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Original poster

Are excursions on a cruise actually worth it?

28 replies

Cakedragon · 16/02/2019 18:18

We're going on a cruise to the Med, and the excursions are going to be available for purchase sometime in the next couple of weeks. Looking at typical excursions, they are so bloody expensive for what they include - up to £100 pp for a four-six hour excursion with a coach trip, and time for sightseeing/photos. It's more expensive if there's something else involved like food/drink or some kind of entertainment.

There's three of us so it would be £300 per port if we did them all. That's just not affordable. What sort of excursions should we be thinking of doing?

OP posts:

Jackshouse · 16/02/2019 18:23

Surely it depends on what you’re interested in doing.

HumptyNumptyNooNoo · 16/02/2019 18:26

You still get to get off ship, just arrange your own things to do . Maybe book one excursion as a treat

RomaineCalm · 16/02/2019 18:30

Depends on the port and the excursions. Sometimes you will berth right next to the town and it's easy to walk into the town or catch a local bus or shuttle.

If you want to go further afield there will always be cheaper ways to do it. The gamble is that if, for example, you get the train to Rome under your own steam and get delayed the ship won't wait for you. If you are on an official excursion they will wait.

If you can post your itinerary people may be able to advise better.

Original poster

Cakedragon · 16/02/2019 20:34

Sorry, I'm having trouble logging into the cruise personaliser. I'll post the itinerary soon as I can get into it.

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SheWoreBlueVelvet · 16/02/2019 21:13

You need to go onto Cruise Critic which is the TripAdvisor bit for cruising. It has a whole section on ports and excursions.

Maybe let us know which ports you are in? Amsterdam, Barcelona and the French ports Nice, Villefranche Monaco and Corsica etc can easily be done independently. Italian ones need more planning as are no where near Florence, Rome or Pisa if that’s what you were planning.

Haisuli · 17/02/2019 16:55

We have had two cruises and mostly arranged our own excursions. We would use public transport to get to where we wanted to go and plan it all out in advance. For example we booked a sagrada familia tour last year through Viator. We walked from the ship to the underground to get there, had a fabulous tour and then had a lovely afternoon looking around the city and took a shuttle bus back. Once in France, we even hired a car for the day so we could see a few places instead of Le Havre which we really didn't fancy. The only ship tour we went on was to Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam. It cost a fortune but it was great to get a coach into the city, and have a skip the line tour. I think just check out what you can do yourself and what would be easier letting them do.

Rade · 17/02/2019 17:55

I've done a few cruises and I would say it depends on the stop. Do your research before booking excursions. Some ports lend themselves to very easy trips on your own eg Barcelona. Others such as Rome and Venice are more complicated and you may be on a tight timescale.

If you've never been before and don't know what you want to see then open top bus tours are a great way to get the most out of a few hours.

Where are your ports of call?

BrizzleMint · 17/02/2019 17:58

I wouldn't recommend doing Rome or Pisa on your own because of the distances involved, traffic is heavy and you really do risk being late if you are on an unofficial tour.

dingit · 17/02/2019 18:01

Venice is easy. Just hop on a water bus at the terminal.

PRoseLegend · 17/02/2019 18:03

It depends on the port.
If you're going somewhere that's fairly populated, then there will be taxi drivers/bus drivers waiting in line to take cruise passengers wherever they please, for a cheaper price than the official cruise vehicles.
But if it's a remote place, then you should at least book transport to and from via the cruise company.

Eg my cruise we stopped at Noumea and caught public transport and walked around the city to museums and the aquarium, Port Vila Vanuatu we found a taxi driver who offered to take us wherever we pleased for the day for a flat fee (there were about 5 different attractions that seemed to be on every driver's route eg places that had a deal with the drivers for them to get coffee, lunch, etc).
But on the remote islands we visited, the only option was a cruise shuttle bus.
If you organise to be back on ship at least 2 hours before departure, then you should be fine.

oneteen · 17/02/2019 21:53

Would agree with pp that it depends on the port and there are plenty of port guides (just google - port guides). We have never done any cruise excursions part from activities in the Carribean but I tend to do lots of research beforehand - also worth looking on cruise critic site - there may be other cruisers that would share a private excursion with you.

Rade · 18/02/2019 17:48

dingit Venice is only easy if you are very confident and have done your homework.
The port is huge and busy. It was the only excursion we did book on that cruise, and that was just transport from ship to town. We were tight for time and I was immensely relieved that I had decided not to try and find the right water bus /taxi myself.

One couple nearly missed the ship departure, everyone on board watched them running about a mile down the quay .

wasabiaddiction · 18/02/2019 17:52

Take a look at trip advisor. You can book your own trip and will be much cheaper

Original poster

Cakedragon · 19/02/2019 18:28

Sorry, something went wrong with our online account with the cruise company. All ok now! Our stops are:
Cadiz (for Seville/Jerez)
Barcelona
Livorno (for Florence/Pisa)
Civitoveccia (for Rome)

all arrive early morning and depart early evening

Cartagena Gibraltar

both arriving early morning and departing after lunch.

We were thinking of maybe doing an organised excursion for Seville, Pisa and Rome, as those are a fair distance from the port. That is going to be a total of around £500 for all three of us which is going to be right at our limit and won't leave a whole lot for other things.

We're fairly confident about exploring Gibraltar on our own as we've been there before. TBH we're hesitant on independently travelling any kind of distance from the port because of the risk of being delayed and missing the ship. Has anyone been to Barcelona or Cartagena?

OP posts:

Murphypoint · 19/02/2019 18:49

Join us over on cruise critic. You’ll get good advice there re excursions.

RomaineCalm · 19/02/2019 20:14

Cartagena and Barcelona should be pretty easy. You could probably walk from the ship into town (depending on exactly where it berths) or there will be an easy shuttle bus for a few Euro.

In Cartagena the Roman amphitheatre is in the town and you could do that without a tour. In Barcelona you'll possibly need to use the metro if you want to see the main sights in a morning (or be prepared for some serious yomping!) and you possibly don't have enough time to get out to the Nou Camp without an organised trip if that's your thing. Depending on the age of your DC you could book a Segway tour independently for an hour which could be fun. Hop-on Hop-off bus is also a great way of seeing the city but not cheap iirc.

By the time you get to the end of the week you might be quite happy to just head into town for a drink and sit and watch the world go by!

RomaineCalm · 19/02/2019 20:15

Sorry, just read that you are in Barcelona for a full day - that gives you lots more options.

DramaAlpaca · 19/02/2019 20:36

I've never taken an organised trip from a cruise ship. They are very expensive & you can often do pretty much the same trip yourself using local public transport for a fraction of the price. As others have said, Cruise Critic forum is invaluable for helping you to plan excursions. There were five of us & we didn't have the budget for lots of trips.

You could just stay around Cadiz & not go to Seville or Jerez, it's a very pretty place in itself. That's what we did, we just wandered around & explored the town.

Barcelona - you can walk into the city from the port if I remember correctly. We got on a hop on hop off tourist bus to see the main sights.

Livorno - we went to Pisa on a public bus. I booked tickets for the tower online a few months in advance so we didn't need to queue. We decided to save Florence for another trip as we'd only scratch the surface in one day, and Pisa appealed more to our teenagers.

Rome - we got a taxi to the station & went into the city by train.

I haven't been to Cartagena so can't advise there.

Gibraltar - we walked around. There were long queues for the cable car up the rock, which was a pain. Everybody from the ship seemed to turn up at the same time.

We are quite happy to do our own thing, potter about & soak up the atmosphere. I'm not a fan of being bused about on organised trips & you can definitely enjoy a cruise without doing them.

mineofuselessinformation · 19/02/2019 20:44

To disagree with a pp, Venice is actually quite easy independently. Just get off the ship and hop on the water boat which will take you to near St Mark's square. Just make sure you check the return times as the ship won't wait for you if you're not on one of their excursions and you're late. (I have actually been on a cruise where passengers were left behind at a port, they were very lucky in that they were put up and flown to the next port, although I don't know who paid for it.)
I'd personally go for Florence rather than Pisa as there is much more to see, but your taste may differ to mine.

Meet0nTheledge · 19/02/2019 21:23

You need to double check where your ship will be docking as some cities have more than one dock area, google "cruise ship arrivals nameofcity".

From our experience in Cadiz you can just get off and you're in the old town which is lovely to potter around. In Pisa we took a transport only excursion to see the leaning tower, which was easy and gave the security of getting back on time but kept the cost down. You can book tower tickets yourself but our DCs were too young. There's not a lot else to see there. Rome is a long way from the port, we did an excursion there. In Barcelona we used a shuttle bus the the hop on hop off bus. In Gibraltar we did a short excursion up the rock, then explored by ouselves before getting a taxi back but you could walk.

A word of warning about the hop on hop off buses, they are all there waiting when you disembark, but when you come to return you might find yourself at a bus stop with hundreds of your fellow passengers, leave plenty of time or pick it up again a stop or two back from main tourist spots.

PCohle · 19/02/2019 21:32

They are usually very expensive. It obviously depends on the location though. Doing your own thing in a European city is much easier than on an Alaskan glacier.

There are usually alternative companies you can book excisions with. The big benefit of booking directly with the cruise line is the certainty that the ship won't leave without you (or they will pay for you to meet the ship at the next port).

Rade · 20/02/2019 09:13

Civitoveccia is a long way from Rome (a couple of hours IIRC?) so a tour would probably make the best of your time. It is possible to do it by public transport but you are a long way from the ship if you miss it. In a port near to the destination such as Kotor or Koper you can always get in a taxi if you are short of time.

I wouldn't book trips for Barcelona or Cartagena ( and apparently I'm a cautious traveller )
I've been to Cartagena. The cruise ship docks right on the seafront and you can just get off and walk into town in minutes.
Barcelona has more than one cruise port. The first time I visited the ship docked right on the sea front and you could just walk up Las Ramblas.
The second time it was a port on the city outskirts. However there were plenty of buses. We actually got a taxi back to the ship which was quite reasonable for four of us.

Original poster

Cakedragon · 21/02/2019 20:24

@RomaineCalm have you done the Segway in Barcelona? It sounds like something we'd all have fun with but none of us have ever been on one before!

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RomaineCalm · 21/02/2019 20:34

@Cakedragon Yes, but not from a cruise, we did it on a city break. It was great fun. DC loved it (and just took off), DH and I were a bit wobbly at first but it was fine after the first few minutes. It was a fun way to see a bit of the city with a guide.

I'll see if I can find the details and PM you.

Original poster

Cakedragon · 21/02/2019 20:34

Thanks for all the suggestions, you've all been fantastically helpful.

This is a big birthday treat for DD (she's 21), so we've let her make the final decision. We're a bit limited as I have limited mobility so can't do too much walking. We've decided on a sightseeing tour of Pisa on a trolley train, a Rome tour including the Colusseum and Forum, and a trip up the Rock of Gibraltar.

OP posts:

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