0:00
should you take cruise line excursions
0:04
I'm Gary beverage this is another of my
0:06
cruising tips for travelers I'm gonna
0:09
explore the arguments for and against
0:11
taking the excursions offered by the
0:14
cruise line first of all I want to talk
0:16
about the main reasons for not doing a
0:18
Cruise Line excursion the first of these
0:21
is as follows is going on a cruise line
0:24
excursion going to maximise and be the
0:27
most efficient use of your day in port
0:28
you don't get to choose what time the
0:30
excursion that you're interested in goes
0:32
so you might find it falls often at
0:34
eleven o'clock or it ruins the whole
0:36
flow the day so actually your whole day
0:37
important is focused around going on an
0:39
excursion where you might have eight
0:41
hours in port so it's not the most
0:42
efficient use of your time go in
0:44
excursion because you have no say
0:45
secondly what is the process for getting
0:48
people out on excursions now you find
0:50
particular on bigger ships it's very
0:52
inefficient you can be sitting around
0:53
from the time you have to go handing
0:55
your ticket and wait for the groups to
0:57
get together you could be waiting an
0:59
hour or so before you even headed off on
1:01
your excursion so it's a very
1:02
inefficient use of your time on smaller
1:04
ships you often just walk off and
1:06
there's a small group and off you go so
1:09
one of the things that put some your
1:10
particular on bigger ships doing
1:11
excursions is just the whole process of
1:13
getting off in the excursion it's very
1:15
inefficient use of your time and you're
1:16
sitting around for an hour or so in the
1:19
theatre or wherever when you could be
1:20
exploring the port the third thing is
1:23
ask yourself how developed is the port
1:26
so particularly in the Caribbean and the
1:28
Mediterranean the ports are very
1:30
developed and experienced at dealing
1:31
with tourists so there's lots of
1:33
infrastructure to deal with people
1:35
travelling by themselves or
1:36
independently or looking for alternative
1:39
excursions so if you are in one of those
1:41
regions like the Caribbean the
1:42
Mediterranean and the ports are very
1:45
popular cruise ports don't feel worried
1:48
that you're not going to find something
1:49
to do at a reasonable price so I always
1:51
look at the ports and ask myself how
1:53
established is this port if it's a port
1:55
that very infrequently sees cruise ships
1:58
you may have a different perspective and
1:59
a cruise line excursion may be more
2:01
appealing the fourth question to ask
2:03
yourself is how big is the group size so
2:06
you'll find on some of the bigger ships
2:07
for taking the value lines you might
2:09
have 40 50 people on an excursion
2:12
because they fill up the whole bus also
2:14
more premium lines or the smaller lines
2:15
like Oceania you might have 20 people
2:18
also so ask yourself just how big is the
2:20
group and are you happy seeing the
2:23
destination and go an excursion with a
2:25
big group of people and all the things
2:27
that means in terms of time it takes
2:29
moving people around and just you know
2:32
being with a big group linked to that is
2:35
the fifth question I ask myself is am I
2:37
happy whatever excursion on going on to
2:39
be driven by the slowest person in the
2:41
group because the way that excursions
2:43
work is wherever's the slowest whether
2:45
it's slow in terms of just timekeeping
2:47
or whether it's just in terms of their
2:49
physical ability to get round the tour
2:50
will have to adapt to ever see the
2:52
slowest person or the last back on the
2:54
bus are you happy with the place you're
2:55
going to to do that now you might find
2:57
that sort of excursion there's not a lot
2:58
going on it's mostly about sightseeing
3:00
and you don't mind that you're going to
3:02
be driven at that pace the sixth thing I
3:05
ask when I'm going or considering a
3:07
Cruise Line excursion is the following
3:09
based on what we're going to be doing on
3:12
the excursion am I happy that I'm not
3:14
gonna be able to stop and dwell and
3:15
spend time on things I want to cuz I'm
3:17
can be moved along you'll find on crusin
3:19
excursions they try and pack as much in
3:21
as possible so if you come across
3:23
something it's a side to painting
3:24
whatever that you want to dwell you
3:26
might want to take some pictures or just
3:28
sit and relax and watch it you're not
3:30
gonna be able to do that so often I look
3:32
at the excursions or the ports I think
3:33
are there gonna be things that I'm gonna
3:35
want to stop and look at because they're
3:37
gonna interest me more and not the whole
3:39
group so it's very important to think
3:40
about what you're gonna be doing in are
3:42
you gonna want to spend time really
3:44
important particularly if you're taking
3:46
photographs links that of course is also
3:49
you can't speed up you know if you're
3:50
traveling by yourself and something that
3:51
doesn't interest you you can just move
3:52
on and keep going skip something if it's
3:54
not appealing where is you're gonna have
3:56
to stay as long as the group is
3:58
allocated to look at something the
4:00
seventh thing I ask is just how much is
4:03
included in the excursion as I mentioned
4:05
earlier Cruise Line excursions to have
4:06
to pack loads of things in because they
4:08
want people to see as much as possible
4:10
and it can be very rushed and the
4:12
question I ask myself is do I actually
4:13
do as much as the excursion office or
4:16
they're fewer things I want to see for
4:17
longer the eighth question of course is
4:19
cost is it going to be cheaper to do it
4:22
myself or with an independent provider
4:23
there are lots of independent providers
4:25
who offer excursions that mirror
4:27
the cruise line excursions and it can
4:29
often be cheaper so the question of
4:31
course is cost excursions could be a
4:32
major on cost and you can be spending
4:35
you know $100 per person per day on
4:37
average up for an excursion so it can
4:39
mount up so can you actually do it more
4:42
efficiently by either doing it yourself
4:43
or with an infinite provider most people
4:46
will focus on the cruise line offered
4:49
shore excursions for two key reasons one
4:51
because it's really simple and easy
4:53
because they're there and secondly a lot
4:54
of people fret and worry about getting
4:56
back to the ship on time and with the
4:58
cruise line they guarantee that the ship
5:00
will always wait for their own
5:02
excursions no matter how late they are
5:04
if you go off and explore by yourself on
5:05
an independent provider there's always
5:07
that risk they get you back to later you
5:08
give back too late so how important is
5:11
that in terms of timekeeping or how
5:13
comfortable are you just managing your
5:14
own time and making sure you get back
5:16
there are two things that I used to
5:19
guide me to decide if I am going to take
5:21
a cruise my excursion the first of those
5:23
is complexity are we going to a place
5:25
where there's a lots of language issues
5:26
or huge distances to travel or
5:29
culturally it's very difficult or the
5:31
actual excursion is very complicated
5:33
because it involves helicopters and
5:35
trains and getting to places and just
5:38
huge complexity so if the excursion I
5:40
want to do is very complex all the place
5:42
I'm going to is complex then I choose
5:43
the cruise line excursions so for
5:45
example when we were in Japan I want to
5:48
go to Kyoto from a socket it's quite far
5:50
away and also you I knew that I would
5:52
need a guy to show me around so I went
5:53
with the cruise line excursion in
5:55
Iceland you travel huge distances for
5:58
example on the Golden Circle seeing all
5:59
the key sites although you can get
6:01
independent people to help you it's an
6:02
eight-hour tour and I felt were just
6:04
safer to go with the cruise line because
6:06
they would create it and we'd have no
6:07
issues getting back another example is
6:10
when we were in Alaska we want to go dog
6:13
slaying on a Glacia that was quite a
6:14
complicated excursion because you had to
6:16
get to the helicopter place you had to
6:18
go through all the check-ins with the
6:19
helicopter yet go to the helicopter come
6:21
back be picked up it was quite a
6:22
complicated and quite an expensive
6:24
excursion so I was much more comfortable
6:26
letting the cruise line handle all of
6:28
that complexity so if the excursion
6:29
looks very complex to me very
6:33
then I would always go with the cruise
6:34
line excursion the second thing I do is
6:37
again link to that risk of missing the
6:39
the ship is docking very far away from
6:41
the place I want to explore a Lofton go
6:44
on a cruise line excursion even if it's
6:46
one of those excursions where they
6:47
basically take you from the ship to a
6:48
place so for example in Taiwan we docked
6:51
really far away from Taipei and was a
6:54
simple excursion which took it from the
6:55
ship to a central meeting point it left
6:57
you there for a couple of hours to
6:58
explore yourself picture up and took you
7:00
back so that's an example I took it I
7:02
often in Rome will take the excursion
7:05
which goes from the touch of a chair
7:07
port which I things that he pronounced
7:09
it I was get it wrong it takes you into
7:11
Rome just because it's so much easier
7:12
and it reassures me so any of those
7:15
things where the ship is talking very
7:17
far away from where I want to go I'll
7:19
often just take an excursion and if
7:21
possible I take the one that just takes
7:22
you there and explore myself those then
7:25
are my thoughts on taking Cruise Line
7:27
excursions if you find this helpful
7:29
why don't you watch another one of my
7:31
many cruisin tips for travelers right
