A Tip About Cruising....

I notice on a lot of online boards that people wonder whether they should book cruise excursions through their actual cruise, or use independent tour guides.

My personal opinion in a nutshell....


It depends.

If you are a person who likes to do plenty of research before your trip, I would recommend booking tours on your own. Check out websites like tripadvisor.com, and cruisecritic.com for reviews and recommendations. Google tour operators' names and companies for even more feedback. Contact tour operators and ask lots of questions. We've done this several times with tour operators who had great reputations online, and we have never had an issue. Always had a wonderful time.

If, on the other hand, you are sailing on a super-inclusive cruise, you may as well enjoy the ship's included tours.  If you are docking in a country completely unfamiliar to you, perhaps booking with the cruise line is the way to go. I would personally consider booking a cruise line excursion in ports such as Egypt (where you may be docked overnight and excursions may keep you off the ship overnight as well), Asia, or South America. If the ship is tendered (meaning you have to take a small boat to get from the ship to the shore), I would also consider booking a cruise ship tour. If you have concerns about arriving back to the ship on time (i.e. in the Bahamas, sometimes you may only have 5 hours at port), maybe simply walking around the port area for some shopping or beach time, or booking through the cruise ship is a good idea. In some ports (do your research first!), you can actually hire a taxi driver for the day at your port of call to take you on a tour of the island. We've done this in St. Maarten and had an awesome day. We've also boarded a local bus in Bermuda and rode around the island for a few hours. It gave us a great overview of the island and daily life there.

I find that local tour operators' excursions offer more bang for your buck, and are less crowded than ship-sponsored tours. On the other hand, if you are not comfortable booking your own tours, enjoy the security that ship's tours provide. Do your research before sailing, and enjoy your trip either way :)