Excursions

What is the best way to book an excursion? Should we wait to we get to the port and do it there? I heard its a lot cheaper that way

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

It CAN be cheaper to book when you reach the port. However, you must know what you want to do. If you just get off the ship and say "Take me", they will. Believe me they will.

Other concerns are that the best guides will likely be booked long before the ship arrives.

The odds that you will get a good excursion at the port are pretty low. The best ship's excursions are usually sold out long before then.

Also, as Paul said, the best guides usually are booked months in advance.

There is no way I would book an excursion at the port just getting off the boat.

First, get a guidebook on your ports and read it! You may find that what you want to do requires NO excursion or guide at all! Many, many things are easy to do on your own. After you've learned something about where you're going, and decide WHAT you want to do, then you can decide HOW to do it!

Things like beaches, and shopping are easy DIY things. Many places have public transport for very little money...and you can use that to get to other points of interest....and since you have the guidebook, you'll know how to do it!

Research is key to getting the most from you time ashore, for the very least cost!!!

First, get a guidebook on your ports and read it! You may find that what you want to do requires NO excursion or guide at all! Many, many things are easy to do on your own. After you've learned something about where you're going, and decide WHAT you want to do, then you can decide HOW to do it!

 

Things like beaches, and shopping are easy DIY things. Many places have public transport for very little money...and you can use that to get to other points of interest....and since you have the guidebook, you'll know how to do it!

 

Research is key to getting the most from you time ashore, for the very least cost!!!

Terrific post!

Look at roll calls, reviews, and boards here on Cruise Critic for ideas on things to do at port, things that can make your time in port better, and things to steer clear of. Also look at C.C.'s sister site Trip Advisor for extra information about things you see here and to get ideas on things you haven't seen here.

Occasionally the ship's excursions aren't as outrageously priced as first thought, most times they are. Checking several different places can give you a feel of the prices and if they're fair or not - whether it's through the ship, a vendor at port, going to the attraction on your own, or going with a group put together from your roll call for the sailing.

Private excursions can save you a lot of money, be a smaller group, and have a more personalized experience.

Sometimes it's worth paying the extra money to take a ship's excursion. For example, it was worth it to us to book both of our tours to the Lamanai Mayan Ruin excursion in Belize as it is a very long tour and it involves multiple modes of transportation that could cause delays if any of them break down. Other people don't feel it's worth the extra money and book independent tours and have no problems during their excursion :cool:.

When we went to Antigua we got a terrific tour at a reasonable price from a vendor right at the port. We also got a wonderful price for a flightseeing tour in Alaska by booking with a vendor at the port right off the ship (we didn't know if we'd have the money, good health, or good weather to pre-book this type of tour, so we decided to play it by ear on the day - and we were okay with the possibility that we wouldn't be able to get to do this type of excursion if the ship and private vendors were full. Fortunately for us, we lucked out in all four the day we were at the port :) and got to fly :cool:.

During our European cruise we went in together with members on the sailing's roll call and put together an inexpensive private excursion in one port. And for another port you could register your name and pay a deposit with a vendor and they would put together groups made up from the list of people registered for the day/time/place to be visited. That turned out to be the easiest - signing up with the vendor and they put the group together. It turned out everyone on our bus came from our ship, but it could turn out to have a mix of land tourists, people from other ships, people from your ship.

Traveling is fun, but it can take some work. Fortunately, the work put into it can really pay off in more than just money saved :). Have fun!

I recommend doing your homework early and not wait to book an excursion. You have many options. In some ports booking when you get there is not even an option.

Keith

Join your rll call. Then do research. Most libraries have books about ports and the internet can also be a good source.

On the roll call you will find others who are booking private tours. You may want to join in those.

Your roll call is a great resource. Many more eyes searching for tours can be very helpful.

So far, we have 18 for a tour in Grenada and are starting to get a group put together for Bonaire. Much cheaper than any of the ships tour and operators both have great reviews.

Harry

I personally prefer private tours, as they tend to be cheaper if you have six or so people -- you can usually find others on your cruise's roll call -- they tend to be more interesting because you can interact more with your guide, you can move around more quickly in a small van or car than in a large bus, and you can add things you want to add, and subtract things you don't want to do.

I also spend some time first just lurking on the Ports of Call section for the port or ports where we are going, then once I get a flavor of what sorts of things I want to do and who sounds like the better tour operators, I start to ask more specific questions to get specific answers about operators, extra things to do in this or that port, etc.

You can also use Shoretrips.com which operates in a large majority of the cruise ports of the world. They are very reliable and if you do run into any issues, they will resolve them. We have had only one issue come up, and they gave us a partial refund when we returned, and that was a good resolution of the issue.

We do occasionally use a ship's tour, but infrequently. If the port only requires a partial-day tour, and the ship's tour is suffice, then we will sometimes just do that. Generally, we are not terribly thrilled by ship's tours, as they are slow, you go no faster than the slowest person to return to the bus (and there is always one!!), and you don't really get to interact much with the guide. Still, a few ports don't demand much.

First, get a guidebook on your ports and read it! You may find that what you want to do requires NO excursion or guide at all! Many, many things are easy to do on your own. After you've learned something about where you're going, and decide WHAT you want to do, then you can decide HOW to do it!

 

Things like beaches, and shopping are easy DIY things. Many places have public transport for very little money...and you can use that to get to other points of interest....and since you have the guidebook, you'll know how to do it!

 

Research is key to getting the most from you time ashore, for the very least cost!!!

Terrific post!

 

Look at roll calls, reviews, and boards here on Cruise Critic for ideas on things to do at port, things that can make your time in port better, and things to steer clear of. Also look at C.C.'s sister site Trip Advisor for extra information about things you see here and to get ideas on things you haven't seen here.

 

Occasionally the ship's excursions aren't as outrageously priced as first thought, most times they are. Checking several different places can give you a feel of the prices and if they're fair or not - whether it's through the ship, a vendor at port, going to the attraction on your own, or going with a group put together from your roll call for the sailing.

 

Private excursions can save you a lot of money, be a smaller group, and have a more personalized experience.

 

Sometimes it's worth paying the extra money to take a ship's excursion. For example, it was worth it to us to book both of our tours to the Lamanai Mayan Ruin excursion in Belize as it is a very long tour and it involves multiple modes of transportation that could cause delays if any of them break down. Other people don't feel it's worth the extra money and book independent tours and have no problems during their excursion :cool:.

 

When we went to Antigua we got a terrific tour at a reasonable price from a vendor right at the port. We also got a wonderful price for a flightseeing tour in Alaska by booking with a vendor at the port right off the ship (we didn't know if we'd have the money, good health, or good weather to pre-book this type of tour, so we decided to play it by ear on the day - and we were okay with the possibility that we wouldn't be able to get to do this type of excursion if the ship and private vendors were full. Fortunately for us, we lucked out in all four the day we were at the port :) and got to fly :cool:.

 

During our European cruise we went in together with members on the sailing's roll call and put together an inexpensive private excursion in one port. And for another port you could register your name and pay a deposit with a vendor and they would put together groups made up from the list of people registered for the day/time/place to be visited. That turned out to be the easiest - signing up with the vendor and they put the group together. It turned out everyone on our bus came from our ship, but it could turn out to have a mix of land tourists, people from other ships, people from your ship.

 

Traveling is fun, but it can take some work. Fortunately, the work put into it can really pay off in more than just money saved :). Have fun!

Really good info here.

I'm the family researcher. This is what I usually do:

1. Look through a couple of guide books. Public libraries have them, even though they may not be the most recent ones. But you'll get a good idea of interesting sites to see or activities to do, based on your family. I'll use post its and then make a list. If there's a guide book that I find very helpful, I can always order the latest edition on Amazon. We also have a nice used book store near us that I like to patronize, but I can't count on having the exact book I want. But I will still look -- you never know.

2. google each port. I will find plenty of tourism sites. I'll also look at the official website for the port as often there's a cruise ship calendar that is helpful and a good port site will also tout some interesting places to see.

I'll copy and paste anything that looks promising in a Word doc that I will edit down and also add taxi companies and other info.

3. I'll check the cruise line website and see what the excursions are there. Many will list some good places to visit. Most of the time we don't book any excursions, just DIY, but we have found some excursions that we've liked (and usually aren't much more than if we had booked similar ones through an independent operator).

4. As stated above, beaches and just going into town you can do on your own. Just make sure you check a reliable watch against the ship's time and take along the daily newsletter as it will list the time to be back on board as well as the port agent contact, just in case.

If you do book through an indy operator, make sure to have contact info just in case you can't make the excursion. And also get in writing the cancellation policy. Some places will still charge all or part of the cost even if your ship doesn't make it into port.

We actually did book one tour at the dock one time, and my hubby swore never to do that again. It might work for you, but he didn't like it at all.

One other thing we haven't done, and probably wouldn't is book something through our roll call. It undoubtedly works for some people but we rather come up with our plans.

Oh, forgot to add, you don't even have to get off the ship -- until the disembarkation day.

What is the best way to book an excursion? Should we wait to we get to the port and do it there? I heard its a lot cheaper that way

Welcome to Cruise Critic! :)

We've been cruising for a long time and there is nothing "goofy" about booking excursions though the ship... when you find one you feel you would like at a timing that suits you.

Excursions offered by the ship ... Pick you up from the ship, take you to have fun, return you to the ship, and you'll never miss the "boat" if you are late returning. ;)

LuLu