Excursion Planning Frustration

I am to be on an Eastern Caribbean on Carnival end of October. I am sure our itinerary will be changed, which is completely fine, I don't care where I go as long as I am on the ocean! However, I typically don't book my excursions from the ship. I have found that by doing a little research and reading about others experiences on the boards here, many private companies offer better excursions for less cost. That being said, with Carnival waiting until the very last moment to change itineraries, I'm frustrated that I am going to be pretty much forced to book through the ship, chance finding something last minute, or just staying on the ship.:(

I too often book excursions outside the Carnival Line, but I still always find reputable companies that have a "don't port/don't pay policy & 100% guarantee you make your ships return in time or they pay to get you to next port policy." I would suggest trying to find some of these.

I did decided with all the chaos it isn't worth it this time, and just decided to book through Carnival.... especially because my older parents are with us this time. Just easier as we sail in just under 3 weeks and I fully expect already that our cabana in Grand Turk we booked months ago will be cancelled as I am betting we don't make it there and Lord knows what else might be interrupted.

You're right. The situation is frustrating. Carnival is trying maintain the itinerary or something close to it, all the while trying to negotiation port changes for dozens of ships competing with several other lines in a similar situation.

Hopefully you can find a way to reduce your stress over the terrible situation those tour operators on devasted islands you were to visit are in by having not recovered enough from the natural disasters to provide you with more affordably priced tours.

I feel your pain. We leave in 13 days and we don't know where we're going. We're calling it The Mystery Cruise. This was the first time I was trying to book outside of Carnival because of the great deals and the better excursions now all but one of our ports was hit hard by the hurricanes. It is very frustrating.

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Hard to book excursions if you don't know which port you are going to.......

There's always the option to "wing it" and book something at the port when you arrive. We've done that a few times and had great experiences.

CeleBrat

Frustrating????? Frustrating is not having a home and/or business because your island was devastated by a Cat 4 hurricane... or 2 Cat 4 hurricanes.:')

First world problem????? Not being able to book private tours early because your cruise line has no idea which ports will be open to tourists at the time of your sailing. :confused:

Example- Key West announced 2 days before it was going to be able to be open that it would be.

Frustrating????? Frustrating is not having a home and/or business because your island was devastated by a Cat 4 hurricane... or 2 Cat 4 hurricanes.:')

 

First world problem????? Not being able to book private tours early because your cruise line has no idea which ports will be open to tourists at the time of your sailing. :confused:

Example- Key West announced 2 days before it was going to be able to be open that it would be.

You are totally correct. Their problems are greater than ours. And I do feel for them. But besides donating there's not much you can do. So I chose to focus on my cruise. No disrespect intended.

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We did book a excision from a private company and I would never ever do it again. Please stay with the ship excusion. We were scared to death. It was just my husband and I. I thought we were going to be kidnapped.

We always take private excursions and don't take the ships offers. Two reasons, one is price but the other has to do with the quality of the experience. I've found that private excursions are usually less crowded and you spend more time at your destination or destinations.

Having said that, in the Western Caribbean I usually pre-book but on a Journeys cruise with nine ports in the Eastern Caribbean I was so overwhelmed by the research, I only pre-booked Antigua and in the end wished I hadn't. Not because I was unhappy with the tour but because there were so many choices once we debarked. We had the most wonderful time on each and every island and for the first time ever, just took tours that we found in the ports. Almost every one was in the $25/pp range and worth every penny in each of the ports.

With the Eastern Caribbean in such disarray and with your itinerary still up in the air, I'd probably do what I did on our last cruise. Go with an open mind and take opportunities when they present themselves.

You are totally correct. Their problems are greater than ours. And I do feel for them. But besides donating there's not much you can do. So I chose to focus on my cruise. No disrespect intended.

 

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No disrespect felt on this end. It always amazes me how many people try to shame others for not feeling the emotions/frustrations/etc that they think others should be feeling.

Try booking with shore excursioner, they have a no port, no pay policy. great customer service too

There's always the option to "wing it" and book something at the port when you arrive. We've done that a few times and had great experiences.

 

CeleBrat

"Wing it" or "Free-styling" is what we often do now. After some bad cruise excursions through the cruise line, like paying twice as much for what was just a taxi ride to the beach we now always get off the ship and set out on our own. This might mean paying for an island tour that will end at the beach or renting a car. We have also in the past prebooked excursions with private operators. We have always been happy with private tours or winging it, something that can't be said about cruise line excursions.

On our last cruise we were notified about 9 pm that our Cozumel excursion for the following day was canceled. I felt extra responsibility since my seventeen year old granddaughter was my cruise mate.

Once ashore we found a spot at the edge of the port shopping area where cabs were waiting and vendors were selling various options.

We chose an all-inclusive beach excursion and had the time of our lives. Afterward we agreed it was the most fun and the least expensive day we had ever spent on shore.

Go with the flow. The results might both surprise and please you.

If you're a planner like me and the thought of "going with the flow" terrifies you, you could always look into some of the ports that have been substituted in eastern itineraries thus far and do a little bit of research into them. That way, you're not going in completely blind hopefully. We also book outside of Carnival for the most part, but the times we have booked with Carnival we have not been disappointed.

Frustrating????? Frustrating is not having a home and/or business because your island was devastated by a Cat 4 hurricane... or 2 Cat 4 hurricanes.:')

 

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OFF your high horse and back to a dictionary (remember those??) Frustrating is EXACTLY what is, as opposed to devastating.

If you're a planner like me and the thought of "going with the flow" terrifies you, you could always look into some of the ports that have been substituted in eastern itineraries thus far and do a little bit of research into them. That way, you're not going in completely blind hopefully. We also book outside of Carnival for the most part, but the times we have booked with Carnival we have not been disappointed.

This is our plan too. This is one of those unprecedented situations where it's just out of our hands, and we can approach it with optimistic enthusiasm or frustrated anxiety. Read up on the ports of Antigua and St Kitts, as they seem to be the go-to substitutions right now. I used to be a hard core planner, and couldn't relax until I had a plan for each port. DH demanded that we go with the flow a little more (evidently I was a little too militant in my planning :halo:) and you know what? We didn't die. Everything was ok.

"Don't worry...about a thing. Every little thing is gonna be alright"

I'm a planner too. I'm just watching where the ships with my ports are going for the substitutions. It's just giving me more places to research. :)

We did book a excision from a private company and I would never ever do it again. Please stay with the ship excusion. We were scared to death. It was just my husband and I. I thought we were going to be kidnapped.

Which port was this? Which excursion/company?

We have sailed 25 cruises to 60+ ports. All but six excursions were booked through private companies or people. Not once were ever in fear.

If you're a planner like me and the thought of "going with the flow" terrifies you, you could always look into some of the ports that have been substituted in eastern itineraries thus far and do a little bit of research into them. That way, you're not going in completely blind hopefully. We also book outside of Carnival for the most part, but the times we have booked with Carnival we have not been disappointed.

I was supposed to be on the cancelled Fascination sailing. After Irma shut down St Thomas and St Martin I did some research on the substituted islands. I saved the pages and email addresses of the private excursions that I liked and my plan was to email them once onboard/whenever we got a finalized itinerary and hope they could take us out the day we were in port. Not sure if it would've worked out but that was my plan!

You're right. The situation is frustrating. Carnival is trying maintain the itinerary or something close to it, all the while trying to negotiation port changes for dozens of ships competing with several other lines in a similar situation.

 

Hopefully you can find a way to reduce your stress over the terrible situation those tour operators on devasted islands you were to visit are in by having not recovered enough from the natural disasters to provide you with more affordably priced tours.

This will go over most people's heads.

We did book a excision from a private company and I would never ever do it again. Please stay with the ship excusion. We were scared to death. It was just my husband and I. I thought we were going to be kidnapped.

OH PLEASE, most of the companies are exactly the same just, contracted with a different cruise line. Are you sure you don't work for Carnival with your unwarranted fear mongering. My son was a Captain in St.Thomas and did not contract with Carnival, however Royal and NCL contracted his company. The snorkel tour was to Turtle Cove, price $75 through the cruise ship $55 booked privately, no one got kidnapped. Love to know what scared you to death? did he pull a knife on you? 14 cruises, never Carnival tours, still alive to talk about it

I apologize to those of you that found my post to be disrespectful to those affected by the hurricanes. I have been following all of the natural disasters lately including Houston and Mexico and have all of the people affected in my thoughts constantly. I can't even begin to imagine what this must be like. I will try to be much more selfless like you incredibly noble posters who I am sure do all sorts of charitable things for those in need. Including pointing out and passing judgement to us posters who at times still think about our own lives that we are ignorant and disrespectful.

As some other posters stated, i too am a planner. I have learned to be more go with the flow as I've grown older. Two of my past cruises either missed a port or changed a port. It always turned out fine, and we did just find a company off the ship with the changed port and it was a fairly nice day. This may sound silly, but that cruise was with my family, and having my husband there helped me to feel safer about just picking someone at the port. The cruise I took with just my children, or this one with just my female friend, I tend to be a bit more cautious. That is why I have in the past researched the crap out of companies prior to cruising to make sure we would be safe.

My friend and I are absolutely fine with not leaving the ship and going to port if need be. Especially if we end up on a Western itinerary since we did that itinerary a couple of years ago. However I like many of the suggestions given here and will follow to see what it looks like the itinerary will end up being and research those ports in hopes we end up there! Thank you everyone for such great advice! Although it would be great if like NCL and RCCL Carnival had just decided to announce all cruises through November would be changed to a specific itinerary, however I really am just happy to be heading to the ocean!!!

OH PLEASE, most of the companies are exactly the same just, contracted with a different cruise line. Are you sure you don't work for Carnival with your unwarranted fear mongering. My son was a Captain in St.Thomas and did not contract with Carnival, however Royal and NCL contracted his company. The snorkel tour was to Turtle Cove, price $75 through the cruise ship $55 booked privately, no one got kidnapped. Love to know what scared you to death? did he pull a knife on you? 14 cruises, never Carnival tours, still alive to talk about it

Exactly! I went on an excursion on St. Lucia and the operator was a former police chief on the island. Never felt safer than on that excursion. There were actually kids at one of the spots that were selling crafts made of banana tree leaves or something and he said he wouldn’t allow us to purchase anything as the kids should have been in school. I have always booked private tours and have never had any fear.

We did book a excision from a private company and I would never ever do it again. Please stay with the ship excusion. We were scared to death. It was just my husband and I. I thought we were going to be kidnapped.

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience -- we book with private tour guides always, as I can't stand being part of the cattle call that is a ship's tour, and we've had incredible experiences! I do my research very, very carefully and thoroughly, and book with the best guides that I can find.

Would you care to share about your bad experience? Where, and what tour company?