Are Cruise Excursions Overpriced??

[Hlitner]

It is difficult not to notice the ridiculous pricie points of some excursions.  We are currently in a Seabourn cruise where even simple “walking tours” are usually priced around $80 (with some above $100) which generally are 2 hour walks (from the ship) around parts of a port city.    These tours are easy to DIY.  Many other excursions are priced in the hundreds of dollars (per person).  
 

While many experienced cruisers routinely book private tours (easily done online) and others hire taxis or use Hop on Hop Off buses, there are still many passengers who pay the big bucks for the cruise line excursions which are often priced 2, 3 or more times the price of alternatives.

 

What do you think?  Are the cruise lines pricing their excursions too high?

 

Hank

[VMax1700]

What is too high?  If demand falls then it is too high, but if the cruise lines keep filling the tours and creating demand, then the price is pitched at a good market level.  The cruise that I am on currently has had waiting lists for tours for months and even extra capacity did not clear the waiting lists.

 

[John Bull]

You and I know they've always been over-priced, Hank.

They're also unavoidably regimented, they unavoidably move at the pace of the slowest, they're unavoidably held up because someone gets confused over the time the driver said to be back at the bus.

They sometimes also avoidably waster time by stopping at some jewellery or carpet or craft shop that pays the cruise-line a commission 

 

Circumstances have meant that we've very very occasionally booked ship's tours - for instance a long distance with tight timing, unreliable local transport, a couple of times a venue only accessible thro the ship.

 

A high proportion of newbies don't know any different, but a proportion of both newbies and experienced  cruisers want the security of being in the cruise-line's hands even though they know they're paying over-the-odds.

 

Each to their own, my old mucker,, each to their own.

 

JB 🙂

[TheOldBear]

Some likely are - but others seem to be priced fairly.

 

For example in Normandy comparing Cunard's D-Day beach tour with Overlord's 'bus' tour.

Both tours have similar duration, visit the same sights and memorials - Cunard's tour was $30 more, but included a lunch stop [multiple courses, with paired wine for each course]. 

 

[sparks1093]

The mainstream lines that we sail with seem to have more reasonable prices for their excursions. A walking tour of Old San Juan is $40 for 3 hours on our upcoming cruise. Now, we could certainly walk the same path as those on the tour and see the same sights, but what we would miss out on would be the commentary provided by an experienced guide. That is a factor to take into consideration, as is exploring options to book a similar tour directly. It used to be a selling point that a ship's tour would wait for you if you were running late, and that may still be the case although it has been some time since I've seen anything in writing on it. 

[George C]

We have found ships excursions are overpriced and overcrowded, we rarely use them.

[jsn55]

I agree with most of the above.  I compare a ship's SE to a hotel room mini-bar.  The product is the same or very similar.  You're paying for convenience.  The convenience of booking the SE in your account, boarding the bus as close to the ship as possible (no train, bus, walk connection), and little worry about the tour going or not going.  Lack of the scam potential is important, at least to me.  Morning SEs are handy for getting off the ship as early as possible, especially if tendering.  

[Flatbush Flyer]

Beyond “convenience” (which is important to those of us who may visit at least 50-75 new/repeat ports annually), there are some “proprietary” ship tours (particularly in more obscure small ports e.g., an island like Vanuatu) where the best tour venues/transports are all contracted by the ship. 

 

Savvy travelers will know when (and why) it’s better to do ship or private tours or DIY.

 

Speaking of DIY “sightseeing,” there is one area where private to small group tours will almost always trump a self-guided or HOHO trek. It is historically accurate and culturally/artistically rich looks at interesting/engaging entities.
 

For example, we are live theater buffs and recently did a fact-packed History of Broadway tour. It was a two hour walk/talk trek (Broadway’s Beginnings) that was fascinating in scope and detail and led by a long-serving dance captain who helped make more vivid our knowledge of the Great White Way.

[lenquixote66]

3 hours ago, Hlitner said:

It is difficult not to notice the ridiculous pricie points of some excursions.  We are currently in a Seabourn cruise where even simple “walking tours” are usually priced around $80 (with some above $100) which generally are 2 hour walks (from the ship) around parts of a port city.    These tours are easy to DIY.  Many other excursions are priced in the hundreds of dollars (per person).  
 

While many experienced cruisers routinely book private tours (easily done online) and others hire taxis or use Hop on Hop Off buses, there are still many passengers who pay the big bucks for the cruise line excursions which are often priced 2, 3 or more times the price of alternatives.

 

What do you think?  Are the cruise lines pricing their excursions too high?

 

Hank

We only book excursions from the cruise ship even though they are overpriced.

On our first cruise in 1973 there were no shore excursions.We were young and healthy and were able to explore on our own.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We rarely book ship excursions due to many of the reasons already stated: price, size of group, often poor logistics.

 

Due to time or tender concerns we used only Princess excursions on last winter's cruise from Sydney to Port Douglas and back.  All  ports were tendered and there just weren't many private excursions that worked with our time in port.  The Princess tours we did were fine, not large group.

 

On that trip we also did a New Zealand cruise with RCL and had no ship excursions.  Our private tours were all great.  

 

Most ship tours we have been on were not our cup of tea.  One to the Embero village with Princess on a Panama Canal partial cruise was very good though. We booked it because, again, it was hard to find a private tour due to logistics.

Edited August 18, 2023 by Nebr.cruiser

[drsel]

4 hours ago, Hlitner said:

It is difficult not to notice the ridiculous pricie points of some excursions.  We are currently in a Seabourn cruise where even simple “walking tours” are usually priced around $80 (with some above $100) which generally are 2 hour walks (from the ship) around parts of a port city.    These tours are easy to DIY.  Many other excursions are priced in the hundreds of dollars (per person).  
 

While many experienced cruisers routinely book private tours (easily done online) and others hire taxis or use Hop on Hop Off buses, there are still many passengers who pay the big bucks for the cruise line excursions which are often priced 2, 3 or more times the price of alternatives.

 

What do you think?  Are the cruise lines pricing their excursions too high?

 

Hank

They are not just overpriced, but ridiculously overpriced.

the markup is easily 100% or more for almost all tours

[Meander Ingwa]

people will pay for the convenience because they are not comfortable / secure / able to do it on their own. 

 

There are tours which are not easily accessible to the average visitor, even with ability; things like Northern Lights chases.  These I would book.  As a solo female traveler I would also consider booking in locations where a solo woman might not be well received.  I met this in Papua New Guinea.

 

But many people do not have the confidence of knowing how to travel in foreign places ( or even domestic) or knowing what tools can help them along the way, even in the most civil and safe major city in Europe and Asia.  If taking cruises and package tours are their happy place, then the prices do not seem to be an impairment to their journey

 

The threat of the ship leaving if the independent tour does not return on time is enough to anchor many people

[navybankerteacher]

Most ports of call can be checked out on line or using library books - do your research to determine what there is in the neighborhood which appeals to your particular interests.  If you take the time to think and to investigate you can usually come up with a plan that would better match your interests (and budget) than some drive-by tour.  An exception might be something like getting yourself  to Santiago di Compostella - a specific point of interest some distance from the port - but even knowing about it would require some advance thinking on your part.

 

A major part of enjoying a cruise is the planning - don’t short change yourself, and overpay, by not planning.

[ldubs]

Like a lot of things they probably are overpriced.  If the ship excursion is for something difficult to do myself and sounds like I would enjoy it, I'll buy. If not, then I look elsewhere.   

[broberts]

The suggestions that cruise line excursions are overpriced ignore the fact that cruise lines handle advertising, bookings, payments, and refunds; perform provider qualification; coordinate with providers; and assume the risk of having to hold the ship when things go wrong. Oh, and need to make a profit.

 

[drsel]

Just check out the things to see and do at all ports on toms port guide and whatsinport.

There are maps and details about public transport etc

Edited August 18, 2023 by drsel

[dolittle]

Mark Twain who made most of his income from travel writing took one of the first Med cruises (it was not for transportation) . When asked about it he said it was great but the price of excursions really added up.

[wheezedr]

2 hours ago, drsel said:

Just check out the things to see and do at all ports on toms port guide and whatsinport.

There are maps and details about public transport etc

Sadly Tom’s port guides are no longer available.  What’s in port is very limited.  The lnformation is still available but requires more time to search out and wade through.  

[lisiamc]

Excursions offered by the cruise lines can be very expensive, but sometimes they’re worth every penny.
 

We were on a cruise from Cape Town to Lisbon this spring, and one of the ports was Banjul, in The Gambia. The cruise line was offering a day trip to Senegal for a safari. Several people decided to do the same trip with a private company in a smaller van, for a fraction of the price. When we docked, there was a delay in getting clearance to get off the ship, so the safari excursions set off a bit late. The first part of the tour involved taking a ferry across the river to Senegal.
 

By the time the coaches from the ship (and the private van) came back from their safari, one of the two ferries had broken, and the queue for the remaining ferry was miles long. The van was some distance behind the coaches, and wasn’t going to make it onto the same ferry as them.

 

The ship was waiting for those coaches, and was going to set off as soon as they arrived, since they were already hours late for the scheduled departure. It looked certain that the people in the van were going to be spending the night in Banjul when they finally made it across the river on the next ferry, two hours after the one carrying the coaches, and they would be trying to arrange a flight to Gran Canaria in the morning.
 

The van driver had a brain wave and ran up to one of the coaches, banging on the door, and asking if the driver could squeeze his passengers into the coach so they wouldn’t be left behind. The coach driver said yes, and everyone was back on the ship when it sailed, although the van driver and his now-empty van were still on the Senegal side of the river.
 

The people in the van paid a lot less for their excursion than the people on the coach, everything was all right in the end, and they got a hair-raising story to tell. But how much would they have been willing to pay, when it looked like they would be left behind?

[donaldsc]

There ar only 3 ways I would ever book a ship -

 

1) The tour goes a good distance from the ship and I do not want to take the very very very miniscule chance of missing the ship and being forced to spend overnight in a place I don't want to sleep in

 

2) The tour goes a good distance from the ship and the next port is several sea days away.  We have a friend who was on a cruise that made several stops in the Caribbean and then headed off to Europe.  Two passengers missed the ship at the last port before Europe.

 

3) If the cruise company had bought up all the tours available in the port.  This happens more often than you think.  We did a cruise that stopped at the Falkland Islands and the cruise company had bought up 100% of the spots on the tours to the penguin colony and I had to pay more than a 100% markup to get to the colony.

 

Otherwise I never ever take a ship tour.

 

DON

[ceeceeDee]

P&O Australia states the following on their website:

 

When you book your Shore Tours with P&O, you know you are getting great value. If you find the same tour for less elsewhere, we will offer a 110% of the price difference back to enjoy in the form of non-refundable onboard spending money.

 

I can't comment further as I have never had to try to claim, but it would appear that at least one cruise line is not particularly over priced.

 

 

[dmrrn73]

We have always traditionally used ship tours just for the convenience.  On our Alaska cruise in 2018 we did about 50/50 ship vs private. It was weird though, a few of the private tours we saw were actually more expensive than the ship tour. 

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, wheezedr said:

Sadly Tom’s port guides are no longer available.

Yikes — I just tried to pull them up and am getting “page not found” for each one I’ve tried. That’s too bad. This must be a fairly recent development — I was consulting his guides earlier this year in preparation for an upcoming cruise. ☹️

[GeezerCouple]

3 hours ago, ceeceeDee said:

P&O Australia states the following on their website:

 

When you book your Shore Tours with P&O, you know you are getting great value. If you find the same tour for less elsewhere, we will offer a 110% of the price difference back to enjoy in the form of non-refundable onboard spending money.

 

I can't comment further as I have never had to try to claim, but it would appear that at least one cruise line is not particularly over priced.

 

 

"...If you find the same tour for less elsewhere, we will offer a 110% of the price difference back to enjoy in the form of non-refundable onboard spending money...."

 

Have you spoken with anyone who has used this guarantee?

 

It's possible that should one make a claim, it would turn out that "the outside tour is *not* identical to the cruise ship's tour" and the claim is denied...

 

Or it could be that the ship's tour isn't as comprehensive, or, as is indeed often the case, it's a much larger group, in a bus, vs. the private tour which might be in an SUV with 2 or maybe 4 passengers.

 

I'd just be cautious about relying upon such assurances.

But there certainly could be times where it is exactly what it appears to be.

 

GC

 

[Flatbush Flyer]

3 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

"...If you find the same tour for less elsewhere, we will offer a 110% of the price difference back to enjoy in the form of non-refundable onboard spending money...."

 

Have you spoken with anyone who has used this guarantee?

 

It's possible that should one make a claim, it would turn out that "the outside tour is *not* identical to the cruise ship's tour" and the claim is denied...

 

Or it could be that the ship's tour isn't as comprehensive, or, as is indeed often the case, it's a much larger group, in a bus, vs. the private tour which might be in an SUV with 2 or maybe 4 passengers.

 

I'd just be cautious about relying upon such assurances.

But there certainly could be times where it is exactly what it appears to be.

 

GC

 

“Same” tour would most often mean exactly the same exact tour by the same tour provider, blah blah blah, which would probably be impossible to find.