Is is better to book excursions on your own or through Carnival

[Smart Arsenal Fan]

So just spoke to to my PDC friend just to confirm my info and she said pretty much all fellow operators have submitted bids to work with the various Cruise Lines.

 

Most interesting, "those that get turned down regularly are pretty bitter and much sour grapes." :rolleyes:

 

 

(Again, one (well, two) person's opinion. )

[rockdoctor]

It's all about comfort level. On our last cruise to Cozumel, our Coba excursion, which we bought on the ship, was running late. Traffic was so bad we all got off the bus and ran through the cars to the ferry which was waiting for us. They must have held the ferry 20 minutes. You might be OK staying in port, but if you are going any distance, too risky.

[elainmir]

I tend to book with Carnival because they won't leave me! :D and use the excursion pricing guarantee to price match other vendors

[bplazo]

I prefer to book privately. I have never had a problem and the tours are better than the ships.

[nydney1]

If this is your first venture into cruising, book through the cruise line.

 

Now that we are seasoned cruisers and experienced travelers we do both, it depends on what is being offered. I will tell you that it is tough to beat Carnival with the new price protection.

[lazyart]

Have yet to book a ship excursion and have no desire to do so.

 

On our honeymoon we cruised to Key West, Belize & Costa Maya.

 

Key West we did ourselves because DW knows the area. And if something happened, no big deal... we were still in the US.

Belize we went zip lining and cave tubing. It was interesting seeing people from our ship doing the ship excursion at the same place. It was even more interesting to see them get out of the water two-thirds of the way through while we continued on. Smaller group = more time to enjoy the excursion.

 

In Costa Maya we did a ruins tour. I contacted the tour guide and let him know DW and I were celebrating our honeymoon. They did something special for us. The tour also happened to grow up in the area that he was doing the tour of. His mother was the community midwife. We got a perspective that you just couldn't otherwise get.

 

Tomorrow we head out on a surprise cruise for DW's birthday. Again, booking our own excursions. Have contacted our Ocho Rios tour guide. He'll be waiting for us in port with a sign saying "Happy Birthday" to DW. Personalization... you won't get that from the ship.

[pjhootch]

We usually book independently. Sometimes we arrange it ahead of time, and less frequently we just figure it out in port. The ports of call board are great for helping you find tour operators with a good reputation.

 

The operators that work with cruise passengers are well aware of CC and other websites. They know word of mouth is what keeps their business going.

 

It not only saves money, but the groups are smaller, less crowded, more hands on time (if you are doing an active excursion) and more flexible. We have had ports changed up on us and had to contact the tour guides from the ship's email. They were on top of it. In Grand Cayman one time we had to tender into a different pier because of rough weather- and the guide was there waiting for us when we hit the shore, even though we didn't get a chance to contact him as it was happening.

[JimAOk1945]

I always book through the cruise line. To me, it's well worth paying more to have the peace of mind knowing the cruise line is responsible for us should anything go wrong.

 

The Bahamas is a great place to visit. Have a nice cruise.

[elliair]

I would rather pay a little extra and have the peace of mind that we're going to get back to the ship if something were to happen. That's the guarantee that Carnival gives. In the past we did do an excursion on our own, and what were we thinking? We made it back, but lots of stuff could have happened and almost did.

[SFplusP]

I was a first time cruiser, and we did 100% of our excursions through locals and NOT carnival, for one basic reason. Kids. Going local, the kids were free every time. Through carnival they would have had to pay. That saved us probably about $500 doing it that way.

 

In 2 of the 4 ports, the specific thing we wanted to do was not offered by Carnival, but we could have done something similar through them.

In 1 port, what we did was offered by Carnival, but the kids would have had to pay, and Carnival gave us like 2 hours, where privately we did it for like 6 hours.

 

For us, it was 100% worth booking private.

[Sue Do-Over]

Some options are ONLY available through the cruise lines.

 

In Cozumel, the Salsa-Salsa venue has an exclusive contract; the cruise line guarantees a full venue, and prices are set. While they have a website and contact information, the venue will tell you that they cannot accept cruise line passengers outside the tour group. We've encountered that situation a few times in different ports. If it was something we wanted, we booked on board.

 

However, we've often been at a venue or beach that we booked online or at the pier -- along side cruise passengers who paid 2 or 3 times as much. In St. Thomas, we took the city bus/van to the ferry, and a taxi the short distance on to the beach to snorkel. Shortly after we arrived, the cruise pax were loading back up -- we enjoyed 2 more hours at the beach before reversing our journey and got back in plenty of time. Our total day (including lunch) was less than $50 for two of us... the cruise line was charging $69 per person.

 

Lots of people say 'peace of mind knowing they won't miss the ship'. Remember that ANY ship excursion will have you back a full two hours before departure, to make sure you shop in their shopping center.

 

We book privately 95% of the time, have been on every port in the Caribbean and several in Europe, and have never worried about making it back on time.

 

The price match guarantee only applies if you book the 'exact same' tour ... if one offers lunch and the other a snack, or is 30 minutes longer, it's different, and Carnival won't honor it.

[AJI2596]

I always do through Carnival. I'm too scared not too.