Independant Shore excursion Companies

alshasta · #1 (**permalink**) August 30th, 2010, 10:46 AM

Has anyone ever used one of the private shore excursion companies that is not affiliated with the cruise lines such as PortPromotions.com or Shoreexcursiongroup.com. If so, would you recommend using them ?

jacdenv24 · #2 (**permalink**) August 30th, 2010, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alshasta

Has anyone ever used one of the private shore excursion companies that is not affiliated with the cruise lines such as PortPromotions.com or Shoreexcursiongroup.com. If so, would you recommend using them ?

We've never used either of those 2 companies but have used shoretrips.com and were very happy with them. We did a snorkeling excursion in Aruba but did have to get to the boat on our own.

Trip · #3 (**permalink**) August 30th, 2010, 07:45 PM

Myself,and many people I know have used Portpromotions..would recommend to anyone...

showcat · #4 (**permalink**) August 31st, 2010, 02:23 AM

I've used several. I used Coral Breeze Unlimited in Belize, Sunny Liston in St.Thomas, Mazatlan Frank in Mazatlan! They were all great tours!

Lakers Fan · #5 (**permalink**) August 31st, 2010, 08:27 PM

We have always booked through the cruise ship .I happened to be taking to a friend earlier tonight who has been on at least 50 cruises and he's always booked with the cruise line .

Gentleone · #6 (**permalink**) September 8th, 2010, 06:32 PM

In Belize we used Action Boys Belize for our private excursions. We loved the personal services. We had a bus for ourselves and our excursion was a great experience.

Luvtotrvl · #7 (**permalink**) September 27th, 2010, 10:02 AM

Going to Belize on Carnival in December and went thru the web, found two independent companies with great reviews, great tours apparently at half the ship's price : cavetubing.com and cave-tubing.net Will try one of them as soon as we figure out exactly what we want.

somanycruises · #8 (**permalink**) November 19th, 2010, 04:21 AM

It depends on the location that a cruise ship calls. In my opinion it is better to use local experts. Shoretrips as far as I know is based in US. They have local representatives in ports all over the world. The advantage with them is that you do not bother to get involved with many companies. On the other hand,If you want to use local experts (for a better cost) I would recommend you the following for eastern med that I already know :

Italy: www.westmedtours.com
Greece: www.achtypistours.gr
Turkey: www.maviaytravel.com

Above tour operators are established in shore excursions. Voila !

MercedMike · #9 (**permalink**) November 24th, 2010, 08:58 PM

We have done it every way possible. We have taken a great many ship's excursions and enjoyed them very much. We have booked with both PortPromotions and Shoretrips and had excellent results with both. We have booked with local but well recognized companies such as Ekol in Turkey and had great trips. We have researched and gone with highly recommended independent guides and had great trips. We have searched and found our own guides and generally done very well, with a couple of exceptions. We have, in a very few instances, gotten off the ship and used companies at the pier. And now and then we have just gotten off and grabbed a taxi or walked around.

Almost every port in every country has been great. All of these methods have done well by us. It depends on what you want, how easy and convenient you want your booking to be, and how adventurous you are.

wdfilly · #10 (**permalink**) November 27th, 2010, 07:02 AM

We have used actionboysbelize.com for cave tubing and zip line in Belize since it's not offered by carnival. The tour was strictly private. We had a private van and a private tour guide assigned to us. It was a slow paste tour and our 7 and 9 year old were allowed to participate in both activities. Special attention was given to our kids. We loved the safety was their #1 priority on this tour. Recommended services.