Excursions - cruise co or independent

[Wetmib]

In prior cruises, not Alaska, we've tended to go with independent vendors, vs the cruise company's excursions. Which did you chose and why - I'm probably not a bus-full-of-people tourist, if that gives you an opinion for me. 

 

Yup, planning Alaska is a different animal than caribbean,

 

Thanks everyone

[CruiserBruce]

Standing by for the "the ship will leave you behind" comments.

 

@Wetmib , this is a topic discussed all over Cruise Critic daily. Its a matter of personal choice. Some do only cruise line tours, some do exclusively private tours, some, like us, do a mixture of ship excursions, private tours and just doing it ourselves (DIYing), but taking public transit, taxis or just walking to the places we want to go.

[Alex618]

In Juneau, Celebrity was much more expensive on their Dog Sled tours than the independent.companies.  Thus, we booked independent for our trip in May. However saying this, I would watch how long are you in port!

[disneyochem]

Have been to Alaska numerous times.  Always DIY or book with independent tours.  Independent operators in Alaskan ports will work with you to ensue you’re back in time.  If they can’t guarantee it, at least in my experience, they will tell you and offer options.

[eileeshb]

I’m planning for an Alaskan cruise in October next year. I have a sneaking suspicion it’ll be cruiseline or diy only because the sailing is so late. I’ve tried looking up the independent vendors and most don’t list any availability for October and of the few with pricing listed online seem to be the same price as the cruiseline .  I’ve also noticed a lot of them basically say book via your cruiseline. 

[cw2go]

I have all of my tours except one booked with Celebrity for July 2023

 

Surprisingly, they are all more pricey going private. I've sailed Alaska several times and have always been able to get better rates outside of the cruise line until now. I had OBC to use so booked some excursions very early on, as soon as they were released and they've all increased a lot. I've looked to compare and I have better pricing than going independent this time around. 

 

Example: Taku Glacier Floatplane is $23 pep person more independently than I paid with Cel but it has gone up $80 per person since I booked. 

 

That being said, Alaska isn't as hard to plan as many think. Take one port at a time as you would anywhere else and select one or two must have activities and book from there. 

 

I'm never the "Bus Tour Person" but sometimes I am the person on the transfer bus, like Mendenhall in Juneau as example. The Big Blue Bus is a great way to get to Mendenhall without using the cruise line tours. 

 

Without knowing your ports, it's hard to give recommendations. IN ISP if docking there, you'l have to go thru the cruise line for any excursions.  

 

My tours with the cruise line or independent are often less than 10 people, in Alaska that's common with Float trips, Canoes, Flights etc. 

 

Enjoy your planning,

Patty 

 

 

[Alex618]

5 hours ago, cw2go said:

I have all of my tours except one booked with Celebrity for July 2023

 

Surprisingly, they are all more pricey going private. I've sailed Alaska several times and have always been able to get better rates outside of the cruise line until now. I had OBC to use so booked some excursions very early on, as soon as they were released and they've all increased a lot. I've looked to compare and I have better pricing than going independent this time around. 

 

Example: Taku Glacier Floatplane is $23 pep person more independently than I paid with Cel but it has gone up $80 per person since I booked. 

 

That being said, Alaska isn't as hard to plan as many think. Take one port at a time as you would anywhere else and select one or two must have activities and book from there. 

 

I'm never the "Bus Tour Person" but sometimes I am the person on the transfer bus, like Mendenhall in Juneau as example. The Big Blue Bus is a great way to get to Mendenhall without using the cruise line tours. 

 

Without knowing your ports, it's hard to give recommendations. IN ISP if docking there, you'l have to go thru the cruise line for any excursions.  

 

My tours with the cruise line or independent are often less than 10 people, in Alaska that's common with Float trips, Canoes, Flights etc. 

 

Enjoy your planning,

Patty 

 

 

I have booked an independent tours in ISP Glacier Winds whale watching.  Nice thing is you do not have to pay until about 6 weeks before the cruise. You only pay a small deposit.

[cw2go]

3 minutes ago, Alex618 said:

I have booked an independent tours in ISP Glacier Winds whale watching.  Nice thing is you do not have to pay until about 6 weeks before the cruise. You only pay a small deposit.

 

Oh Yea you're right, they do have independent vendors for whale tours in ISP... I forgot about that. I think they do for bears too?

 

Enjoy your day! I was lucky enough to see a bubble feed on a tour out of Juneau years ago. You'll have a great day out of ISP. 

 

I'll be doing the Zip Rider and Ocean Raft this time around, 

Patty 

[CCJack]

A couple of other thoughts on this topic....

 

As mentioned, I agree that the cost benefit of doing Independent is not what it used to be.  I have noticed independent excursions starting to go up through the years, approaching cruise line prices.

 

Likely independent excursions may still have advantage of smaller group size, but check in advance and ask about group size.  It is possible that may not be necessarily true.  On our Glacier Wilderness safari tour out of Skagway, we booked independent.  It turned out it was the exact same boat as the cruise line excursion, we were all together.  In that case it would be best to go independent booking as it was a little cheaper, but I am not sure how a person would know in advance that they put everyone together.

 

Although not in Alaska we have had 3 separate times recently (different cruises)  where the port debarkation was significantly delayed and the cruiseline allowed cruise excursions off first (but late), before they opened up general debarkation (very late.)  1) In Reykjavik, the ground crew somehow screwed up  the gangway trying to attach it to the ship, and they had to retrieve a backup gangway - about 1.5 hour late debarkation with cruise excursions going first.   2) In Waterford, Ireland we tendered.  One of the tender boat's engine broke with passengers in it halfway to shore.  They had to take another tender boat to get those people off the stranded boat leaving only 1 of 3 boats to do the normal debarkation.  Significant delay with cruise excursion passengers allowed  to go first.  3)  Lastly in Flam, Norway there were two big ships in Flam which is  a very small town with space for only one ship to dock.  For some reason we docked first and allowed only cruise excursion passengers to walk off, then the ship backed out of the dock and everyone else had to tender as the other ship took the dock.  I am not sure why this was done, but the tendering was slow, they just didn't have the capacity and everyone who did general debarkation was late.   

 

I think there are pros to independent excursions, but I do think there are pros to cruiseline excursions as well.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Italy52]

17 hours ago, Alex618 said:

I have booked an independent tours in ISP Glacier Winds whale watching.  Nice thing is you do not have to pay until about 6 weeks before the cruise. You only pay a small deposit.

Good company -- great choice.  We have gone out with GW many times and have always enjoyed our experience.  Will be seeing them in July for our whale watching tour -- can't wait.

[emckeeve]

Has anyone used Viator for Alaskan excursions?

[CruiserBruce]

54 minutes ago, emckeeve said:

Has anyone used Viator for Alaskan excursions?

Viator is a broker, not a tour provider. That means the prices can be good, but it can be difficult to reach anyone when you have an issue. They take your money and contract with a low bid local provider.

 

A frequent comment around Cruise Critic is that you are better off dealing directly with a local vendor.

[donaldsc]

59 minutes ago, emckeeve said:

Has anyone used Viator for Alaskan excursions?

 

Viator is not a tour company.  They are a tour consolidator that resells tours.  They don't do any tours on their own.  If they are reselling a good tour to you will have a good experience.  If they are reselling a bad tour to you you will have a bad experience.  

 

What I usually do it w Viator is to see what is available at a location and use the tour description to figure out who is actually doing the tour.  I then book directly w the tour company.  May take a bit of work to find the tour company but you can usually do it.

 

Turns out that CruiserBruce beat me to my response.  Great minds think alike.

 

DON

Edited December 8, 2022 by donaldsc

[Kat915]

In Alaska, you can definitely find independent tours but some will direct you to book with the cruise line. If you are more specific about which tours that you are interested in, people can make recommendations. 

[jerseygirl629]

- Ketchikan, my family and I booked the Alaska Hummer Adventure tour via Alaska Shore Excursions on our own. Of course, we could have also booked directly through the hummer company. They were the same price. Our driver was very ad

- Skagway, my family and I rented a car from Avis and used Murray's Guide for the drive up the Klondike and back. Ideally, we wanted to book the train and bus combo via an independent tour but, in 2022 the train only went to the border of Canada and came back. We made sure to get back to port with plenty of time to spare (3 hours lol). If you go into Canada via Skagway on your own, just be wary of the time change that happens once you get into the Yukon.

- Juneau we booked two through Royal...the small boat that gets close to the glaciers while the ship is in the Endicott Arm, and then helicopter ride and dog sledding on Mendenhall. Didn't want to take any chances booking that one outside the ship as there were too many things to consider (like getting stuck at the glacier due to inclement weather - which almost happened to us yikes).

 

 

[Mountaineer0313]

I will not book tours through the cruise line or a broker. The independent tour companies lose money on that. I have always booked directly with the tour company and have never had an issue.

[donaldsc]

3 hours ago, Mountaineer0313 said:

I will not book tours through the cruise line or a broker. The independent tour companies lose money on that. I have always booked directly with the tour company and have never had an issue.

 

Agree but in some instances and more often in AK if you want to book w a specific company you have to book w the cruise line.  You have no choice.

 

DON

[Mountaineer0313]

4 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

Agree but in some instances and more often in AK if you want to book w a specific company you have to book w the cruise line.  You have no choice.

 

DON

How? I’ve never had a problem booking anything specific. 

[Kat915]

On 12/14/2022 at 9:56 PM, Mountaineer0313 said:

How? I’ve never had a problem booking anything specific. 

The tour operator will direct you to the cruise line.

[Mountaineer0313]

23 hours ago, Kat915 said:

The tour operator will direct you to the cruise line.

 

Hmm. I've never heard of that happening in my life. It's certainly never happened to me.

[Coral]

6 hours ago, Mountaineer0313 said:

 

Hmm. I've never heard of that happening in my life. It's certainly never happened to me.

There are a few that will. Allen Marine in a good example.

[eileeshb]

21 hours ago, Mountaineer0313 said:

 

Hmm. I've never heard of that happening in my life. It's certainly never happened to me.

I’ve seen it for a some of the excursion providers I’ve been looking up, one example is the whale and glacier photo safari provider in Juneau says to book via the cruiseline on their website.  
Of course I’ve the added complication of sailing in October and most excursion companies only list up to September so right now it looks like it’s through the cruiseline or wander around without a guide. 

[cw2go]

I've experienced several ports/excursion operators that'll direct you to the cruise line for booking.

They often provide a list of Cruise lines with links for easy booking access. 

 

Patty 

[Alex618]

I book three independent excursions - Costal Helicopters, Glacier Winds, and Alaska Shore Excursions.  Some operator did not open bookings until Thanksgiving for May sailings.  Others informed me staff will not be onboard until after New Year.  I have all tours booked for our sailing now.  I have found times and $$$ more conducive booking privately where I could.