Booking cruise excursions

[another Linda]

Since we are unable to come to TV for a month like we usually do, I've started looking for ways to get outta Dodge for a shorter time. We have almost decided on a 7 day Holland America cruise out of Tampa that includes Honduras and Guatemala. One of the excursions that I'd love to do is a canopy tour where you fly through the tree tops suspended from a wire. But I might lose my nerve. Actually there is a good possibility that I will come to my senses once I get out of the snow. If I were to book this ahead of time and chicken out, could I get the money back? Is there any drawback to booking once we get there? What about using local groups?

[784caroline]

DId you check the typical weather for the time of year you are planning this cruise?? I ask this for I would NEVER book a Glacier Helicopter tour for an alaska cruise (even in July) before hand because the weather is so unpredictable. It could be raining, foggy and they could still be flying..and I dont know about you but even though I would be disappointed about missing the glacier landing, I would not want to fly in that type of weather. The same would apply for the areas you are going to especially if you are going into rain forrests for the zip line.

AS for cancelling a tour, I would check the policy of Holland America before you book such a tour. WE travel Celebrity and their brochure states that Deposit adn refund policies for tour excursions "VARY". PLease consult your travel agent for details. NOw if that isnt open ended ..it tells you nothing!

WE almost always book a tour once off the ship but we are careful also. Im not sure how we would handle a trip into the forrest ..an area off the beaten path...but i can tell you if it were more than 1 hour away from the port we most likely would not book on our own....unless it was with a recognized licensed tour agency that we found on-line-----not with someone selling a tour on the dock.

By your post you sound like you are not convinced that you absolutey need to do this particular tour. That being the case i would not book now but take a wait and see attitude.

Good luck

[another Linda]

Thanks for the input. I really hadn't thought about the weather as a factor. Guess I just assumed that if it wasn't Sybericuse it would be great. We haven't taken too many cruises (1 20 years ago, and another last summer to Alaska) so I know next to nothing about the extras. The zip line one sounds wonderful in theory but I can picture me getting up there as saying, "You want me to do WHAT? Suspended from that little wire?"

[swrinfla]

I'll echo 784caroline's suggestion: check Holland America's policies. Some excursions are sold "non-refundable," others may be refundable, but only until a specified time before.

Quite frankly, I would be very, very cautious booking any trip with a local entity on shore. Especially those who accost you after you've gone out the gate. You have no clue about them, their vehicle, their reliability, etc.

Always, always bear in mind that should you be late in returning to the ship
(it happens), and you're not on a ship-sold excursion, you can and may be left behind (it happens). If you bought your excursion from the cruise line (either ahead of time or on board), they'll wait for you!

A neighbor was all primed to do a zip line on a cruise we did together, then chickened out before we sailed. Instead, she did a parasail. Go figure!

In Costa Rica last November, our excursion was delayed by horrible rain and ghastly traffic. We pulled up right to the bottom of the gabgway in the coach, and were under way within ten minutes, almost a half-hour late!

SWR
:beer3:

[bluedog103]

DId you check the typical weather for the time of year you are planning this cruise?? I ask this for I would NEVER book a Glacier Helicopter tour for an alaska cruise (even in July) before hand because the weather is so unpredictable. It could be raining, foggy and they could still be flying..and I dont know about you but even though I would be disappointed about missing the glacier landing, I would not want to fly in that type of weather. The same would apply for the areas you are going to especially if you are going into rain forrests for the zip line.

AS for cancelling a tour, I would check the policy of Holland America before you book such a tour. WE travel Celebrity and their brochure states that Deposit adn refund policies for tour excursions "VARY". PLease consult your travel agent for details. NOw if that isnt open ended ..it tells you nothing!

WE almost always book a tour once off the ship but we are careful also. Im not sure how we would handle a trip into the forrest ..an area off the beaten path...but i can tell you if it were more than 1 hour away from the port we most likely would not book on our own....unless it was with a recognized licensed tour agency that we found on-line-----not with someone selling a tour on the dock.

By your post you sound like you are not convinced that you absolutey need to do this particular tour. That being the case i would not book now but take a wait and see attitude.

Good luck

We've been on many, many cruises and rarely book an excursion on the ship.
I usually go on line and decide what I want to do, if anything, at each port.
Then I look for reviews about these excursions. When we dock I've always been able to get whatever excursion I want, sometimes the exact same excursion they were selling onboard, for way less money.
I also probably would not book something like the jungle tour or other excursions where we might miss the departure of the ship. These you're better off spending the extra bucks and booking on the ship. You have to use good judgement.
I would not expect a refund if I changed my mind. While I have had success getting refunds and credits at times, it's not a sure thing. Even when I've been successful, it has been a hassle.

[golfnut]

swrinfla, so if i bought from the cruise line and they were supposed to sail from the port at 6:00pm but my wife was busy shopping still at 10:00pm they would wait??...gn

[another Linda]

Thanks everyone. I never thought about missing the boat.

Has anyone done the zip tour? It does seem like something I want to do while I'm still in good health. But then again, I've always been a chicken. I can guarantee that if I wimped out on that I wouldn't go para-sailing! I'm talking to Holland America tomorrow so I'll find out more.

[LindaL]

We have done 2 canopy tours. One in St. Lucia not affiliated with the ship. We arranged this one ourselves. It was the best. We just got back last week from Costa Maya and did one there that was through the ship (RCCL). Although the canapy (zip line) was great, the ride to the area on the bus took 1 hour and then you got transported on a bumpy truck for 15 minutes. Then your gear and bathroom and then transported to the zip area and then the reverse. So way too much travel to do the actual zip lining.

I would definitely recommend it in St. Lucia. I was a little worried that I would be scared, but after the first one, it was really fun.

[another Linda]

Good for you, LindaL. As I remember this one is either at Puerto Cortes, Honduras or Santo Tomas, Guatemala. I'll have to check how long it takes to get there. My husband (42 yrs - thinks he knows me well) is betting I won't do it so maybe, just maybe, I will!!

[REH7380]

We take a number of cruises and on one last fall we stopped in Costa Rica. There were vans that would take you to the rain forest and there was a zip line there. We signed up for the van (not part of the cruise line excursions) with 5 other couples. Long story short. Van's are not allowed on Sunday as they eat into "taxi business". We were stopped on the way back from the rain forest by a police road block. They took the licence plate off the van as we sat there and with a great deal of luck we had a gentleman on the van who spoke fluent spanish and he convinced the police to allow the van to go to the ship but a policeman had to ride as the van would be taken by the police when we arrived at the ship. We understand it would cost the driver $500 to get his license and van back and some other unfortunate problems. We were real lucky as if we could not have convinced the police to allow the van to go back to the ship we would have been left there by the curise line (RCCL).
Lesson learned..:bowdown:

[swrinfla]

gn:

I suspect that might be stretching a point! The ship's people will contact the tour's people to see what's happenin'. When they hear that a guest is still spending money in the Diamond Store, they'll pull the gangway straight away!

My advice: cancel all credit cards but the one you carry before you sail. And, get yourself a hard hat, as the lady's anger may manifest itself with "blunt object trauma!"

:girlneener:

:a20:

SWR
:beer3:

[duffysmom]

Linda, having taken many cruises I would advise you to check out www.cruisecritic.com and sign up (it's free). Then you can navigate to the cruise line you are taking (HA) and find a roll call for your particular cruise. There will be people who will be crusing with you on line and you can ask questions and join up on private tours. When we decided to cruise I learned so much from this web site that I felt like a travel agent myself. I even learned what cabins not to take since many of the members have sailed with the same line and ship and had great inside information. Also, you will find that you can make new friends and then meet up on the ship. PM me if you wish. Check it out.:jester:

[another Linda]

I talked to HA today. Apparently within 24 hrs of an excursion there is no refund. That seems logical. I also checked the Cruise Critic website. Wonderful! Again, thanks everyone.

[golfnut]

duly noted swr, all good advice, also duffy i like the cruisecritic site....gn

[another Linda]

I spent hours on the cruise critic site last night -- way too much information! My concern about the zip tour of the jungle canopy has now been replaced by


NOROVIRUS :22yikes:

NV is even higher on my list than the fact that excursions in Honduras are accompanied by armed guards. I felt like that little dog in the Travelers Insurance commercial that twists and turns all night in his little bed. All that was missing was a funky blues singer in the background singing "worry worry worry worry". After listening to me DH (new term I just learned - Dear Husband) has decided that maybe gutting the master bath in TV really would be fun after all.

Sigh.

[784caroline]

Regarding NOROVIRUS.....hopefully you and your ship will take many precautions like washing/sanitizing your hands before you enter a dining facility or lunch buffet, boarding the ship itself etc. BUT be forewarned if you go to the ship Dr, AND you have what they consider symptoms of Norovirus, you WILL be confined to your cabin..and if you are caught out of your room they will in essence throw you off the ship at next port. This is one of many reasons why you should get travel insurance.

[LindaL]

We just returned last week from a cruise on RCCL. They had hand sanitizers everywhere on the ship. They had crew at the doorway to each dining room ensuring that everyone used the sanitizers.

We book a lot of our private excursions online months before we sail. We have had great experiences. At least you can kind of check them out before you go. We got off the ship once and hired a private excursion in Jamica. It ended up ok, but it could have turned out badly. We were young and foolish and would never do that again.

Last time we were in Hondouras we hired a private sail boat that took us out snorkeling. I think they fixed us lunch on board, but can't remember for sure. I think there were 8 couples total.

[swrinfla]

The cruise lines are petrified of the potentially bad publicity when the whole ship contracts norovirus. In the last couple of years, I have seen a quadrupling of hand sanitizer stations around the ship. On my most recent cruise you couldn't enter any public venue without seeing a dispenser in your path.

Use them. And, of course, wash at other times. There is really no other way to prevent viruses.

And, for your own peace of mind, do not obsess about the possibilities. Just be prudent and take precautions.

Otherwise, have fun!

SWR
:beer3:

[dadspet]

Have been on many cruises and almost always get our tours off the cruise ship on the dock. Usually we save a 30% to 50% and the tours have been very good. If you wear suspenders and a belt you should book your tours on the cruise ship to be sure. To be honest if my wife was writing this she would say the opposite but again I usually win book on the dock unless there is some tour we really don't want to miss out on since often the only cruises they have on dock are the tour of the island type cruises and may not have the specialty type tour. You can also have better stories to tell if you get back the ship; Our favorite is when the little boat we booked start filling with water and the Captain (yea right - and his name was George Bush) told us not to worry he would bail it out when we jumped off to look for sting rays (true story). On that same trip the cruise ship tours didn't get to swim with the sting rays due to rough water but our Captain was braver then their captain ! Life is full of little gambles - decide what you want to bet !

BTW I highly recommend an off cruise ship tour of St Petersburg Russia It was great and don't believe the ship telling you that you need a VISA if you don't tour with them!

[another Linda]

Well, we are going to do it! A 7-day western Caribbean cruise stopping in Key West, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. I've waited to book the shore excursions and I've bought stock in Purell hand sanitizer. I'm excited but I think I would just as soon spend a month in TV being the timid soul that I am. Thanks for your input everyone.

[cybermuda]

I have cruised for 20 years and, in my opinion, ships' tours are over-priced, limited in choice and don't pack as much in as independent tours - getting 40 people on and off the bus at every stop wastes a lot of time - and the cruise lines play up the risk of missing the boat in order to sell their tours.

But If you'd spend the whole time worrying, then take the ship's tour. You might never visit that place again, so while you will spend a bit more and do a bit less, at least you can relax and enjoy it.

However, if you visit Belize, you MUST take the local bus to the zoo :-)

[another Linda]

Thanks, Cy. Still not sure what we will do about the extra tours. I was hoping that someone else with lots of experience would indicate they were going on this particular cruise via the roll call feature of Cruise Critic. Alas, no one else yet. Any of you experienced people interested in the Holland America sailing out of Tampa on March 21 stopping at Key West, Puerto Cortes, Honduras, Santo Tomas, Guatemala, and Costa Maya, Mexico?

[Jeff Bieberfeld]

hi...we always take the ships tours, mainly for the peace of mind that if anything goes wrong you will get back to the ship. that said, i know many people that have had terrific adventures just 'winging it' when they get off the ship. my brother just hires a taxi on the dock and off they go; of course there was that time in the yucatan when their driver got lost, and then it got dark....or their luggage was in one taxi and the people were in another and someohow everyone got seperated on the way to the airport in rome.....
but isn't travelling supposed to be adventurous?
:shrug:
jeff

[swrinfla]

another Linda:

My personal rule of thumb:

Being somewhat challenged with breathing difficulties, I start with excursions where a single walking person image/icon is shown. I have done those where the image/icon is two people, but I study these much more carefully, before booking. I have done these with mixed results: sometimes too energetic, sometimes not so much so.

I always look for excursions where the local culture is featured. If lunch is a part of the excursion, that's an incentive.

As far as your particular itinerary is concerned, the last time I was in that part of the world was in 1995, and the ports weren't the same!

A cursory look at what Holland America offers for your cruise tells me that you have good options. Take my caveats into account, and you should have no problems, at all!

SWR
:beer3: