Excursions – Do You Bother To Pre-Book?

Booking Excursions are a huge part of any holiday, not just a cruise. Before I worked in travel I could never really see the point of paying loads of money to be shown round towns and ancient monuments, but when I began working overseas with Thomson holidays my attitude changed completely.

A really good guide, and 99% of them are brilliant, will make a huge difference to your understanding and enjoyment of the excursion. If you just want to go on a trip to a beach or a bit of retail therapy in the nearest town then OK, do it yourself, but if you really want to know the history of the sites you are visiting go with a guide. Having wandered around Pompeii and wondering what all the fuss was about, then doing it properly with a guide I know what a difference it makes!

So do you pre-book or wait until you get on the ship? I think the rule should be that if not being able to do the tour will spoil your holiday of a lifetime then prebook, if your not sure what you want or even if you want to do anything then its OK to wait until you are on board as there will always be something that can be booked at the last minute.

I went to Alaska a couple of years ago, it was a work trip so I didn`t know I was going until about a month before departure. Alaska is a fabulous destination with loads to do and I really wanted to see animals, loads of them! Whales were not a problem, we saw them daily from the ship and also booked the whale watching excursion on board. There was loads of availability for this as it was simply a coach and then a boat ride, the guides had already sussed out where the whales were and we saw them at quite close quarters.

What I really wanted to see was a Huskie! preferably huskie puppies and there was a tour that was perfect , a visit to a Huskie Puppy Kennels, the only problem was it was full! I was so disappointed. Luckily, when we were in Ketchikan, we stumbled across a nice carriage driver who`s dog rode with him all day. The dog was beautiful and friendly and he let me stroke him, I was happy again having seen  my huskie at last !

So the moral of the story is  – don`t miss out. That excursion that is really important is better booked before you go and I can book it for you. Give me a call and we`ll make sure you get the holiday of a lifetime, and I can save you some money aswell!