Cruisers excursion question

For those of you who have cruised or cruise often...

Do you book your excursions through the ship or do it on your own once you get there?

Re: Cruisers excursion question

I've done it both ways...depending on the places we are going. Although sometimes it can be more money to book through the ship, I find it easier and less stressful-
if the excursion runs late for some reason, the ship waits- if you are on your own and you are late that might not happen...

Re: Cruisers excursion question

I think it depends on where and what you want to do. We have booked most of our excursions through the cruise. The only exceptions were when we went shopping and to the beach in St. Thomas and when we did a tour of Atlantis in the Bahamas.

Re: Cruisers excursion question

We always book through the ship. It might be more money, but I'm always afraid of the excursion running late getting us back to the ship and the ship not waiting!

Like a PP mentioned, if you book through the ship then if it runs late, the ship will wait for you.

Re: Cruisers excursion question

I've done both. On some islands they don't always offer what we want to do so I do my research and book it on my own.

99% of the time, I book them on my own.

cruisecritic.com is soo helpful and will give you ideas and reputable excursion companies per port.

Re: Cruisers excursion question

Re: Cruisers excursion question

I book with the cruise line for convenience reasons - you walk off the ship and they are there to greet you, they check out the tours in advance, if the tour breaks down or is late the ship WILL wait for you - whereas if you book on your own - you don't know what you will get, and if for some reason something happens you are on your own.

Re: Cruisers excursion question

We try and book them before hand.
But we have also booked thru the TV once we got on the ship.

We hate standing in lines.

Re: Cruisers excursion question

For Europe we did all of them through the ship.
Other places we've done both depending on what we can find on our own.

Re: Cruisers excursion question

I've done both, but IMO it's worth a little extra money to do it through the cruise ship. Generally your group gets picked up and dropped off right at the ship and all the guess work is taken out of it.

Re: Cruisers excursion question

i usually book through the ship the first day.....they usually offer what the best sights are to see anyway at each island....i always look online to get an idea and if i think something will fill up fast--i book the excursion online before i go.........i have booked on the ship from the tv as well as at the excursion desk....i always do it the first day so that i know i will get waht i want and the day/ time i want, etc.

Re: Cruisers excursion question

We always book through the ship. It's just easier that way.

Re: Cruisers excursion question

This past cruise we only did excursions through the ship - but we were with a larger group and I just thought it would be easier this way.

Last cruise I did a lot of research on cruise critic and ended up booking private excursions with other people on there. It ended up working very well, and we saved money. We made sure that our excursion times were not too close to the ship departure times because as others mentioned, the risk of doing private excursions is that the boat will not wait for you.

I think it depends on the port and what you want to accomplish there. You can tailor the private excursions more to your needs, but if you're looking for something easier and not as tailored, the cruise excursions are the way to go.

Re: Cruisers excursion question

I have booked excursions online before the date of my cruise. I have also booked them on the ship as well at the Excursion desk.