Poll: Should river lines charge for all shore excursions?

How would you feel if, to make river cruises slightly more affordable, the lines began to charge for all of the shore excursions they offer (and drop the cruise fare as a result)?

Vote in our poll but also tell us: Do you regularly take the ship's tours? Do you take them because you genuinely want to -- or because you feel like since you paid for 'em, you should go on 'em?

And finally: Do you find them adequate for what you want to see and learn?

Carolyn

Carolyn Spencer Brown

Editor in Chief

Cruise Critic

On the Ocean going cruise ships, we usually take private excursions, but with the much smaller boats, it would be difficult to get a group together. I think we would wind up taking most tours and pay more in the end.

Since the boats typically drop you right into the main tourist area I found the included tours overkill. Plus moving around with 20+ people was bit tedious. By the third day we left the tour group in the morning and went on our own and enjoyed it more.

I do think these provide value for folks that have never been to these destinations, but I would just like to have the choice whether to pay for them or not.

lines would drop prices much,,,and that they d STAY down,,,we rarely use tours unless sites are long bus ride away...then often just take bus,,go on own,,and get back by ourselves..we hate following the leader in large groups.:p

When we were looking at cruise lines for our Amsterdam/Budapest cruise last September I can honestly say we NEVER considered a cruise without included tours. In fact I'd go as far to say we actually looked for as many tour inclusions in the price as possible and this is what eventually led us to Tauck. As first time and probably last time European River Cruisers (it's a long way and not easy for us to save all the money required) we wanted to experience the best. To be looked after all day everyday without having to worry about what extras to pay for was our top priority. On Tauck from having all our non-alcoholic drinks included to being shown the best of Europe at everyone of our stops - all included - was the very best thing that could have happened to first time cruisers like us.

I'm very happy with our choice of Tauck and nothing I've read since on this very informative board has given me any doubts that we chose the wrong company. If I'm ever fortunate enough to be able to take another river cruise it would be with Tauck as no other company offers as much for the same price. I fully appreciate that everyone has a different approach to their holidays but for the like of me I can't see why you'd choose to go on a river cruise then not want to participate in any of the tours. You'd be better off and save a heap of money if you took a bus or train instead of a river ship.

Great post, Ozjohnno,

You stated it right on!! We feel exactly the way you do about Tauck. Hope you can a chance to go on another Tauck cruise!

Sheila

This is a really tough question. While we do like the "complementary" walking tours, our experience with GCT and Viking is that the local guides tend to provide way too much information. We do not like standing around for 10 minutes in the same spot listening to 1000 years of history. A brief synopsis would better serve our needs.

On our last cruise with Viking, we left the guided walking tour on most of them, within the first half hour because we were bored, and really wanted to explore the whole town.

Obviously we are not history buffs, and prefer to walk among and speak with local folks, and get a sense of what the area is really about now, not necessarily the whole history. A brief 5 minute overview would suffice for us.

I realize that we are most likely in the minority, and that's OK. That is why we typically will leave a tour before it is over.

Most of the optional tours that are offered we do take, but again not all. It just depends on whether it peaks our interest or not, and if it does, normally only one of us goes so the other can explore the local area so that we can see the best of both worlds (we both are very avid photographers).

Unfortunately, we really do not think that if they did not include the walking tours, that the pricing would drop that much, if at all. In the end we most likely would wind up paying even more.

Cheers,

Most (all?) European cruise lines do just this. The excursions are sold separately. I did one Holland cruise on a German cruise line that did this, and it worked well, since I had been to some of the ports more than once and just wanted to "stroll" in these towns. My travel agent knows a lot about river cruises, and she suggested this one for me. It worked very well and I saved some money. It wasn't a huge difference in price to skip some excursions, though, since if you bought all the excursions you could get a good package price.

I do agree, however, that if it's going to be your first (and only?) time in a city, a guided tour is a good idea. I've had good walking guides and bad (too detailed!) walking guides. While the guides have no affiliation with the cruise line, I have found that AMA Waterways guides have usually been very good, and they use the Vox audio boxes so that you can easily hear everything a guide says. (And I've been on lots of river cruises, different companies)

How can we answer informatively whether the included shore excursion are good value or not without comparing the price of the same cruise with or without excursions?

So, anyone cares to offer some sample of prices for the cruise without excursion so we can compare?

I was looking through a few documents on a cruise we took involving optional tours which was the only info on tours I had, and the pricing seemed to average about 45 euros or about $58 US p/p. If we used the $58 and applied it to the included tours for a week, we come up with an average of $400 p/p.

If the savings were passed on then your price would be whatever you paid for a week cruise less $400p/p.

No matter what the actual figures are, I guess the questions are:

1) is the savings worth it?

2) How many people would still pay and take the tours?

3) People on this board enjoy having all costs included so would this appeal to them?

I'm sure there are other questions and concerns.

The time spent in each city on a river cruise is so limited that one cannot really get an in depth tour in each of these towns.. This is only a taste of the stops and to do justice you would have to leave the boat and do a completely different trip. Could I, sure. But would I want to spend the time to try on a boat-never.

Rent a car and tour these cities would require a whole different investment both in time and money.

3) People on this board enjoy having all costs included so would this appeal to them?

I didn't get that impression at all. Others?

The time spent in each city on a river cruise is so limited that one cannot really get an in depth tour in each of these towns.

Depends on the city.

A big city like Vienna takes a lot more than 1 day to even get a feel for. But a small city like Bratislava, a day is about what most tourist spend there, even if they're on a self-drive tour.

I'll agree with whoever went with Tauck because of the quality of its tours. While its ships aren't as interesting as Uniworld's, its tours are top-notch. I will never forget the experience I had in Vienna on Swiss Jewel this summer. While every other river line offers an additional option concert in the city in the evening (and it's marvelous, no question), on Tauck, the included evening tour took you to a palace for dinner and a wonderfully intimate classical music and dance performance. It was just our group and it was pretty much the highlight of everything I've ever done on the Danube (well, another highlight has to be our overnight onboard Uniworld's River Beatrice where, after the farewell dinner, the captain got back on the bridge and took us out for a nighttime cruise. Gorgeous).

Carolyn

Totally agree with the quality of the tours on our Tauck cruise last May. Since we've not used any other line, I have no comparison (other than the comments of those who have reported their experiences). Our guides (except for one) were outstanding and we had plenty of time to wander on our own after the formal tour. Worth every penny that we spent even if we won't be able to do another any time soon. I loved not having to plan our excursions every day and just being able to walk off the boat and know that everything was taken care of.

We liked the fact that tours were included. We will, however, on our next river cruise, find out exactly what we are going to do and where we are going to go, as we don't enjoy being in a bus for a long period of time. We did leave several of the tours at the end and just spend the time walking around the towns and walking back to the ship rather than tgaking the bus back. Even just having the transportation and the minimal introductory tour is a great asset.