We’re about to take a cruise for our honeymoon, and it looks like they’re using shore excursions as a cost center to try and recover what they “lost” on cutting fares.
We could easily spend hundreds more per person, but don’t want to. Does anyone have any info on what can be done in walking distance of the docks? Or what local transit is available and won’t ah, take us for a ride?
We’re not big “shoppers” so spending $50 each for a ferry trip to somewhere where the shopping is “world class” seems silly. And explain to me why a 5-hour hike through the rain forest is $60, but a 5-hour drive through the rain forest is $40?
Our ports of call are:
Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Cruz Bay, St. John, US Virgin Islands
Half Moon Cay, Bahamas
You can often find the very same tours for much less by going directly to the tour operators when you get off the boat in port. If it’s something you really want to do, you should try to make reservations in advance, with the tour operators, to avoid the disappointment of finding that that particular tour is sold out.
You can always just get off the boat and see what’s around…there will usually be some shopping and restaurants within walking distance of the pier and the crusie line will probably give you some sort of map of the area before each stop.
I have never been to any of the ports that you are calling at so I can’t offer any specific suggestions but there is a lot of information on the various ports at www.cruisereviews.com. There will often be a nice beach park geared to cruise passengers within a short cab ride of the port.
If you want to go further afield, like into the jungles, remember the one huge advantage to booking excursions through the cruise line…if something happens and your tour is delayed the boat will wait for you. Otherwise, they won’t so if you go out on your own make sure to allow plenty of time for the unexpected…you really DON’T want to miss the boat and have to deal with the huge expenses that would entail.
And if there is nothing in the port that you find interesting you might just consider staying on the ship, I like having the swimming pools almost to myself.
By the way, Half Moon Cay is a little different. It is Holland America’s private island, all the cruise lines have them. That will be a beach day with plenty of beach and water sports, a food buffet and a bar and maybe an ice cream shop.
They will probably have a gift shop or two and they may offer massages and hairbraiding but there may not be much in the way of adventure.
I haven’t been there but I have been to other cruise line islands and I have heard they are all fairly similar.
Don’t underestimate the value of the ship waiting for you. In Belize a couple years ago, we went on a cruise-sponsored jungle horseback riding tour tour and were over 3 hours late getting back. The tour operator just could not seem to grasp that we had to be back by 3:00 ship time not local time. In addition, the bus driver failed to count heads and left two people at the site of the jungle horseback ride. Since there was no local transporatin available, the entire bus load of us had to go back 45 minutes to pick them up. The ship waited–and we all got buttons to wear that said “we were the ones you were waiting for.” Lots of free drinks that night. We would have been stranded in Belize if we’d booked the tour ourselves.
Try a site like shoretrips.com (http://www.shoretrips.com/ . We used them to book an excursion during a cruise stop at the Grand Caymans to visit Stingray City. I believe we got a better experience than the huge crowd that went with the cruise line’s excursion and paid about half as much.
We took a Caribbean honeymoon cruise earlier last year. We bought shore excursions through them.
Then, once we actually went ashore, we found that not only did these excursions suck, private agencies all around were offering the same thing for half the price for what the cruise charged. :rolleyes: Don’t waste your money on them; don’t commit to anything until you’ve gotten a chance to look around. You don’t want to go snorkeling in an area where all the reef life is dead, for example.
I agree with what accidentalyuppie and as_u_wish said about making sure you get back to the ship on time. When I’ve taken tours or excursions that weren’t arranged by the cruise line, I’ve done shorter ones where there was no chance of missing the boat.
And I second the recommendation to check out www.cruisereviews.com- lots of good info there, about what to do in your ports of call, what to expect on board ship, what to pack, etc.
The first cruise I took with my family, we got off the ship at the first island (can’t remember which one) and hopped in a cab. My dad worked out a deal where the cabbie would take us anywhere we wanted the entire day and even wait for us while we were out. It cost less than a shore excursion and he took us on a tour of the island. We went to a non-tourist beach (it was just us and one older couple on the beach) and he recommended a really good local restaurant for lunch. He took us shopping to some out of the way places that aren’t as overpriced as the markets right off the dock. It was a great day, and the driver enjoyed telling us stories about his family and his island.
But I will reiterate what the above posters have said, if you don’t book an excursion with the cruise line, you are responsible for getting back on the ship in time. And if you miss the boat, you have to pay your own way to the next island (or back home). If you’re out with an official excursion, they will hold the boat (or get you to the next island on their dime).
We would have been stranded in Belize if we’d booked the tour ourselves.