Nine hour tour on a 10 hour port call

Hi!

I'm going to Alaska this year and we're trying to decide on our shore excursions. On one of our stops we are in port for 10 hours, but the cruise line is offering a shore excursion that is 9 hours long. I've been told that you have to be back on ship 1 hour before the scheduled departure time. Would we be able to do this excursion and what happens if there are delays getting back to the ship?

If you book a ship's tour and the tour gets back late, in all but the rarest of exceptional circumstances the ship waits for you.

In those very, VERY rare cases where ships can't wait for a shore ex to return (tides, docking conflicts), the cruise line is responsible for getting you to the next port. If you are doing a private tour (not ship sponsored), you are responsible and will bear all costs involved.

I have only heard of a couple of incidents -- both in Alaska -- where the ship was not able to wait for a couple of tours to return to the ship. This was due to really bad weather that moved in. The cruise line took care of everyone -- putting them up hotels, food, small incidentals -- and paying to get them to the next port.

If it's a SHIP's excursion, you do NOT need to worry about the time...they are responsible for your from start to finish.

Most cruise lines require you to be back on board 30 minutes prior to departure.

It is a Ships Tour. They will know that you are not back if you are running late and make adjustments.

Go ahead and book it with confidence.

Since it is an excursion threw the ship you are fine. If the tour said 10 hours for a 10 hour stop you would be fine! Think of booking an excursion with the ship as another form of travel insurance. They are responsible for anything that would go wrong and would either hold the ship if something went wrong (and it was a good amount of people) or get you to the next port.

A private excursion for that time frame would not be something you should even consider though as 1 hour is cutting it darn close! I don't think I would even consider a 7 hour private excursion on a 10 hour stop!

We did an 8 hour ship's tour on our Med cruise (La Spezia) that was scheduled back at the all aboard time. Between the combination of a lovely couple on our tour that felt that the appointed times back to the bus at our stops were just suggestions, and the traffic, we were 2 hours late. They waited for us (and 2 other busses on different excursions that were affected by the traffic). That last tender back to the ship was extremely full.

Hi!

 

I'm going to Alaska this year and we're trying to decide on our shore excursions. On one of our stops we are in port for 10 hours, but the cruise line is offering a shore excursion that is 9 hours long. I've been told that you have to be back on ship 1 hour before the scheduled departure time. Would we be able to do this excursion and what happens if there are delays getting back to the ship?

This sounds like the perfect time to do a ships tour. If it is what you want to do then go and don't worry.

Just FYI for your other ports. It has been my experience that all aboard time is 30 minutes prior to the departure time.

Happy sailing.:)

Hi!

 

I'm going to Alaska this year and we're trying to decide on our shore excursions. On one of our stops we are in port for 10 hours, but the cruise line is offering a shore excursion that is 9 hours long. I've been told that you have to be back on ship 1 hour before the scheduled departure time. Would we be able to do this excursion and what happens if there are delays getting back to the ship?

I do not think that I would book a 9 hour private tour for a 10 hour port stop especially as you have to be on board 1/2 hour before departure but you will be OK with a ship tour.

DON

For anyone reading this who plans independent excursions, the ship usually will not wait. Ship sponsored excursions, the ship almost always waits.

On my cruise last March we were on a ship's tour which was late getting back and they were literally pulling the gang plank up after us. We felt even safer than most as the ship's Tour Manager was with us checking out the tour we were on (in reality having a lot of fun herself :) ). If memory serves me right we were about 1/2 hour later than the ship was supposed to leave.

It was in complete contrast to a personal tour we took that cut it fine with their times, we were all extremely worried we were not going to make it back because of extreme traffic conditions. Not a good way to finish off what in all other respects was a terrific day.

Between the combination of a lovely couple on our tour that felt that the appointed times back to the bus at our stops were just suggestions

Wouldn't it be nice if the cruise line would announce that if someone on an excursion is very late getting back to the bus, they will be left behind, and then stuck to that?

I suppose there COULD be some kind of emergency, like a medical emergency, that would stop someone getting back to the tour bus in time, but in most cases, it's just plain rudeness.

We were in Cozumel and went on a ship's tour over to the mainland. We got back an hour late and the ship was there waiting for us.

Take a ship's tour and you will not have to worry...

I agree with those who stated that as long as it's a ship's excursion, then no worries.

We wouldn't hesitate to book a ship's tour for that amount of time ... several years ago we were on a tour somewhere in Mexico (can't remember which port), there was whale watching and & coastal cruise ... we didn't get back to the pier until just after the scheduled departure time. The ship had waited for us. I think there were about 30 of us ... most of us hustled through the port area but some just moseyed along, knowing the ship was there.

Now, a few years later, we were on a private excursion in Japan, with closer to 50 people (yes, this was a private excursion that grew very large) and we were a little late getting back to the ship. I think we got back just at the scheduled departure time ... and the ship was waiting. There were even more people trickling in after us ... so we didn't feel too bad ... but I gotta say, the last 20 or 30 minutes on the bus, when we were driving through the city, we were all getting very jumpy ...