Practically, how are multiple shore excursions on the same day handled (river cruise)

[Richard M Nixon]

First time cruiser here. I've booked a Christmas Danube river cruise on the Ravel. A few ports offer shore excursions in the morning and afternoon such that I could fit two in a single day. How does this work in practice?

 

Will I need to make it back to the port in order to begin the afternoon excursion, or will there be a way to 'transfer' to the first stop of the afternoon?

 

I would imagine that I won't be the only person double booked like this, so I was curious if Crystal would do something like have a small van pick up those of us continuing onto another excursion and taking us to meet up with the rest of the group whom may have forgone the morning trip. 

Edited September 22, 2019 by Richard M Nixon

[Jayayeff]

I did morning and afternoon tours on a few days of my river cruise and each time the ‘changeover’ was back at the ship as there was usually time between them to either freshen up or get a quick bite to eat.   Unless you book private tours they are either walking tours direct from the boat or on the Crystal coaches which accompany the vessel throughout the itinerary...

 

Anne..

[Keith1010]

Richard, the name caught my attention as did Watergate.  

 

I agree wholeheartedly with Anne.

 

I want to add that since you are new to Cruise Critic that this forum is for Ocean Vessels, Yachts and I guess the Crystal Airplane only.

 

We are supposed to post any and all items related to the Crystal River Cruises on the River Cruise Board.  Unfortunately there is a shared board but I have posted there and gotten my questions answered.  This link will take you to the board and I am sure this thread will be moved by the Moderator.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/115-river-cruising/

 

Keith

[skybluewaters]

You certainly can do both a morning and an afternoon excursion on the same day, but be careful you don't overdo it.  We usually did one excursion each day and used the rest of the time to go out on our own, which was especially enjoyable in the smaller towns we visited.  The temptation to pack in as much as possible can leave you feeling exhausted. 

Relaxation was as important as sightseeing was for us, but that may not apply to you.  Some of our best memories from the two Crystal river cruises we took were from wandering around and discovering things on our own.  We may not have checked off as many boxes as we could have, but I believe we had a better time.  YMMV.

[Host Jazzbeau]

thread moved to River Cruising forum

[Coral]

Often the morning excursion will end before lunch. You return to the ship for lunch and then then leave for your second excursion. I also did a Christmas cruise on the Danube, though on the Mozart.

 

Make sure you are on the bus at the time the shore excursion starts. There are people outside directing people to the correct bus.

 

I hope you love your trip to the Christmas Markets! I did as much as possible on my Danube trip - I had excursions booked as much as I could. You only live once!

Edited September 23, 2019 by Coral

[Lois R]

Hi, I have not sailed Crystal but on AMA they do the same thing. There are multiple choices with both morning and afternoon tours with the time in between to do each. I remember going back to the boat for lunch and then going on an afternoon tour.

Hope you have a great cruise😁

[Roz]

I welcomed the opportunity to come back to the ship, freshen up, have some lunch and set out again.  Also, if you want to change clothes or shoes due to the weather, you have the chance to do that.

[Richard M Nixon]

OK, so each outing really is self-contained and will end back at the boat. That's what I was looking for.

 

If the morning excursion is a little late coming back, does the afternoon one wait for them?

[Daisi]

Can't speak for Crystal, but usually you have lunch between morning and afternoon excursions.  I know one of the days on our Avalon cruise one morning group was a little late getting back, but there was still time for them to grab a lunch and head out again in the afternoon.  I think most morning tours were back to the boat by 11:30 at the latest, and afternoon ones started around 1:00.