Cruise Ship Excursions vs Do Your Own Thing

In a manner of semantics, you have provided three options.
1. Opt In with the cruise line's tour.
2. Locate and hire a local guide.
3. Go it on your own, which would require some research on your part.

There are some benefits to each option.
The cruise line's offering may well be the highest price but when (or if) your ship arrives late,
their offering is either guaranteed or refunded.
The local guided tour, while probably a better value isn't waiting for your late arrival (if that is a factor)
so you are out.
If you elect to go it alone, no pre-paid tour is at issue. The "value" of your "go it on your own" will
depend on the depth your research.
I should mention, I have taken exactly one ocean cruise so my remarks do not represent those of a reliable traveler.

And just to add more 'it depends' to the above- it depends on the port, what there is to do there, what you want to do, and how far from the port you need to go. Some ports, such as the larger ones in the Caribbean, have a great many options, with drivers and guides just waiting at the gates. Others, docking in smaller ports may have few options available , or may require travel some distance away from the port. In the latter case, taking the more expensive cruise excursion might be the prudent thing, since the ship will wait if it's own excursion is late returning. It's wise to book a private or independent small group tour in advance. And it's practically mandatory to do your research well in advance if opting to DIY.

All else being equal, we rarely take a ship excursion if there are other, reasonable choices available. Beach/shopping/casual wandering are almost always DIY. But for real sightseeing and visits to historic sites we prefer to book with an independent tour outfit.

We've only done two cruises and they were with Viking. We only did a few tours that were not included with the cruise that cost extra. If the ship docks near or at city center, I'm likely to do some research and do my own touring. With Viking, the extra tours seemed quite expensive, however, with the ship's own tours, there is no risk of them leaving without you.

Using a cruise ship's tours would be a last resort for me. I base that on the ridiculous price they charge and also a desire not to be stuck on a bus tour with 50 others. We haven't done an ocean cruise in many years, but in the 5 cruises we have taken, we used the ship's option once and booked outside tours twice, and did it on our own the remainder of the ports.

Agreeing with all of the above. We've done many Mediterranean cruises over the years and taken just one ship excursion: to Tunis. I just couldn't figure out how to get from the ship to the city to see what we wanted to see without the ship's offer. Otherwise, I've done one private excursion to Ephesus. That was very good value given the distance from the ship to the site and the services of the guide. All of the other port stops were easy enough to navigate with enough pre-planning. Very often, the ship either docks (or tenders) close enough to public transport that we can walk or we take a cab to bus/train/subway and go from there. You do need a sense of adventure and the ability to switch gears if part of your plan goes sideways. You don't want to left behind.
happy planning!

Others will offer other opinions, and that is ok. But our advice, based on having taken well over 20 cruises is:

It is ok to do it on your own (or use a local guide) if you will not be going very far afield and can get back to the dock on your own. However, if you going any distance from the area of the dock, then take the tour offered by the cruise line.

Yes, the cruise line tours are expensive, but not as expensive as getting yourself to the next port if you literally miss the boat. If you are not on a cruise line tour and do not get back in time, the ship will leave you. Period. We've seen (on a number of occasions) people running along the dock as the ship departed.

What could make you late for the departure? Traffic jams, auto accidents, demonstrations, mechanical breakdowns, and unexpected weather problems. We've experienced all of them on excursions that took us far away from the port, and the ship always waited.

Don't mean to rain on your parade, just offering food for thought.

This would be an easier question to answer if we knew what cruise company you are with. For example, we did an included tour to Ephesus that was fantastic on our Viking cruise. Couldn’t have asked for more and it was included with the price of the cruise.

I agree with TC. We've taken a number of cruises, and we either choose the cruise line excursion, or go into town and wander around on our own. The primary question is your risk tolerance. For us, after spending lots of money to get someplace, spending a few more dollars to know we'll get back to the ship on time, and also not be fleeced by someone I hire on the pier, is most important.

You also have to strategize if it is a tender port. Excursion passengers get on the tender first, and concierge passengers go to the head of the line also.
If it is a port where you get off the tender and are right in the city it’s no big deal. But, if you then need transportation into the city center, etc. waiting for the tender can eat into your time.

I have two cruises scheduled totalling 9 ports. I will be doing three on my own and 6 with local tour companies, none with the cruiseline. Last cruise I used the cruiseline once because it offered a particular benefit - Santorini where cruise excursions tender to a different port and avoid the long wait at the cable car. Another reason to use a cruise excursion is when the attraction is a long way from the port. I did that when visiting the Alhambra from Malaga.

Independent tours are usually much cheaper.

Are you asking for a personal cruise or taking a poll for other reasons? If the former then you can also go to Cruise Critic forums and ask in the cruise line, roll call, or port threads. If you’re sailing in Mediterranean or Northern Europe areas then Rick Steves publishes guide books for cruising in those areas with information on how to plan your own excursions in many common ports of call. Bon voyage!

Cruise line excursions are often overpriced and overbooked. I’ve taken my fair share of them. Recent years have shown a dramatic increase in prices. I looked at one excursion where the cruise line was charging 3 times what one could purchase the same excursion privately.

The further physical distance you put between you and the ship, the more valuable the “won’t depart” cruise line guarantee becomes. For most shore excursions it is a non issue.

I have taken 10 cruises with Norwegian and I stick with Norwegian when I book a shore excursion. Yes, it is usually more expensive than independent or third party companies but I feel safer sticking with Norwegian.

I have tried doing my own thing in some ports and it is usually just so so. It is so much easier on paper than when I am actually walking around.

But in 2027 I will be sailing Iceland, Norway, Amsterdam and Bruges. I will not be able to afford an excursion in every port. Some may be small and compact enough to where I can do my own thing. We shall see. Time will tell.

Might a potential advantage of taking the cruise ship’s tour be the assurance that you’ll be back onboard the ship in time? They’ll make sure you don’t get stranded, and you don’t have to be a clock watcher, instead of experiencing the land destination?

I haven’t taken any cruise, and don’t anticipate going on any in the foreseeable future, but I did encounter some cruise land tours last year. At Malbork castle in Poland, we were attempting to tour it on our own, with a Rick Steves guidebook’s on-your-own tour description. Rick’s maps didn’t match up with the many changes that had been made at the castle, including what had been entrances that were now only exits, or some rooms that were now off limits as far as we could determine. In the meantime tune, a Viking ship had deposited several small tour groups, and each one was led by what seemed to be a knowledgeable guide. They seemed to be moving smoothly through the castle grounds, stopping every so often for a talk on a particular feature. We could hear some of the guides’ descriptions, but didn’t hover, nor follow them around.

In the end, we saw a lot of Malbork Castle, on our own schedule, and didn’t have to pay for a guide, or make arrangements to have one. If you truly get what you pay for, maybe a paid, guided tour (from the cruise or separately) would’ve given us a richer experience. But not so rich that I regret not having that guide. Without Rick’s book, or at a different sight, a guide would’ve been necessary, so it depends what you’re seeing, and how long you have to see it.

And two years ago, in Strasbourg, France, there was a huge group following a guide that was holding up a sign. No stopping, no talking, no seeing anything, just marching behind the “guide.” I hope they didn’t pay too much for that one.

At a lot of ports there are reputable companies that KNOW their reputation depends on getting you back to the ship on time, I have used them when it was a port I didn't want to do on my own. I prefer that to 50 people on a bus with the "guarantee" but it appears my risk tolerance is higher than a lot of others on here.

Keep in mind that one risk is that if it's a tender port the cruise lines let their excursions off well before the people who do their own.

I am however, a big fan of DIY so we normally do it ourselves. (I think in St Petersburg years ago my partner and I were the only two people getting off the boat who either weren't on a cruise line tour or a company lead tour.. people were shocked I had gone to the effort to get Visas etc... but we have a great 48 hours. )

I just got back from a cruise on the Baltic Sea with Holland America, it was my first time cruising on a large ship with multiple port stops. I signed up for all the cruise excursions and wish I had left a little time to explore on my own. A lot of people told me that Viator will guarantee you return back to the ship on time, which was a concern for me, I wouldn't want to risk getting left behind. My favorite excursions were the ones where they transported me to the main city and then I had time to explore on my own. I'm not sure where you are going on a cruise, but I feel like it would be worth researching a few factors.

1. How close to the place you want to see is the ship docking?
2. Does the port have easy access for UBER, Taxi or a tour operator to pick you up?
3. What is it that you really want to see and do while in port.
4. Safety concerns, where are you going? Is the city safe to wander on your own (all of the Baltic ports were very safe.)

I found that in hindsight a combination of doing my own thing, along with a couple of the ship's pre-arranged excursions would have been better.

We usually cruise on Viking, which offers an included tour. These are usually a few hours long and tend to be overviews of the port of call. We like to take the earliest offered included tour and then go out on our own independently; we do a lot of research of the different ports. Sometimes we will pay for an optional tour, especially if logistics (transportation, ticketing, etc.) make it easier than arranging our own tour. We've also booked with other tour companies if their tour is compatible with Viking's port arrivals and departures. I suppose the bottom line is whatever allows us to see and experience what we value seeing and experiencing is what we plan to do.

Do cruise companies besides Tauck and Viking have included tours and no additional cost?

Do cruise companies besides Tauck and Viking have included tours and no additional cost?

Let's begin with : There's a huge difference between Ocean cruise lines and river cruise lines. Only the luxury ocean lines offer included excursions, and only select excursions at that.

AFAIK, almost all river cruise lines include at least one excursion per port . Others are "optional" at an extra cost. This includes Viking. Tauck, Scenic and (on most itineraries) Uniworld include all excursions in their base price.

In response to jules m: Yes, Viking includes a free excursion/tour for each city but the others may be of more interest. They usually have a couple of different excursions for sale at each port. These may offer a range of difficulty in terms of how much walking or hiking is involved. They also differ in their time duration. Knowing all that, you might want to pick (and pay for) an excursion that fits the bill for you.

@OP, it sounds like you are doing a Viking cruise. Is it river or ocean? That would be helpful info to get better answers to your question.

We have done both a river cruise and an ocean cruise with Viking. I was curious about whether other companies offered included tours as well. We are not big tour or cruise travelers. We enjoy independent travel and most often find it easy. I imagine when we get older, we might find tours or cruises to be helpful. That said, we did enjoy both the cruises and the one RS tour we did.

We didn't do any of the extra excursions on the river cruise and took advantage of all the included excursions. On a river cruise where the ship (at least with Viking) most often docks in or quite close to city center, its easy to do site seeing independently. I had ports researched and relevant information printed.

On the ocean cruise we did all the included tours and just a couple of the extra excursions. I did price out doing the ones we paid for to do independently and it seemed that the cost to do them independently didn't save us much and there's always that risk of not getting back to the ship on time. Also, we did have credits to spend.

I felt like the river cruise excursions were extremely expensive relative to what the traveler got vs. the ocean crusie.

I am no cruise expert. However, when we went on a 7 day Western Mediterranean cruise, we found that planning our own shore excursion to be much cheaper and more intimate than booking the big tour bus cruise excursions.

We had the advantage of travelling in a group of 3 couples. Four to eight persons is a great number for a private van.

If there are only 2 of you, you still have options. You can join a roll call on cruisecritic.com to organize a group from your ship; there are lots of people in the same boat. LOL. Or you can email a private shore excursion company and they can organize a small group for you.

These shore excursions know what they are doing and will ensure you get back to the ship on time.

@jules m
You guessed correctly. My question relates to a Viking Ocean cruise.

Clean,

Viking offers an included tour in each port of their river cruises.

Sorry, CJean. I've been miss-reading posts.The heat is affecting my brain.

www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com and www.viator.com are two companies which are easy to use online to book excursions. Sometimes you can find out which is the actual tour provider they use and book directly. That usually, but not always, will be less expensive.