Planning A Cruise Excursion
This blog post is the "before" the cruise excursion. It will be interesting to see how the "after" turns out!
Thanks to an excellent review from Joel Barish's travels Around The World, we knew we couldn't miss The Baths National Park at Virgin Gorda! (His review of The Baths begins at 04:00) We've never planned a cruise excursion on our own; it's a bit scary! There are pros and cons to going it alone, the biggest two pros for me being control and money.
Money
If all goes as planned, it's much cheaper to plan your own excursion than it is to book with your cruise line. The greatest risk, and probably the main reason most people book with their cruise line, is the possibility of being left behind. If a shuttle breaks down, if traffic comes to a standstill, if some act of God causes you to be late for "all aboard," the ship will not wait for you. On the contrary, if you've booked through the cruise line, the ship will wait. So when you consider the cost of literally missing the boat and traveling to the next port on your own dime, you could spend hundreds more by flying solo. While the odds are low that you'll be late arriving to your ship, it's a gamble. You position yourself with the best odds if you plan ahead.
To give you an idea of the savings for the excursion we are taking to The Baths, we anticipate spending $235 by taking the ferry, then a taxi there and back. It would cost $845 if we booked with Disney or $525 through private tours.
Control
I do not enjoy the feeling of being at the mercy of an excursion. I would rather decide how much time we want to spend at the beach, what time we'd like to head back to the ship, and if we want to stop at a restaurant or not. You'd think I would hate cruising, since no one is letting me steer the ship, but I don't need that much control.
I do believe I'll be somewhat anxious flying solo since this is our first experience, but the planning and review-reading helps!
Compare Prices
Remember those spreadsheets I mentioned earlier? Well, create a table to compare options: booking a cruise line excursion, booking a private excursion, or planning it all on your own. You can decide where your value lies within the price differences.
Research Research Research
The Internet has been my best friend while preparing for this trip; even more so when planning our own excursions. Here are some of my favorites:
Cruise Critic - A great place to read others' trip reports, ask questions, and get references.
CruiseTimeTables - See what ships are docked at your port on the day you're there. This helped us feel comfortable knowing we would be the only ship in port at Tortola on the day we are venturing out on our own. We likely would have planned differently if we were one of 3 or 4 ships in port.
General Google Search - Check for holidays and special events that might be occurring on the day you are in that port. Events such as parades or marathons will greatly affect your travel time, so be sure you're prepared. We were also able to find the ferry time schedules, taxi rates, and check drive times via Google Maps to help build our itinerary.
Pinterest Board - Pinterest is a nice place to bookmark all of your findings and search for other articles and tips.
Make Plan A, B and C
Vacations are most fun when they are flexible! Be prepared for the unexpected. Our excursion from Tortola to The Baths includes a 40-minute ferry, then a 15-minute taxi ride each way, which creates a lot of room for the unexpected. I created another trusty Numbers table, plugging in the ferry times and drive times, creating several scenarios depending on when we decide to leave the ship and when we decide to return. No matter what, we do not plan to take the last ferry back to the island. We want to give ourselves some wiggle room and we want to be back on the ship to have relaxed time before dinner. I've also heard the last ferry back to the island can get very crowded, especially when there are many ships in port.
Our plan A: visit the Baths (various possible travel times). Plan B: forego The Baths and instead sightsee around Tortola. Plan C: stay on the ship and relax.
I can't wait to see The Baths, as long as Plan A is successful, and will report back with my "after" tips!
Thanks to an excellent review from Joel Barish's travels Around The World, we knew we couldn't miss The Baths National Park at Virgin Gorda! (His review of The Baths begins at 04:00) We've never planned a cruise excursion on our own; it's a bit scary! There are pros and cons to going it alone, the biggest two pros for me being control and money.
Money
If all goes as planned, it's much cheaper to plan your own excursion than it is to book with your cruise line. The greatest risk, and probably the main reason most people book with their cruise line, is the possibility of being left behind. If a shuttle breaks down, if traffic comes to a standstill, if some act of God causes you to be late for "all aboard," the ship will not wait for you. On the contrary, if you've booked through the cruise line, the ship will wait. So when you consider the cost of literally missing the boat and traveling to the next port on your own dime, you could spend hundreds more by flying solo. While the odds are low that you'll be late arriving to your ship, it's a gamble. You position yourself with the best odds if you plan ahead.
To give you an idea of the savings for the excursion we are taking to The Baths, we anticipate spending $235 by taking the ferry, then a taxi there and back. It would cost $845 if we booked with Disney or $525 through private tours.
Control
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| Photo credit: wikitravel.org |
I do believe I'll be somewhat anxious flying solo since this is our first experience, but the planning and review-reading helps!
How Planning Makes the Difference
Compare Prices
Remember those spreadsheets I mentioned earlier? Well, create a table to compare options: booking a cruise line excursion, booking a private excursion, or planning it all on your own. You can decide where your value lies within the price differences.
Research Research Research
The Internet has been my best friend while preparing for this trip; even more so when planning our own excursions. Here are some of my favorites:
Cruise Critic - A great place to read others' trip reports, ask questions, and get references.
CruiseTimeTables - See what ships are docked at your port on the day you're there. This helped us feel comfortable knowing we would be the only ship in port at Tortola on the day we are venturing out on our own. We likely would have planned differently if we were one of 3 or 4 ships in port.
General Google Search - Check for holidays and special events that might be occurring on the day you are in that port. Events such as parades or marathons will greatly affect your travel time, so be sure you're prepared. We were also able to find the ferry time schedules, taxi rates, and check drive times via Google Maps to help build our itinerary.
Pinterest Board - Pinterest is a nice place to bookmark all of your findings and search for other articles and tips.
Make Plan A, B and C
Vacations are most fun when they are flexible! Be prepared for the unexpected. Our excursion from Tortola to The Baths includes a 40-minute ferry, then a 15-minute taxi ride each way, which creates a lot of room for the unexpected. I created another trusty Numbers table, plugging in the ferry times and drive times, creating several scenarios depending on when we decide to leave the ship and when we decide to return. No matter what, we do not plan to take the last ferry back to the island. We want to give ourselves some wiggle room and we want to be back on the ship to have relaxed time before dinner. I've also heard the last ferry back to the island can get very crowded, especially when there are many ships in port.
Our plan A: visit the Baths (various possible travel times). Plan B: forego The Baths and instead sightsee around Tortola. Plan C: stay on the ship and relax.
I can't wait to see The Baths, as long as Plan A is successful, and will report back with my "after" tips!
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