Cunard organized tours vs going on your own?

[leica]

Hello,

We are booked on the Caribbean Celebration cruise and wanted to get feedback from members as to which the best approach to shore excursions. Do you prefer doing the Cunard excursions or doing your own planning once at the port? Or a combination of both?

Thanks,

Frederic

[Wheretonext???]

I usually book my own tours and have never had a problem in doing so. There is a lot of information on this site under Ports of Call. Here is the link:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/f...play.php?f=587

[MARIANH]

Originally Posted by Wheretonext???

I usually book my own tours and have never had a problem in doing so. There is a lot of information on this site under Ports of Call. Here is the link:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/f...play.php?f=587

Cunard tours are a "rip off" - but probably no worse than any other cruise line.

The only advantage I can see in buying tours from Cunard is that they will hold the ships departure if you are late back. Organise your own tour and if you are late back - tough! You may have to swim.

Regards

[carlmm]

The "best" approach is obviously subjective.
Most of the time I prefer do to everything on my own, without any prebooked tour. In many ports you can walk, use public transportation or a taxi.
Only if the logistic becomes to difficult and risky I choose a tour. An example is Christobal from were I joined a tour to cross the country to see Panama City. I do not know if your cruise includes any stop like this where
- the points of interest are scattered about a large area
- public transportation is not or not easily available for your itinerary
- you cannot expect a choice of professional private drivers to offer tours at the pier
- alternatives to go back to the ship might be hard to find (like in my example when a spontaneously taken taxi with a non-english speaking driver breaks down somewhere in the forest in the middle of the country).
Only in this case I would book a tour.

[D2 in Safety Harbor]

Look for the sign on the windshield which says, "May break down and cause you to miss your sailing."

[Bigmike911]

Originally Posted by leica

Hello,

We are booked on the Caribbean Celebration cruise and wanted to get feedback from members as to which the best approach to shore excursions. Do you prefer doing the Cunard excursions or doing your own planning once at the port? Or a combination of both?

Thanks,

Frederic

There are obvious advantages and disadvantages for using Cunard tours, which I have often, or going on your own, which I have also done. The one advantage of a Cunard tour is that the ship will not leave with out you. If your on your on, you are very much on your own.

If the time in port is limited. either do a walk about near the pier, or get a Cunard tour. It saves a lot of worry about missing the ship.

Best Traveling

Mike

[Highlander0108]

Originally Posted by Bigmike911

There are obvious advantages and disadvantages for using Cunard tours, which I have often, or going on your own, which I have also done. The one advantage of a Cunard tour is that the ship will not leave with out you. If your on your on, you are very much on your own.

If the time in port is limited. either do a walk about near the pier, or get a Cunard tour. It saves a lot of worry about missing the ship.

Best Traveling

Mike

I would echo Mike's comments. We have done a combination of excursions with Cunard and on our own. For instance, Cunard did not offer a harbor excursion for viewing of the Harland and Wolff yard in Belfast when QE2 was in port for her first and only time. I used the internet and booked a tour ahead of time. In retrospect, I can see now why they did not offer this harbor tour since it was pretty lame. Other times, I just did not want to have to worry about getting back to the ship and if it cost more for that peice of mind, it was worth it. You can sit back, enjoy your tour and not worry about being left behind.

I will state that every excursion I booked with Cunard was very professionally done, the coaches were clean and comfortable, and the tour guides excellent. I would do plenty of research online for each port before the cruise and then evaluate the tours offered by Cunard online if you can beforehand and plan accordingly.

Cheers,
Ken

[ovccruiser]

If its a first visit, I tend to use the security of the cruiseliner's tours. If it is subsequent visits, probably a mixture. We recently visited Rome, the Collessium, Trevee Fountain, the Vatican and St Peters Bassilica. You have audio receivers and ear pieces so you can walk at your own pace, group entry so no queueing for tickets and coach to and from the venues and lunch. I would not have thought this could be done on your own for the price we paid, from memory $300 ish