Excursions

[gregrob]

Should you book your excursions with RCL or should you do it with another company to save money?

[critterchick]

It depends (yes, I'm a lawyer:rolleyes: ).

 

We do a mix of ship's tours and booking our own. Sometimes you can only book a particular tour through the ship - a semi-submersible in Sitka (save your money), the America's Cup Regatta in St. Maarten & the culinary tour in Cozumel are three examples.

 

In many, many instances, however, you can not only save money but, MORE IMPORTANTLY, IMHO, get a much more detailed and informative tour with an EXPERIENCED, KNOWLEDGEABLE tour company. Example: Denrus and Red October are two companies that give (reportedly) fabulous tours of St. Petersburg for less money than offered by the cruiselines.

 

You want to be absolutely certain, however, that you're dealing with a company with a good reputation that's been around for awhile. Otherwise, that $15pp you are "saving" could turn into an expensive venture if you're late getting back to port or have an accident because of poorly maintained equipment.

 

I go to the Ports of Call and find out what Cruise Critics are saying, then I ask my CC friends that I've met on the board or on cruises what they do/recommend, then I decide what to do. The less time we have in port, the more likely I am to book through the ship if I'm in an unfamiliar area.

 

Your research should include finding out the operator's cancellation policy in case you miss or are late getting to your port, or what weather conditions will cause them to cancel (I'm thinking in particular of the flightseeing tours in Alaska).

 

You can also plan your own excursions pretty easily - if you're going to Europe, get a Rick Steves and an Eyewitness guidebood for the countries you're visiting and put together your own excursion. In the Caribbean, use the Fodor's Ports of Call guides. In San Francisco, you can walk from the cruise ship berths to Pier 39, hop the ferry to Alcatraz & do your own walking tour with the headsets provided (and you can buy your tickets online in advance to ensure the time you want). All kinds of possibilities!

 

If you don't see anything about a particular excursion, don't hesitate to start a new thread!

 

Happy hunting!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Well said, Critterchick!:D

 

We also mix it up. I generally have followed a few simple sets of rules that I have learned from my CC friends.

 

I book through the ship IF:

1. The tour will be long. Remember that the ship will wait for you if something unexpected happens & you are late returning. It happened to us once & the ship waited.

2. The tour will be a long distance from the ship.

3. The tour is not offerered by a reputable, well recommended independent operator.

 

I book independently or go on my own IF:

1. The tour operator has been heavily recommended by my friends here at CC.

2. The tour or the place I want to go is a reasonable distance from the ship & I know that I can quickly find alternative transportation back to the ship if needed.

3. I will have plenty of time to get back to the ship without stress. I usually like to get back to the port area 1 - 2 hours before the "all aboard" and then do some shopping in view of the ship if I'm not ready to get right back on.

 

On our Western Caribbean cruise we did 2 independent tours and 2 through the ship. On our Eastern Caribbean we did all independent. I just booked one through the ship for Ensenada. It just depends on your ports and what you want to do.

 

Have fun deciding what to do. Just remember it is your vacation. Don't put yourself in a situation where you will be constantly stressed worrying about the time factor.:)

[cb at sea]

If this is your 1st cruise, I'd say, go with the ship's excursions. It's easier and less stressful, since you know the ship will be responsible for you. If you've "been there, done that", then you'll know how things work, what the travel is like, etc... and you can do this on your own.

We're at the point now, where we seldom do excursions at all! We just wander about, go to the beach, shop, etc.... or, better yet, stay on that huge ship we've paid for and enjoy it without 80% of the other passengers! It's great!

[wrp96]

I'll third what Critterchick and Sunny AZ Girl said.

 

There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

 

Advantages to cruise line excursions:

-They'll wait for you if you are late back. This has been important to me on 3 different occasions, twice the ship has been held for an excursion I was on, once we got back on time but it was iffy on whether we would. In fact, the last time it happened I was in Costa Rica on an extremely long excursion. At 6:00, the time we were supposed to be back on the ship, we were still at least an hour away from port (the next port was 2 days later). Everyone around me was panicking, but I was fine with it. I knew the ship would wait for us - because it happened to me before.

-In tender ports, you have priority over non-cruiseline booked excursions.

-Some excursions can only be done through the cruiselines - for example, in the Panama Canal, you can only get off the ship if you are on a cruiseline excursion.

 

Disadvantages:

-Ships excursions are usually more expensive than independent excursions. (note I said usually - see I did learn something in law school Jean;) - so make sure to do your research)

-Ships excursions are usually more crowded than independent excursions (note I said usually - again do your research).

 

Advantages to independent excursions:

-You have a lot more leeway with independent excursions. Some independent guides will tailor the excursion to fit your needs and wants.

-They are usually less crowded. In St. Lucia we did a guided tour in an air conditioned van with a private guide - there were only 4 of us in the van. The cruiseline excursions that we saw were packed with people. Same thing the next day in Barbados. We did a catamaran excursion with only 10 of us onboard. The cruiseline catamarans had a good 40 to 50 people.

-They are usually less expensive. The tour we did in St. Lucia was half the price of the cruiseline excursion.

 

Disadvantages to independent excursions:

- The ship won't wait if you are late. There was a recent post on the first time cruisers board about somebody mad at RCCL because they hadn't waited for them in Naples, Italy. They went off on their own and didn't bother to find out that it was a holiday in Naples and the roads would be packed so missed the ship because they didn't allow enough time to get back. There have also been similiar posts on NCL (honeymoon cruisers who didn't pay attention to the fact that the port time was different than the ship time) and other lines.

- They aren't always the least expensive so do your research. Our Barbados excursion was more expensive than similiar excursions through the cruiseline, but it was well worth it to us to have only 10 people onboard instead of 50. If price is the most important factor though, it pays to do your research and compare. Don't assume one is cheaper than the other.

-They aren't always less crowded than cruiseline excursions. Again do your research. Not all independent excursions are created equal. In Aruba I went on a cruiseline snorkel excursion where we had 18 people on the boat. We saw two separate independent excursion boats, that had at least double that amount. However, a few days later in Grand Cayman, the cruiseline boats had 50 people on them on the independent excursions had maybe 15 or 20 max. Look on places like the ports of call boards here to see what people are saying about the different independent operators.