Private Car Excursions through DCL

[Beaker314]

Has anyone done the private car excursions through DCL? We are wondering if the guides would be as good as having a dedicated tour of the area, or if they are mostly just a driver who will take you where you want to go for that time.

We know it would be cheaper to not go through the cruise ship, but going through the cruise line makes it so that if ports get cancelled or changed we would not have to worry about cancelling the excursions too.

 

[happycamper47]

We've done several private car tours through DCL and the drivers took us to many of the same places that the regular tours went as well as some out of the way spots. They also asked if there was any particular place we wanted to go. When we did the one in Cabo, in our discussions with the driver, we mentioned that we had an RV so he made sure to take us to see several of the area Campgrounds as well, just to scope them out.

I think you can set the agenda or let the driver be your guide. We've always just let the driver do his thing and we had no regrets doing it that way.

 

[Beaker314]

Did they give good commentary with the trips, or was it more about just getting transportation to the interesting places?

 

[happycamper47]

Exvellent commentary and what made it even better was the ability to ask questions easily.

 

[allashore]

here is what we did back in 2016, copied from an old post
excellent and would book a private car again thru DCL, for the same reason, if something happens on excursion
driver was informative about the island, and pointed out a lot


Barbados we booked private van with driver thru DCL, it was on the excursion website. We had to plan our own itinerary. There were 7 of us altogether. myself, DH, 80yr aunt, and 4 "kids" ages 15-21. The driver was excellent, pointed out a lot, answered questions etc.
Here is what we did, dropped DH & 3 kids at beach, driver took 80yr, 21 yr and myself to a historical house tour and rum tasting, I forgot the name but can look up if you are interested. while we were there, driver went back and picked up DH & kids from beach, then came back for us. All us then went to Harrison Cave's, then back to the boat. It was well worth the $$$ spent to have your own driver, be able to see more, etc
I had to make my own reservations at Harrison Cave, very easy with email, paid when we got there. I originally wanted to do the caves first, but they are all booked in the morning with cruise ships. The private van thru DCL was for 4hrs, we were able to add another hour ahead of time, unlike other excursions this had to be paid for at booking, where most excursions are paid for with onboard acct. We mostly do excursions thru DCL, b/c of fear of not getting back to the ship. I would think there are other services you could use, I did not look into any. You may be able to get to both wildlife reserve and caves if you did a private car service. You would have to figure out how far apart they are and see if you could time it right.

Puerto Rico there is a fort in San Juan that you can walk from the ship. We did this when our kids were younger, they really enjoyed it. Last summer all but the 15yr, he stayed on the ship, went to the Bacardi Factory, and did a mixology there, not thru DCL This was a lot of fun.

any other questions? I would be happy to answer

 

[Beaker314]

Thanks for the useful info!