Shore Excursions – ‘the unofficial guide’……….. Part One

A big part of any cruise holiday is the ports of call. A huge variety of ‘organised excursions’ is offered at every port ranging from reasonable in price to extremely expensive.
One of the most expensive offered to date has to be a flight over Moscow in a MiG at around $28,000. It would be very easy to spend almost more on excursions than on the cruise itself.
What I am going to try to do over a number of posts is give you some helpful tips, and answer some oft-asked questions on the subject. I will give you accurate information to the best of my knowledge, but my knowledge is by no means the definitive word, so feel free to correct me if the information I give you is not correct.

Before you join your ship some cruise lines will send you ‘Shore Excursion’ Brochures through the post so that you can select the ones you would like to participate in and book them in advance. This is a good idea for popular venues as they have limited places available and you can be assured of a place. If you leave booking until you are on the ship you may be disappointed. Having said that, many cruise lines are now only advertising Excursions on line so you will need Internet access to plan ahead and pre-book. It would be best to check with your Travel Agent (www.cruise.co.uk) which system your chosen cruise line uses.

A point to note, which may not be clear to ‘newbies’ to cruising, you don’t have to do the organised excursions.  You are free to leave the ship (Visa’s depending, but more of that later!), and do your own thing, less costly indeed. My general advice would be to plan ahead which organised excursions you want to do, maybe 2 – 3 in a 7 night cruise, and then do your own thing in the ports where this is more easily achievable. This will spread the cost for you, and give you some free time which you will probably find more relaxing than being herded around by a guide in a large group!
If it is your first cruise, try to attend the Shore Excursion briefing on board, read the literature provided and then go to the booking office and ask any questions you have before booking. After all, these excursions aren’t cheap so you want to make sure that you have booked the right one for you.

On any excursion, I would advise that you dress appropriately (more on my Souk experience at a later date!), wear comfortable footwear, take a bottle of water with you, a hat and sunscreen.