Excursions?

We are very excited....just booked our first cruise Dec. 27, 2015 on NCL Getaway. Got a large balcony for DH and I, inside cabin down the hall for 16 and 18 year old dd and Ds. We are very well travelled as a family, but I have always been kind of fearful of cruising. I promised I'd try it out and so, here we go:).

To my question...I am overwhelmed with the choices of excursions. Is it better to go with the cruise line offerings? And when is the best time to book - in advance or on the ship? We are adventurous, anf willing/capable of exploring on our own. But I think some preplanning activity might be a good idea. Thoughts?

Thanks!

We are very excited....just booked our first cruise Dec. 27, 2015 on NCL Getaway. Got a large balcony for DH and I, inside cabin down the hall for 16 and 18 year old dd and Ds. We are very well travelled as a family, but I have always been kind of fearful of cruising. I promised I'd try it out and so, here we go:).

 

To my question...I am overwhelmed with the choices of excursions. Is it better to go with the cruise line offerings? And when is the best time to book - in advance or on the ship? We are adventurous, anf willing/capable of exploring on our own. But I think some preplanning activity might be a good idea. Thoughts?

 

Thanks!

Welcome to Cruise Critic and to the wonderful world of cruising Mom23krzkidz. There is another thread about this over on the Ask a Question boards here at CC:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2215887

Many people like to book with a private company, but, it's very important to do a lot of research on Tripadvisor and make sure the company is reputable.

Personally, we always book with the cruise line. I think especially since this is your first cruise you are better off book a cruise ship excursion.

Just do some research on the ports and see which ship excursions match your interests in general.

Here's the roll call for your cruise:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2096250

Jonathan

Alas, the answer to almost every issue you raise is "it depends".

I've booked Ship's excursions in advance, and on board. I've booked independent tours in advance and at the pier. I've had great experiences and disappointments with both.

Some issues:

What is it you'd like to do. Some times this dictates that you book through the cruise line, and do it in advance. This can come up when there's something popular, and limited. The example I can think of is helicopter tours in a place where that's popular, and there is a limited number of helicopters. The cruise line books all available spots on all of the helicopters for the day. If you want to go, you must book through the cruise line, and likely need to book in advance. That's one extreme. The opposite, is when you want to do something, that the cruise line does not offer. You've then no choice but to book independently.

Otherwise, you have the option of one versus the other. If you have a specific activity (as opposed to simply a sight-seeing tour) Research in advance, and decide if the cruise line's offering is better than what you can find on line yourself. Of course price is one consideration, but also consider that if the activity is distant from the port, or the activity is scheduled to last anything close to the entire time you're in port the cruise line excursion has a LOT of benefit, as the ship will either wait for a late excursion, or make arrangements to get you to the next port.

I would not say one should always take the ship's excursions, but I also disagree with those who will never consider a ship's excursion. I've taken several that were very fairly priced, and were absolutely top quality experiences.

Harris

Denver, CO

I think it is really all up to your personal ideas on the matter.

To give a good example, I have done 2 cruises with just myself, DH and 2 DS's. I have booked a total of one excursion thru the cruise line. Now I have been on more cruises that were "hosted" by my mother in the past when we lived out of state and my boys were little so I have been on a total of 6.

On the other hand, my mother cruises at least 30 days out of the year for the past 15+ years. She has never once booked a private excursion or gone off on her own.

For your first cruise I would book with the cruise line though. Being on a cruise isn't like a land vacation where it is okay if things go "wrong" and take more time than you expected. I am not saying things go wrong on private excursions all the time, because if they did they would go out of business!

Since you are on NCL, booking on ship vs. before hand really might just vary on what promotion you chose when you booked. If you got the excursion credit, you can't use it until you are on board (unless something changed).

Also popular tours can and do fill up. Since there is 4 of you going and you have 4 ports it might be worthwhile to sit down as a family and go over what there is to do. Then you can use majority rules, or even an each person gets one port idea.

Since you are going to Cozumel though I do have a suggestion at looking at Mr. Sanchos of Nachi Cocom. Mr. Sanchos might have a very good atmosphere for your teens. I took mine to Nachi and slightly regretted not taking them there, but it was a nice quiet day!

Be sure to check out the Ports of Call boards here on CC. They are really a wealth of information if you do decide to book on your own!

We have done a few of the cruise line excursions and a lot of our own! There is a lot of great information on the CC "ports" boards and also you can check out the TripAdvisor page for the ports as well. Just remember when booking your own, take into account the time it takes to get from ship to tour and back to ship! Most tour operators fully understand the issue with getting back to the ship, but the cruise line is not obligated to wait for you should there be a problem and you are late getting back! And, be sure your watch is set to ship's time and go by that - always! :D

I have done both Ship Excursions and Private excursions. The main issue is the Private Excursions are sometimes more than 1/2 the Ship Excursions. Go check into your Ship's Roll Call and see what is happening there here on CC. There may be a lot of private excursions and Ship Board happenings including Meet and Greets for all that logged into the Roll Call. Having run 3 Meet and Greets and Facilitated the same Roll Calls, there is a lot to do. All you have to do is read the information and go make your decision on what to do for excursions. Go find your Ship's company, then the Ship you are on, then the sailing date and click on the Roll Call.

Best of Luck

We have done both ships and independent tours. Our experience has been that the independent tour is a better tour, you see more and is less expensive. The caveat is that you need to your homework on TripAdvisor and on the Ports of Call forum of Cruise Critic. You will likely find that some people are already organizing tours on the roll call for your cruise. If you are traveling hours from the ship or in a politically unstable country then you are probably best to stick with a ship's tour. I would say that at least 95% of our tours have been independent tours and have not had a problem.

As long as you research your ports and know something about where you're going, there is no reason to pay the ship to entertain you! Most things are easy to do on your own, IF your know about your ports!!!! We seldom do ANY excursions...we just go to the places we want to go and do what we want to do!

Your first step is to learn about the ports - to find out what might interest you. If you just want a day at a beach, that is one thing - if there is a distant archaeological sit you want to visit, something entirely different. A lot you can do on your own, at a lot less cost than ship tours, but in some cases the ship tour might be best/ only option. In addition to studying the ports, you shout share information on your cruise's roll call - some of your fellow passengers may have valuable experience, and you might want to share a private tour.

In one phrase: do your homework.

One thing we made a point of doing for our first cruise was to only look at ship excursions for tender ports. It just felt less risky for a first trip when we had no experience.

Just some personal observations on this long standing question.

Back when we took our first cruise in 1987, the ship excursions were usually lower cost than independently arranged shore activities. That changed when they became a good profit center such that they are, by and large, pricier than the same thing when independently arranged.

From our experience, the main benefit of ship arranged activities is that, if something goes wrong, the ship stands behind the customer. Example, if the ship is late in docking, the excursion will be held up or cancelled and the charge would be adjusted if necessary. If the trip is just plain lousy for some reason, the ship can deal with the operator in a much more effective manner than the individual traveler. Finally, there is no real effort required by the traveler beyond paying for the activity.

The main benefit of independently arranged is, of course, cost, and usually a better opportunity for ad hoc itinerary adjustments such as special photo stops, etc. Independent arrangements that are arranged in a roll call thread are usually smaller and will be comprised of several fellow cruisers who have gotten to know each other through Cruise Critic.

As many have often said, the decision is based on the amount of effort one wants to invest in the process as well as what the traveler is really interested in doing.