SAVING $ ON CARIBBEAN LAND EXCURSION$

When booking a Caribbean cruise, most people take the easy way out & purchase all land excursions through their ship.


And why not? After all, the ship's sales mavens convince us that: 


  1. They are the pros in knowing what's best to do at every port stop.


  2. There are limited seats, so if you don't book your favorite trip - and do it quickly - it may be sold out. 


I mean, how could you face your water cooler pals if you 'walked the plank' on being able to down all the rum made in Jamaica while sailing on a nearly genuine Pirate Ship?


  3.  Even if there is some sort of delay in your land travels - the cruise boat will not leave port without you ONLY if you bought the tour through them. If you buy on your own & the tour runs late, the ship will sail & you'll be scrambling for expensive plane tix to the next island stop.


Well....


   1. Yes, they are pros - but there are other pros in town.


   2. In 99.9% of all cases, they somehow find room for 1 more as long as the tour hasn't already begun & you have $ in hand.


   3. Although cruise ships have left passenger's behind, the cause is usually due to staying for an extra  cervaza (or - most likely - a dos & a tres) at Carlos & Charlies rather than a tardy tour.


And the truth is...


   4. You can save over half the costs, enjoy excursions of equal value & actually sightsee longer, see more & suffer less waits/crowds by buying off ship.


Ok, where can you book?


Try me. As a travel consultant, I can more times than not set you up with a better, cheaper, less crowded tour than you can buy on the ship with professional, responsible, on time tour companies.


For those of you who rather do things yourself, when you land in any port, just walk off the ship. Tours are a big, profitable, competitive business. There will be companies & individuals waiting to take you - & your tourist $ - anywhere you want to go.


Look at Grand Cayman, for example.


Once you walk past all the placard waving 'ship bought' tour guides, you will see a dozen or so kiosks where you can purchase more tours - with better prices, more convenient times, less waits - than you can imagine.

You could actually take 2 tours, see more, spend less & be back on the ship hours before it sails.


We paid $20 each for a 2 hour Island Tour by Discount Excursions that leaves every hour. If we had bought this on board, it would have been more than double in cost & wouldn't have begun until 2 hours later.


Thus we had plenty of extra time to peruse the port's shops/restaurants after the tour & still had mucho time to get back to the ship.


And we actually could have had the same trip for $15 each - with another small, but reputable company - if we had brought cash.


Hey, I'm not saying 'don't take a ship bought tour'. For some who want to relax on a pre-planned vaca, they fill the bill.


But if you'd like a little better value for your travel buck, there are other ways.


And haven't you already given enough of your cash to the ships via the penny slots?