Med shore excur - yes or no??? About This Page:

[efcsmom]

I'm taking 4 adults and 3 kids on the Med. cruise 05-05-10.
We have not cruised before.

Should we book shore excursions, or "do-it-ourselves" when we reach port?
Are there many port-hawkers, selling on the spot excursions? How reliable are they?
Should we find our own transport and simply make our own days?
Which ports would you consider "must book aheads"?

If I book excursions, can I cancell them? At what cost? How far in advance?

thanks in advance!

[chezp]

I would book shore excursions through Disney. I say that because you have the reassurance that, that way, the ship will not sail without you. If you do it yourself, it's your responsibility to get yourself back to the ship - and remember you'll be in a foreign country, so that could be a daunting prospect. We booked all our shore excursions through Disney for our Med cruise and loved them all. That would be the way I'd go.

If you do want to go outside Disney, I would book ahead. I really don't recall seeing any hawkers trying to sell you excursions on our cruise.

[Chelledun17]

We sailed Europe on Princess (Italy, Turkey, Spain, Greece) and booked ahead, but not through Princess. We had a group of five and were able to do private tours for our group at each port for less than the cost of the large group ship sponsered tours. Recommendations abound at cruisecritic.com's message boards, and all the ones we used turned out to be very good.

All of our tours picked us up at and returned us to the dock. I wasn't worried about missing the ship because these companies understand that their livelihood is at stake and can't afford negative reviews.

[MickeyWatch]

We did our shore excursions on the 2007 Med cruise through Disney with one exception (Rome). Disney did a great job coordinating the tours and making them enjoyable for all ages. I would highly recommend this route unless you have a very experienced Travel agent who will help you arrange your own guide. We did this in Rome because there was so much we wanted to see. Our private guide met us at the dock at a prearranged time and took us in a Mercedes van to all the sites that we wanted to see. On our tour we did run into a few of the Disney tours and had our photos taken at the Trevi fountain by the ship photographers who were stationed there most of the day. We saw a lot more sites than any of the Disney tours and spent several hours at the Vatican. We also had a great lunch at a small cafe in a beautiful plaza, with no other tour groups present.

But other than Rome I would stick with the on board tours. I know there is a cancellation date, but I don't recall what it was. I'm sure its in the registration materials on line. Disney also let us do a last minute change to one tour when we realized that we didn't want to spend a second day touring another French Medeval village.
Also, as Cheryl pointed out, you are guaranteed that the ship won't sail without you as long as you are with one of their tours.

[moneyhappy]

I'm also taking the Med cruise in May (after yours). We are 4 adults. I have booked my own shore excursions on other cruises, but for this trip I'm going through Disney. I looked around in some cases it would be more expensive to go through a different company just because of the additional transportation cost.

I'm also using my Disney rewards dollars to pay for half of the excursions.

[Disneybine]

We prefer the excursions organized by Disney because of the peace of mind. Also, the didn't seem all that overpriced. Since there's so much to see and do here in Europe, I'd definitely book planned excursions in advance, and, like I said, I'd stick to Disney.

Yes, most likely there will be port-hawkers but I don't recommend booking through them (especially in Tunisia).

[Dave Marx]

Time is very short in your ports of call, and most destinations are very intensive (far, far more to do than you can see in a day). It's much better to book ahead, whether with the cruise line, or through another reputable tour operator. Tour offerings at the port are often few and far between, and may not cover the sights you desired. Further, the time you spend making your on-the-spot decision is very precious. It's much better to shop ahead. Also, for the most part, the on-the-spot tour operators are not offering bargains. It's just as likely you'll be paying a higher price for having not planned ahead.

You're paying a lot for each port of call visit in port fees and taxes, so in for a penny, in for a pound. Book ahead, and get the most out of your days.

[Kit]

We went to the Med as our first ever experience of cruising and had a 6 month old with us so decided to diy. We generally got on very well. I found the hawkers at the ports quite intimidating so it would have been nice to be whisked straight past them. We had no problem though once of the ship doing things like getting on a double decker sight seeing bus etc.
Trying to decide what to do on our next trip - go with Disney or diy - Northern Europe should be even easier to make our own way .Though I would never go too far from the port as I would be concenred about them leaving without me ;-)
Kit