Shore Excursion - what time to return to ship?

[lissa77]

Hi. First cruise this summer (50 days!) for me and DS8 and we really don't want to miss our ride! If we do a beach day on our own, what time do we need to return to the ship? To be more specific, we will be on Oasis June 21-28, 2014. While in Cozumel, I am thinking we might do a sea trek helmet thing when we arrrive and then go to Mr. Sanchos or Playa Mia for the rest of the day. According to the itinerary, we arrive at Cozumel at 8am and leave at 7pm, which I understand is 7am and 6pm local time. (Right so far?) Can we do the sea trek thing at 8:30 am and plan to stay at the beach until 4:30 pm (both local time), and be safely back on the ship before it leaves?

 

I have a tendency to be late for everything I do, so I am trying to plan ahead!

 

Thanks!

[joepeka]

The general rule (and what the ship announcements will probably tell you) is to be back on-board no later than 30 minutes before scheduled departure. If you plan to be back 1 1/2 hours prior to departure, you should be fine (and it allows for any problems on the return trip to the ship).

Edited May 2, 2014 by joepeka

[BND]

Hi. First cruise this summer (50 days!) for me and DS8 and we really don't want to miss our ride! If we do a beach day on our own, what time do we need to return to the ship? To be more specific, we will be on Oasis June 21-28, 2014. While in Cozumel, I am thinking we might do a sea trek helmet thing when we arrrive and then go to Mr. Sanchos or Playa Mia for the rest of the day. According to the itinerary, we arrive at Cozumel at 8am and leave at 7pm, which I understand is 7am and 6pm local time. (Right so far?) Can we do the sea trek thing at 8:30 am and plan to stay at the beach until 4:30 pm (both local time), and be safely back on the ship before it leaves?

 

I have a tendency to be late for everything I do, so I am trying to plan ahead!

 

Thanks!

 

Latest boarding time is 1/2 hour before the ship sails (although they will allow people to board until they sail, but to be safe we're always back onboard about an hour ahead of time) and you don't want to be "that person" lol. Cozumel is notorious for runners (late boarders). You should have plenty of time to get from Mr. Sancho's back to the ship. It's pretty close to the pier.

Edited May 2, 2014 by BND

[Vanilla]

Lissa, we are on the same cruise as you . Oasis of the Seas, June 21 - 28. I hope you will join our roll call. Its under Royal Caribbean

Hope to meet you on board.

[lissa77]

Perfect! That means we have time to do both. Thanks!

 

Vanilla, hope to meet you too! I think our room is right under yours.

 

 

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[tidygirl]

You are supposed to be on board a half hour before departure time. I always prefer to be back in the area of the ship 1 to 1 1/2 hours ahead of time that way I know I can make it back to the ship in time. We always use this time to look around in the shops if we want any souvenirs. We were on a cruise last week was supposed to be leaving and they had all but one gangway up, I saw several security people talking on phones figuring something was up well 3 people came leisurely walking toward the ship at 5:10 if it would have been me I would have been running as fast as my little legs could take me!! We saw some other people a different night coming on late as well. I prefer not to stress myself out like that!

[Paulette3028]

Hi. First cruise this summer (50 days!) for me and DS8 and we really don't want to miss our ride! If we do a beach day on our own, what time do we need to return to the ship? To be more specific, we will be on Oasis June 21-28, 2014. While in Cozumel, I am thinking we might do a sea trek helmet thing when we arrrive and then go to Mr. Sanchos or Playa Mia for the rest of the day. According to the itinerary, we arrive at Cozumel at 8am and leave at 7pm, which I understand is 7am and 6pm local time. (Right so far?) Can we do the sea trek thing at 8:30 am and plan to stay at the beach until 4:30 pm (both local time), and be safely back on the ship before it leaves?

 

I have a tendency to be late for everything I do, so I am trying to plan ahead!

 

Thanks!

 

If you have a tendency to be late, realize if you are late, the ship will leave without you. I always book our excursions through the cruise line. If for some reason the excursion runs late (for whatever reason) the ship will in that case wait for all to return from the excursion.

 

If you arrange your own excursion it is your responsibility to return to the ship on time. Keep this in mind, if you have a tendency to be late; or as a very good friend of mine would say, 'get sidetracked easily and forget about the time'.

 

I may spend a few dollars more on the excursion booking it through the cruise line, but I know the ship will not leave without me.

[Raenstoirm]

You are supposed to be on board a half hour before departure time. I always prefer to be back in the area of the ship 1 to 1 1/2 hours ahead of time that way I know I can make it back to the ship in time. We always use this time to look around in the shops if we want any souvenirs.

 

This is us too. We always leave the ship early in the morning and head out for our adventure and then come back around an hour or so before we have to to get back on the ship to look around the pier shops and buy the obligatory t-shirt. Works out well for us and no stress of maybe missing the ship.

[lissa77]

Thanks, everyone. I should say I have a tendency to underestimate how long this will take, but I am committed to making it to the ship on time, lol. This was very helpful though - I decided that we do have time to do both excursions and we are all booked. So excited!

 

 

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[NorbertsNiece]

guy got lucky..... they sent back for him..... (Disney)

[OCruisers]

Do be quite realistic about how long it could (traffic, etc.) take you to get back to the ship.

LuLu

[MrsPete]

In my opinion, the oft-suggested 30 minutes isn't nearly enough. We have always said we want to be back ashore two hours ahead of time. If anything goes wrong (traffic, twisted ankle, wrong turn), with two hours to spare, nothing's going to go wrong. It's never been a problem because we tend to leave the ship early, and then we get tired . . . So we don't mind coming back with two hours to spare.

[OCruisers]

When you book excursions through the ship, you don't have to worry about it. :)

LuLu

[Paulette3028]

When you book excursions through the ship, you don't have to worry about it. :)

LuLu

 

This is so true....but too many people feel that the money they may save 'doing it themselves' is more important. Some people want to squeeze more than one excursion in on day and leave themselves very little extra time to get back to ship....for me....I book my excursions through Royal, then no worry.

[tidygirl]

In our experiences when we book off the ship the taxi driver or tour operator usually plan the day so you are back to the ship in plenty of time!

We have been on 10 cruises and most of our excursions have been done off the ship as we usually have paid for 5 people the savings add up, plus we have smaller groups with a lot more interaction and unique experiences than on our ship excursions.

[lissa77]

Makes sense to me. We booked the dunns falls/dolphin swim in Jamaica through RCI because it seems like a lot to do in one day and it isn't close to the port, meaning lots can go wrong in terms of timing, but I didn't want to do the beach break in Cozumel through the ship. As long as I plan ahead, with your help :), this excursion seems totally doable. Saving a few bucks was nice but was not as important as having the flexibility to spend the time we do have on the island doing the things that we want to do most. This is DS's first time in the Caribbean. I expect that playing on the beach and in the ocean will be the main draw for him, but he could surprise me and want to walk around downtown or want to head right back to the ship.

 

 

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