What's next in shore excursions?

[RetireeWannabee]

It seems that these offerings have nothing to do with the ports. It's just paying to be entertained with some seemingly popular themed stuff. blech, don't need it.

 

I could play CSI here or drink in bar after bar at home. that is not why I cruise. I could find cheesy entertainment in many land locked cities, no point in sailing to this kind of thing.

 

Give me something relevant to the culture, something immersive vs superficial and barely related to the port. Some people might pay for things like this, but I'm not that desperate for entertainment and would far prefer to set off on foot or hire a local to drive me around the main sights and historical areas.

[mapsmith]

How about culture and immersion. How about a small group excursion that provides the Passengers to a school to give lectures/talks about our lives to the children in the Caribbean Schools.

 

Many of the kids in the schools have preconceived perceptions of particularly North American Cruise Passengers based on the experiences of their parents. How about letting the kids meet some of us?

 

This would have to be a very small group of maybe no more than 6 or 8 in the excursion and would probably require some deep interviewing of the passengers that wanted to participate.

 

And the Cruise lines could also provide a decent chunk of change to the schools in exchange for this type of excursion

[Lady Chew]

None of the poll options seem very appealing to us. We prefer tours related to the history, culture, arts or geography of the island. If we want to go to the beach, we'll stay at the beach! Preferably on the west coast ... of Maui!

 

We know it's impossible to get a really in-depth experience in the short period of time ashore, but we still like the overview you can get. We know there are some islands we'd like to go back and stay for a week, and others we don't need to visit ever again!

 

We'd both love to do an Amazing Race tour, where you follow the real contestants around and you could even do the same road blocks & other tasks, but not under the gun!! and only with first-class accommodations, so we wouldn't have to camp out in the open all night waiting for a park to open, or for a flight ...

[cruiserbryce]

both the Pirates and U2 themed ones sound like fun

[NCTribeFan]

They might be fun, but they have nothing to do with the ports.

 

I'm one of those who just doesn't get why people will go a foreign country and have zero interest in where they're visiting.

 

Just do not get it.

 

I don't want a freaking theme park excursion when I go to the Caribbean. Or anywhere else. I hate theme parks!

 

As my ex used to say (he's English), it's the Disneyfication of America. Of everywhere, really.

 

People don't want reality. They want entertainment.

 

How many people complain because they arrive at a port like Freeport and talk about how there's nothing there, and it's all industrial, blah, blah.

 

I suppose it never occurred to some cruisers that the ports actually existed before their cruise ship decided to arrive? You know, that ports are used for shipping goods? Freight? You know, that boring stuff that islands need since they have to import almost everything?

 

How dare they not build ports specifically for the cruise ships that are all nice and pretty and have lots of shopping and a Margaritaville and plenty of other American restaurants/bars, just with palms trees outside.

 

That way they can go on a cruise vacation and have everything just as they like it. Just like home!

 

What's the point? Just stay home! Go to Myrtle Beach or to some other tacky beach resort. Then you won't have to worry about having to deal with the "locals."

 

:mad:

 

I feel better now. I needed a good rant!

[RetireeWannabee]

You obviously feel quite strongly about this, and I share many of your viewpoints.

 

I do wish children would get the love of travel for its own sake, exploration of foreign lands, getting a glimpse of how other people live.

 

But that's not where the cruise industry is going. Not a lot of people in a deck chairs pointed at the ocean, breathing the air, admiring the beauty and power of the ocean. Sure, some folks. But many others are busy doing The Stuff or concerned about getting a lounger by the pool. Playing in the casino. Nothing wrong with that, but I also don't understand the need to be Doing Things all the time and I really will never understand wanting to be at teh pool when there's AN OCEAN to enjoy!

 

I have taken a few trips with some girlfriends to the ocean. One of our party wants to sit by the pool. Not me. I take full advantage of being at the beach. That's why I'm there. It engages all of my senses. [i'm not thrilled with your 'tacky beach resort' comment, but in context, it fits :) and there are certainly plenty that fit that description!]

 

People come on the board and ask if they will be bored on the ship. Like they will run out of stuff to do. And I don't get it, either.

 

People relax different ways, enjoy different things, etc., and the cruise lines are catering to the Go Go Go folks and the desire for families to have Stuff To Do. They aren't building all this stuff for me, not creating these excursions for me, but some folks will do them.

 

For me, vacation has come to mean Going Somewhere. And I assume I will never be there again and set out to Experience The Place. I don't need a theme. A guidebook and possibly a driver will do it for me.

[tourguy1]

The ship excursions would have to be the ones that are hard to book on your own. Pirates, did that @ Disneyworld. Key lime eating, do that when we visit on our land vacation (Kermits, Blond Giraffe).

 

Give me the backstage CSI and U2 pub crawl anyday!!

 

I spent a good deal of time with some of the crew from CSI Miami recently while they were filming another production in Hawaii. They said most of that show is filmed in LA, with just some sweeping scenics inserted into the show. Sounds like there wouldn't be much to see on such a tour.

[tourguy1]

None of the poll options seem very appealing to us. We prefer tours related to the history, culture, arts or geography of the island. If we want to go to the beach, we'll stay at the beach! Preferably on the west coast ... of Maui!

 

We know it's impossible to get a really in-depth experience in the short period of time ashore, but we still like the overview you can get. We know there are some islands we'd like to go back and stay for a week, and others we don't need to visit ever again!

 

We'd both love to do an Amazing Race tour, where you follow the real contestants around and you could even do the same road blocks & other tasks, but not under the gun!! and only with first-class accommodations, so we wouldn't have to camp out in the open all night waiting for a park to open, or for a flight ...

 

I like your Amazing Race idea. Sounds fun as long as the physical part of it won't kill us. Ha!

[paul929207]

None of these holds any interest for me.

[cruzeluver]

Yuck. These ideas sound terrible for all of the reasons my esteemed co-posters have mentioned. A sanitized tour with some goofy theme holds no interest for me.

[RoofingPrincess]

Yuck. These ideas sound terrible for all of the reasons my esteemed co-posters have mentioned. A sanitized tour with some goofy theme holds no interest for me.

I agree.

 

I don't, for the most part, take ship-sponsored excursions. I have been fortunate enough to find posters here on Cruise Critic whose opinions I trust enough to "take a chance" on private excursions.

On my Alaska cruise, I went on a whale watch; there were 4 other people on the boat (one short of the max occupancy). We saw the boat carrying the ship's whale watch excursion. It was much larger, and people were jostling at the rail, trying to get a glimpse of what was going on. Who do you think had the better whale-watching experience? And who do you think paid less for it?

Again, in another port, I took a bus tour. It was a small "party-bus" type vehicle, and I think there were maybe a dozen of us on it. The seats were two on each side of the aisle, but each pair was occupied by only one person. So we all got window seats for the view. We pulled over frequently for picture-taking opportunities. Several times, the huge buses carrying the ship's tour (probably at least 50-60 people per bus) zoomed by.....

I very much prefer the small tour experience - and those usually bring me into contact with a more "real" view of the port. I don't want a sanitized, Disneyized experience like those mentioned in the poll.

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

I spent a good deal of time with some of the crew from CSI Miami recently while they were filming another production in Hawaii. They said most of that show is filmed in LA, with just some sweeping scenics inserted into the show. Sounds like there wouldn't be much to see on such a tour.

 

This is true!

 

They were filming "CSI MIAMI" in San Pedro at the Double Tree and the Waterfront while we were there last year.

We didn't see the "stars" of the show, but we watched the crew do some filiming of a car chase scene and some shots of background extras reacting. VERY COOL! :D

 

All this was an unexpected surprise to us when we stayed at the Double Tree for an extra day after our cruise!

[fann1sh]

This is an interesting thread. My reaction to the poll suggestions is also "yuck". But it's harder to come up with new ideas than shoot them down, especially for the Caribbean.

 

I can understand why Carnival is interested in a created "theme" attraction at Freeport. Created destinations like Costa Maya and Grand Turk have been very successful.

 

The turn off for me is excursions with hordes of people! Instead of such a massive infrastructure investment, I'd love it if some of the cruise lines created "strictly limited" niche excursions.

 

Lots of great ideas above. With Holland America's Culinary Arts initiative, any of the "foodie" ideas should be no brainers for that line. (Seattle, are you listening? No? Um, well, experience says "no brainer" has another meaning dealing with HAL executives. :rolleyes:) I've toured local food markets in the Caribbean, visited local food or drink shops (sugar cane juice with lime), spice markets.

 

Excursions where people can drink are always popular :D and someone mentioned learning how rum is made. Rum trade fueled the settling of this continent. How about a tour on the history and making of rum?

 

I'd love to see the Curacao desalination water plant. There are likely security, safety, or people managing reasons why I haven't seen it as ship's tour. I wonder if a limited tour would be possible? Haven't been on the Curacao Amstel tour yet about using dealinated water to brew beer.

 

Any of those ideas would mean the cruise lines would have to work with locals who already have the skills to do such tours, pay/hire locals to develop them, or hire cruise line own employees who'd train and manage in each port. But some cruise lines are focussing on eliminating jobs for cost cutting. Do any mainstream lines still offer ships' culture/history lectures on the short Caribbean cruises? Hiring back people to focus on a "niche" would probably not fly.

 

Another long post. Maybe more CCer's should add me to their "ignore' list :)

[olemissreb]

these tours do nothing for me. I wouldn't even let my kids go on any one of these (not if they were with me anyway). Maybe my kids might be interested in something like this when they get older, but I'm hoping that they won't. I'm hoping that DH and I will teach them that traveling to foreign destinations is an adventure in itself. There are things to learn about each destination and things to do outside the tourist stuff.

 

When DH and I were in Venice, Italy - we asked our hotel concierge for some good restaurants to eat at. He started giving us the touristy places and we told him to stop - we wanted to get the local feel. We ended up going to a couple of places and they were so much better than the tourist stops. We wandered the back canals of Venice just to see how the people live - I'll bet most of the tourists there never got past the Rialto Bridge or St. Marks Square!

 

After our last cruise, I've decided that cruiseline tours are just not for me. We booked a local tour in Grenada and I was so happy we did. We learned so much about the island and the schools and how they are teaching the kids about the tourism industry - how it affects their lives and how it brings in the necessary dollars for the country to make ends meet. We even got to eat lunch at a locals restaurant and the food was outstanding! Our tour guide filled us with more information that the cruise line guides were telling their passengers. There were only 10 or 12 of us on this tour and it was so nice for everyone to ask questions and get them answered and to be able to hear what our guide was saying because we could all gather close to hear him. The other tours had 25-30 passengers and most of those people couldn't hear their guide because they were 3 rows back from him/her - I had people from the cruise tours asking me what our guide was saying!

 

For our next cruise, I'm looking at all local tours - except maybe a swim with the dolphins! I know that won't give us a feel for the island itself which is disappointing, but my oldest wants to be a zoo vet and I think he would absolutely flip for that! All the tours are about the islands. I would love to see cruise lines limit the number of passengers on an excursion and make them more personable - offer cooking tours, flora/fauna tours etc. I loved the idea of the "arc tours" that one poster mentioned - sign up for one you sign up for them all sure makes choosing simpler if that is your cup of tea.

 

Personally, I don't know what the attraction of pub crawls or rum boats are. Why would anyone want to drink that much and then come back to the ship and drink more? Sounds like trouble to me.

 

Maybe it's just the cruises we've been on, but most of the people we've met on cruises have been more interested in snorkeling and touring the islands than in drinking or doing Disneyfied excursions. Just my 2 cents worth (ok maybe 10 cents worth!:D)

[lady_cruiser]

A day of helping out at the local Humanity of Habitats.

[Tikibird]

I'd be interested in dance classes with professional dancers from the country. Like samba in Brazil, salsa in Puerto Rico, hula in Hawaii, etc. Make it a whole experience with the dance class, behind the scenes look at costume making, history of the dance, staging the performance-stuff like that so you really feel you understand the dance even if you won't be physically proficient at it after one lesson.

[marshhawk]

Water coloring painting in the Carribean. Get an artist/teacher to teach watercolor painting in the ports of call. That way you can see the island/port, learn something, and have a souvenier of your trip. It would include supplies, so that you would not have to cart all the stuff around. Most of the tours are for the fast and furious, maybe this would be geared more to the older and curious. Have the teacher work for the cruise line, at 60 bucks per class, the cruise ship would be making the money.

[RoofingPrincess]

A day of helping out at the local Humanity of Habitats.

Ooh, I like the way you think! I would *love* to spend the day building with Habitat for Humanity or the Fuller Center for Housing! Right now I tend to do one building vacation and one cruise each year - this way I could have the best of both worlds!

I'd be interested in dance classes with professional dancers from the country. Like samba in Brazil, salsa in Puerto Rico, hula in Hawaii, etc. Make it a whole experience with the dance class, behind the scenes look at costume making, history of the dance, staging the performance-stuff like that so you really feel you understand the dance even if you won't be physically proficient at it after one lesson.

And I like this idea as well! I take ballroom dance and find the classes on the ship to be a little too basic, plus the history, etc would be interesting.

[GORDONCHICK]

None of the above, since that wasn't a poll option.

[ILoveScotland]

I prefer private excursions or going out on my own although I'll do a ship excursion if no other options.

 

And I just want to see the sights.

[fredman]

With only one cruise under my belt and after have experiencing low dollar and mid dollar excursions, my wife and I have decided for the next cruise that we won't book any excursions until we:

 

a. Are on ship and have taken in the Island talk

b. or we decide to book something on shore

c. or we decide to be accidental tourists with some fore knowledge of the sights and scenes - walk there if accessible and take in the ambiance on our own! :D

 

We enjoy historical sights, museums and art that real people can afford...no velvet paintings lol :D