To book excursions or not to book?

My cousin and I shall be enjoying our first cruise in October. However, we cannot make our minds up concerning excursions .... shall we book excursions with P&O or shall we just do our own thing?

We would be grateful for any feedback from experienced cruisers as to what is good value for money etc.

Thank you.:confused:

You need to provide more specifics.

What is your itinerary.

What ports are you looking at.

Keith

If you are: 1) not afraid to plan an excursion on your own, and 2) a good time keeper, then you could do it yourself! The time keeper comment is to say that the ship will not wait for you if you are late coming back to the port. You need to be sure you understand what "ship time" is for all ports you visit. The ship will wait for ship sponsored excursions that are late, not do-it-yourselfers!

My cousin and I shall be enjoying our first cruise in October. However, we cannot make our minds up concerning excursions .... shall we book excursions with P&O or shall we just do our own thing?

 

We would be grateful for any feedback from experienced cruisers as to what is good value for money etc.

 

Thank you.:confused:

I can tell you right now that many people on this board will tell you that do it yourself excursions are the way to go.

However, many other will tell you ship's excursions are the way to go.

You will not get much help that way.

As first time cruisers, my recommendation is to go with ship's tours. They are reasonably safe, and you will not miss the ship of you get back late. I have always used ship's excursions and I have always found them to be good. Many were actually great.

If you have never been to a port and know nothing about it, you should learn before you go. It is good for a ship's tour because you will be better able to pick the excursion(s) you are most interested in. Learning about the port is essential if you want to do it yourself.

Again, for a first timer, I recommend the ship's tours. Once you gain a little experience you have the option of doing it yourself.

For your first cruise it would certainly be easier, more convenient, and less stressful for you to book your excursions thru the ship! :)

LuLu

I can tell you right now that many people on this board will tell you that do it yourself excursions are the way to go.

 

However, many other will tell you ship's excursions are the way to go.

 

You will not get much help that way.

 

As first time cruisers, my recommendation is to go with ship's tours. They are reasonably safe, and you will not miss the ship of you get back late. I have always used ship's excursions and I have always found them to be good. Many were actually great.

 

If you have never been to a port and know nothing about it, you should learn before you go. It is good for a ship's tour because you will be better able to pick the excursion(s) you are most interested in. Learning about the port is essential if you want to do it yourself.

 

Again, for a first timer, I recommend the ship's tours. Once you gain a little experience you have the option of doing it yourself.

I agree. For first timers, ship's excursions are the way to go, even if they're more expensive. The last thing you want is to get back to the ship late and watch it pulling away from the pier. With a ship sponsored excursion, the ship will wait until all their excursions are back. On my first cruise I was on an excursion that returned late. As soon as we were back aboard they pulled up the gangplank and off we went.

My first cruise I only did the ship sponsored excursions. I wanted to be guaranteed that I wouldn't miss the ship or they would get me to the next port. Second I didn't want to take the time to research the ports we were going to and find reputable tour operators.

My second cruise I was on the same path until a few people on the roll call said they were doing some private excursions and so I joined them. I also took a little bit of time and read up on some of the ports and what others on CC said so it was a mix of both.

For my upcoming cruise again it's a mix of ship and private excursions. I'm doing the ship excursions primarily because I have onboard credit that needs to be used. Also having a few cruises under my belt and somewhat know what to expect on getting back to the ship I'm finding it fun to try and find my own excursions that may be a little less crowded and less expensive.

It all really is up to you and what your comfort level is and how much time and effort you want to put into it. Either way I'm sure you will both enjoy your first cruise.

If you know something about your ports, there is NO REASON to pay someone to show you what you can see/do on your own. A guidebook is very helpful!

After 20+ cruise's most I have actually done included no excursions at all....So don't assume you "have" to have them to enjoy your cruise and the port stops.

We have been cruising for a very long time and still often do our shore excursions thru the ship!

For us it's either thru the ship of take a taxi on-our-own. Also, sometimes just walk around in port or stay on the ship. :)

LuLu

You need to be sure you understand what "ship time" is for all ports you visit.

Not a problem on P&O. They, very sensibly, have the same time zone as the port they are visiting.

If you know something about your ports, there is NO REASON to pay someone to show you what you can see/do on your own. A guidebook is very helpful!

Actually, there are many reason why you could pay someone to do that. First of all, unless you are going to walk everywhere, you are going to pay somebody to transport you.

Second is convenience. I personally, don;t want the hassle-especially on vacation of figuring out my way through an unfamiliar place.

Third, as has been pointed out, ship's excursion usually guarantee that the ship will wait for you. I have had excursions that had been delayed and it was nice seeing the ship there.

Fourth, where the points of interest are far from the port, an excursion takes the hassle of getting to the points of interest. Fir example, on our upcoming cruise we are going to Paris from Le Havre. That is a long drive.

Finally, ships excursions can take you to places you might not be able to get to otherwise. For example on pour Panama Canal cruise we had an excursion to a native village many miles from any road-we actually took open canoes over a lake and a creek to get to the village. Try doing that yourself!

I'm the family researcher so before a cruise (even if we're repeating an itinerary), I go to the library and check out some guide books. In the olden days when there were book stores all around, I would see which ones I like and buy the latest edition. But you can still buy books on Amazon and other online sites. I just wouldn't take a borrowed book from the library on a trip.

If you google the ports, you'll find plenty of tourism sites and can find ideas for your ports.

Most of the time we go out into port on our own. But we usually don't go a major drive away (I will program my phone with local taxi number phone numbers if we're not within walking distance).

For ports we're not familar with, we may consider booking a ship's tour. Even if we are familiar (returning), we may still go on the cruise line website to see what they're offering. I have often found that there's not a huge difference between costs of a private operator and what the ship is offering (some people may claim otherwise or say it's always the cattle call, but that's not always true, or at least not with the ones we've booked).

We have been on one excursion that did came back after sailaway (due to weather conditions), but the guide kept in touch with the ship as it was booked through Princess, so the ship did wait for our group.