Please give me advise about this. I am reluctant to use these because I am afraid we will be held up somewhere enroute and miss our ship's departure. I know that there is a big cost saving. Please tell me how to go about arranging these excursions. How do I know the quality of the tour and the guide.

Well first of all ships excursions can and have been help up as well.

For our 10 cruises we have used private guides and have never been remotely close to missing the port. Just remember that these guys are part of businesses and can call for another vehicle if need be so I don't worry about that.

So what ports are you going to? Usually I google the port in question for private tour operators and then look up reports on trip advisor. You can also go to cruise critic and check out the port boards for recomendations. You will many replies no doubt. Don't forget that these guys have to make a living too, that we are in the age of easily attainable information and that usually bad reviews spell doom for that particular business. Again what are your ports? If is the Caribbean I have experience with some guides that I have used and can recommend w/o hesitation.

I understand that cruise ship excursions can be held up but the ship will wait for them. I will look up our stops and post them

If you are not familiar with cruising or the ports you are going to, you may well be better off with the ship's sponsored excursions. On our cruises, we have done both, but that was after months of research on Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic.

Depending on your ports, sometimes, the ship's excursions are not that much more than an independent operator. Peace of mind and convenience can be worth a lot.

ita, I echo KVR's comments. We are not as lucky as Larry. We have been "late" more than once. One time, we were at Coba Mayan Ruin (via Playa del Carmen adn the port is Corzumel). There was a horrific accident on the highway and the traffic was really backed up. The bus was at least 45 minutes behind schedule. The guide was frantically on the cell phone for a long time. To make a long story short, they held the ferry at the pier and waited for us. When we get on the ferry, my sister who was on another group said they have been sitting inside the ferry for more than an hour and not sure what the hold up was. I guess the hold up was our bus. Needness to say, cruise ship excursions saved our behinds.

With that said, we still book independent tours where it makes sense. We booked almost entirely independent tours for a Baltic cruise last year. We did mostly independent tours on a Holyland cruise a few years back. This year, it would be half and half as we are re-visiting some ports so we will need private guides to take us to "second tier" attractions, or places that we missed or wanted to spend more time.

It all depends on the circumstances: ports, cost, safety, time in port, langauge, transporation, proximity, distance, security, dock location, etc. Trust and faith also come into play.

One more story to tell. One time, we got back to the port on time but we were distracted by the vendors outside the port facility and lost track of time. When we realise we were very late, we ran towards the port facility from the market. It was at Port Said where one have to go through tight security checks.

Princess actually had a staff out at the security check point looking for us. When she saw us running towards the gate, she yelled "are you Mr and Mrs ???". We yelled back "yes!" and the port security waved us past the metal detectors. Obviously, we were the last one. As soon as we got on board, the staff disenagged the gangway and before we reached our cabin, the ship was already moving off the dock. That was the closest call ever.

It doesn't matter if you are on a ship's excursion or not. We would be on our own if we missed the boat.

isn't it Correct that if it is a ship excursion they wait for you?

There are three ways to go: on your own, with a local guide and with the ship's tours. A lot of research is needed to determine which of these works best. A small town with docking near the center may be best down on your own. If there is little risk - no great distance etc. look for a local guide. Watch the various forums for advice and you may do well. Our best tours have been this way. Sometimes it is best to go with a ship's tour. Don't be in a hurry - you can usually buy these a few minutes before they leave. Watch out for the dreaded words "shopping opportunity". They usually mean a third to a half of the tour in a tshirt shop.

It's true ita that if you take a ships tour they have to wait for you. Go with what you are comfortable with. I think private tours will be fine but if your comfort level isn't there then do what's best for you.

the shopping bit is what I am very wary of. It's such a waste of time and usually junk. I have a lot of time until next January. I will research and then ask questions. I definitely want to go on the rain forest tour in Costa Rica. For the rest I am mainly interested in walking tours of the town. Hopefully some of it can be done on our own to eliminate the shopping.

If you book an excursion with the ship, they will guarantee your return to the ship, even if it means flying you to meet the ship at the next port (although this never happens as it is cheaper to wait for the whole bus). So you are correct in saying that they will wait for you, except: they will wait for the group, not you in particular. Note my scenario in Port Said above.

I don't dread the "shopping opportunity". Usually it menas free time. You know where the bus is. They tell you what time to get back to the bus. As long as you do that, you can wander off anywhere. We don't go inside the shops (except to use the washroom or get their free drinks ). We walk around the area, check out local stuff.

The only caution is to be aware of your enviroment and know if the neghiborhoods are safe. I have friends who decided to take a back alley short cut in New Orleans French Quarter and was mugged. It was night time, it was a dark back alley. They were looking for trouble and found it.

If you see police offciers standing (guarding) in front of the souvenir shop they are taking you to, my advise is staying within yelling distance of the "guard".

I rarely take ship-sponsored excursions, and I've never had an inkling of a problem making it back to my ship on time. Here are my general thoughts, though.

If your ship tenders ashore, then getting on and off can be a huge hassle, magnified by the size of the ship (in Grand Cayman, for example). There difficulty here isn't really making it back to the ship on time but rather getting off the ship in time for your excursion. Priority is always given to those who have booked a ship-sponsored excursion, and it can take 2 or 3 hours to disembark all the passengers in a tender port.

If you want to visit a place that is very distant ... say 2 hours away ... then I'd give more thought to a ship-sponsored excursion. But otherwise, these people live and die in most cases with their work derived from cruise passengers, and if they get really bad reviews on CruiseCritic or some other forum, they won't be in business very longer. Thus, it's to their advantage to get you back in time.

I know from time to time passengers miss their ship, but it's exceedingly rare. So I think the danger is minimal. I personally know of no one who has ever missed a ship sailing time. Ever. Having said that, it's a real issue that does happen from time to time.

Hello,

There are several excellent shore excursion companies that have operated reliably, affordably for about 10 years now. My colleagues and I use them continuously to book our cruise clients and have good success. I agree that ship shore excursions are becoming more expensive and less interesting every year, so that trend brought out these new companies. You can also work with destination management companies in each port to do private or semi-private tours. The key is to always set your return time for 60-120 minutes prior to the ship's embarkation time to ensure that you get back to the ship with plenty of time. If the ship says 4p.m., arrive back at 2:30 or 3 p.m., for instance.

Have a great day!
Julia

What a fabulous thread - I am about to depart on my first cruise (June 13): Puerto Rico, St Lucia, St Kitts etc and havent done the remotest research on vendors.... looks like Im asking for trouble or asking to stick with the ship's tours!

One other thing to think about with regards to the ship's excursions. If you don't pre-book on their web-site before you depart, the most popular excursions may be sold out or the price is higher at the shore excursion desk than it was on-line.

Doug, I echo your sentiment. I personally do not know of anyone who missed getting back to the boat but I have heard (while on board) of persons missing the boat. I have one very close call myself.

With that said, I agree with you that on any distant excursions, I wouldn't chance it other than with ship's excursions. However, I disagree with you on tendered ports (and you give example of Grand Cayman) that it took 2 to 3 hours to get everyone off the ship and priority were given to ship's excursion passengers.

If you get to the disembarkation point early, you will get off early. If the muster area is choke full of people getting ready to get off for an excursion, you will have to wait maybe up to 30 minutes, and I am talking about Mega ships with 2500+ passengers. They are getting more effective with the tenders and have more boats ready, and more landings. Most tender will hold up to 250+ people although they rarely packed them in like sardines. A dozen trips with 1 tender will unload 2000 people (almost everyone) and with 2 to 3 tenders in use, it takes no time at all. The time waster, if you can call it that, is lining up and getting into the tender.

The wait time does not apply only to tender ports. It also apply to ports with tight security or tight immigration control such as St. Petersberg and Haifa/Ashdod.

I have often heard people saying priority were given to Ship's sponsor excursion passengers so don't book an outside tour with those ports. All I can say is it is not true, at least in my case. I have first hand experience, and others here (Percy, are you still here?) as well, that this is not the case. You simply have to get there early and you will get off early. We were among the first group that disembark at St. Petersberg and we did not book ship's excursion. We showed up at the disembakation waiting area 15 minutes early, it is straightly first come first serve and we were the first group to leave. No one ever asked anyone if they are with a ship's excursion or not. If you are late getting there and the ship's excursion group are all gathered and ready, of course they will give them piority at that point.

The point here is that if you do not use ship's excursion, make sure you get there to the disembarkation point early, prior to the mass exodus, or wait.

I have to agree with Doug on his comments about how long it can take to get off the ship and that ship's sponsored excursions get priority when it comes to tendering as this happened when we cruised to Grand Cayman.

It might also depend on the ship and the port of call, but, when we went to Grand Cayman on Princess we were advised that handicap/disabled would receive first priority to tender, then elite passengers,then people who bought the ship's sponsored tours, then anyone else that wanted to get off the ship. Those people did wait about 2 - 3 hours to get off the ship.

We bought a ship sponsored tour in Grand Cayman because I read all about this disembarkation process on Cruise Critic. On our tender tickets, which was delivered to us the night before, it had the time and location of where we were to be to board the tender. We went early hoping we could get off the ship quicker and there were cruise staff guarding the entrance and checking tender tickets. If it wasn't your time to board the tender they weren't letting you near it.

Of all our cruises, this is the only port we ever had to tender. Ports in which you can just walk off the ship onto the pier this process didn't not exist. It was first come first serve. However, if there was a separate line for handicap, disabled and elite members, which were shorter and given priority.