Cruise Excursions

[AEN]

I know that this is a Cruise question, but I like the feedback I get from DVCers.

Do you guys do the Disney excursions when you go on the cruise? As DVCers we try to keep costs down and those excursions seem costly. Is there anything else you recommend

Thanks

 

[debm]

We booked our first two cruises on points and didn't get off the ship at Nassau either time. We wanted to enjoy the ship without it being so crowded. We just got off the May 1 Eastern though and did get off in both ports. I'm glad we only paid for 1 excursion though. Because we have 4 young kids many of the excursions don't work for us. But on St. Maarten my parents went on the hike. They said it was FABULOUS!! Well worth the $75 because it was a very small group and they learned a lot. The next day they enjoyed their golf day on St. Thomas. We did the Coral World and Island Drive on St. Thomas with all our kids. When I first saw the "modified truck" (open air bus) that we would be driving in I thought I was crazy. We went and had a good time but it was a wee bit scary. Imagine sitting on the AK Safari Ride ( I think there are seat belts there though--which we didn't have) with really nothing on the edges, driving on very narrow roads in a place where it seemed no one cared about rules of the road. It was amazing. Somehow though I was at peace that we would all arrive back safe. There were so many people riding around in them. The driver gave about an hour tour before we got to Coral World. It was a neat place but very small. Way too long for us to stay with our kids who were done running around looking at everything in about 20 minutes. We were there 90 minutes!! I wish I had taken some people's advice and done things on our own time. We did do that in St. Maarten thgouh when we just walked off the boat and down to one of the public beaches. Even though traffic was still "wild" I felt safe overall and everyone was nice. Very used to tourists everywhere. We had lots of fun just walking around and spent only $40 on "stuff." Hope that helps a bit. Debi

 

[inkkognito]

You can often find alternatives on your own. Which cruise are you going on, and what are you interested in doing? The first time we go on a particular itinerary, we do excursions through Disney for the convenience. When we return, we usually handle things on our own. When we go to Nassau now, we don't even bother to get off the ship. We just pretend that it's a day at sea and take advantage of the absence of crowds.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[traycie2201]

Hi AEN, we've just booked our first cruise with points , a cruise and stay is costing us nearly 3 years points so we have to make it a good one but budget is important to us too, hey those loan payments and annual dues still got to be paid too !

Anyway , i researched and researched on these and other boards, have ordered the passporters field guide etc, and when i first booked had no clue and thought we would just book through DCl , yes it was expensive but i didn't realise we had a choice, after being on these boards and reading so much stuff we have now booked no dcl excursions, we were going to do as follows.

Key West Walking Tour - $20 pp now doing free KW walking tour using the information that Shirley from KW is sending and also fitting in a trip to ripleys museum.

Grand Cayman - were going to do the stingray city snorkel tour through dcl at $45 pp instead doing through nativewaywatersports at £30 pp with an additional snorkel stop at coral gardens ( also checkout capt marvins, shoretrips.com, capt bryans etc)

Cozumel - planned to do cozumel beach break $49pp now doing paradise beach - Free (£12 taxi ride ) food / drinks $30 http://cozumel-beach.com/

Castaway Cay - had planned to do the rental package with floats, 1 hour bike ride and snorkel equip - $32 pp , now buying our own snorkel equipment and i hear that the if you have young children you can loan beach toys from the onshore club.

all in all we thought we'd have to pay $438 on basic excursions am now paying under $200 so it does pay to do your research. These are obviously based on western but i'm sure you can find similar info on eastern.

Also taking 12 /24 pack of coke on board and avoiding souvenier glasses, not bothering with drink sticker and if drinkers you should maybe look at the wine package, if you don't finish the bottle at dinner they take it to the next night with you and so on. We will also be asking for a cash account at guest services to avoid overloading the credit card !
best advice keep checking these boards, search under budget and have a great holiday.