Want to book the best excursions during our cruise. They are pricey and would like to get the best value for our money. Would a private small company be better than the cruise ship tours.

We prefer to tour on our own or in a small group.

At www.cruisecritic.com you can find a Roll Call board for your sailing and "meet" fellow passengers with whom to share tours.

There are also Port of Call boards that are helpful.

If you list your ports, we might be able to make suggestions.;

To answer your question, yes. We practically always do private tours. They will be less $ and will have fewer numbers of people. It would help to know your port stops. We cruised the holy land last yr. and were happy with the private companies we used. The experience was fantastic and though costly it was way less than what the ship offered. Do realize that gasoline in Israel is around $10.00 per USG.

We used guidedtoursisrael.com. Very satisfied. Great experience.

We used them as well for 2 of our 4 days in israel. They were fine. For the other 2 days we used:
http://www.avitours.co.il/

They were excellent as well. I found them to be a bit more friendly and they would be my 1st choice but if not available then GTI would be fine.

Hi kh,

Good advice re cruisecritic and a roll call.

What are your ports of call? Some, such as Ashdod to Jerusalem can be a pleasant DIY adventure by bus and cab.

Well this is a post from July, 2012. I suppose she has gone by now.