No excursions at all.

[orlandothebeagle]

Excursions.Anybody not book and at all for 7 day cruise?
We can't decide on what to do and we are worried that if we book something we will not want to be bothered to leave the Magic other than for a wander around town and water sports at C.C.

 

[karibritt01]

I don't plan to book anything through Disney. I will get off the ship and do things on my own at each port. Of course, I do plan to stay close to the port. If I were going any great distance, i would go through DCL to be safe. If there is nothing jumping out at you as a "must do" then I say play it by ear at each port, and have fun!

 

[only1mouse]

When we went to Mexico on the Magic in 05 we didn't book any excusions and I'm really glad. We got to explore the places we went and while in port in Mazatlan we didn't even get off the ship. We're going again next Thanksgiving and will be booking excursions at each port - hopefully it's not to horribly busy.

 

[eva]

Maybe you can just roll with the flow. If you decide the day before that you do want to try one, head to Guest Services to see what is open.

 

[aan1701]

I never book excursions, the last one I booked was in 06, and i could have really done that on my own. iT was the tram ride in St. Thomas. They give the cruiselines a discount I guess. Anyway I have now reach the point were I want to enjoy an empty ship while in port. I love not having anyone else around and the ship to my self. Oh this does include castaway Cay time as well.

 

[orlandothebeagle]

I never book excursions, the last one I booked was in 06, and i could have really done that on my own. iT was the tram ride in St. Thomas. They give the cruiselines a discount I guess. Anyway I have now reach the point were I want to enjoy an empty ship while in port. I love not having anyone else around and the ship to my self. Oh this does include castaway Cay time as well.

Thats what i thought but i thought I was being a little miserable.
Thanks you guys. I am def not booking anything now, will wait and see.

 

[helenb]

We tend to go on our own if we feel the port is 'safe' and if the place we want to go is easily accessible. We did the Mexican Riviera (same ports as the Magic cruise) in January 2006 and only booked the one zip line excursion in PV because it was the same price doing it through the cruise line as booking ourselves. In Mazatlan we walked off the ship and negotiated a local city tour for cheap, and in Cabo we just walked off and around the tourist circle and to the beach.

In many foreign countries it is often very easy to walk off the ship and do things on your own with a little research and advance planning. We have done a LOT of touring on our own at cruise stops in Monte Carlo, Athens, Barcelona, Oslo, Copenhagen, Singapore, Hong Kong, Okinawa, Maui, Kauai, Juneau, Sydney, Melbourne, etc. in addition to various Caribbean islands.

Generally, if a place is difficult to reach from the port, or we're not comfortable moving around the area on our own, then we take a ship's tour. But if we can walk to public transit, or even right into downtown, or organize a similar tour on our own for less $$$, then we prefer doing that.

 

[NancyIL]

To me, the phrase "no excursions at all" means you have no plans at all for a port. If you mean no cruiseline excursions - then sometimes I book them and sometimes I book independent ones. I have never cruised with the intention of staying on the ship while in port, because I cruise to go places.

 

[Anal Annie]

See, and we're just the opposite of those who stay on the ship. While life on the ship is nice I wouldn't want to spend all day, every day of my vacation on it. We love to see and do everything we can on vacation. If we wanted to sit around & do nothing we could do that at home and save a BIG 'OLE WAD of money. If I ONLY wanted to sit on the beach then we could drive to a beach & plop ourselves down for a week. We take the opportunity to see if it's a destination that we would like to return to as a destination (land) vacation. For us, we need to get out of the port area to see what else the place can offer. When we went to Puerto Vallarta in '05 we took the Sierra Madre off-road expedition. This was such a cultural experience. DS had NO IDEA how other people live. I still don't think he can understand how lucky he is to have so much. This excursion took us WAY OFF the beaten path to see what the real Mexico is like beyond the tourist attractions. It was very interesting to see the things we saw that day. When we got back to the ship that afternoon we put DS in the club and we took a taxi downtown to explore & shop a bit. Specifically, we ask the taxi driver to take us to a tequila bar so we could buy some good tequila to bring home as gifts. He went in with us to translate and waited for us while we made our purchases.

Typically, we try to book things for 1/2 day, usually in the mornings. That way we have our afternoons free to hang out by the pool or whatever.

Everybody has something else to flip their switch. That's what makes the world go around.

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Yes, you are right, everybodys diff, thanks for the input, I just work my butt off all year and the thought of being all nice, relaxed and happy on the magic and having to make the effort to do something that i really cant be bothered doing that I booked 3 months previously that seemed like a good idea at the time.
You are correct though, you should take advantage of these places, maybe i am just too lazy

 

[orlandothebeagle]

To me, the phrase "no excursions at all" means you have no plans at all for a port. If you mean no cruiseline excursions - then sometimes I book them and sometimes I book independent ones. I have never cruised with the intention of staying on the ship while in port, because I cruise to go places.

More just thought about wondering around the places rather than getting in a car/bus and being stuck someplace.

 

[lbgraves]

On our first 7 day we did not do any excursions. The kids were 3 and 5 and it was simply easier not to worry about the car seat issue and we all enjoyed our time on the ship very much. The second DH booked an excursion with a DIS friend and the kids and I were happy to just wander around the port area a little bit and enjoy an empty Mickey pool on port days. We did our own excursions on the third, to Paradise Point and the butterfly farm on the Eastern. We did a real tour on the 4th. We enjoyed each one enough to rebook and don't feel like we missed anything.

 

[thecooley]

More just thought about wondering around the places rather than getting in a car/bus and being stuck someplace.

My parents have done that on every cruise (they've done three so far). They just walk around and find things to do within walking distance of the ship. I think the only time they have taken a tour was on the most recent Mexican Riviera cruise. They found a really good local tour guide who took them to some of the less-traveled areas. They got good deals on shopping, and got an informative narrative about the area. The guy pretty much took them wherever they wanted to go.

So you may just want to wait and see what things look like when you get to the ports.

 

[WHATIF]

Just Wondering. On other cruises you can book an excursion, and if you decide you don't want to do it you cancel 24 hours before and there is no charge. Does anyone know if you can do that on a Disney cruise? I like the idea of making some plans, but sometimes when the time comes you feel differently.

 

[eva]

OP, I don't blame you at all. Probably 80% of the time that we leave the ship we wished we hadn't. Everytime that we stayed on we nearly had the ship to ourselves and always had a wonderful time.

 

[jfletcher]

I would have no problem taking a cruise and staying on the ship the whole time. A long time ago we took a little weekend cruise to Ensenada, and I remember: "Why am I getting off this luxury cruise ship to wander around a third-world country?" Ensenada was not exactly a big tourist spot, like Cabo or Acapulco.

Anyway, I am happy just chilling on the ship. We're doing the Mexico cruise next month, and the only excursion we have planned is one of the dolphin things.

 

[orlandothebeagle]

Thanks for all the replies, every one of them was helpfull, we are def NOT booking anything, thanks again.

 

["Ginger"]

We don't book anything, we don't want to feel the pressure of having to have to go somewhere while on vacation. We like the go with the flow feeling.
When I'm on vacation I don't want to feel driven to see and do it all. Heck! that's not a vacation. I want to relax and enjoy my time.

I do research our ports of calls before we cruise and I do have a plan should we decide to get off the ship. I love just being on the ship.

 

[skoi]

We've usually gone out on our own. We booked a non-Disney excursion with a local company in Costa Maya last time, to see the ruins. Other than that, we wing it. Our kids love to ride local public transit (as long as I can read the bus signs- they wouldn't do it in China because they were sure I'd end up getting them lost) because we ride it a lot at home. We rented a car in St.Maarten and drove around, going to the beach, Ft. Louis, etc.

This trip, with one of me and four of them I think we'll be staying close to the ship because I can't imagine herding four kids anywhere on my own.

 

[NancyIL]

A long time ago we took a little weekend cruise to Ensenada, and I remember: "Why am I getting off this luxury cruise ship to wander around a third-world country?"

Still feel that way?