Royal Carribean Land Excursions?

Question

I have heard that it is way cheaper to either go to to the actual locations and pay for Land Excursions or go on line and book Land excursions rather than go through Royal Carribean. Does anyone have any experience with this or have any advice?

Answer 1

It is cheaper if you can book them yourself. Warning!!!! Their are dubious individuals that get you on tours & take you for a ride Literally. I had some friends that did it. This is what happened. They booked it cheap fair enough. Thru a travel agent. The guide they got took them to what they wanted to see along with a few side stops at shops owned by poeple the guide knew or got a bump from. Time got short & they asked guide to get them back to the ship quick it was scheduled to depart in an hour, but when they returned to the ship (5 min late) it was gone. They ended up getting a room at a healthy cost for 3 days before next flight out & flying home. End of Cruise. If the Cruise line isn't involved in the booking they don't have to wait for you. If your tour/Land excursion gets you back late and you booked it. It's your problem.

Answer 2

I disagree with the last answerer. The ship WILL leave you if you are not back on the ship by the time it is scheduled to leave the port. On my last cruise, on two different ports, two people were left behind because they did not get back in time.

Granted, the excursions purchased through the ship is more expensive, but there is the guarantee that the ship will not leave until all tours return, and that little bit of security that you will be with a professional tourism company.

Many people just go on their own excursion, by getting a cab or a taxi to wherever they want to go. If you are comfortable doing that and have plenty of port time, then you can try it, but if you are new to the city, don't speak the same language, or alone, don't do it. I would defintely not do that if you are traveling single.

If you want to find a cheaper diving excursions, you can call or one the web and contact directly to the dive shop of your choice.

If you want some other options for shore excursions, try the website below.  I've used them twice and had no problems using them. But watchout for the pricing, shoretrips usually don't include transportation so any savings on the price maybe for not because of the taxi fare.  Most of the excursions are very similar in price, maybe $10 or so more. For that, I would rather pay the extra for little more security.

But my true suggestion to you is to go with Royal Caribbean's shore excursions.  Once you book it through them, and once you've visited the island, maybe you'll be able to find or talk to local tourism groups to get a sense on who is good and who is reliable... and on your next return to that island, you can try to use them but on your first visit to a strange place, I would stick with the cruise line's shore excursions.

My trip to Aruba, my diving excursions was booked with the cruise line (Princess) and it was with Red Sail Sports. So on my next trip to Aruba, I may book directly with Red Sail Sports because I've dealt with them, know where the shop is and such.

Good luck and have fun.

Answer 3

Not recomended. If you want to return at time, book the excursion via Royal Caribbean, is more expensive, but you have your return at time. And no problem at all.

Answer 4

Review the listing of tours offered on your cruise and decide whether you want to pay for a tour or go on your own.  On most Caribbean islands you can get a taxi or tour in port for much less than the cruise ship tours.   HOWEVER, the one big advantage of going on ship sponsored tours is THE SHIP WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU if your ship sponsored tour is late getting back to the ship.  If you will be in a port for 12 to 16 hours you are probably safe to go on your own for most anything.  But if you are only there for six to eight hours you may want to stay close to the ship or go on the ship tours.

Answer 5

Booking excursions through the cruise line is a rip off. People say oh don't book on shore is case you don't get back in time, there is no need to worry about that. Just take the phone # of the cruise with you in case some kind of emergency came up. I'm sure you can find great excursions from the ports you stop at.