Great idea for tours at each port.

Author Message   Phyllis DeLancey Senior Member Username: Phyllis Post Number: 2665 Registered: 06-2003 Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - 12:32 am:    We have found that most of the place ships stop from some sort of bus tours that will be hop on hop off. Lester your right this only hits on a few places, but you can always take note of the ones you like and than space a back as close as you can get and spend time in that area. We have also hired a driver, but we still like the bus. We did have one gentleman tagging along with us one time and he got very nervous he would miss the ship. This same man traveled without a watch, go figure.   D. Hartje Member Username: Oorch Post Number: 45 Registered: 06-2004 Posted on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - 11:33 pm:    I have to agree with Phyllis when she says it depends on what country you are in when you book tours outside of the ship. In some places this could be risky. Here are a couple of things that can be done in ports of call where we don’t want to take high priced tours. If we feel comfortable, we rent cars and take our own tour. This is especially true in U.S. ports of call to include Hawaii. Secondly, all-inclusive resorts in places like Cabo San Lucas or Puerto Vallarta are great places to just sit and relax. The resort can be found in advance, then find out if they offer a day pass and just walk or take a cab to them. The day passes are normally a good deal especially if they include the buffet. (And, is a better deal than renting a chair and umbrella from a local vendor)   Larry Campbell Senior Member Username: Czeezo Post Number: 876 Registered: 12-2005 Posted on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - 10:32 pm:    Lester - you are so right. But that is not the way for cruising. The best way is stay off the ships and just going into towns for a few days and do a discovery tour on your own. Get to know the people - I like this way best -but my wife likes ship board life. As a retired Coastie - I think that it is sucks. I love to live with the people and learn about them and their way of life. We just got back from a OAT tour of Costa Rica. That is want would turn you on. We loved it. I have done both (Ships and Ground tours) - you can't beat ground tours. I love people and I have so much fun doing magic tricks to the folks. Keep a smile, Larry   Lester Green Advanced Member Username: Rtgreen5 Post Number: 284 Registered: 03-2007 Posted on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - 09:18 pm:    Larry: I may be unschooled in the "ins and outs" of cruising, but I don't see how anyone can do anything meaningful at a port when one arrives at 0700 and the ship departs at 1800. By the time a person gets from the pier to the points of interest, there is little time to absorb much of the culture and sights, such as museums and other destinations. I travelled by ship many years ago and when it docked, I felt so harried by the scheduled departure times, that I generally went to the closest point of interest and vegged and forgot about spreading my time out at other alleged tourists sights where I didn't have enough time to absorb much. For example, I have received solicitations of cruises that dock at Split and Dubrovnik for a day a piece. I travelled overland to both of these cities and found that a week at both places was even too little for my purposes as there is too much history and beauty to absorb in one day. I plan to take another cruise at some point in the future, but I want to enjoy the cruise and not worry about what the tour director or others have planned for me to see onshore in the 10 hours or so at the port. It's just too much for me to handle in my retiremnent years. Just my viewpoint.   Carmon R Senior Member Username: Ckroy Post Number: 950 Registered: 11-2005 Posted on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - 08:08 pm:    I go to TripAdvisor and look up the popular tours for that port and then contact the tour operator and ask about booking a tour and arranging transportation. Most of the time I have been able to book it at at least half of what the cruise line charges. I print out all of the confirmations and take them with me. So far no glitches.   Phyllis DeLancey Senior Member Username: Phyllis Post Number: 2664 Registered: 06-2003 Posted on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - 07:13 pm:    Larry I do agree with you, tours are getting way to high. However I think it would depend on what country I was in if I would go off with a cab driver. We do our thing most of time, and so far have had no problems getting back to the ship in time to sail. Good luck.   Larry Campbell Senior Member Username: Czeezo Post Number: 874 Registered: 12-2005 Posted on Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - 06:40 pm:    We have 3 Cruises booked for the year! And we are tired of paying the high price of tours. So this is our plan for touring. We have another couple that will be with us on 2 of the 3 Cruises - so the 1st thing we do is to get a list of all the tours in each port. We decide which ones we want and go off the ship and get a local tour bus that is going to the spot that we decided to go to. If there is no bus - we will rent a English speaking cab driver to take us there. We have done this in the past and it worked out just fine. This should save us about $200 per tour. Tours really add up fast. And when your splitting the cost of a cab with 4 people - it make it a lot cheaper. Keep a smile, Larry