Pros and Cons booking excursions w/ independent vendor

[cruise bear]

We are sailing FOS in November. I have heard from friends that they found better deals booking excursions with the "locals" rather than through the cruise ship. I want to save money, but I also don't want to miss a connection or risk losing money if something is cancelled. Any thoughts?

[A2Mich]

If you book your own excursions, you can generally get a cheaper price, and many times a more personalized tour, or a tour that is off the beaten path.

 

However, if you book an independent excursion, that is, one NOT sold through the cruise line....if your tour bus/taxi/boat, etc breaks down and you're late getting back to the pier - don't count on the ship waiting for you - they generally won't. If you fall asleep on the beach and miss the taxi - they won't be waiting for you. The cruise lines cannot and will not keep track of every passenger and their various independent tour operators.

 

If you book a ship-sold excursion and there is a problem with the tour getting back late for some reason, the tour operator will contact the ship and the ship will wait until all cruise-line sponsored tour guests are on board. You pay more for the tours onboard, as the cruise line is making a hefty profit (sometimes as much as 50%). But, there is the safety-margin and peace of mind built into that.

 

If you're booking your own excursions to save some money, that's great, but be sure you are able to afford to fly to the next port just in case you're late. It has happened before....

[bus man]

Pros of using a local vendor:

 

- Usually fewer guests than on a ship's tour; less of a "cattle call" feel.

- More personalized service.

- Usually lower price.

- Greater ability to customize the tour to your desires.

 

 

Pros of taking a ship's tour:

 

- Usually (but not always) they use tour buses instead of smaller vehicles. (Some may see this as a con, but I find the tour buses to be more comfortable; plus, young children can ride in them without needing a car seat.)

- Easier to make arrangements with the cruise line than through a private company; less planning required.

- If something goes wrong, the cruise line will stand behind their tour (in theory, anyway).

- If the tour is late getting back to the dock, the ship will wait; or if it can't, the cruise line is reponsible for getting you to the next port.

- If the ship cannot make port for any reason, the price of the tour will be refunded.

 

If an independent tour company gets you back to the dock too late, then it's too bad for you; the ship almost certainly will not wait for you, and you are on your own to catch up to it (at your expense). In practice, reputable private tour companies are well aware of the ship's schedules, and will do their utmost to ensure that their guests are back in time. Often they will refund the cost if the ship misses the port; but be sure and check the small print on this point.

 

Lots of people on Cruise Critic swear by the independent tours, and you'll find many recommendations for reputable companies. There's also lots of disdain for the ship's tours, but I don't think that's really fair. As you can see, both types of tours have their pros and cons (I'm sure I'm missing some on each side), and it really comes down to which attributes are more important TO YOU.

[willco]

I usually, but not always, try to book none ship excursions. My biggest criteria is when will it get me back to the ship. I want at least a 2 hour window of error. I want to be back to the ship 2 hours before departure. I have never had a problem.

 

Will

[CharlesCutiePie]

I have done both. Yes, you can save a lot doing private tours or just researching the ports yourself and deciding what you want to do.

 

Usually what I do is see the times I will be in port and any tours I book I make sure there is at least an hour leeway to get back to port.

 

I can say that on one cruise our tour bus did break down and we were glad we had booked thru the cruise line. It was an 8 hour tour so it was cutting close to get back to ship and that is why we deciding to go with the cruise line. We ended up being almost an hour late.

[Kellie Poodle]

I have booked private excursions and taken cruise sponsored ones. There is no single answer. You have to look at each excursion, the length of time it takes and the availability of making it back to the ship in time. If it's a city tour and there is transportation available to the port, by all means consider it. If it's a tour that's really far out into the boondocks, you might think better of it.

 

As for losing money if a private excursion is cancelled, I always add extra to the value of my trip to the trip insurance to cover such events. They are rare, but they do happen.

[cruise bear]

Thanks everyone! These are the kind of replies I was hoping to get. I have only cruised twice before, and this will be my first with kids. I just want to give them the best vacation.

[ryano]

I am currently looking at an accessible tour excursion for St. Thomas that is 49 per person through RCI. Same excursion booked independently is 37 per person.

 

No doubt in my mind RCI will be getting my money. Sometimes peace of mind is priceless.

[wieslaw]

I agree with most of the posts above mine. I/ we have done both excursions before; the ship sponsored and private.

There was one that I was so happy that it was a ship's sponsored tour - we were 2 hours late coming back to the ship ( 2 buses) ...... and the ship was waiting.

I always feel a little safer on a ship sponsored excursion.

I am not sure about this, but I read some place on this board that there are some requirements that the vendors providing the tours for the cruise line have to meet. Their drivers are checked , their equipment ( buses) is inspected to make sure that it is safe, they have to have some insurance.

The independent tour operators can provide better ( small number of people) tours and often for less money than cruise line charges but there is more risk involved.

[DonnaK]

We generally book private tours in the Caribbean, but only through popular and reputable tour guides that are recommended in the ports of call section of Cruise Critic. They are usually certified and are held to safety checks. Their livelihood depends upon them getting you back to the ship on time, and they will not risk their reputation but having you miss the ship. There are ways to minimize the risk...as someone else mentioned, leave a cushion of a few hours returning before sailaway to allow for an unexpected delay. We take early morning tours that return several hours early. (For example, I wouldn't hesitate to tour with Bernard in St Maarten, or Papa Bear in St Thomas, or Marva Shaw in Jamaica, etc, because they are well-established and very reliable private guides)

 

Exceptions would be if we were venturing very far from the ship, or taking an all=day excursion. Then we'd want the security of being on a ship's tour. Also, as someone else mentioned, if there isn't a huge price difference, then the ship's tour might be the preferred option, especially if there are special needs.

 

In many ports, we just grab a cab to a nearby beach, and then arrange for the driver to pick us up at least 2 hours before we actually need to be back.

[alwalaska]

I am currently looking at an accessible tour excursion for St. Thomas that is 49 per person through RCI. Same excursion booked independently is 37 per person.

 

No doubt in my mind RCI will be getting my money. Sometimes peace of mind is priceless.

 

Be careful with booking "accessible" tours through the cruise line. I don't have experience with RCCL since my parents only cruised with us once on Princess, but a tour listed as accessible had a bus with steep steps. It did however have a location set aside to put wheel chairs and walked that could be folded up. There was not an accessible bus with a lift.

 

If you book through the tour independently, you can verify the extent of the accessibility.

 

As for the original question, we do both. I have seen ships leave ship sponsored tours when they break down or have a problem. Yes, they are at least partially financially responsible then to get you to the ship eventually, but you still have the frustration and you have to do what they say.

 

We only book through the ship now if it is a location where I am worried about getting back to the ship, getting off the ship (when tendering - ship excursions have first priority), safety issues are involved, or I really want to do it and can't find it independently.

[ryano]

Be careful with booking "accessible" tours through the cruise line. I don't have experience with RCCL since my parents only cruised with us once on Princess, but a tour listed as accessible had a bus with steep steps. It did however have a location set aside to put wheel chairs and walked that could be folded up. There was not an accessible bus with a lift.

 

.

 

Thank you so much for the headsup. This is definitely a bus with a wheelchair lift on it :)

[denamo]

The independent excursions we've taken have been through recommendations given on Cruise Critic. We've been fortunate not to run into any problems. The independent guides want to keep their reputations and recommendations here on CC. We have never been anywhere close to missing the ship with an independent excursion. Of course, unforeseen incidents do happen with both that can cause excursions to be late as a previous poster reported.

 

The one criteria we've used for booking an independent excursion is seeing the recommendations for an independent consistently posted here on CC.

 

Have a great time on the Freedom.

[BillOh]

We are sailing FOS in November. I have heard from friends that they found better deals booking excursions with the "locals" rather than through the cruise ship. I want to save money, but I also don't want to miss a connection or risk losing money if something is cancelled. Any thoughts?

 

From one Buckeye to another, I understand your trepidation. For me now, I usually try to stick to Royal excursions my first time in a port. I've had great luck finding private excursions in ports I've been to before. I have used Cruise Critic as a guide and went with excursions that were praised here. Bernard's tours in St Maarten as an example. Look for multiple good reviews here though, I did see one example on here of a scuba operator in St Thomas logging on and promoting their tour like they were a customer :rolleyes:

 

Another generality I have found private excursions to be a better value. As far as getting you back to the ship, these tour operators depend highly on word of mouth and work hard for you. Do check out their refund policy as well as prepayment requirements.

[cruiseguy1016]

Thanks everyone! These are the kind of replies I was hoping to get. I have only cruised twice before, and this will be my first with kids. I just want to give them the best vacation.

 

I'm in the same boat. For our first two cruises we only took ship sponsored excursions. On our third, we decided to venture out and look into a private tour. I did a bunch of research on Cruise Critic and found an operator that came highly recommended. With a little bit of anxiety, we booked it. It was one of the best shore excursions we have ever had. Ever since then we now look for independent operators for excursions. Again, we research Cruise Critic and always book with recommended operators. We try to find tours that give at least a couple of hours of time to spare getting back to the ship. We have never had a problem. We still look at the tours that RCI offers and sometimes they offer things we want to do do that we can't find with a local operator so we book with RCI. We depart on Serenade next week. We stop at five islands and I have four tours booked with independent companies. The other fifth stop (St. Thomas) I am going on my own, taking the Red Hook ferry to St. John, renting a Jeep and touring the island on my own.

 

Do some research here and Cruise Critic and I'm sure you'll be fine. There are a lot of cruisers here with years of experience. I've never been disappointed following the recommendations of the "experts".

[tutzig]

We have done both as well.

 

It comes down to cost benefit and enjoyment.

 

We read and saw multiple reviews for the cave tubing in Belize. We went with an independent, and while we were there, we saw what the differences were. Doing it independent, we got an extra cave, lunch and a group of 11 compared to a LONG line of cruise tours.

 

The personal experiences that were shared with the kids/teens in our group was amazing.

 

In St. Thomas, we booked a day sail independently and it will probably go down as one of our best excursions that we have ever done.

 

For our upcoming cruise, we have to do one excursion through the cruise, because they have exclusive rights, and we couldn't book on our own.

 

It comes down to reading reviews and checking to make sure they are a reputable company. Just the fact that you are on here, asking questions, and checking reviews, puts you miles ahead of the people that walk off of the ship, up to a vendor on the pier and seeing what happens..

[emelvee]

If we dock, I'll usually do an excursion on our own.

 

If we tender, I'll often book an excursion through the ship. I remember how long it took to get off the ship in Grand Cayman; we got off after all the people on ship excursions did.

[cruise pup]

When I was in Israel on the Vision last October I used an independent tour company that was highly recommended by lots of others on this website. It also came highly recommened on trip advisor. I literally save hundreds of dollars off the ship's tours, travelled in comfort in smaller mini-buses (max 16 people). One couple on one of my tours couldn't get space on one of the other's and had to book through the ship for that day. She didn't like it at all. Apparently spent too much time for shopping. So that's an example where booking independent was terrific.

 

On the other side, I booked an independent in Dominica, again with someone recommended here. However, he overbooked and farmed out my booking with another person who wouldn't take us to the places we had already confirmed. Needless to say I was less than happy.

 

So there you have it. I guess it's a matter of, "You pays your money and you takes your chances."

[alwalaska]

Last year on the Star we booked on our own in Cozumel and were less than pleased with the results. I was super busy with work when I got home, so it took almost a month for me to write a letter of complaint to the tour operator that we booked through. I received an immediate reponse with apologies and they said since so much time had passed and thety had already paid the vendor, they needed to check with the actual place that provided the tour (we booked through a service) and that they would get back to us.

 

A short time later, I received a very nice letter and a refund of over 60% of what we paid for the tour. I was more than happy with that resolution.

 

I have heard of people complaining about a bad excursion when they got back on board and sometimes they were given a full or partial refund, sometimes they were given some sort of free drink, and sometimes they received an "I'm sorry, but we work with independent operators and can't control all of the specifics".

 

Things can go good or bad both ways.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We almost never book ship excursions, mostly due to price and some less than good experiences. We will book a ship excursion if time is extremely tight or nothing else goes to where we want.

 

Most private excursions do not require payment until after the tour. A few require a deposit or credit card # for a 'hold', mostly in Europe. We've never had a private excursion that was bad, so haven't requested any money back or refused to pay at the end.

 

Especially with kids, often the best bet is just to find transportation to a beach. Many children don't appreciate/tolerate much time in tour buses seeing the sights. At least do a tour that has plenty of stops and active things to do, such as zip lines, water park, snorkeling, etc.

 

At many ports it is easy to just walk off the ship and to a beach area or find a cab or other local transport. We've sometimes taken tours from locals who stand at the port holding signs and have been fine.

 

Usually we book ahead with tour operators that are recommended here on Cruise Critic in the ports of call boards.

[cruise pup]

Keep in mind that there are some ports where the cruise lines have a virtual monopoly on tours and you might not be able to book independently. I wanted to book a catamaran snorkel excursion in St. Kitts and was told that all of the cats were already taken by the cruise lines. I had no choice but to book the excursion through the ship. At least I got to go.

[DonnaK]

Keep in mind that there are some ports where the cruise lines have a virtual monopoly on tours and you might not be able to book independently. I wanted to book a catamaran snorkel excursion in St. Kitts and was told that all of the cats were already taken by the cruise lines. I had no choice but to book the excursion through the ship. At least I got to go.

 

Good point. This was true in Halifax NS as well. Very few private tours available. You had to arrange very far in advance because the few available once sold out quickly. Anything else only had afternoon times available, which cut it too close getting back to the ship in time.

[johneeo]

We are sailing FOS in November. I have heard from friends that they found better deals booking excursions with the "locals" rather than through the cruise ship. I want to save money, but I also don't want to miss a connection or risk losing money if something is cancelled. Any thoughts?

 

The key is to do the research here on the Ports of Call and also Trip advisor.

 

For example, last year, we did a private sailing snorkeling excursion. The sail boat left right from the dock. It was very good, 4 hours, sailed at noon and back at 4, which gave us about 3 good hours to do some other stuff on the island, $49 per person.

 

The year before we did a sailing snorkeling excursion thru the cruise line. Got off our ship, got herded to an open air taxi, sat around for half an hour, 30 minute ride to the marina, cost about $90. Took all day.

[Jimnbigd]

It is easier to cancel or change a ship excursion if you need to -- perhaps you are not feeling well or otherwise decided to not go or to change the excursion. I think you have to give 24 hours notice, but you can do it right on the ship. I have done some independent places, such as Nachi Cocom in Cozumel. I hear Victor Bodden tours in Roatan are also very good.

[lovevacadays]

Looks like you received alot of well-balanced answers. I would say that if you decide on a private tour, be sure and do research on cruise critic and trip advisor.com on that tour company. I wouldn't tour with a private tour company unless I read many, many positive reviews. Check their cancellation policy as well. Many of the more popular ones will refund your money should your ship not be able to make the port.