Reducing shore excursions

[azalice]

We have only cruised 3 times with 2 more coming in 2009; I have noticed that I already feel like lessening the amount or at least the length of shore excursions off the ship. Maybe it is my age. I think I would have pushed harder to try to do and see everything when I was younger. Now I find myself looking for 3-4 hour excursions instead of 7-8 hours, or even skipping a port if I feel a short walk from the ship would be enough rather than traveling further afield. I am in good shape (well, I really would not hike or walk all day due to mild back problems) at age 67 and love seeing the scenery, and learning the history and culture of other places. Anyone else going through the same reactions?

[LHT28]

I agree

As I get older I find I do not need to "see it all"

Some ports we do a full day tour & some I can only handle 4 hrs

Now we plan what is most important to us to see & the other ports we just wander at our own pace.

It is what ever works best for you...it suppose to be relaxing!!:D

[cb at sea]

I look at it this way---I PAID for the use of the ship....why spend an entire day away from it?

I guess I really don't care about the "culture" or architecture or history of the ports....I vacation for the beaches and pools....

If there was someplace I REALLY wanted to "experience", I'd do a land vacation and actually spend time there....

[azalice]

I, too, think land vacations are the way to learn, see and experience the most. DH and I have loved our Elderhostel experiences. But I have also begun to not like as much of the constant activity and getting on the bus routine early in the mornings that we have experienced. I think I am just getting lazier in the mornings than ever before. We have a cruise coming up where we don't reach some ports until 10a.m. or later. Wow. Now that sounds relaxing to me - not having to rush through breakfast to get somewhere.

 

Alice

[Georgiagolfer]

We have only cruised 3 times with 2 more coming in 2009; I have noticed that I already feel like lessening the amount or at least the length of shore excursions off the ship. Maybe it is my age. I think I would have pushed harder to try to do and see everything when I was younger. Now I find myself looking for 3-4 hour excursions instead of 7-8 hours, or even skipping a port if I feel a short walk from the ship would be enough rather than traveling further afield. I am in good shape (well, I really would not hike or walk all day due to mild back problems) at age 67 and love seeing the scenery, and learning the history and culture of other places. Anyone else going through the same reactions?

 

In some ports we've been to more than twice, we don't weven get off the ship. We have realized we can have any chair we want by the pool or in the shade on these days. The buffet is very quiet and less crowded also.

[Texaswinediva]

An arrival time of 10:00 A.M. is perfect for me. A 4 or 5 hour excursion

is plenty. That way more time to enjoy the ship and pool area.:)

[lady_cruiser]

I turned 60 on my last cruise and I am now just as happy to get off the ship in any port, walk around for 20 or 30 minutes (to keep my land legs moving) and then going back to the ship and enjoying having the ship almost to myself.

 

Maybe we can start a Cruising Seniors Club and when a ship is in port we make everyone under 55 get off the ship and then have it all to ourselves. That would be so wonderful.

[jocap]

Unless we're in the Caribbean, where DH will snorkel all day, we normally let everyone get ashore, then wander through the local town, enjoying the different way of life; stop and sample the local brew and lunches, then sit by the harbour for a while. Recently we were in Civitaveccia- the gateway to Rome....gateway my foot! It's 50 miles away, and people were up at 5am to prepare for the crazily long day, whilst we were sitting in the sun having red wine at 1/4 of ship's price. We're at the Red Sea next winter, and whilst we might take the trip to Petra, I think it'll be the snorkelling.....jocap.

[Straughn]

For me a cruise vacation is a time to relax, not see how much I can cram into 6 or 8 hours of port time. I live for the sea days. I don't enjoy being stuffed into a small bus or van with a bunch of people I don't know well, listening to a tour guide with fractured English tell us about the local culture. On port days, I either have breakfast in my cabin or wait until the buffet has cleared out a bit after folks go ashore. I wander off the ship at my leisure with no lines snaking thru stairwells and no listening to other passengers worry and whine that they are going to miss their tour. I may, or may not, have lunch in port. I return to the ship where I take advantage of port specials in the spa, an uncrowded workout room, and plenty of empty chairs by the pool.

 

As others have said, there are a few ports that I have been to so often, I don't even bother to get off the ship.

 

This has nothing to do with my age. DH and I were this way when we were in our 40's.

[MMDown Under]

Whilst we no longer have to "see it all", we do spend a full day in port, at our own pace.

 

We choose cruises that have longer times in port, so we can have an enjoyable full day visit.

 

We also choose cruises that have a number of sea days, so we have time to recover from the above. :)

 

We love when the ship is in port into the night, as some places/cultures only become alive at night.

 

Short times in port are deal breakers for us, as we won't be visiting those overseas ports again.

 

Although we're tempted, we don't do long bus trips (eg Cassablanca for a relaxing day, versus long exhausting bus trip to Marrakesh).

 

We always enhance our cruises by adding land content to both ends.

[azalice]

I just booked our shore excursions for a July/August cruise. I did book us for one full day tour (private with cruise critic members) but otherwise stuck to tours of about 4 hours. It is still probably too much touring but (as many will probably feel) we may not get to that part of the world again - Norway, Iceland. I did skip any excursions in Akureyri, Iceland because we are touring all day out of Reykjavik. Not sure if we will miss much in terms of scenery by skipping one day but we will likely walk into town and take it easy. Anyone been to that part of the world and have an opinion about touring outside of Akureyri?

 

Alice

[D & D]

We generally choose half day excursions unless the place is really exceptional, like Rome. We haven't seen enough of the world to sit out on ports yet. We did that in one port in Turkey and by the positive remarks from those who did go, we missed a great opportunity to see a unique area. We regret staying on board that day. However, we'll just walk around the town by ourselves if we don't see an excursion that appeals to us.

[luvscruising2007]

In the Caribbean we have not booked excursions and just walked around for a little while, spent some money and went back to the ship. On our next cruise we will be leaving from England on a transatlantic and we have booked 2 all day tours. The rest of the ports, only 3, we haven't decided what to do. We may never get back to that part of the world, so I want to do something, just don't know what.

[Jeff in Torrance]

In ten cruises we've only been on one "excursion." That happened to be in Costa Rica; and, was quite worth the time and expense. Otherwise, we do our own thing in every port. We tend to just walk into the town, maybe doing some local thing (museums, art exhibits, hike to the top of the hill, check out the local brewery). We enjoy cruising at the lowest price that we can............kind of an internal competition, so that spending a lot of $$$ just to be jammed onto a bus along with a bunch of lemmings doesn't appeal to us. We often run into the "excursion people" during our walks, except that we've walked there and then back to the ship. Usually, the food is much better on the ship, so we don't eat many meals ashore.

[jayscore]

I, for one, enjoy taking private tours to see the sights when we leave ship. But, our last 7 day cruise had 4 stops, and that seems to be a bit much for us. So, the next cruise, we're booked for an 8 day with only 3 stops, and I promised the wife one of them would be a beach day only. It should prove to be much more relaxing!;)

[Kinkacruiser]

I prefer the 3-4 hour excursions, the longer ones are quite tiring. I can understand the reasons one would choose to stay onboard, especially when you've been to the same port before.It's a great day by the pool or catching up on washing. Ah...the gentler pace.

Regards,

Anna

[deepnite10]

the yr s have taken their toll on our bodies..:o and there are some activities that we just physically can t handle..

 

no more zip-lines or para sailing for sure..*2 shoulder surgeries*..and even though we do walk our dogs daily..some of those walking tours are just out of the question..

 

now its more just the city tours in a air-conditioned van..:)

 

gettting older does nt mean stop having fun..just mean s you begin to enjoy new adventures to redefine your idea of FUN..:D

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

city tour for 4 hours is ok

[Bette And Bill]

We feel pretty much the same way. If it is a new port to us, we will do the city tour or a hertiage tour and then head back to the ship. We have even left a tour early as we are not much into shopping either. If we have been to the port a time or two, then we may get off the ship for a short walk or stay on board and watch the crew go through their drills. Some of them are quite interesting. We meet a good number of the ships officers during those drills. We are on a cruise to relax and enjoy ourselves.

[Dame Delilah]

Frankly, we have been to most of the ports of call in the past. We are going on a cruise JUST to relax! -- -We paid to be aboard ship and we don't really care if we ever get off!:p

 

We've done cruises with up to 14 sea days in a row and had no problem, in fact we loved it!!:)

 

If there is a really exciting offer for an excursion, we will consider it, --but most times--we've been there, done that! We can always catch a cab and go where we want to go in any port.

 

With over 40 past cruises, we just want to relax and enjoy!;)

[patseacruiser]

Jeff - what excursion did you do in costa rica? asking because in 2 cruises i'll be in costa rica (if the coup is over by then). i too like when everyone gets off the ship and i do find as i'm older that i don't have the endurance for a long excursion - especially in the heat of the caribbean.

[Jeff in Torrance]

Jeff - what excursion did you do in costa rica? asking because in 2 cruises i'll be in costa rica (if the coup is over by then). i too like when everyone gets off the ship and i do find as i'm older that i don't have the endurance for a long excursion - especially in the heat of the caribbean.

 

Sorry for not responding earlier, as I hadn't checked this site for awhile. We were on a Celebrity cruise, which ported in Puntarenas (Pacific side). The excursion was to Arenel volcano, which was 2-1/2 hours each way on the bus. We saw lots of the local countryside getting/returning back to the dock. We were taken to a very fancy resort

http://www.tabacon.com/

that featured a number of different-temperatured streams and pools, all heated by water from the volcanic zone. After about an hour and a half of the waters, we changed back to regular clothes for a very nice lunch at the resort. Then, back on the bus with one "shopping" stop along the way. We never saw the actual volcano due to the low clouds, which we understand frequently prevent its viewing. But, it was a very nice excursion, costing about $96 per person, two and a half years ago.

[Clinker1]

We have almost quit crusing to Europe because of the number of ports. On many cruises, there is a port every day. If we don't get at least as many days at sea as days in port, we don't go..... I suppose that is why we sail the Orient, Africa/India or South America so often....many days at sea. We take taxi's in port and do our own tours.

[pom]

I turned 60 on my last cruise and I am now just as happy to get off the ship in any port, walk around for 20 or 30 minutes (to keep my land legs moving) and then going back to the ship and enjoying having the ship almost to myself.

 

Maybe we can start a Cruising Seniors Club and when a ship is in port we make everyone under 55 get off the ship and then have it all to ourselves. That would be so wonderful.

 

 

wow, I thought that this was a good idea ! hahahaahahahahah :rolleyes:

[Bowie MeMe]

Unless we're in the Caribbean, where DH will snorkel all day, we normally let everyone get ashore, then wander through the local town, enjoying the different way of life; stop and sample the local brew and lunches, then sit by the harbour for a while. Recently we were in Civitaveccia- the gateway to Rome....gateway my foot! It's 50 miles away, and people were up at 5am to prepare for the crazily long day, whilst we were sitting in the sun having red wine at 1/4 of ship's price. We're at the Red Sea next winter, and whilst we might take the trip to Petra, I think it'll be the snorkelling.....jocap.

 

The very best cruising/snorkling has to be the Great Barrier Reef off Australia. We went on a small (30 pass.) ship with a deck off the back for diving and snorkling (Australian Princess Cruises). Rangirora/Tahti also excellent (off the overwater balcony) and walking in off the beach in the Hawaiian islands. We carry our own snorkel mask and float vest (wonderful to keep waves smooth) but not fins. BTW carry your snorkel mask (our's have our eye RX) in hand luggage as we broke some lenses packed in suitcase. Love to snorkel but not in Carib.