St. John Champagne Catamaran Sailaway

[Pittfan763]

Hello to all. New to the board. Planning our first cruise coming up on May 23rd. This is my first cruise, her 2nd. This is also for our Honeymoon (May 15). 4 days away!

 

In any event, we were talking about trying to save money by booking our excursions independently from Carnival. Has anyone had luck with this? Or, is there a website out there that specializes in this?

 

I have been searching the boards, but it has been somewhat of a daunting task to search among all the posts. I scanned for 3 hours yesterday, and I am still looking at a blank page next to all of the port of calls. :)

 

We are leaving out of San Juan. And then moving on to different Ports, and are looking to do the following excursion:

 

St. Thomas - St. John Champagne Catamaran Sailaway

 

So, we kind of game planned that we would like to do an excursion at each port. But we would like to save some money by not booking through Carnival. We are also considering the option of booking half of our excursions through Carnival and then the others just get off of the ship, and see what people have to offer to us.

 

Any ideas would be appreciated. Not too sure what I am getting myself in to:)

 

Thanks!

Jason

[cropcruiser]

Sometimes you save money going on your own but not always. You also have to figure in your transportation to/from the excursion if you do not go through the cruise line. Some excursions at some ports are only offered through the cruise line. We've had experience with both booking through the cruise line and booking outside of cruise line. Pros - if you book through cruise line and weather is a factor in ruining or canceling your day, you usually get refunded but you don't if you go on your own - this happened in Nassau last year. We were refunded due to bad weather but others who booked on their own were out their money. Also, if your excursion causes you to be late back to the ship, the ship will either wait or help with getting you to the next port if you book with the cruise line. My son and I did our own excursion last year which involved taking a ferry back to the port and I was a nervous wreck. We made it just in time to get back on the ship. However, we did an excursion directly with a vendor when we were in Antigua and it was one of the best experiences we ever had - the trip was awesome and we'd do it again. But this vendor agreed to refund any money due to weather or if our trip was rerouted. so you have weigh the good and the bad and then make sure you go with a reputable vendor. Oh and in some cases the cruise line is either the same or less money. This is the case this year. My husband likes to scuba dive and the cruiseline is the same as one vendor and less money than another vendor so we're going through the cruise line.

[The forever cruiser]

We did this excursion through Carnival the end of March and loved it. The cat ride was fun. The crew was superb. We stopped at Honeymoon Beach in St. John to snorkle. It was beautiful and not very crowded. Afterwards, on the way back, the crew treated us to snacks and drinks.....rum punch, champagne, mimosa's, other rum drinks (well-made). Crew was informative and very fun. I'd do this one again. We've done some tours on our own and some through Carnival. The advantage I guess to finding your own tours is they're less crowded usually. They're not always less expensive.