Are Royal Caribbean Excursions good value for money?

Question

We are off on a 2-week European cruise later this summer.

As it is our first cruise we are unsure whether to pre-book an excursions for each of our ports of call, wait until we are on-board and book as we go or not book RCI excursions and just see what we find when we leave the ship at each port.

The RCI excursion brochure has loads of choice but we have no experience to reference against for if they offer good value i.e. Rome - Full Day Trip - £98 per person.

Are the prices likely to be the same on-board i.e. are we getting a discount by pre-booking or in fact do they offer discounts the nigth before etc?

Answer 1

The prices are likely to be the same on board, but the excursion may fill up if you don't pre-book.  In my experience, the cruise deal is always more expensive than booking your own deal on shore.  BUT, they are usually always safe, well run, and the ship will not leave you if your excursion runs late.  I have had some very close calls with missing my ship when off on my own.

Check out the Cruise Critic message boards.

Answer 2

You will rarely get a discount on any ship excursion, whether you pre-book or leave it to the last minute. The cruise ship excursions are expensive and you can get them a lot cheaper by using a port company.

Try looking at the port tourist information sites, you will usually find adverts for tours and excursions and links to the company websites.

When we were in St Petersburg, we booked a tour from a website. It went to all the same places as the ships tour, the meals were good and you got exactly what it said on the web-site. In fact we met a lot of people from the ships tour as we were travelling around. Our tour was £100 a head cheaper than the ship's excursion.

The reason that people spend the extra money to take a ships tour, is that, if something goes wrong on the tour and you are delayed getting back, the ship will wait on you.

If you doing it yourself, the ship won't wait, you're on your own.

It's entirely up to you, it depends on how confident you are on getting around in a strange country, but as a first time cruiser, I would take the safe option and spend the money on the ship's tours. They are really good, with good guides, and you are very well looked after especially if you do the Rome and Vatican trip. Have a great trip.

Answer 3

I am about to go on my 5th Cruise with Royal Caribbean...I have learned to book my shore excursions on line.  I have missed out on a few great things to do on shore because I waited until I was on the ship to book.

As far as the value for the money.  I think it is a good value.  I look at it this way: "I don't know the area, and it's "safe" to have a tour guide".  

If you want to book your shore excursions on line go to www.royalcaribbean.com and book it there, or you can call them and book it on the phone.

Whatever you do - you will enjoy it!  Royal Caribbean is the BEST cruise line out there.  There are so many activities to do inside the ship!

Answer 4

In some ports in the u.s. and caribbean, you can get a better deal going on your own.  The cruise lines have figured out, though, that people are onto their price gouging, and as a result they have adjusted their prices on excursions.  Now most of them are a pretty good deal.  Don't wait to book.  You can book it as soon as you get your reservation.  I don't recommend trying to do something on your own in a foreign country unless you speak the language and/or you've been there before.