Private Tours vs Ship Excusions ??

[katz]

What is your opinion of one verses the other. We are aware of the pluses and ninuses of each one. We feel safer booking through the ship, but the private tours sound so much better. Our biggest concerns would be missing the ship and arranging for a private guide and them not showing up .

 

When you make arrangements, over the internet, do you pay the private companies then? Can you cancel ship excusions once you have made them or are you locked in? How do the prices of each compare?

 

Thanks for your help!!

[lougee1043]

What is your opinion of one verses the other. We are aware of the pluses and ninuses of each one. We feel safer booking through the ship, but the private tours sound so much better. Our biggest concerns would be missing the ship and arranging for a private guide and them not showing up .

When you make arrangements, over the internet, do you pay the private companies then? Can you cancel ship excusions once you have made them or are you locked in? How do the prices of each compare?

Thanks for your help!!

 

i try to book privately --they are cheaper and usually less crowded -- i will never book with a private company without reading positive references on these boards --if you book private you must allow for the unexpected like a flat tire etc to be fixed or sustitute transport arranged and still have time to return to the ship as they will not wait for you-

if your ship is in port from 9 to 5 and your private tour is from 10 to 2 i would have no qualms about booking

 

most companies will allow you to pay when you show up --others may want you to pay up front just like the cruiseline when you book on line--you should check on their cancel policy ----i think you can cancel ship excursions within a certain timeframe--------

 

private tours are cheaper as they are not getting marked up for a profit by the cruise lline

[michmike]

and with private tours you avoid the whiny kids and the stragglers who always hold things up.. and get the flexibility to stop where you want for pics etc. Do use some common sense. We generally try to do the excursion early in the day and then return to port for shopping or a late lunch so that we aren't sweating the return to the ship. If you are going to go quite a distance from the port or on an excursion that will take most of the day then you may be better off w/ the cruise line tours.. but trust me, once you've gotten used to going on your own, you'll chafe under the regimentation of the cruise line excursions.

[Genessa]

we sometimes use private excursions - generally when we can reserve without putting any money down.

 

we try not to do private excursions in ports where English isn't spoken - only because we only know a few words of any other language and this keeps our stress level down - we're on vacation ;).

[kimanjo]

We have used private excursions in ports where we know the language and/or we felt there would be alternative transportation to get us back to the ship in case of a flat tire, breakdown, etc. We have saved a great deal of money and time, as well as seeing far more than possible with a larger crowd.

 

When we cruised Asia there was a shore excursion into Ho Chi Minh city that went up the Mekong river via hydrofoil, that one we booked through the ship. We could never have replicated that excursion on our own, as the hydrofoil came right up to the (anchored) ship.

 

That excursion left at 8 am and was supposed to return to the ship at 6 pm, the ship was scheduled to depart at 7 pm.

 

Well, the hydrofoil didn't return to the ship until 10 PM (the river traffic was very heavy) and the ship departed 4 hours later than scheduled!

[scotts8826]

I booked my own shore excursions in Key West and Grand Cayman. I second the suggestion to read the "Ports of Call" boards for recommendations on private groups. Both of mine when fine and I would continue the recommendations.

 

Besides paying more for ship tours you will also be in a larger crowd. When I was at Stingray City in Grand Cayman, a double decker boat with at least 150 people was just pulling away. I'm assuning it was a cruise ship tour. I've also seen multi-bus tours pull onto the pier after a tour. It had to have been crowded at any stop they made. So, the private tours will generally be less crowded. Just be sure to give yourself plenty of time to return to the ship and be ready to be in the first tender party if the ships tenders instead of docking.

[katz]

for your great advice. We have decided to try to book private tours in the ports where we don't have to travel far and use the ship's excursions for places like Rome.

 

I really, really appreciate your help!!