One of the most exciting aspects of taking a cruise is the dozens of cruise shore excursions you will have to choose from. Depending on your destination, your cruise vacation may include cruise shore excursions such as shopping, historic tours, and adventure trips. In some cases, your cruise will highlight cruise shore excursions, which means you will spend much less time at sea and more time exploring exciting ports of call.
A cruise shore excursion can be defined as “a tour of the port of call or a specific attraction prearranged by the cruise line and guided by professionals (belonging to the crew) or locals.” The duration and type of cruise shore excursions offered will vary greatly depending on the type of cruise. For instance, a 14-day Mediterranean cruise may feature cruise shore excursions that last several hours to several days, while shorter cruises, such as a 7-day Western Caribbean cruise may feature cruise shore excursions that last an hour or two.
If you’d rather spend most of your time exploring on land, rather than at sea, opt for a cruise that highlights excursions. Most luxury cruise lines such as Cunard Line , Regent Seven Seas, Silversea Cruises, and the Yachts of Seabourn will offer the ultimate cruise shore excursions. Repositioning cruises and freighter cruises are a great bargain, but they may not be the best choice for excursion enthusiasts, as they tend to spend the majority of the time at sea. That said, just about every other type of cruise vacation will offer cruise shore excursions.
Cruise shore excursions are optional, and in most cases passengers will have the option of taking a guided cruise shore excursion or exploring on their own. Because cruise shore excursions can be pricey — ranging from $35 or less per person up to $150 or more per person (depending on type of excursion) — some passengers may opt to spend the day at port (onboard) or simply take a self-guided tour. While this is a great way to save money, a guided excursion is an experience that you just can’t put a price on. Simply put, cruise shore excursions are well worth the cost.
There are many different types of cruise shore excursions. Some may require a guide and others do not. The following list includes just a few examples of the types of cruise shore excursions available:
·Exploring local gardens, museums, and zoos
·Glacier tours
·Golfing, hiking, kayaking, or sailing
·Flightseeing
·Historical bike, bus, jeep or walking tours
·Horseback riding along beaches, or through wildlife
·Jungle tours
·Pub-crawls (popular among young couples and singles)
·Reef and wreck tours via glass-bottom boat or submarine
·Ruins tour via helicopter
·Snorkeling and scuba diving
·Whale watching
If you’re interested in booking a cruise shore excursion, it’s easy. Most cruise lines will allow you to select and book your shore excursions when you book your cruise. This is the absolute best way to book your excursion as you will bypass the stress and hassle of standing in line at the excursion desk. Additionally, cruise excursions tend to fill up rather quickly — long before you board the ship so the sooner you book your cruise shore excursions the better. If you book in advance you can also take your time and browse through the endless options — options that will actually be available if you choose to book in advance.
For more information about cruise shore excursions check out the following popular cruise review websites to read reviews written by people just like you!
·Cruisecritic.com
·Cruisereviewsonline.com
·Cruisereport.com
·Cruisedirectonline.com
·Cruisemates.com
Cruisecritic.com offers more than just reviews, this site has several search functions to help you find everything from bargains and discounts to theme cruises, and exotic itineraries. The site also includes features, news, planning tools, and a variety of cruise message boards where fellow cruisers can exchange stories and information.
Cruisemates.com offers short reviews and ratings. The two types of ratings include: star ratings and value ratings. Star ratings are based on one question — “how good is this ship?” One star is the worst, five stars is the best. Cruisemates.com takes everything from age and accommodations to food, service, and entertainment into account when rating the worlds cruise ships. Value ratings or “thumbs up” ratings are all about the “Bang for your Buck.” Five thumbs up means the ship is an excellent value while one thumb up means you won’t find much of anything that resembles a value here.
Reviews, ratings, rankings, and popularity contests — at Cruisereviewsonline.com find out which cruise ships are at the top and which ones are not. Get other information on cruise lines, as well as information, ratings and rankings on embarkation ports, and ports-of-call.
Cruisereport.com offers the lowdown on cruise lines from A to Z. Unbiased reviews, cruise searches, quotes, and feature articles are just a few of the sites extras. You can also search for “the perfect cruise” and browse through news pieces about cruising. After checking out their ratings and reviews, you can also search for discounts and deals. With more than 50,000 visitors per month, Cruisereport.com has information on roughly 8,500 current sailings.
Cruisedirectonline.com relies on reader surveys to help keep reviews & ratings in check. In addition to cruise ship reviews and ratings, visitors to the site will find top ten and top thirty lists, as well as feature articles about the best of the best in the world of cruises. The site has other information about discounts, as well as information on roughly 12,000 sailings. Cruise Direct Online has been featured in Frommer’s Budget Travel Magazine, and on MSNBC, CNBC, MSN Money, and more.