How many excursions in a day?

[JLMoran]

Here's a topic I haven't seen after searching around on this board: As we're planning our excursions for each island, is there a limit on how many we should try and fit in to a given island?

 

Obviously, we're limited by the hours the ship is there (9 hours on St. Kitts, 10 on St. Maarten, only 6 late in the day in San Juan, and 8 or 9 in Labadee). We're also limited by how the excursions may overlap with departure times and all. And we have to remember to eat lunch or dinner at some point. 😉

 

But let's say even after that we still find 2 excursions that we could fit into the day and just barely get us back to the ship on time. Should we try and fit them all in (assuming budget isn't an issue), or should we pare it down to just one, and leave the rest of the day for casual strolling, shopping for those who want that, and maybe beach time?

 

Most of the excursions we're considering so far have a listed time of 3 or 4 hours, and involve sailing or a train ride or snorkeling or riding a zip line. I don't know if those times include transportation to/from the port or if I need to factor that in as well. I'm just trying to get my expectations into realistic territory before we start booking and paying. As Matt said on his "Top 10 Mistakes New Cruisers Make" podcast, I have to remember that we can't possibly do it all. (as much as I want to!)

 

Thanks!

[WAAAYTOOO]

I'm sure it's a matter of personal preference but I would NEVER consider doing more than 1 excursion at a single port.  There are just too many variables associated with the logistics of being in the right place at the right time.  WAAAYTOOO stressful for me.

 

...but that's just me.

[Matt]

I guess this depends on how you define "excursion".  In St. Maarten, we will regularly schedule 3-4 activities...beach time, lunch somewhere, shopping in Marigot, etc. Are those 3 excursions or one?

That being said, formal excursions listed on RC's site.... I would never book more than one unless you had an overnight or clearly a lot of time on shore.

[bcarney]

We did two a day for the first three days on our first cruise.  It was exhausting, and we did't get to do anything on the islands other than the excursions (shopping, etc).  I would recommend against it.

[jticarruthers]

Generally I would vote against .... depends a little bit on what excursions you are considering (the 1 hour "trolley tour" of a town center for example could probably be combined with something else If you wanted).

 

Although the excursions may "only" be 3-4 hours, by the time you get off the ship, get shuttled around, get back, etc. trying to squeeze in another one and then stagger back to the ship to shower, do dinner, catch a show, etc. are going to leave you wiped out pretty fast.

[JLMoran]

Matt, I meant "excursion" in the formal sense, one of the offerings from RC like a snorkeling adventure in St. Kitts or horseback riding trip on St. Maarten.

 

The consensus is very strongly to just do one of those, and only one, per island. So I think there are going to be some rather heated discussions with the family. ;)  My wife is really keen on the dolphin swim option in St. Kitts, while I'm really looking for the rail train (due to my mobility limits). And my older daughter wants to do the horseback riding trip on St. Maarten while I'm looking at the schooner excursion. But I'd like to see each of them have those experiences and see their faces when it all happens, rather than be off doing my own thing and splitting up the family, so maybe we'll agree to just the dolphins in St. Kitts (with me taking the "watch from the boat" option), the horses in St. Maarten (IF I can confirm that it's a light enough ride that I won't kill my foot from the horses going into a trot / canter along the way), and I get the pick for San Juan. We're all in agreement on Labadee (zip line for them, alpine coaster and Labadoozies for me ;) ), so the only wrinkle might be the younger daughter's interests.

[DocLC]

I'm pretty much a one excursion per day guy. I did book an AM and PM excursion once in Grand Cayman, but our morning excursion ran late, so we missed the afternoon excursion. Fortunately, it was booked through Royal, so a refund was freely given.