booking excursions non carnival

[mbclaw13]

has anyone booked an excursion with a company not carnival, i read somewhere that some one booked and the cruise cancelled since they didnt book directly, i found a great tour for my family but am scared to book it and then get there and have no tour. curious if others had issues

[klmorg]

We nearly always book our excursions independently, and not with the cruiseline. We have never had any problems. Just do your research first.

[KenMo]

Are you saying that Carnival cancelled someone's cruise because they booked non-Carnival excursions? If so, that's a new one on me.

 

Many of us on CC use independent tour operators. I haven't booked a Carnival excursion in years.

 

If you go over to the Ports of Call boards, you find tons of info on who to use and who to stay away from.

[Berzle986]

has anyone booked an excursion with a company not carnival, i read somewhere that some one booked and the cruise cancelled since they didnt book directly, i found a great tour for my family but am scared to book it and then get there and have no tour. curious if others had issues

Yes. Our Victory Cruise we booked every tour ourselves. Never had any problems. Just search on ports of call boards. Only perk for booking through Carnival is if something happens the ship won't leave you. We did all of ours the earliest you could.

[pe4all]

If it is the first time you have been to that port, you may not want to "do it on your own." If you have been there before, and find a reliable company which gives refunds in the event the ship misses the port, bad weather, etc. and they leave enough time to get back to the ship without you worrying about being left behind, go for it! Read reviews of the excursion/company before you book it.

[mbclaw13]

thank you guys for the leads and the info all so quick and helpful:)

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Do you mean the vendor cancelled the people out of the excursion because they booked directly and not through Carnival? That could happen if Carnival uses that vendor and have an agreement with them that cruise passengers can't book directly. I've never run into that and have booked our own excursions for years, but I've heard of it before. If that's the case, when you contact the vendor or look at their website, they/it should say if cruise passengers have to book through their cruise line.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

If it is the first time you have been to that port, you may not want to "do it on your own." If you have been there before, and find a reliable company which gives refunds in the event the ship misses the port, bad weather, etc. and they leave enough time to get back to the ship without you worrying about being left behind, go for it! Read reviews of the excursion/company before you book it.

 

 

Just curious as to why it would make a difference if you've been to the port before? :confused:

[Cruise, J.D.]

Do some research and you will be fine. The reputable 3rd party operators have a reputation to keep up. They will also generally have a cancellation policy. Check the port-of-call boards. Good luck!

[Herfnerd]

We always book thru third party tour operators and have never had an issue.

 

But IIRC, in Cozumel, Chankanaab has an exclusive agreement with Carnival and will not allow you to book any of their excursions outside of CCL.....

[Crazy4Koko]

We always book thru third party tour operators and have never had an issue.

 

But IIRC, in Cozumel, Chankanaab has an exclusive agreement with Carnival and will not allow you to book any of their excursions outside of CCL.....

 

 

cruised Carnival last year and booked Chankanaab privately for my mother and I. Usually, as long as you don't state you are with a cruise line, there isn't an issue.

[not-enough-cruising]

Agree, with a little research, and attention to timing and schedules, booking independently can save you significant $$ as well as open up numerous options that you otherwise would not be exposed to. Some of our best island experiences have come from tours/excursions booked through independent locals. :cool:

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We neverbook through the cruise company...

[Yvonne]

We had always booked excursions only with the cruise line...until our most recent cruise on the Freedom.

 

In Antigua we booked an island tour with Lawrence of Antigua. We had a wonderful 3-hour tour of the island in a private van for the 3 of us, with one of Lawrence's drivers, Abe. We made sure we would be back to the ship well before the stated time to be back.

 

We felt very safe on the tour, and know that tours like that are how they make their living. And he had a cell phone (and we had ours as well) we knew that if the van broke down he could call for help.

 

I did my research before booking with this tour company so that helped too.

 

We are planning to book a tour in Roatan with Victor Bodden on our cruise next January.

 

Booking on your own usually saves you quite a bit of money, and the tours are smaller and not on huge buses like with the cruise ship. Sometimes you can get a private tour just for your own family or group, we really enjoyed that with Abe and learned a lot more about the island than we would have on a ship sponsored tour I'm sure.

[celticd1]

We always book our excursions independently. As others have mentioned, do your homework first. Read the Ports of Call boards, Google the tour operators for reviews and be very aware of timing. Remember, ship time and local time are not always the same.