Anyone ever NOT do any excursions?

[kelleigh1]

We're booked for Alaska 2014. This will be our first cruise ever and at the moment, we're not sure what our budget would be, so I was just curious if it's possible to just not do any excursions and still have a fantastic cruise.

 

[NurseDave]

Sure, some people like being able to enjoy the ship with fewer people on it.

 

[lbgraves]

We didn't book any excursions through DCL. We did White Pass on our own, then took the bus to Mendenhall. There was a free bus in the other port and we just explored the town on our own.

 

[alaskanabbott]

Have not done the Alaska cruise- since we live here, when we cruise we want WARM! But on our 2nd and 3rd cruise we didn't do any excursions. 2nd cruise we stayed on board while everyone else got off and it was HEAVEN! Pools were empty, no lines at lunch, nice and quiet. I loved it 3rd cruise we got off and did our own thing in two ports, but decided after one really boring/lame port to go back to "our boat" early. The kids loved having everything to themselves and didn't want to get off the next port, which was fine with us. On our meet thread people were posting about the resorts they were going to with free food and pools and loungers...paying $30-40pp. We had all that for free right where we were Unless it's something really exciting, I don't feel compelled to get off.

 

[CamColt]

After 11 Disney cruises, besides a few adventures on CC (parasailing and stingrays) we have only done 1 actual excursion. We cruise more for the ship experience than the ports.

With that said I am considering doing a tour on Grand Cayman this summer so I may be up to 2 after 12 crusies.

 

[kelleigh1]

Thank you! That's great to hear. We were thinking we might just enjoy getting off for a bit and walking around on our own and then just getting back on ship. There were a couple of things that looked interesting, so we might, but I was still hoping that not doing anything would still be just as enjoyable.

 

[MikeAndNick]

We did not do Alaska with Disney but we had the same ports. We did not spend much money on excursion and had a great time. Most of the ports we had more fun walking the small Alaska towns that the excursions we went on.

Vancouver, Canada - We did not get off the ship. We stayed on the ship and had a great time.

Ketchikan, Alaska - Nice very small town. We walked the town (about 4 blocks total) and then seen a Lumber Jack show. The show was OK but next time we would just walk the town.

Juneau, Alaska - We took a bus to the Mendenhall Glacier that was nice to see and learn what a clacier really was. I then spent the afternoon walking the shoreline shops and part of town (about 6 blocks). I then spend about 3 hours setting at a outside bar on the shoreline having a drink and watch people walk by.

Skagway, Alaska - We did not take an excursion. We walked the town, had a local lunch and watched the "The Days of '98 Show" just walking up.

 

[disneywonderfun]

We're booked for Alaska 2014. This will be our first cruise ever and at the moment, we're not sure what our budget would be, so I was just curious if it's possible to just not do any excursions and still have a fantastic cruise.

Thinking about it, I have never done an excursion on a Disney cruise yet! My wife and kids have, but I prefer the quiet of the ship on a port day more than anything else.

DWF

 

[alaskanabbott]

After 11 Disney cruises, besides a few adventures on CC (parasailing and stingrays) we have only done 1 actual excursion. We cruise more for the ship experience than the ports.

With that said I am considering doing a tour on Grand Cayman this summer so I may be up to 2 after 12 crusies.

We did Grand Cayman on our own. Took a taxi to seven mile beach and it was so wonderful my DH wants to book a whole vacation there!

 

[KappaSigHero]

We're doing our first cruise (4-day Wonder from Miami) in May. Since we're doing a shorter cruise and have never been on the boat before, we're not planning any real excursions. Key West is easy enough to trolley/walk, and we're spending the Nassau day on the boat, enjoying the Rainforest Room and pool while doing Palo that evening. On Castaway Cay, we're doing the snorkel/float/bike package, but I'm not sure I'd call that an excursion, per se.

 

[lucas]

We've sailed many many times to the Caribbean and 4 times to Alaska.

In the Caribbean, I would rather stay on the ship.

In Alaska, the towns are so darn cute, safe, and in easy reach I would never just stay on the ship.

 

[kdeans1010]

We didn't. We're more of a "let's explore!" family (or my dad is, I'm more of a "Keep Dad alive" person. He forgets to look both ways when crossing the street. Yeah....), so in the Caribbean we just wandered. Had a lot of fun. This next cruise my mom and I are planning to wander.... go have lunch and shop.

 

[lilpooh108]

We only did 1 DCL excursion for our Alaska cruise in Victoria. You won't have that stop so I'll skip mention of it.

Skagway-- we spent $50/pp and did a 4 hour bus tour up to the Summit of Whitepass, and a City Tour. We went w/Frontier Excursions.

Juneau-- took the glacier express for $8 to Mendenhall, did the visitor center, hiked to nugget falls, took more pictures of the glacier, then ate at the crab shack. Best day we had on the cruise in terms of port days.

Ketchikan-- we walked to Creek Street, watched the salmon run up the creek, Spent like $2 and took the funicular to the top of the hill and took pics of totem poles by the lodge, then shopped along the pier. It was rainy the whole time and we were glad we didn't take an excursion.

With the exception of Shutters CD, we only paid for tips, Palo and our Victoria excursion. It was pretty affordable.

 

[Sir William]

We're booked for Alaska 2014. This will be our first cruise ever and at the moment, we're not sure what our budget would be, so I was just curious if it's possible to just not do any excursions and still have a fantastic cruise.

We don't do many excursions, perhaps 1-2 per cruise. Partly due to the prices, but primarily because we enjoy exploring the ports on our own.

We did Alaska on another line, but just enjoyed exploring Skagway and Ketchikan at our own pace. We did Mendenhall Glacier at Juneau and saw lots of black bears, catching and eating salmon below the elevated walkways. In Ketchikan it rained most of the day, so in the afternoon we found a bar with free wi-fi. DW did some work, while I chatted with the locals. In Skagway I had a map of historic buildings that kept me well entertained.

 

[melglnh2o]

We are leaving for our third Disney cruise on Saturday and we have never booked an excursion. We like to get out at the ports though and do things on our own. I find the excursions are pricey although there are some positive aspects of it (safety, don't have to worry about missing the boat if a taxi/bus/etc breaks down, getting lost, etc).

We are beach people so we just grab a taxi and go.

Bottom line is you will still have a wonderful time even if you don't do any excursions. However, if there is one or two that are offered that you really are interested in go to a different website (like tripadvisor or frommers) and find a company that does one similar. It might save you some money.

 

[bumbershoot]

We did Alaska on RCCL. We did one official excursion, to Jewell Gardens for tea in Skagway. (perfect and beautiful)

We wandered Juneau, getting on the blue bus for the glacier, went to a bookstore, bought a souvenir at the tavern, found a great Mexican restaurant in some "back" streets.

Got off the ship in Ketchikan and within the hour were back on board.

I can think of nothing we would change in the future.


To not get off the ship in Vancouver, though, hurts my heart and brain. Vancouver is an incredible, wonderful, gorgeous city and deserves to be seen and walked in. If only for a crepe from Cafe Crepe or an interesting hot dog (or veggie dog!) from JapaDog. You have to walk a little bit for those (though there are locations for both in many places) so it kills two birds with one stone. (poor birds!)


We just did the Bahamas 3night cruise, and if we went to Nassau again we would do an excursion. We TRIED to do the walking tour to the Staircase, etc, but the streets, lack of sidewalks, cars nearly on the road, lack of streetsigns, etc, made us too nervous. It was just the 3 of us. My cousins' friends did the 4 day the following week and had a GREAT time doing that walk. In a group of 20. Makes a difference, and I think that some people had been on the walk before.

 

[chudson98]

On both DCL cruises we have taken, we have stayed on ship and enjoyed the low crowds and all the great Disney amenities. It was a great time for us and DS loved having the pool (mostly) to himself. Whatever you decide you will have a blast!

 

[tessa67]

Four cruises and only one excursion (so DD could swim with dolphins). We love being on the ship on port days.

 

[disneybass]

We're booked for Alaska 2014. This will be our first cruise ever and at the moment, we're not sure what our budget would be, so I was just curious if it's possible to just not do any excursions and still have a fantastic cruise.

We are making our third trip to Nassau on the Dream in May and plan on just staying on the ship. Just not enough left in Nassau that we want to see. You can have a wonderful time on the ship but if we were going to Alaska I think I would have to try a few excursions. Never been there before.

 

[WeLoveDisneyAlways]

We never booked anything for our past dream cruise won't be for our upcoming cruise either. We paid the money to be on the ship, only get off at castaway cay. The ship is virtually empty when docked its very nice