Private Tours vs Ship Excursion

We do a mix of ship-sponsored, private, and DIY excursions. The factors we use are (a) our port time and (b) whether there's something unique that would justify a ship tour. There have been several times when a ship-sponsored tour was an exclusive - you couldn't book it through an independent tour operator. Most of the time, though, we find the independent tours to be better. One example that has stayed with me is when we toured St. Petersburg - one of the ship tours couldn't visit the Church of Spilled Blood because their driver couldn't find a place to park his 50-seat bus. It wasn't an issue with our 16-passenger van.

I've done both and the only thing I can add is that the tours operated through the ship try harder because they want the business. Give a poor review of the tour to the cruise line and the line may consider dropping their business.

The independents can be good or not. It's not like they really care for your repeat business and who are you going to tell that will affect them?

But then, I've also seen the same guide take on additional passengers along with those who booked through the cruise line at a lower price.

Go figure.

Although we generally do private tours for all of the already mentioned reasons, for destinations quite distant from their ports - such as Saigon or Bangkok - we often combine a ship DIY excursion, where they are only responsible for transporting us back and forth between the ship and a central location, with a local private tour. The best of both!

In all of the many times that we have cruised, we have only taken 1 ship tour where there was an alternative or similar private tour. We have never had any problems with any private tour that we have taken, even the full day tours that took us several hours away from the ship. Not all of the private tours were wonderful but none of them were disasters. The one ship tour that we took which by the way was free because we won it was horrible and it ruined our visit to Wellington NZ. I am sure that there are good ship tours out there and also that people have taken disastrous private tours but I can only report our experiences.

One good thing about private tours is that I think that the largest private tour we have ever taken was 8 people and many of them have been only 4 people. I have organized many of the private tours that we have gone on and I never let the group size get any larger than 8 people, even if the vehicle can hold more people. When you take a ship tour, sometimes they do not tell you how large the group will be and it can be really hard to find ship tours w such a small group size.

I should add that in some small ports, you have to take a ship tour because the tour options in the port are limited and the ships books them all up. I am not counting them in the 1 ship tour that we took voluntarily.

DON

Hi All,

 

Opinions needed.

 

Have read much on this forum about private tours, sometimes arranged thru Roll Calls/Meet & Greets. Lots of folks seem to like them.

 

I have always been a Nervous Nellie and have taken only ship sponsored tours and excursions as I have always been under the impression that if something happens to delay a tour's return to the ship, the ship will wait for a ship sponsored tour, but will not wait for someone delayed on a private tour. This reason is enough for me to stay with ship sponsored tours. I know they are more expensive, and sometimes crowded, but missing the ship departure is not an experience I would like to have. My DH is worse than me, he doesn't even like taking ship excursions the morning of departure, if for example, the ship is leaving at 1PM.

 

How do others feel about it? Good experiences or bad? Anybody else as paranoid as I am about missing the ship departure?

We never take private tours .If you are injured try getting compensated from the tour company .

Secondly,in 2013 family members of ours were on a ship booked tour .They were on a bus that broke down .The ship waited for the bus to return .

I've done both and the only thing I can add is that the tours operated through the ship try harder because they want the business. Give a poor review of the tour to the cruise line and the line may consider dropping their business.

 

The independents can be good or not. It's not like they really care for your repeat business and who are you going to tell that will affect them?

 

But then, I've also seen the same guide take on additional passengers along with those who booked through the cruise line at a lower price.

 

Go figure.

Have to say I disagree with your reasoning. The private tours often try VERY hard, as they know that your reviews -- on boards like Cruise Critic and on TripAdvisor reviews, for example -- will bring them more business if the reviews are positive. And if reviews are negative or they do not get passengers back to the ship, it will be all over the internet. I know I wouldn't book a private tour with even a few (legitimate) negative reviews, and I check reviews very carefully before I book.

Also, I have not found that ship tours try harder. I often feel the guides are rather mediocre.

I have always been a Nervous Nellie and have taken only ship sponsored tours and excursions as I have always been under the impression that if something happens to delay a tour's return to the ship, the ship will wait for a ship sponsored tour, but will not wait for someone delayed on a private tour. This reason is enough for me to stay with ship sponsored tours. I know they are more expensive, and sometimes crowded, but missing the ship departure is not an experience I would like to have. My DH is worse than me, he doesn't even like taking ship excursions the morning of departure, if for example, the ship is leaving at 1PM.

Linda, my DH is similar to you in worrying about getting back to the ship...AND he worries about some of the other horror stories described in this thread. I understand that these things are more rare, and yet at the same time, I don't mind booking ship-sponsored excursions, as we have not been disappointed in one yet. I also don't think that they are necessarily much more expensive when you consider that they cover everything (transfers, admissions costs, etc.).

We are on Celebrity Summit to Bermuda/NE in June, and we booked 4 excursions for the 10-day cruise. We are in Bermuda 3 days, and we decided to explore the middle day on our own--we figured we'd be safe that day since the ship won't be leaving! :D

Also, I have not found that ship tours try harder. I often feel the guides are rather mediocre.

The ship tours aren't run by the cruise line--the are usually run by the same outfits that run "private" tours! I was able to research all of our upcoming excursions on TripAdvisor.

Like others, I would never do a ship sponsored excursion. In fact I wouldn't go on one if you paid for it for me. Too many people, overpriced, you pay more for less basically. I know some people are just scared to go things beyond what the ships offered and that's fine. I like to be in smaller groups so I can hear, we can customize our excursion some, and I can save the money. These guys reputations depend on it. Now will I use someone who has bad reviews on TripAdvisor or only has 10 reviews? Probably not. I've never once hesitated to use a private operator though.

We have done both, but prefer private tours arranged with others in Roll Call or sometimes we book private tours just for the two of us.

we have never done a ship's excursion - not even on our first cruise - and we have done maybe 5 private tours. the other 100+ port stops we planned what we wanted to do and see in advance, and either grabbed a cab, used public transportation or simply walked. we've never been back to the ship with less than an hour to spare.

do what ever feels comfortable for you.

The ship tours aren't run by the cruise line--the are usually run by the same outfits that run "private" tours! I was able to research all of our upcoming excursions on TripAdvisor.

My experiences are primarily in Europe, where that isn't the case, but it does seem to be true in some places.

My experiences are primarily in Europe, where that isn't the case, but it does seem to be true in some places.

You are claiming that in Europe the ship tours are not run by the same outfits that run the private tours. I disagree. If you do a bit of work, you can usually figure out what company is running the ship tour and book it directly with the company at a lower price and a smaller group. Also, the company gets to keep all the money instead of having to split it with the cruise company. Everyone wins except for the cruise company.

DON

We rarely take ship excursions and either go on our own or find a private tour. When we went to St. Petersburg, we took the Red October tours long before they became popular. My mom was convinced I'd never get off the ship. We did and had the best time! We saw more than the busloads of tours and loved the customizability ood the tours.

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We only do private tours, for the reasons many have stated above. I truly believe the ships try to frighten their OWN passengers into taking their mostly overpriced and overcrowded tours with forced shopping stops to make more money.

 

Just say no to ship tours. Private tours with a good reputation make their entire living on a delivering a good product for a decent price to a non-captive audience. Believe me, they want to return to the ship on time more than you do!

 

Don’t fall victim to the scare tactics.

I totally agree with you.

Tony

You are claiming that in Europe the ship tours are not run by the same outfits that run the private tours. I disagree. If you do a bit of work, you can usually figure out what company is running the ship tour and book it directly with the company at a lower price and a smaller group. Also, the company gets to keep all the money instead of having to split it with the cruise company. Everyone wins except for the cruise company.

 

DON

I guess our experiences differ. I tend to book highly recommended private guides that only handle very small tours. I am usually not interested in replicating one of the ship tours. YMMV.

You are claiming that in Europe the ship tours are not run by the same outfits that run the private tours. I disagree. If you do a bit of work, you can usually figure out what company is running the ship tour and book it directly with the company at a lower price and a smaller group. Also, the company gets to keep all the money instead of having to split it with the cruise company. Everyone wins except for the cruise company.

 

DON

Many of the guides I have used do not want to work with the Cruise Ships and most are too small to even contemplate it.

I guess our experiences differ. I tend to book highly recommended private guides that only handle very small tours. I am usually not interested in replicating one of the ship tours. YMMV.

Ditto. I do the same.

We are another couple who hardly ever do ship tours. The last one we did was about 10 years ago, and it was simply transportation to Santiago, Spain. The price was ok for the bus ride and we toured the cathedral and area on our own.

The chance of missing the ship with a private tour is tiny we have never come close. We do a combination of private tours and DIY, depending on the port and what we want to do. We use highly recommended private companies, using these boards, Trip Advisor and other sites to find good companies.

Some tours we just pick up from the vendors on the dock--but research this as some ports don't have these available. We do private tours for the usually much better price, fewer people and better qualtiy.

We would do a ship tour only in circumstances where it truly is problematic to get to a distance site and back in time.

I guess our experiences differ. I tend to book highly recommended private guides that only handle very small tours. I am usually not interested in replicating one of the ship tours. YMMV.

You all misinterpreted what I said or what I meant to say. I agree that most of the tours I book are with smaller companies or individuals. We use ToursbyLocals extensively. However, not all the ship tours are horrible. Some of them are not bad but the logistics that are oriented to what the cruise companies want are horrible.

In those cases, I try to track down the company that is doing the ship tour and try to book it as a small group tour. For example, we just did a wonderful tour in Dunedin NZ. The company that we did the tour with also does ship tours. However, we took it in an 8 passenger van with only 5 of so we had spread out room and we extended the tour by 3 hours. With all that, it was cheaper per person than the ship tour. Same company. Mostly the same places visited. No shopping stops. Much better tour.

Basically, I totally agree w the comments that most of you have made comparing ship and private tours.

DON

About 4 years ago we were in New Zealand (on a cruise) and took a small private tour to a farm that cared for baby Kiwis, was a bird sanctuary, and helped with several other animal and ecological programs (under government sanction). It was a wonderful day and we our group (about 12 persons) had lunch with the owners of the farm. I asked them why they didn't work with cruise lines to allow excursions and they became quite vocal in their strong dislike of everything having to do with cruise line excursions. They told us that 2 lines had approached them...but the cruise line reps wanted a big discount and intended to mark up the price of the tours far beyond what this couple charged for private tours. They essentially told the cruise lines to take a hike!

There are many places that want nothing to do with large bus tours (with their huge groups). And there are many cruisers/travelers who also want nothing to do with large group tours on big buses. Personally I prefer going to the dentist :).

Hank

There are many places that want nothing to do with large bus tours (with their huge groups). And there are many cruisers/travelers who also want nothing to do with large group tours on big buses. Personally I prefer going to the dentist :).

 

Hank

It's a good point and also makes me think about some of the places I've been to either on my own or with a guide and maybe another person or 3. Some were quite special, off-the-path experiences and if people started coming there by the busload, the character of the place would change entirely.

For example, we visited a cave on private property on Lake Averno (near Pozzuoli) that has long been considered to be a possible contender for the cave of the Sybil. It was opened as an attraction on a purely amateur basis by the owner, Carlo, a real character. We were able to visit with a local guide who knew how to make the arrangements, and it was an experience I'll never forget -- not so much for what we saw as for the whole experience of walking through the tunnel with lanterns, Carlo reciting dramatically in Italian some lines from the Aeneid. (It was written about here: http://www.napoliunplugged.com/grotta-della-sibilla.html

It's the sort of thing I love about Italy but also about NOT taking large (ship or otherwise) tours.

Thanks to everyone for all their responses. I find all the information/experiences shared very helpful and interesting!

We must be in the small minority of cruisers who have had good experiences with ship sponsored excursions, but I suspect it is because of the type of excursions we do. If we are spending money on an excursion we usually want it to be an experience that we can't easily get on our own, so beach days hold little value. We have found very nice excursions through the cruise line and often can't find the same thing (or it was even more expensive) that works for the hours in port.

Like many others though, we enjoy just walking and exploring on our own too. Many ports of call work well for this.

Research all your options, and enjoy whatever you decide:)

Like others, I would never do a ship sponsored excursion. In fact I wouldn't go on one if you paid for it for me. Too many people, overpriced, you pay more for less basically. I know some people are just scared to go things beyond what the ships offered and that's fine. I like to be in smaller groups so I can hear, we can customize our excursion some, and I can save the money. These guys reputations depend on it. Now will I use someone who has bad reviews on TripAdvisor or only has 10 reviews? Probably not. I've never once hesitated to use a private operator though.

I don't know what type of excursions you prefer or areas you travel. I would probably agree with you for the zip-line/cave tubing excursion we did in Belize. All other excursions we have done I would either gladly do again through the line or would have no interest even if it was a smaller group (I'd do Belize again if private). If you've never done a ship excursion then you should be aware that the lines can sometimes be cheaper or offer price matching. If you've done the excursions but been disappointed, I'm sorry you had a bad experience:(

I don't know what type of excursions you prefer or areas you travel. I would probably agree with you for the zip-line/cave tubing excursion we did in Belize. All other excursions we have done I would either gladly do again through the line or would have no interest even if it was a smaller group (I'd do Belize again if private). If you've never done a ship excursion then you should be aware that the lines can sometimes be cheaper or offer price matching. If you've done the excursions but been disappointed, I'm sorry you had a bad experience:(

We typically do some sort of tour of the places we go. The thing with ship sponsored excursions (and I have friends who do them) is there's so many people typically, and the price is ridiculous. They won't price match because it's not the exact same.

Just to put it into perspective I am going to use my Jamaica cruise in July since that's what I currently have pulled up:

With Carnival going to Bob Marley's Nine Mile and nothing else, no other stops, is $95/pp and you're on a bus with a bunch of other people. That tour lasts 5.5 hours, and what you see/do depends on everyone else. Is someone lagging behind? Do you have someone with a walker holding everyone up? For my wife and I would be $190.

Going through Marvyn's, we're going to Bob Marley's Nine Mile, Dunns River Falls and Scotchies for lunch. It's just us 2 on the private tour that will go at our pace, it lasts for 6 hours and cost $150.

With Carnival in Grand Cayman going to Hell, the beach, and shopping is $50/pp. We paid $40 and again, Carnivals lasts 4.5hrs, ours lasts 6.

With Carnival in Costa Maya for a beach break at their "resort" is $70/pp for adults and $59.99 for kids. For my family of 4 would be $270. We're going to an AI for the 4 of us was $119.

Those are just a few that I have pulled up here but I've never found Carnival to be anywhere close or comparable to a private excursion. I have looked but they don't ever come close. The only "excursions" I will buy from them is FTTF & a cabana at HMC.

We typically do some sort of tour of the places we go. The thing with ship sponsored excursions (and I have friends who do them) is there's so many people typically, and the price is ridiculous. They won't price match because it's not the exact same.

 

Just to put it into perspective I am going to use my Jamaica cruise in July since that's what I currently have pulled up:

 

With Carnival going to Bob Marley's Nine Mile and nothing else, no other stops, is $95/pp and you're on a bus with a bunch of other people. That tour lasts 5.5 hours, and what you see/do depends on everyone else. Is someone lagging behind? Do you have someone with a walker holding everyone up? For my wife and I would be $190.

Going through Marvyn's, we're going to Bob Marley's Nine Mile, Dunns River Falls and Scotchies for lunch. It's just us 2 on the private tour that will go at our pace, it lasts for 6 hours and cost $150.

 

With Carnival in Grand Cayman going to Hell, the beach, and shopping is $50/pp. We paid $40 and again, Carnivals lasts 4.5hrs, ours lasts 6.

 

With Carnival in Costa Maya for a beach break at their "resort" is $70/pp for adults and $59.99 for kids. For my family of 4 would be $270. We're going to an AI for the 4 of us was $119.

 

Those are just a few that I have pulled up here but I've never found Carnival to be anywhere close or comparable to a private excursion. I have looked but they don't ever come close. The only "excursions" I will buy from them is FTTF & a cabana at HMC.

Thank you for your explanation - your perspective makes more sense to me now. We probably are booking more of an "event" compared to a tour. If we were to tour an area, I would agree that we would do that either on our own or with a private guide (ideally on our own, walking).

Our first cruise was a short 4 day Carnival to Saint John, NB in 2012 just to see if we would like cruising. We didn't know anything and just relied on the cruise line excursions and booked the Moosehead pub crawl. We were a relatively small group walking tour and it was a lot of fun, but I'm sure we lucked out some too with the group dynamic.

Our second Carnival cruise was to Nassau & Freeport. We did the Snuba excursion at Nassau and it was $5 less pp for the same tour vs booking directly through Stuart Cove. I'm glad we tried Snuba, but not likely to try again even privately. We did the Kayak trip at Freeport, and though there were ~30 people waiting for the vans, we were split up into 3 groups of 10 so it never felt crowded.

When we were in Canada last fall with Princess we did a Kayak trip at Saint John and I couldn't find anything similar privately at any price. It had close to 40 people, but it never felt crowded. In Halifax though we just walked around and I'm sure I enjoyed our visit to the Citadel on our own schedule vs. potentially feeling rushed. We saw several others from our ship with stickers on them, so I think it was part of a tour.