5 signs your shore excursion is a BAD idea

Though cruise ships are destinations in and of themselves, many travelers book cruises to explore different ports of call across the globe, from the tropical Caribbean to the culturally rich Mediterranean.

When booking excursions, you can reserve directly through your cruise line for convenience or turn to third-party operators for more variety and typically lower prices. How do you know if you're making the right decision, though?

Regardless of how you book, you want to carefully evaluate your options before making a decision. Here are 5 signs your chosen excursion is a bad idea.

[kingsgaurd]

Great point about the refund policy, especially these days.

[dennisingalls]

My wife and I while in the southern Caribbean went online before the cruise and found a day long excursion we wanted to do. We contacted the excursion company and explained we both were physically handicapped and didn’t want to slow the excursion because of our condition. We asked if we could hire a guide for a private tour and they said yes. As a result, we got to visit places the regular tour didn’t go to, and our guide even took us to his home for an authentic island meal. Delicious. And the best part was the day trip was cheaper than the regular excursion. That was the highlight of our trip. It’s worth your time to do a little research.

[davidhoffman]

The thing that you may NOT want to go on the excursion is when the people running the excursion offers to refund the excursion before you even get away from the port. That happened to us in San Juan and we did NOT enjoy the excursion at all!

[CherylCooperstein]

We were with NCL in Alaska and had booked a salmon bake excursion with them. The place was supposed to have entertainment and a bunch of other things included. We went to the designated place and there was no one there to pick us up. We talked to the shore agent who called around. The driver eventually got there 40 minutes after our pick up time and told us that the only thing included was the food, so it didn't matter if we were late. We expressed our concern saying that the description from NCL said it included the show and a few others things on site. We had also heard some concerns from some of the locals who had said other tourists had commented that over the past few weeks the place had run out of salmon. Again, our concerns were brutely pushed aside. Ultimately, we decided that due to this driver's attitude, lateness, and saying that basically nothing but the transportation and food were included, we decided not to go. NCL offered to book another excursion, but all of the others were over $100 difference in price that we would be responsible for. We decided to request a refund instead (which they gave us).

[rhondalyn]

I love excursions....when everyone else on the ship takes them. Lots more room for me on the ship. In my opinion, excursions, in general, are an incredible waste of time and money.

[amandaregis]

Hubby and I actually did purchase the NASA excursion on our January MSC cruise. I was curious about where my grandfather might have ended up if he'd taken up their job offer after the demise of the Canadian Avro Arrow. He was a Chief Experimental and Test Flight Inspector on the project in the mid 50's. That was the only excursion we booked. The Ocean Cay reserve should be plenty beach time for us.

[Nrustica]

I open up Google maps and often take public transport

[nascarmadman]

Before I even watch this, I'm going to say that based on our last cruise (just completed) the cruise lines paint a very vivid positive picture of the excursions - and why not, they get a cut. But half of the ones we booked were not even remotely what was promised nor as exciting. Ok, on one of them, which touted a 'Chocolate Discovery', the bus broke down TWICE so we DID get to the Mayan Tree of Life (snoozer) but not chocolate. HAL refunded us. Anyway, of the remaining excursions (first off, understand we try to avoid the sites' so in Cabo, where we wanted to see El Arco, it requires a boat. So there was a boat and then a bus (which was about 1/3 le$$. Or just a boat). The 'just a boat' was really a booze cruise where they plied us with watered down drinks for 2 hours and some snacks. AND we DID see El Arco and we did NOT get on a bus. BUT, we could have done the same thing (we had no idea) well, sans drinks/snacks/ for $20 utilizing a water taxi. El Arco is RIGHT THERE so even worst case - the water taxi dying, there would have been plenty of ways to get back to the dock in time for even the LAST tender to the ship.
Puerto Vallarta Highlights and Mexican Cooking Class. If those 3 stops were 'highlights' I feel sorry for Puerto Vallarta. As for the 'Mexican Cooking Class', there wasn't any cooking. There was preparation (guac and salsa) but no cooking. AND I got sick from the food. Antigua Guatamala is a snooze fest. Rum factory and Jade museum. It sounded more interesting than it was. A LOT more interesting. But things got better in Costa Rica at Punta Arenas. The animal rescue place and then the aerial tram. The Panama Canal wasn't really an excursion but the on board prelim 'class' on it plus the ongoing narrative the next day as we went through? AMAZING. Our last port was Aruba. We did the semi-submarine which does figure-8s over a 1939 shipwreck. That was first and unfortunately over shadowed the lighthouse, land bridge and the whatever high point that overlooks the entire island.
Oh (from a previous cruise) if Cozumel is a port, stay on the ship.
Heck, we didn't have clear debark instructions from HAL in Cabo (a tender port). We asked an officer right after breakfast who was standing at the tender ticket area and he TOTALLY gave us the wrong info.
Excursions booked through the cruise line usually have a 48hr cancellation period.

[shastah-i]

Got burned by the long transit one. Port of Cadiz, the excursion was Sevilla, took longer to get there than the time in Sevilla...

[seprishere]

$79 for a shared shuttle? This makes UK rail fares seem reasonable! It's about what a return Southampton to London fare would be.

[MP-cruf]

Our booked excursion wasn’t “bad”, but it was a little too long. We booked to be able to play with dolphins and then get on a boat to an area of open water to be among sting rays. The dolphin portion was great and we were able to capture fun memories of the whole experience. The transportation was quick/efficient and the crew were wonderful, but only cups of water were provided. If you wanted food, could buy packaged snack items at the gift shop. They had a photographer at the sting ray experience, but didn’t provide a way to purchase the pictures taken (or even view them). We got back to the ship exhausted and very hungry. We still had fun, but next time we will pick a shorter excursion.

[SaraMc-ezmv]

I am not a real cruiser. The destination is the goal for me not the ship. I find many of the excursions expensive so I usually organize myself!

[henriettafrank]

We have got caught twice going on our own to the beach with our taxi promising to get us at a chosen time and not coming, this is extremely stressful, lucky we were able to get another taxi in the nick of time.

[rags]

I don’t understand why people take tours to a beach when you are on a lovely ship with pools and sun already…surely you’ ve seen sand before??!!