Editor’s note: Bryce Sanders is a longtime columnist with Rethinking65. Read more of his articles here.
Bryce Sanders
Cruise ships visit interesting places. According to multiple cruise industry websites, there are 1,200 cruise ports in the world. Your clients may be daydreaming about visiting Tahiti or Bali, but aren’t sure they want to spend a week. Cruises that stop for a day in a port of call provide an ideal way to get a taste of a destination and let travelers decide if they want to plan a longer visit in the future. The only way to fully experience a destination is by taking a shore excursion. What do your clients need to know? Here’s some information to share with them.
What are shore excursions?
These are guided, organized tours for the benefit of passengers on your cruise ship. They are usually booked through the cruise line or operated by local third-party providers.
What are the planning options?
You might explore a destination on your own. Often travelers conduct research beforehand, buying a map and guidebook. This takes time and has its risks. The alternative is to outsource your research to a third party provided by the cruise line, sit back and enjoy.
How difficult is it to participate?
Your cruise ship might hold 3,000 passengers. Some passengers do triathlons, others get around using a walker, and many fall somewhere in between, physically. Cruise lines provide a range of shore excursion choices, graded by level of difficulty. You can choose the best fit for you. The ship’s staff will provide guidance.
Can I ‘cut out the middleman’ and book a tour on arrival?
This is not a good idea. Let us assume you leave the security area and see a dozen local taxi drivers offering island tours. You choose one, get in their car and drive off. Would you know where they are taking you if you discussed this with them and you don’t speak the same language? Of course not! Let’s not get more adventure than you bargained for.
Can I deal directly with the tour operator?
Surprisingly, the answer in many cases is yes. Your travel agent is one resource. An example of an online resource is cruisecompete.com; you select your cruise line and ship from a list, choose your cruise by date, and see a list of shore excursions with list prices and discounted prices posted.
Do some shore excursions book up quickly?
You might assume that choosing a shore excursion is something you do the day before your arrival in port. But small-group tours can sell out quickly. Your cruise line will likely prompt you to choose and buy shore excursions shortly after you book your cruise.
Do organized tours have advantages I cannot get on my own?
There are all sorts of cultural sites and museums around the world. They have different rules and find innovative ways of making money. You might find your shore excursion skips the long line at a famous museum because they have a prebooked timeslot. Maybe your group gets access before opening hours or after closing times, when the palace or museum is empty.
Are shore excursions included in my fare?
You know hotels come at all price points. Cruises typically fit into three categories: mass market ($200+ per person per day), Luxury ($500+ pp/day) and ultra luxury ($1,000+ pp/ day). The higher up the scale you go, the more inclusive your fare. The high-end cruises might carry their own tour guides who lecture onboard, lead the tour and manage a staff of ship personnel who keep the group together.
Where do onboard credits fit into the picture?
Many cruise lines discourage travel agents discount from offering discounted fares at the local level.. Although pricing is often set at the home office (including sales), your travel agent or the cruise line might provide a credit to your shipboard account that cannot be redeemed for cash. One of the potential ways yu can use this credit is to purchase shore excursions.
Can you book a van for a family group?
Some people prefer privacy. Large families might prefer to be treated as an individual unit, not as a small part of a large group. Your travel agent is a good first stop for organizing a private tour. Your cruise line likely has a private tour (chauffer as guide) option that you can book.
Does the cruise line want feedback?
Absolutely. If they engaged a third-party provider, they want to know their passengers were kept happy. Your tour guides might prompt you to give them a favorable review when you fill out your cruise line evaluation forms.
Do you tip?
It is not required , But if you had a good time, a polite gesture is to leave money in the “tip jar” when you leave the bus and return to your ship.
What are our experiences?
My wife and I have been traveling for more than 45 years. In the early day,s we did everything on our own. We carried maps, wrote out daily itineraries, booked restaurants in advance and carried index cards with notes. When we made friends during our travels, we started letting them know we were coming to their locale and accepting their offer to serve as our volunteer tour guides.
When we visited new places during our early years of travel, we booked the “hop on, hop off” tourist buses you find in almost every major city. As we got older, or when we had a specific area of interest, we started choosing organized shore excursions—especially when a tour operator could offer more structure and access than we could manage on our own.
For example, we sailed with Swan Hellenic, a top-tier cruise line with small ships and experienced the inclusive tours and excursions that the ship’s personnel organized and ran themselves. We have now “graduated” to booking the “easy” shore excursions that require less walking!
Final Thoughts
You need to “do something” when you arrive in a port. The piers are often in a dreary part of town. The security perimeter can be huge. You get a better experience if you book a tour that will take you to the beautiful parts of the country instead of walking through the dreary parts on your own. With 1,200 cruise ports in the world, your cruise line chose to stop in the ones on your itinerary for a good reason. Learn the reason by exloring..
Bryce Sanders, president of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc., provides HNW client acquisition training for the financial services industry. His book, “Captivating the Wealthy Investor,” is available on Amazon.
