Reducing shore excursions

[Bowie MeMe]

I like the tours. Usually we are most comfortable with ship's excursions -- I really need AC (and AMERICAN cold not European Cool) as I get cranky with the heat. Still walk fairly well but will then need hot tub and Motrin when get back to ship:p I think that not having to move the luggage, find restaurants, and adjust to new city each day is more relaxing--otherwise cruising. We also do 4-5 days pre and post to get to know one city in detail. Travel and planning for travel are my hobbies -- sometime having to go and actually do what I plan is tiring. It is so easy on the easy chair with the guidebook:D

[Papa T]

I like to think the switch to shorter excursions has less to do with age and more to do with a change of mind set from "I may never be back here and there is so much to see" to "let's enjoy three or four hours of touring or looking around and not worry about what we may be missing." I think the "bucket list" is over rated.

[pascalburns]

some ports we take the shore excursions

some ports we just walk around the town

and check out the locals,while they check

us out.

enjoy cruising,on shore or off shore.:):):)

[azalice]

We just finished a cruise which had some later arrival times - such as 11 a.m. or noon at a few ports. And, there were many excursions which were 3-4 hours instead of 8-10. We really enjoyed a relaxing breakfast and taking tours which were scheduled at 1-2 p.m. for a few hours. The only long tour we took was in Iceland. I now find myself checking shore excursions while considering a cruise to see that they have some interesting tours that don't necessitate all day touring. I can now recommend the Norway, Iceland tour for its beauty as well as its scheduling.

 

Alice

[Wandering Writer]

I like to think the switch to shorter excursions has less to do with age and more to do with a change of mind set from "I may never be back here and there is so much to see" to "let's enjoy three or four hours of touring or looking around and not worry about what we may be missing." I think the "bucket list" is over rated.

 

This past July we did a B2B Norway/Baltic cruise. In Norway, we opted to take our time and did a lot on our own. We only booked two ship's excursions--one to go out to the crab traps, bring in the crabs and then feast on them and the other to be sure we had transporation to a glacier. Neither was an all day and gave us time to sit and enjoy the scenery which was wonderful.

 

Our Baltic cruise was port intensive and especially the two days in St. Petersburg (although we did a private tour with only 8 in our group). It was tiring. I wish we had switched them and done Baltic first and rested in Norway.

 

But, our "bucket list" allows for redos and Norway is definitely a redo. I have pics and commentary on my blog if anyone wants a look. Scroll down to Norway on the Labels List and click

[downsized]

We just returned from our "first" cruise (POA Hawaii), where we booked an excursion each day. Hawaii was great, but.....

 

Frankly, we were worn out at the end of everyday. (Some nights we were sound asleep by 9:00PM!)

 

For our next cruise, we've booked nothing.

We'll no doubt wander into town at each port and do some shopping, but in all honesty, the cruise ship is our destination.

 

I love watching the waves from the balcony, the rocking of the ship, and being able to wander the ship, watching the other cruisers.

 

Not once were we able to enjoy the peace and quiet of the ship during the day when most others were on land.

 

Also, the food on the ship is normally MUCH better than that which will be fed to us on any excursion. (I'll never forget the 2 rather bland cheeseburgers in Hana (no fries) that cost me $35, when I could have had a rare New York Steak in the LazyJ, for free!)