Bingee Posted July 12, 2023 Report Share Posted July 12, 2023 We are doing the Western Med. cruise later in the year and I am planning to source most excursions myself, the only one which worries me is Pisa & Florence from La Spezia. Is it worth the extra £100 per head via RC to ensure getting back on the boat or will one of the many other operators get us back on time? Also do you have any recommendations, please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted July 12, 2023 Report Share Posted July 12, 2023 There are plenty of legit 3rd party tour operators whose reputation depends on being timely. teddy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Posted July 12, 2023 Report Share Posted July 12, 2023 Ditto smokeybandit. Use Trip Advisor and research tour companies. Go to their websites. We used all third party tours in Israel and Turkey. These companies live and die by reviews. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan79 Posted July 12, 2023 Report Share Posted July 12, 2023 As long as you are using very established and reputable companies, you will be just fine. Their entire business is so heavily dependent on making it back in time, that just even a single instance of cruisers missing a ship would ruin them. Yes crap happens and RC will give you that peace of mind….but your odds of missing the ship with a reputable 3rd party company is very very close to zero. Microscopically small. Do your diligence and research and you will be OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zacharius Posted July 12, 2023 Report Share Posted July 12, 2023 50 minutes ago, Bingee said: Is it worth the extra £100 per head via RC to ensure getting back on the boat or will one of the many other operators get us back on time? Also do you have any recommendations, please. Heck no. As mentioned, there are tons of legit third-party excursions all over the world. It will take some research, but usually results in getting more for less. Look for the companies that have been around for years, because they wouldn't be around that long if they made customers miss the ship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teddy Posted July 12, 2023 Report Share Posted July 12, 2023 While we haven’t done any Med excursions yet, we have done third party ones in the Caribbean. Each time, we’ve been asked what ship we were on and when the all aboard time was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Posted July 12, 2023 Report Share Posted July 12, 2023 4 hours ago, Bingee said: We are doing the Western Med. cruise later in the year and I am planning to source most excursions myself, the only one which worries me is Pisa & Florence from La Spezia. Is it worth the extra £100 per head via RC to ensure getting back on the boat or will one of the many other operators get us back on time? Also do you have any recommendations, please. If you’re on Facebook, go join Cruise Tips and Tricks for Mediterranean Routes. You can search Pisa/Florence in the group and/or ask for 3rd party tour recommendations. That group and the group Discover Italy are how I found the tour groups we booked with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordell1 Posted July 13, 2023 Report Share Posted July 13, 2023 Just understand that Florence is not close to La Spezia. No matter what your choice, you will spend a lot of time driving and not a lot of time in Florence, especially if you are doing Pisa also. Viator has a lot of choices. KJones 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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