Shore Excursions on your cruise can be one of the most exciting (and most expensive) parts of the trip. This is when you get to see and visit new places and do interesting things “onshore”.
Cruise itineraries offer varieties of shore excursions to match various interests, locations, and budgets.
Depending on your cruise itineraries various shore excursions can be pre-arranged thru booking online with your online cruise personaliser and cruise agents, while you are onboard you can even arrange it thru the shore excursions or you can arrange it yourself.
Joining cruise excursions can enrich your travel experience of each cruise destination especially if you are a type of traveller who loves adventure, experiencing new cultures and discovering new things.
There is also the mellow side of cruise excursions where you can just simply do a bit of sightseeing and relaxation.
On our British Isles Cruise with Princess Cruises, we did a mix of sightseeing and other active excursions in Dublin, Belfast (Giant’s Causeway), Greenock (Glasgow), and Invergordon (Inverness).
While onboard Royal Princess, our Princess Cruises shore excursions were arranged by Rachel from the PR team and Timothy from the Shore Excursions team (He is also featured on the reality ITV series “The Cruise”).
They did a great job in arranging everything and showing us a lot of the highlights of the British Isles. You can read more of our British Isles Cruise here.
Princess shore excursions offer the Best Price Guarantee on shore excursions and they are happy to offer you 110% of the price difference if you find the same cruise excursion for less in other providers.
They also have the “Guaranteed Return to Ship” privilege for all the cruise excursions that are pre-arranged directly with Princess Cruises.
So now, let’s discuss what sort of shore excursions will suit you!
Read more: 7 Tips on How To Prepare for an Expedition Cruise
Different Types of Shore Excursions
One of the main sources of income for cruise ships is shore excursions. There are various types of shore excursions that you can do to enhance your travel experience.
Group Cruise Excursions
The most popular cruise excursions on any cruise line. Depending on your cruise itinerary and how popular the destination is, it is recommended to pre-book this in advance.
Big tour buses cater for a massive group of passengers (maybe around 50 passengers) in this type of cruise excursion with a tour guide.
Since this is arranged by the cruise company itself, you have the “guaranteed return to ship” privilege.
Group tours come in a big volume. So as the group progress on their tour it may take some time to steer the whole group, hence it will take some time to do anything so make sure you are ok with this.
Private / Tailored / Small Groups Cruise Excursions
Cruise companies like Princess Cruises can also offer special excursions if the passengers prefer to have extra flexibility and convenience to travel at their own pace.
Private and tailored cruise excursions can be personalised depending on the wishes of the passengers and move along at their own pace.
Small group cruise excursions can accommodate up to 25 guests. It is personalised as the group can have their own mini-shuttle that can also move on with the tour at their own pace.
Do-It-Yourself excursions (Independent tours)
If you are on a tight budget on your cruise you can just plan and do your own excursions in each port. There are some instances that cruise ships will provide a free shuttle to the nearest town for you to explore.
You have to do a lot of planning and coordinating to make sure everything will run smoothly as planned. Unlike the shore excursions that are pre-arranged by the cruise line, this type won’t have the “guaranteed return to ship” cover.
Various Cruise Excursion Travel Style Preference:
Depending on your preferred travel style you might also have to consider these when you start planning and booking your shore excursions.
Sightseeing or Adventure Type Shore Excursions
Depending on your mobility and how active you want your cruise excursions to be it is worth checking the level of activity beforehand.
It varies in different destinations; some excursions don’t have a lot of strenuous activities such as museum hopping, food tour or culinary experiences, or a bus tour around the city.
The adventure-type cruise excursions can involve some outdoorsy types of activities and would definitely require a good amount of physical strength like nature walks, trekking etc.
Half Day or Full Day Tours
Another thing to consider when booking your shore excursions.
Check how long the cruise excursions will run so you can plan your personal schedule ahead of time.
This is to make sure you have enough time in between excursions or joining any other activities onboard.
Read some handy cruising tips before going on your cruise and cruise terminologies.
Few other shore excursion tips:
Booking shore excursions in advance
Early birds catch the worm!
To make sure you won’t miss your slot on a must-see place that has been your dream to visit, book your cruise excursions in advance.
Especially if the itinerary is a popular one, it can easily sell out in no time.
Time management
Being on a cruise will require good time management to make sure to be back onboard on the dot or else the ship will sail away without you (this is if you don’t have the guaranteed return to ship).
Allow extra time to come back onboard if tendering (using a tender boat to go back onboard the ship) is required. Tender boats also have their own schedule and you wouldn’t want to miss the last one. So always be aware of your time.
If you are doing your own excursions set off early if possible to make use of the time you have. Setting off early can also mean that you can beat the queues and the big groups of your fellow passengers.
Destination research and planning
It is always good practice to do a little research about the destinations that you will be visiting on your cruise. This will be vital if you are doing your own excursions at each destination.
You can use various travel resources like Lonely Planet, Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor to help you learn the ins and outs and where to go places in each destination on your itinerary.
Rent a car / Taxi
Renting a car or taxi can also be an option when you want to do an independent shore excursion. Just make sure that you have a valid international license and pre-arrange with the car rental or taxi company to pick you up at the port.
Know your ship and port schedule
Checking how busy the port will be can make a lot of difference if you are planning to do your own shore excursions. This will help you in planning ahead on where to go and which place to visit first.
If the port will be busy it can be a hectic place to be.
Pre-book destination attractions
If you are doing your own shore excursions it is also advisable to pre-book your attraction tickets in advance.
This would mean on some occasions that you can beat the queue and save some precious time while you are roaming around. Most attractions give some advanced or online booking discounts so that would also save you a few pennies!
Check your destination currency
Cruising and waking up in a different country every day is fun. When you are on board there is no need to use cash when you are purchasing anything as you can charge it to your account using your cruise card.
However, when you go to the shore you have to make sure that you have the correct currency if you want to make any purchases or use it for transportation.
Your best option is to get some cash out from a cashpoint/ATM. Currency exchange rates onboard won’t give you the best conversion rates.
Having cash on hand prior to your cruise will sometimes put you at an advantage especially to avoid some international bank charges.
Tipping guide on your shore excursion
Tipping your tour guide and/or driver is optional. However, it is encouraged and would be considered a nice gesture that you appreciate their hard work in giving you a great experience on your shore excursions.
It is encouraged to tip on a per person basis, maybe around $1-2 for a half day cruise or $3- $5 for a full day cruise. However, if you are feeling more generous, feel free to give more.
What to wear for cruise excursions
Depending on your shore excursions and destinations, wear comfortable clothing and good walking shoes if you will be walking around towns or trekking.
Or maybe due to the destinations, cultural appropriate clothing maybe required.
Shopping During Shore Excursions
If you are joining a group excursion, you might not have enough time to go shopping. However, if you are on private or independent excursions, you can definitely squeeze a little shopping time in if you wish.
Just make sure that you have no prohibited items onboard or are over the alcohol limits onboard and even your luggage allowance if you are flying back home!
On some occasions, security will hold the items for you and return them on your disembarkation day.
So next time on planning or booking your next shore excursions, make note of these suggestions and tips to make sure that your cruise excursions will go as smoothly as possible.
Read more of our fun Cruise stories and reviews.
Have you got other cruise excursion tips?
Share it in the comment box below!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ryazan Tristram
Travel Writer & PhotographerRyazan has a Bachelor’s Degree in Tourism and Hotel Management. She also has more than 10 years of work experience gained from working in the hotel and travel sectors in Asia and Europe. Her work has been featured and published in BBC, Huffington Post, Reader’s Digest, Discovery Channel, World Travel Guide, MSN, CNBC, GMA, Daily Mail UK, Lonely Planet, and many more. She is currently living in the UK as a dual citizen (British-Filipina). Join her in travelling around the UK, Europe, and beyond with a mission to promote sustainable tourism and share travel guides, travel tips, foodies, history, and culture.
5
We have never cruised. To be frank, the idea of being stuck on a ship has served as a deterrent. You do however present some interesting tips. We are all about experience and adventure so taking shore excursions would be vital to us having value from a cruise trip. Maybe one day!
Thanks for sharing. Keep travel blogging. Adventure is better shared with friends!
Thanks Anthony! Cruise excursions enhance my cruise experience and I absolutely love every minute of it.
This is a really helpful post for me. I have never been on a cruise. I did not know that you have to pre book attractions. Your itinerary with princess cruises looks great! I would love to go on a cruise in UK.
Thanks, Shruti. Yes, the British Isles cruise of Princess is amazing!
Great tips! We are not “cruise people” ourselves, but we have gone on a few — such as the Norwegian Hurtigruten up the coast of Norway, and knowing what the options are for trips and attractions is key, as well as booking in advance for the more popular ones. We also had friends who wrote about a cruise around Vietnam on our site and, like us, they prefer to go their own way on shore if possible, but you do run the risk of things going south if you don’t plan well — like missing your ship’s scheduled departure from port. They barely made it, but if they’d missed the ship, that would have mandataed a scramble to an airport and a short flight on their own dime to the next port of call to meet the ship again.
Oh! lovely! I have cruised with Hurtigruten too on their Arctic Awakening around the Arctic circle of Norway. Yes, missing the ship’s departure will surely be a nightmare!
This will come in super-helpful should we ever (finally!) go on a cruise. I didn’t know there were different types of shore tours, thought it was either “go with the tour” or “go alone”. You really got me hooked on the idea of a British Isles cruise.
Thank you! Yes, I must say that cruising industry has adapted to the various travel trend and giving the passengers lots of various options to travel and explore the destinations.
Taking a cruise is something that I have been playing with the idea for a while now and doing one through the British Isles sounds what I have been looking for. Thanks for the tips too about the shore tours and how much to tip, it is something I am unsure what to pay for the time provided.
Oh! I’m sure you will love it. Thank you!
Cruising continues to elude us, since we prefer moving about on foot most of the time. But I keep reading posts on cruises, and gather more information, just in case we change our mind. Your post has a lot of food for thought.
Cheers! I must say I’m cruise converted now. haha! It’s always nice to try new things outside your ‘comfort’ zone in the realm of travelling.
I had no idea cruise shore excursions could provide a “back on the boat guarantee”. That’s pretty sweet. Even with that, i think I would have to arrange my own excursions, I have the independent genes built in.
Yes, I agree. I would also prefer an independent shore excursions.
I haven’t been on a cruise, and when I do it will surely opt for some shore excursions. I think I’d most likely opt for a mix of planned and build-your-own. Thanks for the handy tips!
Highly recommended! I’m sure you will enjoy your first cruise.
I LOVE cruising, congrats on your first experience! I have yet to take a cruise in the U.K. though. I would absolutely love to do this one, I have a particular fondness for Scotland and Ireland 🙂
Sounds like a plan! I’m sure you will have a fab time in Ireland and Scotland.
These are excellent shore excursion tips. We always prefer to do our own shore excursions. Cost-wise it just works out better. Sometime just grabbing a taxi and asking them to take you to a nice beach or give you a city tour is enough.