Should you Do Cruise Line Excursions? Yes or No?

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Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 77 cruises at time of making this video.

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[yesimsixtyfive]

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.

[HansHess]

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.

[ilovesparky]

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.

[davedove]

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.

[weirdnomad]

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.

[johnmassoud]

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.

[abridalmaven]

I do ship excursions when I’m in a country I’m not familiar with and our time in port is short.

[angelahorton]

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.

[axjmd]

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.

[macktrees]

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.

[ballaratboy]

We did the Baltic cruise last year and used the local Hop on - Hop off buses, except for St Petersburg and this worked very well.

[chriswilliams]

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.

[j.m.]

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.

[OriginalGaPeach]

Gary, u read our minds! We are taking a cruise in late May and was wondering which way was better...Thanks!

[clnre]

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!

[rosemarywalker]

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 👍🙂.

[davidrollins]

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)

[gjsthreefoursevinoneone]

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.

[cuwur]

Very helpful and reassuring. Thank you😊

[clement]

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.