Private tour vs ship tour

[espmass]

For our stop in Cartagena we're deciding between the ship's excursion and a private tour by a well known guide. Both excursions are pretty similar in time and in sights they will show us and the prices aren't much different. The benefit of the ship's excursion is knowing that the ship has it insured so that we wouldn't get left behind if late. The biggest benefit of the private excursion is that there are far less guests so it's more personalized. Any other big differences we should consider in our decision? Thanks.

[daryleann]

From my experience - we almost never take a ship excursion as it takes so long to load and unload at each stop. So with private tour, not only do you save money, get more personal experience, you actually see more.

 

That said, if you are in port a shorter time (this time our ship leaves at 2 so must be on board by 1pm) then the ship excursion would probably be better, as -in my case- I would not get off soon enough to get much out of a tour.

(When we were last there, in '06, we got a group tour at the port and it was so very hot in that car - even with air, it was hot and stuffy. Some of those private cars are not really good for 6 or seven people - even if they DO have the seats!);)

[Keith1010]

We prefer the private tour because you can change things up and spend more time in say one early and less in another area. In addition you can learn so much more from your guide since he will focus on you and your questions. Also, when we took a private tour and visited the fort we were able to walk through the tunnels whereas the ships tour did not do that because of the number of people on tour.

 

Keith

[espmass]

Thanks. For anyone interested in this topic, I posted it on the regular Princess board also and there are loads of replies.