Booked another cruise.

[Jerel]

Me and my wife have one booked for February on the Allure, but thats sooo far away. We couldnt take it so we broke down and booked one in November on the Independence, Belize and Cozumel.

 

This one we're trying to do for cheap, on the Allure we splurged with a balcony, drink packages, 150 central park dinner, and going to try for a cabana at Labadee. This one will be no drink packages (not even pop) with very little money spent, its really just to tide us over to our big cruise. We still have to find some affordable airfare aswell, which takes time and effort.  

 

One thing I am looking forward to is Belize, I really want to see some Mayan ruins, we're thinking of doing the Altun Ha excursion at about 97 dollars. Its a two hour boat ride threw jungle then a short bus trip to ruins, 6 hours in total. For excursions I never book threw Royal, too expensive compared to the same thing privately. But because of the long amount of time it takes and the distance, I want assurances ill make it back to the ship without it leaving, which apparently Royal excursions guaranty (?). Also from what I read Belize is a long tender and im at the tail end of hurricane season, so the port stop could be canceled for all I know.

 

Id be interested to hear people thoughts on Mayan Belize excursions, Even Cozumel, would I have time to make it to some mainland ruins?

 

On a side note my Allure trip in February is the same sail as the group cruise. Total coincidence, we booked it long ago for my wifes birthday on the 22nd.

So if you see a sunburned ginger wearing tacky Hawaiian shirts, thats me!!

[DocLC]

On long excursions like what you've described, I typical book through the cruise line for peace of mind. However, there are many independent shore excursion companies that ensure that you'll return on-time or they'll cover the expense of getting you to the ship at the next port. Personally, I wouldn't go it on my own unless I had independent travel insurance to cover me just in case.

[cruise-y]

I agree with Doc.  That excursion is an early morning start and there will be long lines at the tender.  RC will herd all of its excursion members onto the first tender together.  Meanwhile you could still be waiting in line to get off.   

 

Busses in Caribbean countries can be old and the roads are bad.  Your bus could break down or get a flat.   If you are  on an excursion sponsored by RC, with lots of people from the ship, RC will make sure you all get back.  Or hold the ship for all of you.

 

The independents make assurances but you are still on your own.  I wouldn't take the risk.  

 

I sat on a broken-down bus for 4 hours in a monsoon in the middle of a Jamaican jungle once.  It turned out to be kinda fun because the local tour guide managed to scrounge up some rum punch and meat pies from a passing buddy to keep us pacified.   He also pulled out a boom box and cranked up the reggae music so we wouldn't worry about the bus floating away as the road washed out from under us.  Our excursion was canceled and I never got my money back.  But I made a lot of new friends!  Luckily I wasn't trying to get back to a ship, but if I had been I would've been screwed.

[Matt]

Just to confirm, Royal Caribbean guarantees the ship will wait for you on one of their excursions.

[Matt]

Also, I think everyone here understands that thought process of "Oh man, I need another cruise sooner than the one I already booked". You're among friends...and enablers!

[jticarruthers]

We didn't do a long excursion at Belize but have gone over to the mainland a couple of times at Cozumel, both times we (a whole bunch of we, not just the immediate travel group) were pulling up to the dock on the ferry back from the mainland about 30 minutes AFTER the scheduled departure time for the ship which certainly made me glad the excursions were purchased through RCI.

 

I don't mind doing local/self organized excursions to save the money when we are staying nearby and/or doing something that will be over hours before all aboard, but when its a long excursion that might end up cutting it close I will pay extra for the security of "RCI has to wait".

[monctonguy]

I hear your pain about having one booked and needing another one to tide you over. I was in the same situation as you. Have Independence booked for Jan, but couldn't wait that long so booked a great deal on Majesty for Nov.

 

I am not a big excursion person(although I used to do them more when staying at AI's). I prefer to just get out and explore around on my own when/were I can.

 

But good advice here for sure booking through RCI. Both for fact that your the first out on the tenders(we all know how long that can take for those trying to  get off first thing in the morning) and also for the ship guarantee to wait for you to make it back in case something happens.

 

Good to know for when I do book an excursion in the future.

[WAAAYTOOO]

I'll add my voice to the choir on this one. The risks are just too high for going outside of RCI on the long and complex excursions - and I consider this to be one of those. Too many moving parts and too much distance to cover. I fully recommend staying with the ship's cruise in this situation. I have booked plenty of non-ship excursions on the side or waited until I got on land and just '"winged it" with something local but not for an excursion to the ruins.... nope.

[Jerel]

Thanks for your advice everyone, I totally agree, with risky excursions your better off booking threw Royal.

Especially after hearing of some of your close calls, I tend to worry about those things.

 

As for needing a cruise to tide me over, it really is hard to wait. I thought one a year would be enough, but now its looking like I need one in the fall aswell as the winter.

Thats all well and good, its just the money. Flight and hotel cost just as much as the cruise, sometimes more. I guess ill just have to work a bit harder.

 

Thanks again.