CRUISE SHORE EXCURSIONS

When a cruise holiday begins, you will receive a list of the ports of destination and what cruise shore excursions the ship will be offering and the price of each.  Depending on the itinerary and the time of the year, this will impact what excursions are available.

Before you sail you can usually go online to check your ports of calls and which cruise shore excursions will be available and might interest you.  It is our experience and recommendation that you take a shore excursion as quickly as possible after you set sail, this will allow you to meet other passenger and have people that might share your interests or spend time with while on the balance of the cruise. 

Shore excursions will vary widely and depending on the time of year, itinerary, cruise line, ship and other factors will dictate what type of excursions will be available on your cruise:

Shore excursion samples would include:

• Walking tours of the port of call

• Visiting a landmark

• A driving tour of the countryside with a meet and greet at a certain location

• Snorkeling and scuba

• Horseback riding

• Jungle canopy tours

• Historical tours; either walking, buses or other means of transportation

• Glass-bottom boat tours of coral reefs

• Golfing

• Boating

• Fishing

• Local attractions

• Wildlife encounters in Alaska

• Party boat tours

• Helicopter tours of glaciers or ice-fields

• Castle tours

• Private airplane adventures

The shore excursions will usually be rated by degree of walking and/or the amount of exercise to expect while participating.  They will also give the duration and time of the excursion plus the price per person.  Some excursion that require a certain amount of people or participation to occur may be cancelled if not enough people sign up.

You will find that most shore excursions will last only for the time period that the ship is in port or at the port of destination if tendering.  This is because the majority of the passengers will accept the excursions offered and the ship wants to sail before a certain time and open up the casino and other onboard activities for their guests.

On some select cruise lines you may find very, very shore excursions that may last 1, 2 or 3 days.  This is very common on the luxury and 6-star cruise lines.  Silversea offered a 3 day shore excursion to Macho Pichu in Peru during a fall sailing two years ago that we were able to be part of.  The cruise line docked for 3 days while the members of this particular shore excursion went to the mountains of Peru for this spectacular scenery.  This would be a very special type of shore excursion and not offered on the average premium sailing.

Expect to pay from $25 to $500 depending on the excursion.  Helicopter rides in Alaska will run close to $500 dollars and they are very unique in nature and what you will see will be a memory for life.  In the Caribbean you can go snorkeling or sightseeing for little or nothing.  There is a variety of excursions that will cater to most everyone onboard.

Once you reserve your shore excursion, you will get a ticket or voucher placed on your mail holder, door or inside at night.  These tickets or vouchers will need to be surrendered when you are directed to board your bus or at the staging areas.

When you take a shore excursion that is offered by the cruise line or your cruise ship, you can feel comfortable that the cruise line has checked out the tour operators and have cleared them to provide these services to the cruise line guests.  Not all vendors will pass inspection by the cruise lines and only the best will make the list to provide tours and shore trips to any cruise guest on your ship.

Remember to take a hat, water and your ship ID card when you leave the ship for any port of call or shore excursions.