Top 10 Reasons To Book Independent Shore Excursions
That can be because you dock a long way from where you want to visit, such as Civitavecchia, or you want to visit a nearby city despite your port of call been somewhere also of interest, as happened to me when I visited Cadiz in Spain but took a shuttle to Seville.
Then of course, there are just sometimes that you want to take a shore excursion to gain a better understanding of where you visit and to really make the most of your time onshore.
Sadly, the cruise lines understand that all too well and they to some extent take advantage of that by charging inflated costs and using passengers worries about getting back to the ship against them.
There are some advantages to booking directly with the line but for me, there are many many more reasons to book independent shore excursions and that is what I look at in this list.
Our Top 10 Reasons To Book Independent Shore Excursions
Better Value
This one just has to be number one as it takes in all of the points in this list and wraps it up in a neat bow by putting them all under the header of better value.
When you take into account all of the things discussed in this list, it all equates to a better experience, for a cheaper price and that just highlights the headline reason to book an independent shore excursion over booking through your cruise line.
Lower Cost
For many, including my wife and I, booking a shore excursion always comes down to one thing, the cost of it.
Independent shorex companies will offer the chance to do and see the same things that will be on offer through the lines, but they will 99% of the time offer it for a lower cost.
If like me, you have a set budget for your cruise holiday and every penny counts, getting the cheapest excursion whilst been able to do just what you want to do whilst on shore is something that tends to sway us to booking independent cruise tours.
Smaller Groups
This is something that I have found through experience just works for me as having done private tours, or a private vehicle for just me and my wife, and coach tours, having the option to head out in small group onboard a minibus is ideal.
If you are on a coach or worse travelling as part of a convoy of coaches, the places you visit are all crowded and you spend far too much of your time onshore waiting for others to get back to your bus whilst when on a private tour, I found too much time was taken up with small talk and you couldn’t sit back, relax and enjoy driving around the destination.
The majority of independent tours feature smaller groups as standard allowing you to have amore relaxed and enjoyable day on shore simply experiencing what you are there to experience.
Better Experience
When you book through the cruise lines, you will likely have a good time on shore, but you are often left with a feeling that things could have been better.
One of the experiences that was almost entirely ruined by booking through the line was on one of my first cruise when we visited the Norwegian cruise port of Flam.
We booked a ride on the iconic Flamsbana train ride from the port and up into the mountains but Norwegian had overbooked for the number of carriages they had access to, so people had to sit in the centre of the train and some even had to stand, which led many not been able to see anything for the whole journey.
Those who had booked themselves were in separate carriages, which were relatively quite and people could have a window seat.
More Time Exploring
Something that always annoys me, probably more than it should do to be honest, is the amount of time that gets wasted on a tour booked through the cruise lines.
You tend to be quite limited when on shore anyway, so any time wasted can have a big impact on your experience but when it is down to waiting for people been late back to the coach, having to stop for toilet breaks or been on a coach where people change seats every time you get back on board so you have to get back to the coach early to guarantee two seats next to each other and it just all adds up over a day of exploring.
On the flip side of that, when we have booked a independent tour, you usually have a small group, so less chance of people been late back and people always tends to keep to the seats on the minibus they started with as they are usually completely full.
Less Fluff
Cruise line shore excursions often find a way to take you somewhere that nobody particularly wants to go to and that time you are at those places, you are missing out on doing something exciting and something you would really rather be doing.
This is often a restaurant, a hotel or at worst a gift shop but no matter where it is, it will waste time and often cost you more money.
This does of course happen when you are on an independent tour, but it is less often from my experience.
To pad out the experience or to make it seem like the shore excursion offers more than it does, you will often waste time driving quite a distance to simple see a statue or a famous local sight that whilst nice to see, really wasn’t worth the extra time to see it.
It is more often the case that instead of that ‘fluff’, your day would be enhanced by simply getting back to your ship and allowing you time to explore the port on your own where you can see the things of interest to you and that is often what you do get on an independent tour that simply do what they say they will and not include unexpected extras.
Better Paced
Something that I have experienced on a number of different excursions through numerous lines is that you will get plenty of time at stops with little to do and a short amount of time at stops with plenty to do and I am not quite sure why it works out like that so often.
It could just be that I have different interests from the majority of others booking shore excursions or it could be that these shore excursions look at things such as cheaper parking for coaches rather than the experience offered to those on the tour.
On an independent tour, things just seem to flow better and with you usually been part of a smaller group, if you all get back to the minibus earlier than expected, the driver gets going and you then have longer to enjoy the next stop.
Local Knowledge
When you are on a ship organised shore excursion, the guides stick to a set plan, do what has been agreed and in smaller places, the guide will be from outside of the area.
When you book on an independent tour, you can often gain from local knowledge as not only will the guide or driver (often the same person), be from where you are exploring but they will use their local knowledge to adapt the day.
If bad weather is expected, they may take you to outdoor attractions first or if an event is going to create some traffic later, they may take you to a stop there first to get it out of the way.
Whilst the local knowledge of your provider may only make minute changes to your day and you may not even realise a change has been made, they really can make the difference to you having a time to remember or one you want to forget.
Cut The Mark Up
I am sure that many of you know this one already but it does need to be stated on a list such as this one as cruise in the main, a cruise line will just use local companies to take you off on excursions and they will simply add on a huge mark up as there ‘cut’ for doing very little in all honesty.
Instead of paying that extra mark up just to go through your line, you can often book the same excursion, with the same company by booking it yourself.
Avoid the Theatre Wait
Ok, this one isn’t exactly a major issue and isn’t really that big of an issue but if you are on a port intensive itinerary and you have booked shore excursions for numerous ports, you will soon get fed up with heading to the theatre and listen to the constant announcements of what you need to do.
It fine hearing it all once or twice but by the 6th or 7th time you spent half an hour in the theatre listening to “send 1 person to the front to check in your entire group to make sure you are all on the same coach” or “ please sit in the seats and don’t crowd around the exit” and it can get old, quickly.
