To buy ship excursions or not to to buy...that is MY question :)

[UptownGirl212]

So I'm leaving on May 1st on my first Royal Caribbean cruise (Adventure of the Seas). The last time I went on a cruise was well over 10 years ago with my family on a Holland American cruise from NYC to Bermuda.

 

My question is do you folks usually purchase shore excursions through the cruise line, or wing-it once you get to the islands? My boyfriend has put me in charge of this, and I feel like I should purchase at least one excursion through the cruise so one trip out of 4-5 is done for me. :)

 

Any tips/tricks are greatly appreciated!

 

(The cruise stops in Aruba, Curacao, St. Thomas, and St. Marten)

[It'sRC4ME]

The up-side of taking ship-sponsored excursions is that they are usually well run, there's a lot of variety, and if your excursion is late returning they will hold the ship until you get back. On the other hand, if you think that "The Amazing Race" on CBS looks like fun, and you're comfortable interacting with people of different cultures whose English may not be that great, you will probably be just fine setting up your own excursions (which is usually cheaper).

 

I haven't been to Aruba or Curacao, but have been many times to St. Thomas and St. Maarten. In both those ports you will find lots of taxis at the pier who would LOVE to take you on a tour of the island, and are well regulated and (mostly) honest. Do some research on-line and figure out generally what you would like to do (specific beach, shopping, sights you would like to see) and then negociate with a driver and off you go. Be sure to set a price before you depart, and make sure to bring $ in small denominations (1s and 5s) in case you need to pay to get into an attraction or beach. When negociating, specify how many hours you would like your "tour" to be, and leave plenty of time for returning to the ship.

 

Also, browse these boards for the names of reputable vendors for sailing, snorkeling and other more complex excursions - you can usually book these in advance. Be aware that if you are late coming back to the ship, it will leave without you so you want to make sure to use guides who have good references. Also, make sure your deposit is refundable in case, for some reason, the ship skips that port and you aren't able to take the excursion.

[dougp26364]

We sort of do a variety with ports I'm familiar with. In new ports I'm not familiar with, I prefer to stick with the ships shore excursions. Mainly because I'm confident of not being left behind in a port I wouldn't know the alternatives to get back to the ship. Once I feel like I know my way around, then I'm more confortable taking shore excursions that are not RCI excursions.

[JBoshears]

You might try going over to the "ports" board. I got lots of good ideas, and booked two of them, from suggestions from that board.

 

Good luck!

[maxs mom]

Definitely go to "the Ports" boards. You can get some great ideas over there. We do very few ship's excursions any more because I have been able to get lots of good advice on here. On our last cruise...we mainly did things on our own from suggestions I got on these boards and everything was just perfect. Have fun!

[sanbmet]

It depends on what you want from your visit.

If shopping is your goal, then you can walk to the shops in many ports, or grab a cab which are always plentiful, especially in St Thomas.

For first time visits. we find that the ship's excursions are very informative. The guides are extremely knowlegeable and provide a lot of history and culture information and they cover a lot more territory than we could hope to do on our own in a few hours.

We have done snorkel excursions with the ship as well because they make sure that we get back in time and they are well run. On our last trip to St Thomas, we snorkeled in the morning and were back on board for lunch and then had time to grab a cab and go shopping for a few hours. In St Maarten, we shopped near the dock in the AM then went on an island tour for the afternoon that provided a great scenic drive from the Dutch side to the French side, some time to wander around in Marigot and a wonderful overview of the island and its customs.

 

I'm sure you'll enjoy the cruise no matter what you do and these are all great ports!

 

Have a great time!

[barbgazz]

We never do ship excursions. We usually just take a cab to one of the nicest beaches and spend the day there and then do some shopping. If you want to tour, there are always vans/etc. outside the piers offering tours at a much cheaper rate than the ship tours.

[erin_cruisers]

On our cruise we didn't take any organized excursions at all. we are more of the 'self-exploring' kind of folks! :)

 

Another question re the ships excursions - I printed out the list of excursions for our upcoming Bermuda cruise, and while all the excursions and costs are there (and there are plenty), no specific days or times are indicated.

How are you supposed to know what date or what time the excursions is offered for? :confused:

Anybody know?

[negc]

I think the question of ordering shore excursions through the cruiseline or when you go ashore mostly depends on the type of excursion you are looking at and the amount of time you will be in port. If it is a beach excursion or shopping and sightseeing tour, you can probably book it for less by waiting until you get to the port and off the ship. However, if you are interested in an excursion with limited capacity, such as America's Cup in St. Maarten, BOB tour in St. Thomas etc., you probably would be best advised to book through the cruiseline, or, if it is possible, online directly with the tour operator. On that type of excursion you might be shut out if you wait until you arrive at the pier. You should also remember that beaches in the Caribbean are public not private so you need not pay for admission unless you want to use the facilities of hotels on the beach.

[maxs mom]

erin cruisers...To find out the times for the excursions, go ahead and click on "purchase"....that takes you a step further and the days and times are listed there. You don't have to purchase anything.

[wallie5446]

To us it has always depended on the size of our group. When it is just a few of us we book thru the Ship, for the reasons posted in a few above.

 

But also cause this is another way to get to know some others that you are on ship with. Met some folks from Atlanta back in '94 that we became great friends with on a ship booked tour. We have met for 3 land vacations, and 3 more cruises with their family over the past 10 yrs.

 

If we are part of a large group, then we try and book so the whole group can do things together. Thru the line or on our own. just another idea for you.

EW

[3redheads]

Here's a link to the port of calls board:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

 

I also posted a poll on this board asking this same question:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=164133

 

Good luck and have a great time!

Kim

[wrp96]

It depends on what type of excursions you want whether you should book through the cruise line or not. Again, the advantage to booking through the cruise line is that if the excursion is delayed the ship will wait. If you book yourself, remember to leave plenty of time to get back to the ship. Especially in St. Thomas if you want to go shopping or the beach, just wait until you get there and catch a cab. When I was there in January, I went on a snorkel excursion in the morning through the cruiseline (which was wonderful) and then was back in time to go shopping at Havensight, then go over to Sapphire Beach for awhile, and then go downtown for shopping and lunch for awhile all using taxis. Also, beware of overbooking yourself on excursions. You don't have to have something planned for every port.

[erin_cruisers]

max'smom:

To find out the times for the excursions, go ahead and click on "purchase"....

:)

Thanks, I did not know that!!

I will have to try that when I get home tonight... :D

[birdie16]

Just want to add my 2 cents to the already great advice you have been given on this thead. Our first cruise we booked an excursion for each port and then when we met some people on board we wanted to explore with we couldn't. Sometimes you get the best ideas from people on the ship and it is better to have more flexibility.

[FMZ]

Hi, how are ya? We are also on the May 1st sailing of AOS! It's SO CLOSE!!! This is our 9th cruise and we usually end up doing a bit of each, even though we prefer to go on our own. We are little of the adventurous type, so beaching it doesnt always work for us (but sometimes it does!) Example: We really want to do the Canopy thing in St Maartin and in order to do that we have to book through the ship because the place that offers it will not let you book independently. In Curacoa we want to snorkle with the sea lions so I found out where (the aquarium) and booked directly with them and saved $80! Last time we were in Aruba we opted for the jeep tour through De Palm instead of the ship and it was much cheaper and we had a smaller group. So my BFO is that you pick WHAT you want to do first and then book it (or not) accordinally!

 

Maybe we'll see you onboard...

[journey2002]

I don't have much experience as we are getting ready to go on our first cruise this June, but I can tell you what we decided to do (for what it's worth). We booked all of our excursions with RCCL. I feel more confident with the knowledge that if something happens on our excursion, we won't have blown the rest of the cruise, because the ship will be waiting for us.

 

If I were just wanting to do a beach or shop, we would have done different, but with wanting to do activities, we booked through the ship.

 

No matter what you do...have fun planning!

[Penguinlo]

We are on that sailing also! We have a group set up for a meet and mingle, if you would like to join us, just go the the roll call board and sign up!

 

As to your question about excursions, on our first cruise, we only did ship excursions. We were lucky we did because our boat from the stingray city snorkel broke down on the way back :eek: and they held the ship for us!

 

That being said, this time we are scuba diving and I booked those trips on our own, the others, I booked throught the ship. We wanted to do the Animal Encounter in Caracao and the only way to book was through the ship. You could not book this one on your own on a Wednesdays at the Sea Aquarium. I guess, it really depends on what you want to do.

 

Hope you decide to join our M&M!:D

[OCruisers]

Here's a good excursions we booked through the ship in ARUBA:

 

Review: DePalm Island "Ticket to Paradise" (click here)

(Posted on Ports of Call Board under Aruba)

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[lephysteria]

Hi,

 

We just returned back from this cruise! My review is available to read in my signature.

I would say that these islands are so well supplied with Taxi's, that unless you had your heart set on doing a ship tour, that you'd be safe to explore the island on your own.

 

We kept in mind that if the ship said be back at 5, we planned to be back at 4. It just gave us an hour to spare in case something happened. That was the theme of our cruise ... in case something happened! :D