Does DCL offer excursions on departure day?

[kiford]

I think that sometimes Adventures by Disney offers pre- and post-cruise tours of 1-3 days in Europe. I had hoped to do one on one of our Med cruises but they weren't offered in coordination with our cruise possibly because it was the last of that season in Europe. We thought to look into companies that do pick up at cruise ports and do such tours (and hold luggage and drop off at airport) but just ended up staying a few extra days in Barcelona and picking a couple of one-day tours. So I know that there are a number of them, but I can't make any recommendations. When we cruised out of Dover the last time, we scheduled our flights to leave in the late afternoon so would have had no time; as it turns out our flight was delayed by 6 hours so we could have done something and I would have loved to see Dover Castle. Maybe next time.

 

[ImprovGal]

Perhaps if enough people keep asking about this option, Disney will get around to offering something out of Dover. I know they do debarkation excursions in Miami, Vancouver and Barcelona.

I was able to book a debarkation excursion in Copenhagen on the EBTA that ended there. It had to be booked on board (actually started as a waitlist to gauge demand) and ended with dropoff at airport.

 

[gotomu212]

In our case we went ahead and booked with a third party but we weren’t 100% happy with them. When we boarded and found there was an option we could book onboard we went ahead and booked it and then canceled the third party tour. So you could use it as a backup if you aren’t sure about the probate tour.

Hmm, I don't think that would be very helpful. We would have already booked something by then. That's a weird way to go about things.

Thank you for posting. I wish they would offer it ahead of time. I agree, it won't help in planning. I don't think I can just wait unless I knew for sure that this would be available and there would be room for us....sometimes I envy those who can "wing it".

 

[FSU Girl]

I was able to book a debarkation excursion in Copenhagen on the EBTA that ended there. It had to be booked on board (actually started as a waitlist to gauge demand) and ended with dropoff at airport.

That's so odd that they do it that way, I think it would stress me out not knowing if we'd actually get to do it.

In our case we went ahead and booked with a third party but we weren’t 100% happy with them. When we boarded and found there was an option we could book onboard we went ahead and booked it and then canceled the third party tour. So you could use it as a backup if you aren’t sure about the probate tour.

That is a possibility. I definitely couldn't just wait and rely on something being offered it would stress me out too much.

 

[KDG]

If my memory serves me right, DCL offered a post-cruise tour of Copenhagen after our 2016 Northern Europe cruise. It included a canal boat tour and then transport to the airport. Our flight left too soon for us to take advantage of it but it looked fun.

We are on the BI cruise in September and have contracted a tour company to pick us up at the end of the cruise and take us to Dover Castle and Canterbury, then on to Heathrow.

 

[dvcdisney]

In our case we went ahead and booked with a third party but we weren’t 100% happy with them. When we boarded and found there was an option we could book onboard we went ahead and booked it and then canceled the third party tour. So you could use it as a backup if you aren’t sure about the probate tour.

That would work as long as there's no cancellation penalty.

But I still don't understand why they just can't offer it online or, at the very least, provide information about it and including the fact that it can only be booked onboard. Then we can decide if we want to risk it or better yet, book an alternative transfer (with no cancellation penalty) as a back-up.

 

[FSU Girl]

If my memory serves me right, DCL offered a post-cruise tour of Copenhagen after our 2016 Northern Europe cruise. It included a canal boat tour and then transport to the airport. Our flight left too soon for us to take advantage of it but it looked fun.

We are on the BI cruise in September and have contracted a tour company to pick us up at the end of the cruise and take us to Dover Castle and Canterbury, then on to Heathrow.

For your September cruise did they mention anything about doing a tour and trip to the airport through the cruise? Which company are you using?

 

[cruiser21]

My experience was last July for British Isle cruise. I'm not sure if something has changed since then, but they were adamant that they do no provide a departure day excursion with or without an airport drop off. There was no suggestion that they offered it for some and not others.

I do hope they have changed it now. I think this is a good option. Some of my relatives had done these departure excursions through other cruise lines...basically the reason why I inquired with DCL.

I've only seen them on the the transatlantic side and that could be because a number of people do b2b's.

 

[dvcdisney]

I've only seen them on the the transatlantic side and that could be because a number of people do b2b's.

That makes sense. But it would be a different type of excursion....one that would take you back to the cruise port.

They did have this type of excursion (Dover Castle tour) on our British Isle cruise. And it's likely because some people were doing a B2B. But again, it dropped off the guests at the cruise port. There was no option for airport drop off. It may have only been exclusively available to the B2B cruisers.

Although I wished we were able to do a B2B, we would have liked that excursion. But our cruise was 12 nights, a B2B would have been at least an additional 7 nights (sorry, don't know what the next cruise was) and we didn't have the time for that.

 

[SnowWhite2]

When doing the San Juan Caribbean cruise with the B2B repositioning cruise to Miami, there were 250 people doing this combo. Several days prior to the end of the 1st cruise, we received a letter stating our options on turn around day. One was to do a San Juan city tour. It was never mentioned on line and was only listed in the letter we received. I don't know if that was the plan all along or if someone on the cruise "suggested" to DCL to do an excursion or how it happened. We didn't take the tour since we spent 3 days prior in San Juan but a good size tour group did go.

 

[KDG]

For your September cruise did they mention anything about doing a tour and trip to the airport through the cruise? Which company are you using?

No, I have not seen any mention of a tour/airport trip through DCL. We booked a van with London Country Tours for 7 adults.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Thinking out loud, what is the incentive to book a cruise line excursion on departure day? There’s no need to have the guarantee of returning to the ship on time, and there’s no real guarantee of getting you to the airport on time (certainly no more than any private tour company). I would spend the energy researching private companies via tripadvisor etc.

 

[CM Dad]

Summer of 2015 we did the Copenhagen, Norway, Iceland, Scotland, Dover repositioning cruise. We did take a departure day tour that took us to the studio where they filmed Harry Potter. After the tour stop we were take to our hotel in London, since our flight wasn't until the next day. I think they also took some people to the airport. This excursion had to be booked while onboard, and would only actually be done if enough people signed up.

 

[dcassetta]

Thinking out loud, what is the incentive to book a cruise line excursion on departure day? There’s no need to have the guarantee of returning to the ship on time, and there’s no real guarantee of getting you to the airport on time (certainly no more than any private tour company). I would spend the energy researching private companies via tripadvisor etc.

I think part of the challenge is finding a tour where are you can take your luggage. The Disney organized tours all accommodate for that.

 

[dvcdisney]

Thinking out loud, what is the incentive to book a cruise line excursion on departure day? There’s no need to have the guarantee of returning to the ship on time, and there’s no real guarantee of getting you to the airport on time (certainly no more than any private tour company). I would spend the energy researching private companies via tripadvisor etc.

That's a great point, but as PP said it's about having a place for your luggage while your touring.

Plus, I feel in a place that may be unfamiliar, I would trust DCL with choosing a reliable touring service.

I know I used a private transfer service, but I will admit that I was VERY nervous about leaving my luggage. With a DCL tour, it would likely be in a motor coach and all luggage would be stored underneath.

 

[kiford]

Thinking out loud, what is the incentive to book a cruise line excursion on departure day? There’s no need to have the guarantee of returning to the ship on time, and there’s no real guarantee of getting you to the airport on time (certainly no more than any private tour company). I would spend the energy researching private companies via tripadvisor etc.

The incentive for me as a booker, is that I don't have to do the research since I trust DCL to do a fair bit of vetting as well as the fact that the tour operator is picking me up at the port and holding my luggage (which another tour operator may do but I don't have to hunt for them). For the tour operator, the incentive is that I will probably complain to Disney if they don't get me to the airport on time and Disney may not contract them in the future. Pretty much the same as if a tour operator doesn't get back to the ship on time. It's all about establishing a good vendor reputation with DCL either way. A poor reputation with DCL has a much bigger impact on a tour operator than I do as an individual.

 

[FSU Girl]

That's a great point, but as PP said it's about having a place for your luggage while your touring.

Plus, I feel in a place that may be unfamiliar, I would trust DCL with choosing a reliable touring service.

I know I used a private transfer service, but I will admit that I was VERY nervous about leaving my luggage. With a DCL tour, it would likely be in a motor coach and all luggage would be stored underneath.

That's a very good point about needing to find someone who is very reliable since we are leaving all our stuff with them. It's part of the reason I'm asking people who they have already used, hearing about a person's personal experience makes me feel better than just reading reviews on a website that could potentially be faked.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I get the need to hold luggage, but since DCL doesn't run the excursion anyway and uses private vendors, in my experience you get exactly the same tour/experience with booking that private vendor on your own. I don't particularly trust DCL to "vet" any tour operator because all they are doing is marking up that tour price and making profit on it. Every cruise line makes a tremendous profit on excursions. Absolutely doing some research is essential and if you can find personal reviews from a place like Disboards, all the better. Tripadvisor and similar sites are fairly reputable .... hard for hundreds of reviews to be faked.

In any event we all cruise differently and are comfortable with different things.

 

[darnheather]

On some cruises they do. You can always check with guest services.

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/...n-capilano-suspension-bridge-onboard-booking/

 

[dvcdisney]

On some cruises they do. You can always check with guest services.

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/...n-capilano-suspension-bridge-onboard-booking/

Thanks for posting. I guess the only time I checked was for Dover. I didn't need it in Vancouver since we were spending a couple of days in Vancouver. But when I inquired, they made it sound like they don't offer debarkation excursions for any cruise.

Anyway, it does look I was given incorrect (or incomplete) information since it appears that some locations do offer debarkation excursion ending at the airport (except of course, Dover ). The only issue still remains to be not being able to book it ahead of time.