Book Your Tours!

Can paying for excursions get expensive?  Yes!  BUT it is so worth every penny!

On my first cruise I knew absolutely nothing of what to expect and had absolutely no guidance on what to do when it came to off ship excursions.  So, on that cruise I had only booked one off ship excursion, which I booked because I knew people that were going and hadn't ever zip-lined before. Cool experience!  For the rest of the trip I spent a lot of time on beaches, which I am not a fan of!  The 2nd cruise, I made the HUGE mistake of waiting on the group to decide if they wanted to do an excursion or not.  A mistake I still regret because I missed out on an excursion where cruisers were able to help out at an orphanage. 

Because of these experiences I made sure I was prepared on my 3rd cruise.  Because I was cruising alone I booked all of my excursions with the ship.  This is important because the tours are contracted through the ship and if there are any delays arriving back to the ship, the ship is much likely not to leave without you.  Also, during most tours you are able to see a lot of the cities that you are visiting on your cruise.  For example, on my Eureopean Cruise while in Rome I visited the Vatican, St. Peter's Basilica, and The Colosseum for $189.  And while in Naples, Italy I was able to get some amazing sites of the castles, the embassy, and the entire city for only $59.  Not to mention the amazing tour of the Leaning Tower of Pisa when we docked in Livorno.  AMAZING!  

If you are not interested in booking with the ship I did notice people booking with private tour guides, but if you're not a risk taker like myself, I'd advise against.

So .....BOOK YOUR TOURS!