Shore excursion RED FLAGS to look out for!

First!

# notification Squad

The thing with RC shore excursions is the fact that they’re overpriced.

4th

Not 1st.

My dad and I took a bus tour of Paris in the early 2000s. We got out of the bus for one hour at the Eiffel Tower and THAT WAS IT. On the way home, passed a larger structure that resembled a large screw coming out of the ground. One of the other passengers commented, "Yep, we got the Eiffel Screw."

We look for cultural excursions, smaller group experiences, and good reviews. Lately we have done at least one resort pass day on our cruises if we can find them. These tend to give us nice facilities and restaurant options for the day plus much less crowded beach areas.

We learned that in AK, somehow Carnival owns the primary outfitter at all of the ports of call we made. We also learned that if you're a bit flexible, it's WAY less expensive to just book the excursion right there with the outfitter. For the Caribbean, we get bored just sitting on a beach, so we try to pick out a restaurant and town to explore.

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Good advice RCB!

The top thing we look out for is social proof from several sources: forums, Reddit, socials, reviews on excursion aggregator sites. We also look for day passes at resorts if the location has all-inclusive hotel/resorts.

Loyal to Royal!

Any shore excursion yall recommend in Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel?

Great tips, saved this one for future planning. 🌻🍄

Sometimes a beach tour is cheaper because a taxi ride is so expensive plus the resort cost , Roatan example

I planned a 2 day trip to go see the Total Eclipse in April and I did tons of research.

Accessible tours are not great. Majority of them are just bus rides, a few hours on board taking in the sites thru a window. And the pricing is absurd. Easily $300 pp for a few hours on a bus. Just underwhelming as a day onshore and totally not worth the money.

Matt, thanks for these great excursion tips!!

Going on First Cruise in Jan 2025 to Caribbean, Cozumel and places like that. Thank you for all the info. I am Super Excited for my First cruise. Our Ship is Brilliance of the Seas. ❤

Thanks Matt

Horseshoe Bay in Bermuda, Royal tour is super expensive, buses at the pier take you for $7 per person each way. And you get dropped off closer to the beach.

I’ve done excursions where the exact same one is being offered by RCCL a a slightly higher rate. But, I did a lot of online research to predetermine this. It’s just a note that you can find them if you’re willing to work for it. Otherwise, taking the ship’s excursions might be better for a first timer.
Good advice with the rest of your points.

I mostly 100% agree (well, maybe 95% :-) ). But in 2023, we cruised on Celebrity (RC is the parent company) in the Caribbean and hit 6 ports. In 4 of the 6 of them, we had not made any excursion plans and in every case we were able to find a local driver and after some discussion, had very nice tours of the island with some interesting stops. We weren't looking for a day at the beach, ziplining, or anything like that. We just wanted to see the island and maybe get a little local knowledge and history. We did the same thing in Tortola, BVI in January of this past year. Sometimes you can just tell by the conversation.

How far in advance does RC posts tours for pirts. We are going g to Greece in June and tney.have a few ports listed but not all.

We got so lucky with a driver for the whole day. We got off the ship in St Thomas and negotiated a full day rate and Jamal drove us all around - Coki Beach for some snorkeling, Sapphire Beach to hang and grab lunch, Mountain Top to see magens bay from above and experience the drinks. It was the perfect day.

My family are all avid horse nuts. We own, breed, train, and show, so when we went to Aruba (the only port on our cruise that had riding), we wanted to do an excursion. RC doesn't do animal-based tourism for the very good reason that they can't guarantee the animal welfare, so it was left to us to do our research first. I found a list of stables, and started looking at reviews, and particularly recent photos. I was able to assess the horses' conditions, their tack, and general demeanors. From there, I emailed the operators I was interested in, explaining that we were a family of active, experienced, current riders, interested in more than a nose-to-tail ride. One operator was wonderfully honest in that we'd be bored by their string, and suggested a sister stable, which was already on my list.

We booked that ride, and had an absolutely brilliant time. Our horses were well shod, fit, well behaved, and when a horse and rider pair proved to not get along, our guide was quick to swap riders around. I got to live my bucket list item of galloping down the beach, racing side by side with my family and new friend. We saw the wild side of Aruba from vantage points that few get to, and learned quite a bit of history. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we're looking to go back to Aruba just to go riding again! My wife was also trying to figure out how to fit her horse into the bathroom of our cabin to smuggle her home...

Check out Aruba Horseback Tours for an absolutely wonderful experience.

Awesome information thank you for the video, great one too.

Please make sure your physical abilities match that needed for the tour!! Went on one where 8 of the folks obviously had not read what was needed and it was just bad experience for the rest of us because of it

Some quickie notes on beach trips: 1) Some cruise ports have decent or better beaches within walking distance of the pier. 2) Some private destinations have more luxurious/private beach options for a price. 3) At many stops, beaches are a reasonably priced taxi ride away. 4) Research on each destination is a really good idea to know which beach is best

Hello! I'm wondering if anyone has any advice for transportation services from Long Beach (either airport or a nearby hotel) going to the Royal Caribbean cruise port. My group is 9 adults, 1 baby. We need a car seat (not bringing one with us) and will have a ton of luggage plus one stroller. We are flying in the day before the cruise starts, so we can't do the Royal connect shuttle. Which shuttle services are actually reliable and can fit such a large group? Help please! 🙏

Depending on the port and what I’m interested in doing and the risk level of the activity I book with Royal for a peace of mind. For example when we stopped in Honduras my daughter wanted to do the sloth and monkeys excursion for something like that I booked with royal. Now when we stopped in Cozumel I just took a taxi to a resort that I purchased a day pass for online myself. I just had to watch the time not miss the ship. Because if you book an outside excursion and run late Royal will not wait for you !

I booked a beach break excursion because I have a toddler and feel more comfortable safety-wise with him not using a carseat if we are in a big tour bus vs a taxi. Just one point in favor of doing it that way!

Once we 😮book a catamaran cruise all drinks included through RC on a thanksgiving cruise. Unfortunately we didn’t get to pick the time and it turned out be early morning. Not only did I not want to be on the water when it was cool but I don’t drink alcohol in the morning! RC was very nice about it. I went down to the front desk the day before and they refunded me the money.

Chichen Itza was a long ride but I didn't see another scenario I'd ever be back. I enjoyed it.