Gary, This video is by far one of the best I have seen on the advantages and disadvantages of ship shore excursions. Excellent points on both sides and exceptionally well presented.
One of the best times I ever had on an excursion was going through an independent provider. I got a bus ride to a secluded beach with an excellent restaurant. Spent a few hours in peace and quiet away from the tourist traps near the ship and a had great meal too.
Fascinating analysis. Thanks for posting. Me personally I'm always concerned about getting back to the ship on time. But that's why different folks do different things.
I’m very happy that we booked our excursions through the cruise. We received an email from carnival saying that we will be arriving in port 4 hours later than expected, which will affect one of our excursions. Carnival will take care of everything, so no need to worry.
Another factor that plays into my decision is whether I have visited the port before, especially one where I'm not comfortable with the local language.
I took a repositioning cruise from San Pedro (port of Long Beach) California and we went up the coast to Vancouver BC with a stop in Victoria and I took the "Ship's excursion" to Butchart Gardens and it was thoroughly enjoyable. When we returned to the ship, I went off on my own into town. Victoria wasn't good in the nightlife category and that's why I was grateful to the cruise staff.
@@ilovesparky13 If you enter Victoria's harbour by cruise ship it's quite a distance to the gardens. Maybe 3-4 hours total as the traveling time is long to and from the harbour-but, very pleasant. If you have lots of time and not arriving by cruise ship, you can do the whole place in 2 hours. It's all dependent on how long you want to take at the areas. Your eyes will bulge out of their sockets of the sheer beauty.
In Europe, my friend tried to save $20 by going on a third-party excursion. Well, they got a flat tire and the ship left him and he had to spend $200 to fly to the next port.
I bought an excursion, a hike and I fell and got a bad gash on my leg. Because I was in a dense island forest I wanted someone at medical to look at it and clean it up. Well because I bought the excursion my care was included plus they had a lawyer visit me a couple times. Excellent care but I think if I had gone out on my own the medical would have been really expensive. Something to consider.
We generally avoid ship shore excursions however we have booked a two day tour with Cunard in St Petersburg for simplicity and to make the most of our time there, however we feel we've paid a premium.
Excellent information! We booked independent guides for Bar Harbor and Halifax on last years New England/Canada cruise. Terrific guides, small vans for our party of 4. Cheaper and very enjoyable experiences.
Thx Gary. we always used the cruise line for excursions until last Aug 2018 on a Baltic when my friend and Travel Agent recommended me SPB Tours in St. Petersburg. They actually offer them in all the. attic ports and now in the Med too. They were excellent, and had small 17 pax vans, so it was quick getting out and in the van. The guide was fab and helped me with my walker around tariff gates etc. But we did only get back to the ship at the last minute so I was nervous.
Hi Gary nice video I have been on cruise excursions the only problem I had is in a large group the guide walks so quick could not keep up and missed what she or me were saying and just move on .so what I do now is to go back on future holidays and do and look around at your own pace. Many thanks for the video and information 👍🙂.
@@tipsfortravellers hi again Gary been a few years since I did cruise it was a lot cheaper than.I love your cruise to Vietnam very different your video was very enjoyable .if younger what's the cruise I would love to do so watching your video made up for it thanks again.👍🙂
I make my decision on taking a cruise line excursion on your final category, distance from port. I check where the ship will dock in relation to the places I want to visit, sometimes (like Tallin) it is easy to walk into the town, other times the cruise line, or the port will lay on a shuttle bus to take passengers a short distance into the city (like Helsinki). However if I want to travel a long distance from the port (like Florence from Lugarno), I will take the cruise line excursion. One problem I experienced last year (2022) for the first time was lack of refreshment stops. It happened on two different cruises: in Albania the excursion started early, but gave us no chance to get a drink until lunch; in Spain it was even worse, we went from 10am until 3pm, with no break for food or drink!
Good points, Gary. We have had very good luck with independent excursions (and saved 50% plus) by researching travel web sites with user reviews/ratings. However, I would not take an indy excursion that was scheduled to finish within 1-2 hours of ship departure (too close for comfort)
One more point in favor of cruise-sponsored excursions is having recourse if you are dissatisfied. I have been compensated on a couple of occasions for tours that did not fulfill the described itinerary. I’ve also been on a tour bus that got stuck in soft sand and the experience would’ve been entirely different had we had the worry of missing the ship that evening! We got a generous credit for that misadventure and a disappointing day became a fun story to tell.
We do both. Ship are always a must if there is a long time span after the current port. For instance our last French Polynesia port was followed by 2 sea days, a visit to a non airport island (Pitcairn Island)and then two seadays to Easter Island. The logistics of flying from Tahiti to South America and then Easter Island would have been daunting. Missing say St Thomas followed by Saint Maarten is a non event in comparison.
yes if you are perennially late. yes if you can skip line at uffizi, accademia, vatican, orsay, louvre, peterhof, tsarkoye selo, alhambra, where lines can be miles long , and hours just waiting in line just to buy tickets before getting in the door. yes if your city is two three hours one way from port. no because expensive, no if your port is within one hour one way drive from city to port. there are transport only excursions rather than guided, are there unguided transport but with skip line excursions? if your town is one to two hours one way from port then debate. yes if you need ship to wait for you.
We went out on our own and rented a car in Cozumel and it worked out great. The Cozumel beach resort excursions offered by the cruise lines are a complete ripoff. You can easily get there on your own (taxi, rental car or scooter) and easily get back to the port for a fraction of the price.
We always do cruise line excursions but probably should look to independent ones but the not being left behind guarantee is very important to us. Really don't want to miss the ship. I mean that would be a total disaster for me. I don't fly so this would be nightmare situation.
I am finding the cruise line excursions are beginning to lower their prices to become more competitive. We have book more cruise line excursions on RCL lately than before due to the cheaper price. Princess cruises on our Panama Canal trip the excursions were much more competitive with the local excursions. Hopefully this is a new trend.
I’m thoroughly enjoying all your videos as I prepare for my first cruise - Baltic Sea. I’ve traveled through Europe four times already, so I’m pretty comfortable on my own, however I do have a question about one stop. At the Warnemunde stop, I want to go to Berlin. This is one of those LONG distances from the ship. The ship’s excursion allows five hours in Berlin, but my calculations show that, if I plan this well, I could double that time in Berlin. Who can see Berlin in five hours? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Todd Bonin Hi. First question, how would you go to Berlin and how many hours do you have in total. That are the important questions. By car, it might be around 2 1/2 - 3 hours one way (more or less same by bus) and you have to calculate the rental process. By train, you have to consider that German trains like to be late, to be cancelled, whatever, but of course, often or sometimes you are lucky 🙈😉. If you drive with a car, you have to think about where to park and what to you want to see. In my opinion as a German citizen who has been to Berlin and has done several cruises, this Berlin trip from Warnemünde is one of the worst ideas from cruise companies. Compared to Cicitavecchia to Rome, this last one is a breeze and much easier. A great trip along the lovely coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern might be another wonderful idea? But, if you want to see Berlin, again, check the time you have in total the conditions in driving to Berlin and back in time! If you have really 5 hours with the ship excursion, it is not enough time to see a lot, but might be enough for my favourite part of Berlin: Deutscher Bundestag, Brandenburger Tor, Unter den Linden, Alex, Rotes Rathaus and a lot of sights around 500 m south and north of this „line“. I don‘t know if there are private bus tours, who drive you to Berlin Mitte and pick you up later and ! give you more time and a safe arrival in time at the port, this could be a solution? Hope, there was a little bit of advice.
Lizzy Bennet thank you so much for responding. The cruise offers a bus trip that drops you off in Berlin and picks you up 5-6 hours later, so you are guaranteed to make it back to the ship. I was going to take a train but I’ve heard about the reliability issues (which is so un-German 😊). I just really want to visit Berlin. (German History Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie, Berliner Dom and walk Unter den Linden to the Brandenburg Gate). I don’t know when I’ll have another chance. Maybe I’m wanting to do too much. Thanks again.
Is it possible to tap into the issue of the Corona virus now and for future use of going on vacation in the near future?? Will the ships be proactive about treating their ships differently? We have reservations for a week cruise in late May. Should I consider buying insurance if things go wrong prior to sail date?? Thank you
my thoughts : do excursions skip visas such as russia st petersburg , istanbul turkey? are destinations further than one hour drive one way like berlin florence milan seville paris cordoba granada lindon brussels? are museums really hard to get tickets especially those requiring timed reservation last supper uffizi vatican alcazar alhambra orsay louvre rijks belvedere green vault? is there language barrier such as in asia africa or religious cultural differences middle east? if any of above apply take cruise line tours. if carribbean alaska new england pacific hawaii and you just want to relax treat your ship as a resort then dont take an excursion
Hello Gary, we’re booked on a cruise heading to the Mediterranean in middle May 2020 through Royal Caribbean. Leaving from Rome and returning to Rome. What are the odds of it getting cancelled due to the coronavirus? Thanks!
The situation is changing but I would be surprised if it is. If there are restrictions for some reasons on a particular country or port there is more likelihood the cruise will have changed itinerary than be cancelled I would have thought. That is what happened in Asia
I will Not go through an independent provider again. Tried this through shoreexcursioneer in Cozumel Mexico on an atv cave tour. Booked a year in advance. Nobody showed up. Tried calling shoreexcursioneer and nobody spoke any english. When we got back from the cruise they said our meeting resort should have done more but they don't work together anymore??? They did refund our money but a day lost in Cozumel. Port was to over crowded to do anything else last minute. Not worth saving any amount of money as we simply had to go back to the boat and sit by the pool.Not worth saving a few bucks when you have spent thousands on the cruise.
If you pre-book an independent excursion and the port is cancelled last minute, are you likely to get refunded? I have always pre-booked cruise-line excursions and the refund is instant if the port is cancelled. Other times I just jump in a cab, if I am going to a close beach or doing my one thing.
are there english speaking guides in asian, african ports, or is it better to book an excursion for the guides. again transport only excursions are awesome for rome, florence, milano, berlin, paris, brussels, london, seville, cordoba , granada, siena, orvieto, ..... consider if there is something you would rather do closer to the port by public transport rather than the featured famous city, like if you would rather go to luebeck instead of berlin from warnemuende, pisa or lucca rather than florence, giverny honfleur or rouen or bayeux instead of paris...bruges instead of brussels. but please dont just stay on the ship just because of excursions prices, find alternatives if you must.
They are amazing and one of the many in Iceland. You can see much more of these waterfalls and some others in one of my Iceland and cruising videos: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Pi4_nrKe3QY.html
So you are pretending like this corona thing does not exist? You are an overwhelmingly optimistic guy, have to give you that. For other people, with common sense left yet, DO NOT CRUISE, for now. All the best guys.
Thanks for the comment. My content is not just for right now, of course. And while people may decide not to travel today, tomorrow, next week or next month, most still want to think about, inform themselves, plan and dream. Especially when the world around seems uncertain, a bit of travel content diversion seems a great idea to me.
@@tipsfortravellers Thank you for the reply. I like how you did justify the "diversion" ;) it is nice approach to the issue. Let's hope this corona thig ends soon..
Prices are dropping as people are afraid...making a great opportunity for those of us who accept the risk of getting out of bed in the morning. You are free to choose otherwise and may God bless.
@@AM-dr9qd If you go cruise it is enough only 1 out of thousands to get infected to get you quarantined. Not something I will face if I go to grocery store. Good luck.
We do a bit of both! For example, a few years ago, Bonaire’s best rated snorkeling tour was through the Sea Cow, and we really wanted to make sure we got that tour. Come to find out, the SeaCow, was through the cruise line only. We were not disappointed with the experience even if we payed a premium fee. Other best rated tours aren’t always through the cruise ships, though. So it all depends on how you want to go about doing excursions and if you care about the ratings. Usually we like to have an idea of the feedback for most tours and do research beforehand so ratings are something we take into account. But to each their own.
