On shore….

[brentm77]

First off-thanks so much for those answering my questions. I’ve been cruising for 20 yrs but this is my first DCL. Having been on Cruise Critic since my first cruise, I know the same questions get asked. So it really does help us ‘freshman’ when you take the time.

Concerning shore excursions- I would say I’ve done about 90% of mine through independent local guides. If there was ever a question about a possible late return, I took the ship’s tour so they would wait for me, lol. Are there any bonuses to a DCL excursion as opposed to local operators? Not to be too critical but I always found the ship’s sponsored tours to be more ‘herding cattle’ and crowded. I get it- they have to move a lot of people. I was just wondering if there is a prevalence for this line that ship’s tours are way better or about the same.

Thanks again!

P.s. I have designated today as take-the-Christmas-decorations-down-day and there are about 9 million things I would rather be doing. UGH. I do NOT feel like the going up and down stairs a 100 times like I know I will have to. I’m staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllliiiiiiiinnnnnnnggg

DCL is no exception to herding cattle. It takes a lot of fun out of the excursions and wastes a huge percentage of your day. You spend time waiting in the designated waiting area. They never leave close to the meeting time. Then its the slow slog off the ship to transportation. The time they give you at the final destination is usually way too short, and then they get you back to the ship way sooner than necessary. At many destinations, it's because they are squeezing multiple groups into different time slots (an AM group, a mid day group,and an afternoon group, for example) to maximize profits. The groups are also too big most of the time. So big that you can't even hear the guides for guided tours. We only to DCL excursions now as a last resort or if its a port where we don't want to maximize land time. Maybe if there is a super long travel time involved too. There is so much more bang for your buck going private. The fears of missing the ship are overblown too. If you use a good private company, they will get you back with plenty of emergency cushion built in.

Also, the quality of DCL excursions has been pretty bad at some locations. Many people complained about them on our Med cruise. Some were so bad that people felt sick about having once in a lifetime stops essentially ruined. Disney brushed off their concerns, even though it's Disney's job to vet them. The same thing can happen with private, but I felt like I had a bit more control and better access to reviews. This was particularly true when booking private for just our family, which was often close to the price Disney charged for their cattle tours.

 

[holula]

Totally agree with brentm77, I only use DCL excursions now if the port timing is really tight. Like, when Disney we’re offering trips to the mainland from Cozumel I would NOT do that with another tour provider.

But otherwise I would rather find a smaller group tour.

 

[auntlynne]

 

[aliceinvunderland]

how did you find the companies you used for your excursions?

TripAdvisor, googling “Cozumel private excursion” and doing a TON of research into each company, and also searching this forum for “private excursion in _______.” Then I email the company with a bunch of questions (cancelation policy, refund policy if ship is unable to dock, do they guarantee our return time, etc.). I’m usually able to tell pretty quickly if they are reputable and a good fit for our family based on their response time, cancelation/refund policies, and communication style. Five cruises and we’ve never had a single issue with a non-DCL excursion. We have chartered a 40’ sailboat in Cozumel for our upcoming cruise for less than it would cost for five of us to do a snorkeling excursion with DCL.

And for what it’s worth, I’ve never encountered a company with a more stringent cancelation policy than DCL. They are usually more relaxed and all of them will refund if the ship is unable to dock or the weather is bad. We even had an experience on Grand Cayman when we ended up canceling a private boat charter after we arrived at the marina and saw how choppy the bay was that day. We literally canceled right as the charter was supposed to begin and they refunded 100% of our money AND drove us to Seven Mile Beach where we spent the rest of our day.

 

[3minis]

TripAdvisor, googling “Cozumel private excursion” and doing a TON of research into each company, and also searching this forum for “private excursion in _______.” Then I email the company with a bunch of questions (cancelation policy, refund policy if ship is unable to dock, do they guarantee our return time, etc.). I’m usually able to tell pretty quickly if they are reputable and a good fit for our family based on their response time, cancelation/refund policies, and communication style. Five cruises and we’ve never had a single issue with a non-DCL excursion. We have chartered a 40’ sailboat in Cozumel for our upcoming cruise for less than it would cost for five of us to do a snorkeling excursion with DCL.

And for what it’s worth, I’ve never encountered a company with a more stringent cancelation policy than DCL. They are usually more relaxed and all of them will refund if the ship is unable to dock or the weather is bad. We even had an experience on Grand Cayman when we ended up canceling a private boat charter after we arrived at the marina and saw how choppy the bay was that day. We literally canceled right as the charter was supposed to begin and they refunded 100% of our money AND drove us to Seven Mile Beach where we spent the rest of our day.

Hi there - I know this thread is from a while ago but we are looking for a private snorkeling excursion and I’m curious if you have already done the snorkel in Cozumel, who you used and if you would recommend?