Excursions – What do you do?

As we all know cruising is all about seeing the different destinations on offer on each itinerary, some itneraries quote a few different destinatations whilst some just a few but what do you do about getting around once off the ship for the day?

Cruise lines offer there own excursions but personally I find these very expensive and would rather arrange my own to save on the cost. So what options have you got when going ashore?

1.  Book the cruiseline excursions – so many to choose from so can arrange your day on shore to suit you. You may find that these are quite costly but you you do get the  piece of mind that the ship will not leave without you if you are delayed in anyway.

2. Go it alone and just get of the ship and do your own thing – take local transport into the town or take a cab so you can wonder around at your own leisure. If this is your chosen method please remember to be back on the ship at least an hour before she is due to depart.  If you are not back on the ship she will leave without you then you have to arrange to meet the ship at the next port of call at your own expense.

3. Use an excursions company that specialise in cruise excursions – you still get the excursion you require but at a fraction of the cost, the same goes for being back on the ship in time before departure. These companies know what ship you are on so will have the departure times to ensure you are back in plenty of time.

As you know I am sailing off on the Norwegian Epic on 28th July so I needed to get my excursions sorted out. My sister Janet came for the weekend so we sat down and went through all the options to book our excursions. We checked the cost of the Norwegian excursions which I found to be quite pricy so we checked out the excursion companies to see what they could offer.

As per our website we have a link through to Viator which is an excursion company where you can enter the actual cruise you are going on and select and book your excursions. I checked this out and found a few that we were interested in but then I remembered a conversation had with one of my customers, she is doing the same cruise as I am later in the year and had found a company called ‘cruisingexcursions.com’ so I thought I’d have a look.  The site is fantastic so I checked out the tours and found the prices are great.  They even offer a package of 3, 4 or 5 excursions to book in bulk so save money.  We could book 5 excursions for £199 per person which I thought was great value and most of them being 8 hours so full day tours and different ones to choose from.  We didn’t book this as didn’t want to spend 5 whole days off the ship so we booked 3 excursions which cost us £132 per person which I though was rather reasonable.

Here is a comparison of the costs which may be an eye opener.

Rome – full day tour

Norwegian Cruise Lines – Rome & Colosseum 9 hours $219 which is approx £147 per person for 1 excursion.
Cruising Excurions – Flexible Highlights of Rome including Colosseum – £36 per person for 8 hours

Naples

Norwegian Cruise Lines – Flavours of Sorrento & Pompeii 9 hours $189 which is approx £127 per person.
Cruising Excursions – Pompeii, Amalfi Coast & Sorrento 8 hours – £49 per person.

We are also visiting Palma but will do this on our own as the ship docks near the centre so can just get off and go for a wonder as we have all been to Majorca before but not Palma so will be good to see it.

These tours pick up at the port and return you to the port – so you can see from these comparisions, excursions can be done saving you money.

So on your next cruise booking why not check out these excursion companies and see how much you could save.

When I return from my cruise I will let you know how it went using Cruisingexcursions.com. As I have done the cruise line excursions so many times so it will be great comparison and if I can save you money I will know I have done a good job!

To book your next cruise holiday why not give me a call on 0800 408 6108 or email me at [email protected].