Shore Excursion Choices

It seems like prices for cruises continue to drop fuelled by competition, overcapacity and a slowing economic market.  Cruise lines are cutting corners wherever they can, how do they stay afloat?  The answer: cruise lines don’t make money on the cruise fares , but instead make it off the extra’s that people spend onboard from drinks, pictures, casino, gift shops and shore excursions.   Cruise lines know that once they have you onboard you cannot shop around for the best deal unless you made other arrangements before you started your cruise.  They also make it convenient for passengers to book shore excursions on their websites the same time as they need to register for their cruise.  Booking the cruiseline shore excursions offers some flexibility and changes can be made right on the ship.  However are their better options?

Many veteran cruisers have learned to get off the ship in port and look for vendors selling tours.   These tours can sometimes cost a fraction of what you would have paid for onboard.   In Jamaica a group of us going off the ship were able to buy a tour to Dunns river falls for $10US which compared to the $80 - 90US offered by the cruise line.  Though once we had paid we were led to an old broken-down van with no seats available.  When asking where I would sit the driver pulled out a makeshift metal seat that felt like it was going to snap when I sat on it.  After an uncomfortable drive we arrived at Dunns River Falls.  We were each given old ripped aqua socks and  had to pay for our entrance into the park.  We were left on our own after being given a time when to be back for our transfer to the ship.   Once we were at the falls and started climbing we noticed the people who purchased the Princess shore excursion were coming.  Of course they came on a sailboat and we ended up just following their guided tour up the falls.  After we had finished the falls we went to meet our driver for the transfer back.  He was nowhere to be found so we decided to wait. After 1/2 hour anxious wait we see our driver dropping off another load of people. We climbed onboard and wondered if we would have ever seen him again.   

Cruise lines do charge higher prices however they also do offer other advantages besides convenience.  First they do all the research and only deal with reputable companies that can provide the level of service that their passengers are accustomed to.   If they get numerous bad reports about a certain company from passengers they will look into whether they continue that relationship.  Another advantage is that if your cruise port is cancelled due to weather or any other circumstance your money is automatically refunded.   If your tour is delayed they are in constant communication with the ship so that the ship won’t sail before you are onboard or if it does they will get you to the next port. This is a valuable reason as I have heard of many stories of passengers being stranded when the tour bus they booked locally broke-down in the middle of nowhere.   With no way to get back to the ship in time they had to pay their own way to the next port which can be very expensive depending where the port is.   For any long tours that are set to arrive close to the ships departure going with cruise line shore excursions does provide peace of mind.  

 In March of 2006 a group on the Millenium from Valparaiso to Fort Lauderdale hired a local tour guide in Arica to take them to Lauca National Park.  The bus on the return swerved off the mountain killing 12 elderly Americans onboard.  The company was a local company that lacked permission to carry passengers  (more info).  The cruise line did go beyond its required obligations to help those involved but that is not always the case.  Shore excursions sold through the cruise line must meet strict safety standards and have insurance which is important if an accident happens.  If an accident happened to me in Jamaica while on that tour I booked locally the chances are I wouldn’t get any compensation.   I don’t think I would even see the driver again.

These days with many people preferring to book everything over the internet they also prefer to book their tours privately ahead of time directly with the company.   An example is a couple that wanted to go to Molokini in Maui and arranged ahead of the cruise a tour with a local company.   Once they got off the ship they rented a car and off to the charter company they went.   When they arrived the person apologized and said that they didn’t get enough people and the tour was cancelled.  They tried to contact the couple but they were on the ship.   As all the other tours were sold out for the day they just wasted their one day in port.  

Private companies are starting to see the value in offering private shore excursions to cruisers.   Roberts Hawaii who is an operator for some of the cruise line excursions offer their own excursions in Hawaii for lower prices.   They also will refund any money if the ship does not make port.    Another company Shoretrips is a private company that offers over 3000 shore excursions throughout the world.  Like the cruiseline they do offer a refund if the ship does not make it in port.  The advantage is that often the tours are much smaller and more personalized than cruise ship excursions.  They also provide little extra’s and cater well to groups one area that seems ignored by many cruise lines. 

Shore excursions remain a large part of the whole cruise experience with people spending more on excursions than they do on the entire cruise.  Choosing the best option is an important factor to enjoying your holidays.  Cost should not be the only consideration and you should be careful to research the company you are dealing with or go with a company that will do the work for you.