Port Adventures...book on my own or with Disney?

[mevelandry]

On our next cruise, we've decided that we want to do some port adventures since we'll be in a new area and aren't totally sure what to expect. My question is, should we book on our own or go through Disney's port adventures? I know it can be cheaper to do it by yourself, but is there a "Disney difference"? Maybe it's a little less stressful, etc.? I would love to hear any experiences either way! Thank you!

The only "Disney difference" is that the ship will wait for you if the tour comes back late vs they won't if you booked by yourself (if you book the same tour with another cruise line, the cruise ship will also wait for you, it's not exclusive to Disney). Other than that, no difference. They usually use the same tour operators that other cruise line use. We've shared excursions with different cruise lines in the past.

 

[mevelandry]

We will be visiting Cozumel, Costa Maya and Castaway Cay. I'm not worried about Castaway Cay, that's a beach day all the way for us! I'm mostly worried about getting to and from places in Mexico. A little about the language barrier too, though i've heard there are plenty of people in major areas that speak English. I would like to try on my own, but my hubby is skeptical. We did it in Nassau. It was by chance, we got off and met a driver that was offering tours at the end of the pier. $45 for all 3 of us. We jumped on it and it turned out to be awesome! Just us and another family with a child the same age. All around the island with facts, a stop at a private beach for 45 min., rum cake factory, Queen's Staircase and the Fort Fincastle, a look at Paradise Island and going into Atlantis. Our driver even gave us, a piece of all their currency, up to a $1 bill!

Don't worry. The english of local tour operators in Cozumel is excellent.

 

[ninergrl6]

I think the biggest reason some people prefer ship excursions is simple convenience. No need to think much about it or plan in advance. All you have to do is show up at the right place on the ship at the right time, and they'll take care of the rest. There's something to be said for that. Also if something happens that the ship doesn't make port, there's no need to worry about cancelation terms or refunds. It's just all around easier.

This is my mindset exactly. I'll pay more $ for less stress, especially somewhere I've never been before. If there's a port I've already visited, then I'm more comfortable going out on my own. But I don't mind the large groups and "herd mentality." I find it comforting to be around familiar people!

 

[Barbamama]

We do a mix of DCL port adventures, booking excursions with companies on our own, and exploring by ourselves. The DCL excursions, for us, are most helpful when we have a LOT to see, and it would be logistically difficult to book those stops + transport back to back without risking missing the all aboard time (ex: 12 hour tour of the Golden Circle in Reykjavik, trip to Ephesus ruins in Kusadasi) or unfortunately, in the case of St Petersburg this upcoming summer, if we are not too sure about being able to trust local authorities if a problem arises (1st time we are feeling a bit nervous).

But DCL excursions cost a lot more, and yes, you do feel herded, so it can be nice to try and branch out.

We have had many great experiences booking with local companies (Chilkoot Charters for the Yukon train and bus excursion, Rum Runner charters for a whale watching tour in Juneau, Polar Hestar for horseback riding in Akureyri). We have also used taxis on the island of Cozumel (not the mainland) and Grand Cayman to get to the beach, without any problems. And in most European countries, the mass transit system will get you where you want to go safely and efficiently, although beware the train in Italy: it is not just a stereotype, schedules can be... more like guidelines

 

[WaywardMemphian]

Disney prices are steep. We have a 6 day Met cruise booked for 2019 with out two teens. Our day in Genoa is a Monday, that means ta king the train to Milan for The Last Supper is a no go as it's closed. We plan on just crossing the street to the train station and go village hopping in Cinque Terre and taking a ferry or two between a couple to mix it up and for ocean virws of the villages. Scouting an eatery and shop or two at each to sample.

Liverno, there's car rentals right at the port. We'll go that route there, hit Pisa first thing and get on to Lucca for a couple of hours and then plot a clockwise circular Tuscan countryside drive. We certainly want to hit up Oak of the Witches near Lucca that has ties to Pinocchio. We are doing Florence after the cruise ends in Rome

Pompeii we are hiring a private driver as we are trying to construct a custom itinerary that includes the Archeological Museum in Naples that contains many of Pompeii's artifacts and the Vieled Jesus as well Ideally we could fit in a glass bottom boat tour of the ruins at Baia but that's highly unlikely due to time constraints and the day of the week as those seem rather limited to weekends.
We are stumped on what to do between Cittavecchia and Rome, we'd like to get in Ostia Antica and the Appian Way into the city though the kids may be reaching Roman Ruins overload having been at Terragona before the cruise and the The Forum and Colloseum left to go.

 

[Kate_45]

Tarquinia near Civitavecchia is Etruscan if you want something to break up the Roman a little bit.

It's only 13 miles from the port though and in the opposite direction, so it won't break the journey up much though I'm afraid.
You could maybe go via the parco bracciano (adds about 30 mins onto the drive to rome if you're renting a car) and just go for a nice walk by the lake and enjoy the scenery (or pop into one of the museums there). Or you could have a beach day at santa severa or similar?

 

[ludari]

When I cruise I typically go scuba diving at all the ports if that excursion is offered and I always book through DCL to ensure the company is vetted but also to guarantee if some delay happens because of the dive boat or vehicle transportation the ship will wait. However only once did I book my own scuba port adventure when DCL did not offer one but I made sure to asks all sorts of questions before booking it.

 

[TestingH2O]

We do a blend, but definitely more independent than DCL.

With all the online resources (TripAdvisor, Viator, Cruise Critic, the Dis, etc.) there are solid ways to vet companies before you book. It's like shopping on Amazon. For us, we read reviews AND closely read cancellation and back to ship policies.

We've booked 2 DCL excursions for very specific reasons.
1. In Cozumel we did chocolate and pinatas because DD had just learned about pinatas in school and it was a perfect fit for her.

2. She learned about the Leaning Tower of Pisa and wanted to go. Since it was just the two of us, the basic DCL Pisa tour was easy, not too expensive, and only a half day.

All others have been independent and amazing. This was especially true last week in the Med. We saw the DCL groups bring hearded on and off busses every day listening to the guides on earbuds. (We did that in Pisa, and I'm so glad I wasn't attached to one every day.) Our guides personalized our experiences, took time to understand our interests, and, in Rome especially, took us places we never would have seen with the busses. The same was true in Alaska.

On top of all that, in most cases we saved money instead of booking with DCL. (DCL Best of Rome - $395 PER PERSON, RomeinLimo was $500 for our private car and driver for the day.)

So, while I wouldn't say we will never do a DCL excursion again, we will continue to research other options before we book with them.

 

[aggiedog]

Our first family cruise was our DCL Baltic cruise. I was hesitant to do all DIY tours, so we did 2 with DCL and 2 I arranged thru companies I found on TripAdvisor/Cruisecritic. My family felt the non-DCL excursions were better hands down, for all the reasons stated. We are a multigenerational group of 8, so pricing for a private tour per person was somewhere between cheaper and much cheaper than DCL. We were off the ship as soon as the gangplank went down, and back an hour before sail away (always plan a good cushion!) This is opposed to the DCL tours where we'd get to port at 8:00, but have to meet at 9:00 in the theater, wait for everyone, get everyone off the ship and on the bus, just to get back to the ship 3 hours before departure, with just not quite enough time to go back out to town and see anything before we'd have to be back again. We were much more nimble in the city with our 9 passenger van than the DCL tour busses. Our DCL bus sat in traffic, down the main roads, where the smaller vans were able to take back roads, etc.

The biggest difference was St. Petersburg, where for $200/person we had a 12 hour day, including stops at a blini chain for lunch, and a great mom and pop restaurant for dinner. DCL was charging $300+ for a 5 hour tour.

I agree that in the era of TripAdvisor, any guide that gets you back to the ship late will never get work again.

If you are a just a few people, some companies will plug you into smaller group tours. Also, you can use your roll call to get a group together to make private excursions affordable.

 

[Belle2002]

We have definitely done some excursions through DCL, but only in places where it might be difficult to see something if we did it on our own. We try to do as much on our own as possible, but if the price is fair and we know we are uncertain if we can do it on our own, then we will do an excursion. For example, we are doing a Northern Europe cruise this summer and we have booked excursions in St. Petersburg Russia simply for ease and value. We will explore other ports on our own.

I have a love/hate relationship with excursions, primarily because of time constraints! My family is always the last on the bus because so much is crammed into the tours. However, the bonus is that if you are doing an excursion booked through Disney, and you are late getting back, the ship waits (I have seen this MANY times!!) If you are on your own, and you are late, the ship will wait, but will also leave without you (I have seen this more than once as well!).

My best advice if you aren't sure, do a price comparison of on your own vs. the excursion, or private operator vs excursion. We did this with our St. Petersburg excursion - if we picked a private tour operator (we looked at a few reputable ones) they were way more expensive. However, at the end of the day, it is also your comfort level which is most important. I don't think I have ever had a terrible excursion, most have been quite good, just rushed sometimes.

 

[tlprice]

We have done both. I prefer to do things on our own. I also don’t like that I have to pay adult prices for my 11 year old on DCL excursions. We only do DCL excursions if there’s absolutely no other way to do what we want to do. For example, in St. Lucia we wanted to do the pirate ship and there was no other way to do it. We just got off a Med. cruise yesterday and we only did one DCL excursion. It was our 1st port day of the trip and it made me glad after waiting 1/2 an hour for everybody to go to the bathroom that I didn’t have any other DCL excursions booked. We also really wanted to climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa and through DCL it would have been $376 for the two of us. We were able to do it on our own, including transportation, for $81. I cannot figure out what Disney is charging for sometimes.

 

[doublesided]

We are planning DCL Alaska Aug 2019 as our first cruise and the only DCL excursion we plan on doing is the Tracy Arm. Everything else we will book privately unless the cost is close. My kid is 11, no reason for me to pay adult prices for him. Plus so many of the private tours had similar excursions as DCL when we looked recently, I don't see why we would pay more to go through Disney if it's a morning tour and ends way before you are due back on ship. Likely depends where you are.

 

[meliscan]

I know you hear a lot of opinions so I will chime in. Our last cruise was interrupted by Hurricane Irma. Before the cruise they changed our route to try to avoid the hurricane. Booking through Disney meant no work on our part as they changed the excursions. It also meant when the cruise got turned around midway through we didn't have to try to contact a place to cancel.

Our friends we cruise with had done a cruise the previous year and did their own excursion. Their driver left them at their excursion and they made it back to the boat with only 15 minutes to spare before the ship left port. They could have been left in a foreign country with no recourse!

A few extra dollars can save you a lot of stress and heartache. This is your vacation you want to be able to relax and not scurry to make changes.

 

[Kesohio63]

One of our excursions in Alaska last year got back just at the last minute. They were literally shutting down the metal detectors behind us as we got back on board. If we had not booked with Disney, I would have been very stressed and watching the clock the whole time; I would not have been able to enjoy it at all! But since we booked with DCL, I didn’t worry and had a good time. I would rather pay more to not have that worry hanging over me!

 

[angie7911922]

We've done both. Using the ship excursions is easy, and convenient, and expensive. Branching out on your own, or better yet, with a local tour company is so much better. It's less expensive for starters, but usually if you talk to them in advance, they can create custom tours for you - letting you see what you want to see. Have you ever tried to figure out how you can squeeze in both excursions from Disney and still have time for shopping? Mostly-you can't, but a local tour group can take the best from both excursions and get you to where you need to go. Hands down, I'd go with a local tour group!

 

[bonnielynn]

Disney typically provides a guide for excursions booked through them, which takes a level of stress off of being in a new area. Also, from our experience, port adventures through Disney are usually let off the ship first in the mornings, or through a separate gangway, and then the group is shuttled to/from whatever location is needed. But probably our biggest reason for booking through Disney is that you won't be left in port if your excursion arrives late back to the ship. Booking on your own.....you have the possibility of being left in port if you return to the ship late. It's usually a small possibility, but has been worth the cost to mitigate the risk for us.

We just finished a 7-day Mediterranean cruise last week, and booked all 4 excursions through Disney. Each morning, we stepped off the ship and didn't worry about logistics of travel or timing for the entire day since Disney had us covered.

Which did you do?

 

[Cruising Engineer]

We only do DCL excursions. They are very professional done, equipment (boats, taxis, guide busses, etc.) Are clean and haven't broken down, and Disney stands behind their tours; you won't be left at the dock while the ship pulls away. Peace of mind is like insurance; sometimes it's worth the money.

 

[melty]

We have done both. I prefer to do things on our own. I also don’t like that I have to pay adult prices for my 11 year old on DCL excursions. We only do DCL excursions if there’s absolutely no other way to do what we want to do. For example, in St. Lucia we wanted to do the pirate ship and there was no other way to do it. We just got off a Med. cruise yesterday and we only did one DCL excursion. It was our 1st port day of the trip and it made me glad after waiting 1/2 an hour for everybody to go to the bathroom that I didn’t have any other DCL excursions booked. We also really wanted to climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa and through DCL it would have been $376 for the two of us. We were able to do it on our own, including transportation, for $81. I cannot figure out what Disney is charging for sometimes.

Would you mind sharing who you used for the Pisa tour? We are going in June and climbing the tour through DLC is very cost prohibitive for our family of 4. TIA!

 

[lizzyb]

We typically go out on our own except for when we were in the mediterranean. I did not want to risk it there given the language barrier and distance from the ports.

 

[over50visits]

The ship does NOT automatically wait for you if your DCL booked excursion is late. From the DCL website: " If an excursion runs late, we’ll wait or arrange complimentary transportation to the next port of call." If you are risk adverse, you basically are paying extra to buy the "late insurance" which pays off in the ship waiting OR Disney getting you to the next port.

We have used both. A little bit of due diligence in researching local tours has yielded some wonderful excursions that far exceeded the experience of cruise mates who used the DCL excursions. However, thousands of folks who book fantastic individual shore experiences with no problem compete with Disney letting you think there may be a problem and you should use them for safety.

Take your pick. Both ways have worked for us over the years.