Best Shore Excursions

[lenquixote66]

For us it was in 2008 on a cruise to Alaska .We booked a tour of Denali National Park.Our Tour Guide was a college Professor from Oregon who lived and worked in Alaska several months a year.He gave each person on the tour 3 bound books about Denali without charge .The tour was supposed to be 2 hours but it became 3 1/2 .

 

A second interesting time was in St. Thomas .The tour guide was a professional basketball player in the UK who was native to St.Thomas .He gave a great tour and we had wonderful basketball conversations.

 

 

[ontheweb]

21 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

For us it was in 2008 on a cruise to Alaska .We booked a tour of Denali National Park.Our Tour Guide was a college Professor from Oregon who lived and worked in Alaska several months a year.He gave each person on the tour 3 bound books about Denali without charge .The tour was supposed to be 2 hours but it became 3 1/2 .

 

A second interesting time was in St. Thomas .The tour guide was a professional basketball player in the UK who was native to St.Thomas .He gave a great tour and we had wonderful basketball conversations.

 

 

I am going to break this down into different categories---cruise line excursions, private excursions, and do it yourself.

 

cruise line excursions---Two come to mind. The first was the Bob Marley bus in Ochos Rios, Jamaica. Just wonderful music plus you got to see a part of Jamaica that the average cruiser does not see.

 

The second cruise line excursion that comes to mind is the bus back to Heathrow from Dover with a walking tour of Dover plus a stop in Canterbury. We had an excellent guide and it also helped that we knew a few people on the tour from our cruise roll call. The best thing about it was instead of feeling like your cruise vacation was over, you still felt like you were on vacation. (In 2020 we were going to do something similar on a Princess Norwegian fjords cruise and return to Heathrow by way of Stonehenge. My DW actually was looking forward to that more than the cruise itself.)

 

private excursion-- this one is easy our Alla 2 day tour of St. Petersburg. Just fantastic, and our guide Viktoria was superb. She went on to open her own touring company the following year, SPB tours. And we really bonded with all of the other 8 passengers on the tour. (BTW, I set it up on our roll call.)

 

on your own--I would say it was on our very first port, Villefrance (Probably spelled wrong.) You could go to Nice, Cannes, or Monaco. We went to Nice and went to the Matisse and Chagall Museums. Afterwards DW went swimming in the Mediterranean. She left me to watch our stuff, but put me by several topless French women to make my part of it more interesting.🤣  

[Mary229]

We have only in recent times started using shore excursions.  So far the best was Iguazu Falls - a 4 day intensive.  On recent cruises I have become a big fan of the city tour with airport transfer, it is just a great way to kick back before the airpot hustle. 

[lenquixote66]

Another one was when we were in St.Croix the last time.Our Tour Guide was a retired singer from the Platters.The discussions ventured into music.

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, Mary229 said:

We have only in recent times started using shore excursions.  So far the best was Iguazu Falls - a 4 day intensive.  On recent cruises I have become a big fan of the city tour with airport transfer, it is just a great way to kick back before the airpot hustle. 

On the cruise we completed last month, DW said we are not just sitting in the airport forever. I am going to book an excursion. There were supposed to be two of them, but the one she wanted no longer existed. Actually, that was lucky as it was a walking tour, and it poured that day in Reykjavik. So she booked the other one which turned out to be a a fantastic museum about the geology of Iceland. IIRC, the name of the museum was Perclan.

 

NCL said the charge for our transfers would automatically be taken off if we booked a tour ending in the airport. But they were not, and I had to request that they be taken off. 

 

And, unfortunately, we ended up with too many hours in the airport despite the tour as our plane was delayed.

[Mary229]

12 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

On the cruise we completed last month, DW said we are not just sitting in the airport forever. I am going to book an excursion. There were supposed to be two of them, but the one she wanted no longer existed. Actually, that was lucky as it was a walking tour, and it poured that day in Reykjavik. So she booked the other one which turned out to be a a fantastic museum about the geology of Iceland. IIRC, the name of the museum was Perclan.

 

NCL said the charge for our transfers would automatically be taken off if we booked a tour ending in the airport. But they were not, and I had to request that they be taken off. 

 

And, unfortunately, we ended up with too many hours in the airport despite the tour as our plane was delayed.

Yes, the tours are programmed to get you to the airport at noonish and it is early. I always try to book the 2-3 flight to accommodate the tour.  The best I have had is in Boston - a number of times with all excellent tour guides. Vancouver has a system where they take your luggage to either your hotel or airport while you ride the hop on bus.  This was the absolute best, I put my luggage out the final evening and found it in my hotel room after dinner the next day (I called earlier in the afternoon to make sure it arrived).  There have been a few stinkers but these were the only tours I booked for years - I really dislike managing luggage☹️.  

[Mary229]

3 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

Another one was when we were in St.Croix the last time.Our Tour Guide was a retired singer from the Platters.The discussions ventured into music.

My tour guides in Boston have always been the most interesting fellows.  Last one was a retired high level financial manager who told wry, funny stories about the big names and the big scandals that came out of Boston, plus being Boston, I learned more about baseball than one needs to know .

[Toofarfromthesea]

My favorite was in Juneau.  We got on a float plane and flew over 5 glaciers.  Then we landed on a lake and deplaned and went up to a lodge called the Taku Lodge.  There we were served the best King Salmon I've ever had, perfectly grilled.  The sides were excellent as was the dessert.  

 

As we were eating a bear came out of the woods and lumbered up to the grill on which they cook the salmon.  He put his paw in and scooped up some of the salmon grease and ate it.  The servers told us that he was a regular.  The also told us that a week or two earlier a cub had tried to scoop some grease but did in a spot on the grill that was still hot.  He burned himself but his momma took care of him and he wasn't badly burned.

 

Then we got back on the plane and flew back to the pickup point, and back to the ship.  It was very memorable, both for the expected excursion items and the unexpected.

[Hlitner]

Our best excursion (in over 100 cruises) happened to be the most expensive.  It was a helicopter tour, in Juneau, that flew up Mendenhall Glacier and landed at a summer dog sled training camp, used to primarily train sled dogs that ran in the annual Iditerod .  We all had a chance to both drive and ride in the sleds, as well as meet some of the dogs.  Absolutely perfect day shared with world-class athletes (the dogs).

 

Hank

[Fergus]

The one that will always stay with me was in Cozumel, probably 25 years ago.  Our kids were about 5 and 8.  We decided to get off the ship, rent a car, and drive around the island for the day, stopping at whatever looked interesting.  The ad for the car rental place had a picture of a PT Cruiser on it - remember those?  They were new then, and the kids were convinced that's the car we would get.  My husband went into the rental office, came out, had us follow him around the corner to a parking lot.  There, in all its glory, was our vehicle.......an old Partridge Family plaid VW Beetle convertible.  Our kids were absolutely speechless and so excited.  We got in, tootled around Cozumel all day, snorkeled, saw nude sunbathers at one remote beach, the kids drank Cokes from bottles for the first time ever.  I have a permanent memory of looking around at their faces in the back seat and thinking that it was the greatest day ever.  

[cruisemom42]

I've posted this before several times, but my favorite ship-sponsored excursion was an overnight visit to Palmyra in the Syrian desert. It was a long drive from the port (rather like going to Cairo from Alexandria) but so worth it. In the afternoon on arrival we saw the main ruins of the town which is set in a lovely oasis in the desert, including two HUGE temples, a nearly intact theatre, long colonnades that snakes down the streets and more. In the evening we had dinner at the hotel, then anyone who wanted to was invited to ride camels in the moonlight back to the site to see it at night.

 

The next day we went early in the morning to the small Bedouin village that stood beside the ruins and bartered for real handmade items and various miscellany (including old camel saddles, textiles and even the odd Roman coin....) Then we saw the museum (whose brave curator was killed by ISIS for trying to protect the contents from looting) and more of the periphery of the site before heading back to the ship.

 

Almost all of this is now gone. I can't believe that Voyages to Antiquity included it all in their cruise price. It was a once in a lifetime thing.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-55977964

 

 

[Wayfairers]

So many great excursions….the best ones have been

Myanmar - I told the private tour guide we wanted local, not touristy for a 2 day tour.  And we did!  First day we saw unexcavated ruins (older than Great Wall of China) that had just been named a UNESCO site after a short hike through jungle so thick our guide had to make a path with his machete.  That day our lunch was at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere with no running water in the toilets and I’m guessing the kitchen too - washed our hands in a cistern! Then promptly used hand sanitizer.  2nd day he bought us tickets to a ferry, then met us on the other side of the river.  The only non-locals were us and the other couple on the tour and we didn’t know anyone on board and no one spoke English on the less than 30 minute ferry ride.  Every bench was packed and folks walked the aisles selling clothes, a cigarette (not the carton), food, etc and loudly talking about what they were selling in a sing song voice.  It was sensory overload and an incredible experience.  The village where we disembarked was locals only and transportation was by bicycles and tuk tuks - we had a tuk tuk tour.   We had amazing meals both days and have no idea what most of it was, but wow, we accidentally ordered spicy one day and could barely eat it!  We also saw some local sites and attended part of a church service in a tent

 

Alaska - don’t remember which port - Ship excursion -helicopter ride to the Mendenhall Glacier then put on crampons for a trek across the glacier to a wall that we climbed using ropes and ice axes.

 

Dubai - Ship excursion was cheaper than using a private guide for a float plane ride - incredible seeing how the height of Burj Khalifa compared to other buildings from the air and how abruptly the city turns into desert.  And, we landed right beside the ship!

[jsn55]

18 hours ago, Mary229 said:

Yes, the tours are programmed to get you to the airport at noonish and it is early. I always try to book the 2-3 flight to accommodate the tour.  The best I have had is in Boston - a number of times with all excellent tour guides. Vancouver has a system where they take your luggage to either your hotel or airport while you ride the hop on bus.  This was the absolute best, I put my luggage out the final evening and found it in my hotel room after dinner the next day (I called earlier in the afternoon to make sure it arrived).  There have been a few stinkers but these were the only tours I booked for years - I really dislike managing luggage☹️.  

Oh, yeah, managing that big bag.  I am always so happy to check the thing at the airport and be rid of it until landing.  I love my airport walkies.  Also love my 'stuff' and always want a choice, so a big checked bag it is ... and I am very glad to see it coming 'round at my destination.  My husband always pitches a fit over the ever-increasing cost of airport trollies, but it's so worth it for me.  

[Zach1213]

My wife and I went on one at Labadee where they basically took us on a small boat for about 20 minutes where we anchored offshore from a small little island. We just floated there with unlimited Prestige beers and rum punch for several hours...beautiful clear waters, access to the beach, and no crowd (there were only two small boats of about 15 people each). It was great. 

 

That being said, there was a lot of alcohol, we missed lunch due to excursion timing, there was no food, and it led to a pretty rough evening (and morning after) once back onboard. 

 

[lenquixote66]

On 9/24/2023 at 5:13 PM, Mary229 said:

My tour guides in Boston have always been the most interesting fellows.  Last one was a retired high level financial manager who told wry, funny stories about the big names and the big scandals that came out of Boston, plus being Boston, I learned more about baseball than one needs to know .

My one time business partner was close friends from childhood with a RedSox immortal.I learned a lot about the team.