We just booked the Alaska cruise (7 days, from Seattle, Holland America) for the whole family. As I am researching the choices for shore excursions, I see the 'side trips' at each port are offered not only by the cruise lines but also by some local tour providers. Any experience on which one is better? Why? Are the local ones reliable and good value?
Thanks!
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Local ones will provide better value. However, if you are late returning to the ship because of their mistake and you miss the ship departure, then you are on your own.
bozo007 said:Local ones will provide better value. However, if you are late returning to the ship because of their mistake and you miss the ship departure, then you are on your own.
This is true. If you allow a few hours after you are scheduled to get back and when the ship leaves, you will be fine. We did a local excursion in Grand Cayman that was much better than what Holland America offered. We got back to the dock several hours before the ship left to allow time.
Go to www.cruisecritic.com and look in the forums. There are destination forums for Alaska that will give you tons of recommendations for shore excursions there through reliable companies.
xualice said:We just booked the Alaska cruise (7 days, from Seattle, Holland America) for the whole family. As I am researching the choices for shore excursions, I see the 'side trips' at each port are offered not only by the cruise lines but also by some local tour providers. Any experience on which one is better? Why? Are the local ones reliable and good value?
Thanks!
List the ports and maybe we can suggest companies at them from previous experiences.
Here is the list of ports:
Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria BC.
It's pricey, but I would spend the money in Juneau and take a helicopter ride to land on a glacier. It was one of the highlights of our Alaskan cruise. My husband objected to the cost, but in the end said it was worth every penny.
We decided to spend the extra money and stay with the cruise line tours for the reasons stated above. If you're late coming back and on your own, you'll miss the ship, they won't hold it for you.
rangerxenos said:
We decided to spend the extra money and stay with the cruise line tours for the reasons stated above. If you're late coming back and on your own, you'll miss the ship, they won't hold it for you.That is up for argument. That is a similar argument to the one that the ship will not leave without you if you book airfare with the cruiseline. Simply not true.
I agree that you should check out the cruisecritic.com forums. For my upcoming trip we decided to book direct with the cruiseline, mainly because we are only in port for 7 hours at those ports and the excursions we chose are 4+ hours. Also, I believe you are given priority as to getting off the ship if you have an early excursion, however I cannot the confirm that. In addition, one of our excursions is exclusive the the cruiseline and cannot be booked direct with the tour company.
Either way you do it, it is going to be expensive, especially the air-based tours. If I could afford it, I would be doing plane tours and the dog sledding out of Juneau. From what I am told the excursions really make an Alaska cruise a trip of a lifetime.
I know it is more price to do it thru the cruise lines, but I like the peace of mind that the ship will wait....and I needed that once....
hi xualice... do you mind sharing how much you spend to book your Alaska cruise? me and my gf planning to do the cruise in June as well. Thanks.
+1 for the Cruisecritic.com suggestion. It's the best place to find recommendations on reputable tour companies. I'd highly recommended looking into those, because many are better values and better experiences than the ones done through the cruise line. Don't be afraid about missing the boat. Unless you are just completely inept, or the fates align against you to create your worst day ever, most outside companies are pretty good about getting you back. They do this stuff every day, all year, and know the in and outs of the business. They rely heavily on word of mouth advertising.
I've spent a lot of time recently trolling the Cruise Critic Alaska Forum so I figured it would be useful to summarize for everyone. My first Alaska trip is in June so I can't provide personal insight into any of these excursions but I'll note other people's comments below.
Juneau
Tracy Arm Cruise - $140pp - it's a bit pricey but the excursion is all day and the pictures I've seen posted on webshots look amazing
Ketchikan
Island Wings - $229pp - everyone raves about Misty Fjords flightseeing. I'm still debating this one as the excursion is expensive.
Southeast Sea Kayaks - $89-$149pp - Good reviews for the longer Orca's Cove trip
Skagway
Chilkoot's Charter and Tours - $100+ pp - they have several options including train/bus combinations and bus only trips which are cheaper. Boards say that the train is not to be missed but it adds to the cost ($170pp for the 7 hr Yukon trip).
Avis Rental for Skagway - $100 per car - if you want to visit the Yukon you can save some money by renting a car from Avis. Print out Murray's guide as your guide for the trip.
My family went on a cruise to hawaii a few years ago and we did one shore excurison and that happened to be the least fun day of the cruise. The other days we rented a car and did our own thing. We did research before the trip to find the good beaches on all the Islands and while others sat on a bus for 3 hours on the road to Hanna we went and stopped at our own pace for half the price (family of 4). On the 2nd day of our cruise the Hertz driver who took us from the ship to pick up our rental car told us everything we needed to see. He marked on a map were cool waterfalls were and even pointed out a fresh fruit smoothie shop, couldn't really see all of this on a tour.
I'd say if you are traveling out of the country you may need to look into excursions but I wouldn't be affraid of looking into renting a car and exploring Alaskan towns yourself. Stop and spend as little or as much time in the shops you like.
Hi violato... Our cruise trip costs about $1100/pp. It became pricy because we booked last month (kinda late since most of people booked way in advance) and wanted two oceanview rooms together. I think you will find much better price in Sept.
We did all our excursions ourself on our Caribbean cruise. When you get off the boat there are going to be so many trip companies waiting to pick you up. They are usually much cheaper. Most of the excursions we planned came back in plenty of time, just ask how long everything will take and leave yourself some extra time to get back.
Cruisecritic is the best resource.
My wife worked for 4 years part time on cruise ships as a nurse. I got to go along for free and at times volunteered in the shore excursion department.
The shore excursion office does offer the peace of mind that the ship won't leave without you. But the price is usually double what you can buy it for direct. It is one of the largest profit sources for the cruise companies. There are some excursions that can only be booked by the cruise ships, but they are few and far between. Of all the places we have been in the world, I must admit that the shore excursions in Alaska are probably a better value than most other areas. Use Google to search for comparable shore excursions in the ports you are visiting.
ingy104 said:
The shore excursion office does offer the peace of mind that the ship won't leave without you.
Neither Carnival nor Princess made this promise when I sailed.
DSJ said:ingy104 said:
The shore excursion office does offer the peace of mind that the ship won't leave without you.
Neither Carnival nor Princess made this promise when I sailed.
We sailed on Princess when we went to Alaska, and were definitely told that if something happened and we were delayed on a shore excursion booked through the ship, the ship would wait.
It was worth the peace of mind for us to spend the extra money, and we found that with certain shore excursions (like the train that mirrored the Gold Rush trail), the price wasn't that much more. On others it was.
rangerxenos said:
We sailed on Princess when we went to Alaska, and were definitely told that if something happened and we were delayed on a shore excursion booked through the ship, the ship would wait.
We sailed the Golden Princess last month to PV, Mazatlan, and Cabo and were definately told the ship would not wait for anyone whether taking a overpriced tour sold by the cruise line or an identical tour booked independently for 50% less.
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