1st time crusier- Glory 1-15-05

[nectrc]

My guy and i are first time cruisers. I am totally excited, doing the western carribean out of port canaveral. Going by ourselves. Is it cheaper to do excursions when we get off the ship or book through the ship? Also a stupid question, what is a tendor? Any suggestions would be appreciated and welcomed. Does anybody know of anything good to do in Progresso? Have not heard too many good things to do there.

[JOEZ]

HI! I have been on 7 cruises. Cruised to the Eastern and Western and also to Alaska and after the first cruise, we have never bought a shore tour on the ship because they are so expensive. There are locals at the piers that you can pay about $20 to go where ever you want to go. They will take you to beach if you wish, or they will take you on an Island tour. I took my first cruise in 1993 and ever since then always go on my own. Just one side note. Make sure that you give yourself ALOT of time to get back to the ship. Another words, don't start heading back to the ship 30 before the ship is supposed to leave.. because they WILL leave your butt there. My brother came REALLY close to having to stay in St Thomas but he was the last person on. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask!

[Chappybb]

Hey congrats,

I have learned to purchase the excursions through the cruiselines rather than go on shore. On shore you may end up spending twice the cost sold on the ship. You get significant savings and discounts purchasing excursions through the cruiselines. Also try to research (online first or through your excursion brochure) which excursions you'd like to go on before boarding the ship and then try to purchase the excursions on the first day of the cruise. In some cases some excursions have a limited number of tickets to be sold. I missed out on an hawaiin luau trying to get tickets the day before the luau. Also should you choose not to go on a particular pre-paid excursion most cruiseships will refund your money or allow you to choose another excursion....if you give them some advance warning of course (i.e. 24-hours - 2 days notice)!

[tricializ]

instead of booking on the ship. The other part of it besides money is you can basically hire a driver ALL day to take you where you want to go and you are not going to be herded into a bus filled shoulder to shoulder with people. We found that this worked so well for us especially if you get a good driver. We went to out of the way places, better beaches etc. Definitely though leave enough time to return to the ship.

Tricia

[ColoradoJuli]

I have been on 4 cruises. The first cruise we did all ship excursions. This was probably a good idea just to see how things are done. You are herded like cattle to where you are going and you are not able to spend as much time at places with a big group as you can out on your own, but it gave me an idea of how things worked. Since that time, I have always gotten off the boat and booked my own excursions on shore. I have saved tons of money. One day in Cozumel we hired a driver that gave us a personal tour of the island. Took us to the Mayan ruins and was our tour guide there and then took us to an out of the way beach for swimming and lunch. It was wonderful. He then let us go shopping and would watch for us to come out of stores with bags and then would take our bag from us and take it to the car so we didn't have to tote the bags around while shopping. We had this driver from 9:00am until 6:00pm and he charged us $10/pp. (The ruins were an extra $5 and the beach was free.) It was an awesome deal. You would never find that kind of deal on the ship. I have several stories of spending wonderful times doing our own excursions and saving money. Also have never had a problem with getting back to the boat in time. It is just a matter of managing your time correctly. If you are hesitant about booking your own excursions then go ahead and use the boat. Otherwise, you will do fine booking on your own.

[Sophiesmom2]

Hi! I went on this Cruise in July, aboard the Glory. It's an awesome ship, you'll have a blast. My husband & I booked a tour through Carnival for Cozumel for the "Sun & Snorkel". It really wasn't worth the $$$. (They actually had to "chum" the water for us to see the few fish that we did.) We had more fun taking a cab into Cozumel, going to Carlo's & Charlie's & exploring on our own. (A taxi is about $5 from the ship to downtown.) In Belize we did the Cave tours, booked through the internet thru "Reggie's Tours", 20 people in our group vs the 150-200 on the tour thru Carnival. (You go to the same cave.) In Progresso we booked thru Carnival, went to Merida. It was a nice tour. One of the benefits of booking thru the ship is that if the tour is late returning to the ship, the ship will wait. (We waited 30 minutes on a group returning from the ruins.) In Costa Maya, there aren't any tours. You can, however, go outside the "Ship City" and rent a golf cart & drive to the village & have a beer...it's pretty interesting. :cool:

 

Oh! The tender is the boat that takes you from the Glory to the dock in Belize. It's an amazing site watching all of them decend on the ship once it "docks" in Belize. One piece of advise..if you book your own tour Carnival will tell you that you have to get off the boat last, but that's not true. When they call for passengers going to the "Cave Tours" to meet in the lounge, just go & get on a tender with everyone else. They don't ask to see your tour ticket before boarding. :rolleyes:

 

Hope this helps! If you have dinner in the Platinum Restaurant, say hello to Chandra for me...he's awesome.

 

Jan