To do or not to do port excursions

I like taking excursions. While I am more comfortable knowing I won't miss the ship if something is a distance away, and I don't relish wandering into unsavory territory inadvertently, those "fears" aren't my primary motivation. Understand, if the beach or shopping were my destinations, I would cab-it or walk, but we don't "beach" or shop. Likewise, if I've been there, done that, we'd more likely be out on our own.

My main reason for taking excursions/tours is because I really like knowing what I'm looking at. Some excursions have proven to be better than others, in that regard, but for the most part, the tour guides like to share local information, history, personal stories and such. Some, particularly for smaller groups, engage the passengers in mini language lessons or a sing-along of local songs, for example.

We enjoy tours so much that we took a small-bus full day tour of the Grand Canyon, even though we were perfectly capable of driving there ourselves (we did have a car). But what would we have done? "Oh, look, there it is! Oooh, pretty!" But we wouldn't have gotten any inside info like we did from our tour guide, who had spent many years leading rafting expeditions in the canyon.

Our routine upon visiting a port for the first time is to find a ships tour that gives us an overview of the town and area. If we can find something rail oriented, I am happier as I am very much a railfan. When we have been to a port before, we may well take a tour that is more specific in its scope.

We do not do beach tours (we live within walking distance of the bay and are only about 20 minutes from one of the best Gulf beaches) and we do little shopping, so most tours are not for us.

We take tours booked through the cruise line. I know we pay more, but we have been very satisfied with almost all of them. The equipment is usually very good and some of the guides are absolutely brilliant. We were on a cruise several years ago where a private tour had their vehicle break down. After the ship had waited a reasonable time, they left this group behind. The ship knows who is back on board and who is still ashore. They can and do make accommodations for everyone, but they are much more likely to "strand" folks who are on private excursions.

Doc

One of your original questions is whether you should do an excursion in each port. That's hard for me to answer but on our first cruise we have 4 ports as well and we booked a ship's excursion in each port and we way over did it. We now try to alternate a beach day with an excursion.

The problem with this is when I think back on which excursion I would have skipped it would have been the Roatan excursion and that one turned out to be the best one ever.

I wasn't impressed with the port area of Costa Maya at all, but The Native Choice tours of the Mayan ruins at Chacchoben was my highlight of that cruise, a truly memorable experience. I highly recommend them. At most places, I think you are fine on your own. We would much rather explore somewhere independently than go on an excursion. There are tons of things to do in Cozumel, and there is always Playa del Carmen, just a ferry ride away, if you want something a little different.

We will be in St Thomas and St Maarten next week, and plan to do our own thing.

Thanks everyone for the great tips!! I've got a lot of different opinions and ideas and I'm so appreciative of all of them.

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