Shore excursions on cruises

Question

what should i expect from shore excursions..

Answer 1

What do you mean?  They're almost always guided.  They have everything from City Tours to Dolphin encounters depending on where you go

Answer 2

lots of tours anything really!

Answer 3

When you sign up for a shore excursion you will be given instructions on where to go and what time. Sometimes a special shore excursion will need you to get up extra early. There is an excursion in Alaska where you don't depart with cruise at one of the ports and you meet up with your ship at the next port.

Mostly, excursion guides aren't employees of the cruise line (I've seen a fleet of mountain bikes in the hold of an RC ship so I'm guessing those guides are on the ship). They are contracted and as such you have the protection of your cruise line's good name. On the other hand, the excursions are a bit pricey as I'm pretty sure the cruise line takes a cut.

You're guide will load those people up in a bus, boat, plane or helicopter and show you something that you want to see. Sometimes they provide lunch and drinks. When the excursion is free, it's a ploy to sell you something like jewelry in St. Thomas or carpets in Kusadasi.

My favorites have been kayaking and the Mendenhal glacier and 12 meter yacht racing in St. Maartin.

What I do is look at what excursions are offered by the cruise line. I wanted to go salmon fishing in Ketchikan, but for me and wife it was going to be $400 for 1/2 day. I found out that right off the ship there are charters you can arrange yourself. I figured if I couldn't strike a deal with a guy waiting on the pier, I didn't need to fish that bad. I ended up getting a charter for the whole day, 8 people for $600.