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My wife and I are so excited; we just booked our 1st cruise on a 13 day Mediterranean tour. However, I just can’t believe how expensive the shore excursions are. The prices just don’t make any sense to me. I have a feeling I could get a much better prices not booking excursions throught the cruiseline or even creating my own sightseeing plans.
For those of you who do not book your excursions through the cruise ships, can you share any websites or recommend any companies that I should book through to get a better price and value? What has your experience been booking your own excursions or making your own sightseeing plans?
Congrats on the cruise - I'm sure you'll have fun. I can't help you with specific websites, but check out google for shore excursion companies in Europe. I'm sure you'll find plenty. However, they may not be cheaper. All the cruise scheduled excursions are handled thru local companies, who charge in Euros. With the exchange rate being so poor, you may find that an alternative company may be just as expensive, if not more so.
Also, keep in mind...if you go on your own, make sure you are with reputable people. You want to make sure you get back to the ship in time! If you're on a cruise sponsored excursion and get delayed, they hold the ship. If you're on your own, they won't! You don't want to be taking a picture of your ship leaving port!
Go to Cruisecritic.com and check out that site--lots and lots of info about every single cruiseline. Check out the "port of call" threads--you'll get tons of info on private and ship's excursions! Good luck and Bon Voyage!
Lots of help and ideas here. I used when we went to the Caribbean last year and it saved us a lot of grief. Left side top Boards and right side top Reviews.
kensgirl hit the nail on the head about booking on your own. The cruise ships guarantee a safe trip, and actually what your getting and that they will get you back in time for departure. If you book on your own, as some do, do it when you get off the ship. Many independents are waiting by the boatside to offer you deals. But then again there are no guarantees. The last 2 cruises we were on some people did the offshore non cruiseline bookings and had to pay to fly to the next port to get back on the cruise ship, as they missed the ship departure by 15 minutes. On several occasions our ship left an hour or so later because their own excursions were late and they waited until their tour group got back.
Google your ports for activities or sights to see, then plan from there.
We set up a day sail to go snorkeling that was not through the ship. No problems for us or the other two groups (different day sail tours) that rode back to the ship with us.
http://www.socruise.com
....it offers information on cruise vacations, lets you book cruise deals/excursions. you can also read cruise news, or read other members reviews on their cruise experiences.
I was in Greece twice last year, not on a cruise ship. Only booked rooms for the arrival/departure days and left the rest of the itinerary in between totally blank.
Greece is riduculously easy to navigate on your own. Everybody speaks English. Even the tiniest villages have offical tourist information centers. Greek tourist info centers are well staffed, full of maps and bus schedules and ferry schedules, can be found everywhere, and it's all free.
Forget that excursion business and get on the regular bus with everybody else. Cost is usually about one Euro for a bus ticket to just about anywhere you want to go. Those package deals are a rip off and they herd people around like a bunch of kindergarteners.
Get off the boat and just hop on the nearest bus and go somewhere.
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