Destination Weddings Discussions

Cruise Shore Excursions

My first cruise will be when I get married, and Carnival has just started posting the possible shore excursions. I was wondering if they usually sell out or if they are available when you get on board. I want to book some, but the money is kind of tight right now. I don't want to miss out on some things I really want to do, though. P.S. Any suggestions for shore excursions if you have been any of these places? I'm doing a Carnival cruise and our stops are: Dominica, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, St. Maarten. (And St. Thomas, but I'm getting married that day :) Thanks!

Re: Cruise Shore Excursions

  • I'v ecruise with Carnival and I've been to all thoise islands too. I know that they don't sell out completely. They always leave room for people to book on the cruise. Also most of those places you can just get out of the ship and get a taxi to the attractions. Sometimes the taxi drivers have like a "tour" and they will fill up those taxi vans with like 6-10 people and charge you a flat fee to take you around. I've paid as little as $20/pp with the taxi drivers.Just make sure they are official taxi drives (they need to display their license on the car by law), and they are usually parked in a line in front of the port (kind of like the taxi lines at the airport or hotels).St. Lucia and St. Marteen are two examples of ports where you can do this easily and safely.
  • It depends on the excursion.  Some excursions are limited (like diving) and they can book up.  On St. Kitts, my sister and I did a sailboat trip around the island and over to Nevis.  The port where the ships dock is very nice with TONS of shopping.St. Martin, sis and I love Orient Beach and have actually gone for a whole vacation.  I would recommend "experiencing" the clothing optional beach.  Like Normailed suggested - it is easy to get a cab right off the boat and head to the beach for the day.  Last time we were there, we went to Orient beach, then took a cab around the other side of the island to go through the French capital (Marigot) and then we stopped at the the sunset beach bar (food sucks - but good drink specials) at the end of the airport to watch the planes land and take off - very cool and not something you could eer experience in the US with the FAA requirements around an airport!Sorry - that was really long!  But I have no suggestions for the other three islands - havent made it to them yet...
  • I've never been on a cruise and I would love to go on the one that you're going on. When are you going and from where?(just curious)

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  • Normailed is a smart woman.  lol  However, for a first-timer, I would book with the cruise ship.  Just my opinion.  It can take a day or 2 to get the hang of getting on/off the ship, planning for things time-wise, etc.  If you're not back on time from your non-Carnival excursion, they WILL leave without you and you will be responsible for paying to get yourself to the next port to meet up with the ship.  You don't want to deal with that on your wedding cruise.  :-)  If you just want to lay on the beach or do something right by the port, you should be ok.  If it involves busses or cabs, I'd pay the few extra bucks your first time out.  We did, and I'm glad.  Next time around we might be brave and book on our own but I'm glad we went the safe route for our first cruise.To answer your question, yes - one excursion we wanted was sold out before we boarded.  We checked the shore excursion desk as soon as we stepped onto the ship, and they put us on a waiting list but we never got called.  If you're worried about paying for them, you can always ask for them as a Christmas gift from parents/relatives who usually buy you a gift (we did this) or you can give them to each other as Christmas/Birthday/Wedding gifts.  (We did this too.)Also, the closer you get to your cruise, Carnival will add more excursions to the website so make sure you keep checking back.  You might find one you like more as you get closer.Oh, and your itinerary is on my list of cruises I want to take - make sure you take lots of pics and come back and tell us all about it!
  • Our cruise wedding is to the Mexican Riviera but I've been on a cruise before and we went on excursions.  You can book your excursion while your on the cruise, the don't usually sell out. But I would recommend you look into booking your excrusion through a company of the cruise.  This is just my opinion but you tend to pay more for an activity through the cruise lines. We're going to go deep sea fishing in Mazatlan, Carnival wants $500 per person to go deep sea fishing, a charter company in Mazatlan will charge us $800.00 for 6 people to do the same thing.  The charter company is flexible with the cruise line schedule.  So if your ship is running a little late they'll wait for your or if they change the depart time the charter company will get you back on time. So look into the activity you want to do in the city you want to do it at and look for private companies, the price might be a lot better.
  • Sorry...I forgot to say that there are some special ones that book completely...I just didn't think about that because I've never book one of those.
  • I've gone on many cruises and usually book everything once I get on the ship, however, note the good ones sell out fast so I'd go the first day and pick out what you want to do.  You can also just ask the excursion desk for suggestions about cabs, beaches and fun things to do NOT through booking an excursion, they'll tell you which island(s) are best to do things on your own - we usually do 1-2 islands on our own and just spend the day at a nice beach, it saves money.  My last cruise was in July (when I got engaged!!) and FI and I stopped in Dominica, we went river rafting down one of the rivers there (I think it was called Wacky Waters River Rafting), it was absolutely beautiful and so much fun and relaxing (it's NOT anything like white river rafting and I must admit i didnt really want to go, but FI really did, so I caved and so HAPPY i did.) - I'd highly reccomend it!  I've also been to St. Maarten, though it was about 8 years ago, we just went to a hotel resort for the day and had full use of their beach, pool, restaurants, etc.  It was great.  Whatever you do, you'll have an amazing time!
  • Thanks everyone! And to answer the question, we are leaving out of San Juan and its a 7 Night Southern Caribbean cruise. It stops at a different port every day. It is going to be super busy but I have never done anything like this before, so I figured we might as well go all out for the wedding and honeymoon!
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