If you’ve already booked your Alaska cruise, it’s a pretty safe bet that you’ve also been bombarded by your cruise line’s Alaska shore excursions emails. Cruise lines will offer you all kinds of reasons for booking your Alaska excursion with them, but there are some things they just can’t or won’t tell you since they don’t profit from you booking Alaska shore excursions on your own!
As with doctors, it’s always good to get a second opinion. Ultimately, it may make the most sense to book Alaska shore excursions with your ship, but before you do, you should know all your options. That’s why we’ve put together this list of 8 Things Your Cruise Ship Won’t Tell You About Shore Excursions.
1. "Missing your boat" is never a problem.
Most cruise lines will say, “We can’t guarantee that you’ll be back on time unless you book through us.” But the people who book independently are on the same tour as those who book through the ship, so the timing remains the same. Everyone, from the dock reps to the bus drivers to the guides, has been trained and coached to keep their timing as consistent as possible no matter the day, week or month.
The tour departures for an Alaska excursion are built around the cruise ship schedule. This is especially the case in ports like Skagway and Ketchikan, where the majority of visitors arrive on a cruise. This means that it is almost impossible to miss your boat unless you purposefully try to.
With that said, if a tour operator says that a certain Alaska excursion departure time will not work for your boat, please believe them. As mentioned earlier, they know their timing better than anyone, and asking them to delay or rush through a tour is unfair to other guests who might be on the tour with you.
At Skagway Shore Tours, we offer a guarantee that you will return to your ship on tours that have been booked through us, so you can fully enjoy your once-in-a-lifetime adventures.
2. Ships take up to a 50% cut of the cost of the excursion.
Whether your Alaska excursion costs $50 or $500, a much smaller portion actually gets passed on to the tour operator. Because cruise lines bring in the majority of potential customers (especially in ports like Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan), they can command a very high commission from the Alaska excursion companies they work with. While actual commissions vary from contract to contract, the cruise line’s cut may be as high as 50% for a same-day Alaska excursion. When you book with a smaller agency, like Shore Tours, you’re not only saving money but much more of your ticket price gets back to the actual tour operator. This is what helps them expand and offer even more awesome activities. Booking Alaska shore excursions on your own can substantially help with cutting costs. Additionally, Shore Tours has a pledge to donate at least 5% of profits to important Alaskan conservation efforts. By booking with Shore Tours, you’re helping to ensure a bright future for Alaskan tourism.3.You do not need to be back onboard two-hours before departure.
Your all-aboard time is 30-minutes before the ship’s departure time, so why do cruise lines tell you that you have to be back onboard two-hours early? This is especially disappointing when you have such a short time in port, like the 5.5 hours in Juneau for Norwegian Joy passengers or the 5-hours in Ketchikan that many ships are scheduled for. Cruise lines do not want to have to wait for guests because it ends up costing them money if they run behind schedule. So, they have a tendency to tell guests they need to be back much earlier than they actually do. Especially for the bigger cruise ships, there is often a long line of guests waiting to board 30-minutes before departure. They won’t close the door on you while you’re in line waiting to board. Do you have a short time in port? Check out these 1-3 hour tour options!4. Their shore excursion cancellation policies are rigid.
Many cruise lines have strict rules about when you can and cannot book your shore excursions. On top of that, your cancellation window is typically 3 to 30 days before embarkation day. That doesn’t leave much room for flexibility or anything that may come up and force you to change your plans. Additionally, their refunds are usually in the form of onboard credit instead of going back onto your credit card. Even though Alaska shore excursions often sell out quickly and it’s tough on the tour operator if they can’t fill seats at the last minute, we understand that things happen. At Shore Tours, we allow cancellations up to 14 days before the tour with a full refund of the tour price.5. Their “activity levels” are not always very helpful.
Every activity is assigned a level by the cruise line. Unfortunately, these levels are not very descriptive, and for some activities, may be woefully insufficient.
For instance, most cruise lines list both the White Pass train trips and Glacier Point ATV Exploration as easy, but for the former Alaska excursion, you are simply a passenger, while the latter has you piloting your own vehicle.
It’s always better to ask, especially if you have any health concerns or mobility issues. Minor issues like stiff knees or a limited range of motion can be unpleasant on an excursion like the Ocean Raft Adventure, even if you are relatively healthy otherwise.
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