Cruising without Excursions - Good idea?

[croschek05]

fixed it for you

Sarcasm

 

[kiford]

We have a rule that says if you've not been to an island before, you do need to do an excursion to see what's unique about it. If we visit again, we might do another excursion if there's something else we want to see; we might just get off and wander around or go somewhere to eat, or we just don't bother to disembark. We've been to Grand Cayman, I think, four times - twice we did excursions, twice we didn't get off, and we were scheduled to go a fifth time but had to skip it due to high winds at the port. We've done a couple of excursions at St. Thomas and didn't disembark a couple of times, we've done some things at Nassau and now don't bother to get off or might just walk around for a little while depending on how hot it is. We enjoy spending time on the ship when in port. It gives us a chance to chill and read, spend time in the pool, go to a lounge, watch a movie, etc.

 

[MomOTwins]

I absolutely love the "plan nothing" approach for shorter cruises. But for a week I would be bored. I'd plan at least one excursion, even if it is just a couple hours.

 

[Vols1977]

We have actually pivoted a bit from our original plan and now have 2 excursions booked. We did some research and thought we would enjoy ziplining at Tortola and Secret Sands beach day at St Thomas. We haven't been to those ports yet so it makes sense to get off the ship and do a few things, especially since it's a 7 night cruise.

 

[auntlynne]

Secret Sands (Lindquist Beach in Smith Bay) is a favorite of mine.

It is smaller than Magen’s Bay and less boxed in. And way fewer visitors.

Sure, no concession stand. It’s like you are at a beach. Sand, sun, shade and water. I saw loungers stacked; everyone was just in the sand. We were not on a cruise/ excursion.

And the water can be aquamarine, depending on the sunlight (where Sapphire Bay, down the road, is sapphire color).

And has a convenient bathhouse.

If you are the type to get hungry, order some Uncrustables from room service to take for a snack. Pack a small soft insulated cooler bag to keep them fresher.

This Wiki photo is very representative of what I saw.

 

[Carohs]

Getting off the ship for a few hours is the way to go, especially in a new destination. We've stayed on in port but there was just less stuff going on. We weren't bored, per se, and listening to their safety drill was interesting, but we did have plenty of "down time." It's fine if that's what you want to do. We played cards and I made progress on a book but I don't know that I'd want to do that more than once on a 7 day cruise.

 

[Snowwhyt]

I haven’t planned anything for the last couple of cruises. Sometimes I decide it’s a beautiful day and I wanna walk off the pier into the town a little bit. And another time I chose to just enjoy the ship.

 

[bcwife76]

Congrats on your 20th anniversary! My husband and I are also celebrating 20 years this summer but were unable to book a cruise to celebrate because we had to buy our house a new roof (seriously, the house has only been around for 15 years, why does it get a bigger celebration? ) Anyway it's your trip and your celebration so if you want to stay on the ship and just enjoy the ports from onboard then do it It's about being together and enjoying the journey!

 

[wendlle]

I am doing a 14 night cruise next year and don't think we will do any excursions.
They don't interest me at the ports we are stopping at and I prefer to be on the ship - that's what I'm paying the big $$ for.

I did do quite a few while in Alaska but that's because I was IN ALASKA! How could you not, but for anywhere else they're all kind of meh and expensive.

 

[csgrkw]

@csgrkw - We had a problem with propulsion on the Fantasy in Sep 2023, you could be writing our cruise story - and had to miss CC. Same ship? And still / again having issues?

Yes, same ship...Fantasy, but in 2016! Sounds like the propulsion went out as we were leaving port from St. Thomas. They worked on it for a few hours, then made the announcement while we were waiting for the evening show that we wouldn't have enough propulsion to get us to Castaway Cay with only 1 sea day in between.

I am curious if that's happened on its sister ship as I haven't heard of the Dream having similar issues.

 

[auntlynne]

Yes, same ship...Fantasy, but in 2016! Sounds like the propulsion went out as we were leaving port from St. Thomas. They worked on it for a few hours, then made the announcement while we were waiting for the evening show that we wouldn't have enough propulsion to get us to Castaway Cay with only 1 sea day in between.

I am curious if that's happened on its sister ship as I haven't heard of the Dream having similar issues.

I haven’t heard of it as an issue on Dream.

But I think someone had it on Fantasy after our Sep 2023 cruise. And it was after St. Thomas, too.

I’m guessing this is a major (time and $) overhaul they keep avoiding. Until one day they are stuck at Sea.