Carnival Shore Excusion or Independent Company?

[bella23]

Hi! Getting married on The Dream 10/12/13 and can't wait!!!! My fiance and I will be sailing with our 4 children and trying to keep the cost down (yeah right...with 4 kids?). Anyhow, wanted to see what everyone thought or did on their shore excursions. I had heard it was cheaper to book through an independent company vs. Carnival. I wouldn't even know what company to use - any suggestions? Thanks for your help!

 

178 days and counting!

 

Deb

[jaxie001]

Congratulations Deb!! The time will fly by :) we've done both private and ship excursions, private was cheaper, depending on your ports I would say check the forums in the Ports of Call section and see what folks have done/recommend there. I've read some people just get off the ship and pick up some tours on the peir, I'm of the I want to be prepared camp and pre book lol for example in Belize we really wanted to cave tube and zipline, and found a great tourguide privately and much cheaper thru the port of call forum.

Jackie

Hi! Getting married on The Dream 10/12/13 and can't wait!!!! My fiance and I will be sailing with our 4 children and trying to keep the cost down (yeah right...with 4 kids?). Anyhow, wanted to see what everyone thought or did on their shore excursions. I had heard it was cheaper to book through an independent company vs. Carnival. I wouldn't even know what company to use - any suggestions? Thanks for your help!

 

178 days and counting!

 

Deb

 

 

 

 

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[Shatima]

Yeah I 2nd that.. I have done both.. On your own is Cheaper, and I Thankful to say nothing has never happen to me.. But The only thing U need to keep in mind is.. If for ANY REASON U get back late, the ship will NOT wait for you.. If u are on A Carnival one, and its late, then U are good. I would also say check the Boards and also Join UR roll call and she wahtever one is doing.. Even if U dont want to join Ur roll call Read and see what they are talking about.. Trust me everyone does it (but If I know a lil bit or something towards I try to help)!!!! Also go the Ports Board and look up Ur port and see what others are doing/the Companies.. Jamaica I know Pete something. Grand Caymen~ I do Mama Rosa (thats soon as U get off U tell them U want to go on a tour of the Island with Mama Rosa (check out my Reviews)

Good Luck to you and have fun...

[Gingee]

We have done various ways also. One time we booked right off the ship, several times we have done Carnival excursions (this time we have three Carnival excursions and one private booked).

[uvakat]

Hi! Getting married on The Dream 10/12/13 and can't wait!!!! My fiance and I will be sailing with our 4 children and trying to keep the cost down (yeah right...with 4 kids?). Anyhow, wanted to see what everyone thought or did on their shore excursions. I had heard it was cheaper to book through an independent company vs. Carnival. I wouldn't even know what company to use - any suggestions? Thanks for your help!

 

178 days and counting!

 

Deb

 

It looks like you are going on the Western Carribean cruise for the Dream (If I'm wrong , we just did taxis in the Eastern Carribean ports and that worked out really well). We've been through some of the ports twice in the last two years, so these are the companies/excursions that we used that we would recommend. We booked through Carnival if you can't get the tour privately, or if the cost savings would not be worth it. Also if there is an issue of time, then we booked through the boat to ensure that we would make it back.

 

Cozumel - Carnival's Salsa and Salsa (not sure if it would be fun for kids). We have also done the Xrails/Jade Cavern trip through the company directly. Looking at their website now it looks like you have to book through Carnival. It was a blast to drive the Xrails, just bring clothes you don't care about throwing away. When we got back, I gave a bag to our room steward with shoes included and he just laughed.

 

Belize - VIV Tours for cave tubbing --> Best part is there is no deposit. In addition the guide was awesome and the rafts are linked. There is a backrest on the tubes too. From what our families told us, they didn't have to walk up the trail with their tubes which is a change from when we went through the same company last year.

 

Coral Breeze Tours- Shark/Ray Alley with Caye Caulker --> we did the no lunch option since we wanted to go to a place we found at the tip of caye caulker (delicious jerk ribs btw). The other thing is they really did time the excursion to make sure you got back to the port an hour before you had to be back on board.

 

Roatan- Both times we've done the Tabyana Beach Break through Carnival. The beach is awesome and since we have our own snorkels we didn't have to pay anything beyond the trip there. We also found a good shack to eat at right up against the iguana wall that had delicious fish & shrimp tacos. We would not hesitate to book this again. Last time a friend and I said yes to the guys in the kayaks offering a tour just for tips. The snorkeling was amazing and he took us out where I have never been before. We've stayed closer to the beach and this time since we had a guide with a kayak following we were able to go towards the deeper water and the better reefs. We saw so much amazing stuff, ie baracudas, fish, coral, lobster, sea cumcuber(eww), etc.

 

Costa maya- Native Choice Tours to the Chacchoben Maya Ruins. They put us in two vans and gave us a separate tour with our own guide since we had 17-18 people go on the same tour. It was pretty neat and worth going at least once.

 

Hope this helps