Booking shore excursions through USAA?

[Mama Odie]

I was just checking out the USAA travel site to check out their hotel & rental car discounts and noticed that they also offer shore excursion packages that coordinate with your ship's itinerary. So for instance, when I look up the Fantasy's 7-day Western Caribbean itinerary, it gives me options for a Jeep/beach adventure in Cozumel, a Chacchoben tour in Costa Maya and snorkeling with stingrays in Grand Cayman.

I was wondering if anybody has done this and whether it was a good experience and a good deal.

Thanks!

Julie

 

[Mama Odie]

Oh, looking more closely, I see that the excursions I listed earlier were just the featured packages. USAA appears to have most of the same activities as the Disney Port Adventures, so if you've been on any of the USAA excursions, I'd like to hear more about your experiences.

 

[Minnie321]

I wasn't aware they did that either - I am certainly going to go check it out.

 

[jjnshane]

Wow! This is awesome! Thank you so much for the heads up on this - I wasn't aware that USAA did this either. Definitely worth looking into!

 

[Bear3412]

Are they identical excursions?

If so, are the prices the same as DCL?

TIA

 

[Minnie321]

Are they identical excursions?

If so, are the prices the same as DCL?

TIA

I find the prices to be about the same as Disney -so I don't think I would book with someone else and risk not making it back if I wasn't saving a good bit of money.

 

[peachygreen]

It appears that it is the excursions offered by the Shore Excursions Group. From what I see comparing it doesn't look like there are discounted prices for USAA members vs non USAA members but there might be for certain excursions.

I had been considering Shore Excursions Group for some of my Alaska Excursions to begin with. I am curious what benefit booking via USAA and Shore Excursions Group might have.

 

[Msmit002]

Fellow USAA member here. Now, I LOVE USAA, but I found better deals on car rental and hotels using other codes.

So, just beware. Try every code you can find, look at the Military rate (as long as you or your sponsor/spouse brings their Mil ID, your good) and if you have grandma/grandpa traveling with you ,look at the Senior/AARP rate too!

This trip, I got a better rate using a Southwest code for the car rental and the Military rate for hotel - better than USAA. It's just how it worked out this time.

ETA: I almost forgot! For some reason the USAA rate for car rental also had us paying for mileage! (Whaaaa....?). So just make sure you read the terms of the rental carefully. Strange, huh?

 

[Mama Odie]

When I did a price comparison with Disney, the Shore Excursions packages were slightly cheaper, but not by much. But their prices don't tend to include transportation costs. In most cases that I saw, you have to take a taxi to the destinations while DCL generally provides a shuttle.

Shore Excursions does seem to offer a few outings that Disney does not. They also have some sort of guarantee that you'll get back to the ship on time... haven't read the fine print on that yet!

So I'll keep these folks on my radar, but I'm not booking anything yet. In the meantime, if anyone has actually gone on a Shore Excursions outing, please share your experience!

Thanks,

Julie

 

[Bear3412]

When I did a price comparison with Disney, the Shore Excursions packages were slightly cheaper, but not by much. But their prices don't tend to include transportation costs. In most cases that I saw, you have to take a taxi to the destinations while DCL generally provides a shuttle......

Thank you.