

10 minutes ago, Catchum said:

I have booked a number of "guaranteed" return to ship independent excursions. If you miss the ship they will get you to the next port. In reality they don't miss the ship.

They know that with social media ever present, making passengers miss the ship will destroy their business. I even remember having read (probably on the cc forums) stories of independent tour operators helping each other out if one has a problem getting passengers back as they know bad publicity for one tour operator can affect all others when people might read about passengers stranded by an independent tour operator.

[hunnypi324]

1 hour ago, Catchum said:

I have booked a number of "guaranteed" return to ship independent excursions. If you miss the ship they will get you to the next port. In reality they don't miss the ship.

can you please recommend for spain and portugal 

[Catchum]

Only used them in places like Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam etc. Where public transportation is not an option at the port. Spain and Portugal have excellent public transport systems, you don't need a tour operator, exception would be Alhambra which is such a distance I would consider a ships tour.