How Do I Find Those Private Excursions?

[VampyBuff]

Everyone discusses the great debate of booking through the cruiseline, or "going off on their own" but how do you get ahold of the privately offered tour groups and excurssions? Where do you find out information on them?

[Bonnie J.]

You can ask for the names, etc. of private tours on this board. Then look them up under 'search'. Just say which ports you'll be at and give us type of activity you'd like - snorkling, city tours, 4 wheeling, etc. We have had GREAT tours cave tubing in Belize- same place as ship's tour- we had 9, ship had 30-40, snorkling in St. Thomas, swimming with turtles in Barbadoes, ect. We never do ship's very pricey tours. ($45 vs. $92 for the cave tubing, same difference for most private tours.) Looking forward to your next post here!

[michmike]

A great source of information is the various port of call boards here. Each of them contain lots of info about private tour operators in the various ports. You can also google for "name of the island" tour and you'll get info.

 

We much prefer the more personal attention that you get from private operators. Only caveat is to allow plenty of time for your return to the port as the ship will leave w/o you if you are late, as opposed to ships excursions which they will wait for. We typically do a tour or whatever excursion we are doing, first thing in the morning and then get back to the port town in time for a late lunch and some shopping.

 

If you are going a long way from the port or doing what is essentially an all day trip then you may want to go with the cruiseline, but other than that you will be far happier ventturing out on your own.

 

We travel with another couple so can split the cost of a driver with them, but if you travel just as a couple you can help offset the cost by pairing up with another couple you meet onboard either at your dinner table or as a result of attending a meet and greet. I'd encourage you to sign up for the roll call for your trip as you may very well find folks that can offer suggestions as to private excursions based on previous trips or from research they've done for the current trip.

 

If you tell me which islands you'll be visiting I may be able to offer some suggestions as well.

[VampyBuff]

Well, I'm taking the NCL Spirit on 9/02 to St Thomas, Tortola and Bermuda (only spending a short time in each).I've been to all locations before, but not for years and I don't remember how I'd gone about planning things back then...Fairly certain I'd gone thrugh the ship excursions, but don't want to pay double the price.

If anyone has any good ideas for these locations, I'd greatly appreicate it.

[transplant320]

go to ports of call and click on the ports that you want information for:

st.thomas-st.john,tortola, and bermuda.then ask your questions there.

martin

[bookdoctor]

We were in Bermuda on the NCL Dawn two weeks ago. I am like you I don't usually do the ships tours. This time however we did the West End Taxi Tour. It was really good. The best tour I ever did was a taxi tour of Guateloupe so thought I would try this one. Our driver was Robbie who is a true Bermuda man, he was born and raised there. Everyone I talked to loved this tour with the diffrent drivers. Since it was just a van there were only 6 of us on the trip. We really enjoyed the tour and learned so very much about the island. Hope this helps. Vicki

[Sheffie]

Well, I'm taking the NCL Spirit on 9/02 to St Thomas, Tortola and Bermuda (only spending a short time in each).I've been to all locations before, but not for years and I don't remember how I'd gone about planning things back then...Fairly certain I'd gone thrugh the ship excursions, but don't want to pay double the price.

If anyone has any good ideas for these locations, I'd greatly appreicate it.

 

There is a drop-down box at the bottom of this page called "Forum Jump." If you go there, and then to "Ports of Call" you will find your different ports. That is where I have found all of the information for our independent excursions.

 

There are a few times when you HAVE to use the ship's excursion (America's Cup Regatta in St. Maarten being one example), and times when I would choose to use the ship's company (up the river in Belize - it is quite a distance and I don't believe is travelled by a lot of independent companies). Otherwise, we either go off on our own or use independent companies recommended here on CC.

 

Have fun planning!

[LynneM44]

In the Caribbean, it is easy to find taxi drivers (many) right at the dock. You can bargain with them, tell them where you want to go and how long you want to be out. We have been on about 20 Caribbean cruises and have never booked a tour in advance. We have always found someone right there with no problem.