Which cruise shore excursions should you actually book? — featuring Royal Caribbean Blog
In this video: 3 Cruise Excursions to NEVER Book & 3 to BOOK!
Royal Caribbean Blog · 1 year ago
Why should I skip city sightseeing bus tours?
Bus tours are slow, crowded, and rigid in their routes. You spend too little time at places you actually want to see and too much at obvious tourist traps.
What this video answers
Why should I skip city sightseeing bus tours?
What's wrong with dolphin swim excursions?
Why are cruise-line beach excursions not worth it?
Are Alaska glacier helicopter tours really worth $500 per person?
Shore Excursion Choices That Make or Break Your Cruise
Matt from Royal Caribbean Blog walks through six fundamental types of shore excursions you'll encounter across the Caribbean, Alaska, Mexico, and beyond—three he recommends skipping entirely and three he'd book without hesitation. The video cuts through the marketing hype and delivers honest assessments based on years of cruising experience, helping you avoid wasting money on overcrowded, impersonal activities while spotlighting the excursions that genuinely deliver.
This guide is especially useful for first-time cruisers and families torn between pre-booked excursions and independent exploration. Whether you're cruising to Alaska for glaciers, heading to Perfect Day at CocoCay for a resort day, or exploring Caribbean islands on foot, the video provides a decision framework that lets you maximize your port time and your budget.
Key Moments
Three Excursions to Avoid and Three Worth Your Money
City sightseeing bus tours that move too quickly between stops and trap you on cramped vehicles with strangers
Dolphin swim excursions with expensive photo fees, overcrowded conditions, and questionable animal welfare practices
Basic cruise-line beach days that oversell capacity and charge $50–$100 per person for mediocre access
Private cabanas at Perfect Day at CocoCay with dedicated attendants, food service, and guaranteed seating in shaded areas
Catamaran charters in the Caribbean offering customizable swimming, wildlife viewing, and sunset sails that work for mixed-age groups
Before You Book: Practical Details and Smart Strategies
Skip cruise-line beach excursions; instead research and taxi independently to smaller, less crowded beaches or purchase day passes to resort facilities for amenities like air conditioning and clean bathrooms
City exploration works better on foot or in small private tours rather than large bus groups; use Google Maps to customize your stops and avoid wasting time at tourist traps
Catamaran charters become affordable when split among two to four families, dramatically reducing per-person cost
Alaska glacier tours typically cost at least $500 per person but are available in ports like Juneau and Skagway
CocoCay cabanas offer the best value when booked during sales events like Black Friday, July 4th, Memorial Day, Labor Day, or Christmas
Mobility issues? Bus tours remain the practical option for accessing major city sights in areas without wheelchair accessibility
Frequently Asked Questions About Choosing Shore Excursions
Why should I skip city sightseeing bus tours?
Bus tours are slow, crowded, and rigid in their routes. You spend too little time at places you actually want to see and too much at obvious tourist traps. You're also stuck sitting with strangers in cramped seating, and you miss spontaneous stops—like a restaurant or scenic view the bus doesn't include in its itinerary. Private or small-group tours, or independent exploration, give you far more control over your time.
What's wrong with dolphin swim excursions?
These tours are expensive, overcrowded, and restrict you from taking your own photos—you must pay the operator for images. The dolphins are confined to small enclosures that don't reflect their natural behavior or well-being. If you want to see marine life, look for small-group tours that observe animals in the wild or rehabilitation centers like Alaska's Bear and Raptor Center.
Why are cruise-line beach excursions not worth it?
They're oversold and packed with other cruisers. Costs run $50–$100 per person for overcrowded beaches with overpriced food and drinks. Most Caribbean islands are small and easy to navigate; taxis are abundant. You'll find quieter, less crowded beaches on your own, or book a day pass to a resort where limited capacity keeps crowds down and you gain amenities like shade, restaurants, and restrooms.
Are Alaska glacier helicopter tours really worth $500 per person?
Yes—it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You fly over glaciers and land on them for a close-up view, something you won't do every year. The reviews are uniformly excellent, and the photos and memories justify the cost. Tours run from ports like Juneau and Skagway.
How do I make catamaran charters more affordable?
Split the cost with two or three other families. This dramatically lowers the per-person price and creates a crowd-pleasing activity for mixed groups and ages. Catamarans offer flexibility to customize swimming spots, wildlife viewing, food, and music to what your group wants.
This video cuts through marketing noise with real, hard-won advice from someone who's booked dozens of excursions and lived through the regrets. Matt doesn't tell you what Royal Caribbean wants you to buy; he tells you what actually works and why, saving you money and frustration on your next cruise.
The most valuable takeaway is recognizing that the three excursions to skip share a common flaw—they remove your control—while the three to book either offer unique experiences you cannot replicate elsewhere (glaciers, wildlife) or give you autonomy to shape your own day (catamarans, independent beach exploration). If you're booking a cruise, watch this before you finalize your excursion choices.
Years on the front lines of helicopter tour coordination — not as a travel blogger, but as the person responsible for making every guest experience go right. Managed 2,000+ cruise guests weekly as Shore Excursions staff aboard the Pride of America in Hawaii
Personally coordinated with helicopter tour operators to confirm age, weight, and safety requirements.
Video transcript for “3 Cruise Excursions to NEVER Book & 3 to BOOK!” Accessibility
A full written transcript of this video, provided for accessibility. Select any timestamp to jump the video to that moment.
are you booking a cruise and wondering which shore excursions are worth it I want to share with you the three must book shore excursions and three you might want to skip so here we go hey everyone it's Matt from Royal caran blog.com when you're booking a cruise short Excursion the last thing
you want to do is book something that you'll probably regret later on having got on many realing cruises I've certainly done my share of excursions and most of the time I have a pretty good feeling that I'm not making a terrible choice but some cases especially when I go to brand new areas
of the world I've never cruised before there's a little bit of trepidation about is this truly a good idea for a Shore Excursion and I'm sure that you have those as well so I wanted to list three shore excursions you should probably never book and three others that are always a good choice the first
type of short Excursion you should probably skip are city sightseeing bus tours now R offers traditionally in most places that you visit that involv a city some sort of a sightseeing tour usually this is where you board a bus and they bring you around to different spots spots where you can of course see the
most major sites in some cases it's literally viewing from a bus While others they have a few pre-arranged stops these tours might seem like a really convenient option but they're often slow crowded and don't allow enough time at each stop in my experience you always end up spending
too little time at the places you want to spend time at and too much time at clearly tourist traps moreover as your bus is going through the city and you're getting obviously some views from the bus of the various sites and areas there might be something you'd want to stop and go look at perhaps it's a restaurant
or a shop or a scenic view but if your bus isn't scheduled to stop there you miss out on it completely and that always irritates me the most about these rather than the actual stops that they assign moreover the actual bus itself if you don't have an even amount of people in your group someone's got to sit with
a stranger there's always competition among people who take seats and who's got to sign seats here and there and it just becomes kind of an uncomfortable situation both socially and physically because those buses are very cramped now these bus tours do have an advantage and if you have mobility issues they're
probably your best way to see a major city especially in cities that are not very wheelchair or handicap accessible which is definitely a lot of places in Europe but if you don't fall into that category I would really guard against doing those type of excursions instead what you want to do is consider either a
private or a small group tour for more customized and enjoyable experience in fact if you're going into a city a lot of the times you're better off simply just getting into the city taking a taxi complimentary shuttle or even walking into the city from your cruise ship and just seeing where the experience takes
you have a plan use Google Maps but being on foot or at least in a smaller group allows more customization of the things that you want to do you only have a couple hours in this place you're going to want to maximize it and I just hate wasting time at things I just personally don't care about the next
type of short Excursion that I just don't love are dolphin swim EXC excursions you'll find a lot of these in the Caribbean and Mexico and the problem with these excursions first of all they're very expensive and very limiting in most of these you can't actually take your own photos you have to pay the tour
operator to take photos for you not only that they're overcrowded and they involve small enclosures that I think is probably fair to say don't provide the best environment for the Dolphins involved dolphin swim Excursions have been really a staple of Caribbean shore excursions for many many many years and
while some of the views of that have defin changed over those many many many years it Still Remains a very popular option out there and when you're talking about kids or just people who really really want to meet a dolphin I understand where they're coming from in that perspective so number one similar
to the bus tours if you can book a private or a small group Excursion that does one of these or even better yet one that allows you to possibly view the animals in the wild I feel like it's a much better experience overall being pushed in the Water by a dolphin for that cliche photo I get is kind of a
thing but ultimately there are other ways of interacting and seeing these animals as an example in Alaska if you want to see Bears or bald eagles there is a great opportunity in Sika with the bear and Raptor Center in which they're rehabilitating these animals and you also have viewing opportunities granted
you're not going to be next to the bear for a photo op but you get what I'm going with this there are other alternatives to seeing animals besides in a traditional captive environment and sticking in the Caribbean I think there's one more type of shore Excursion you should probably Skip and that is a
basic Beach day through the Cruis line now this is found almost everywhere around the world especially in the Caribbean the Bahamas Mexico and that is when you book a beach day through Royal Caribbean there isn't a stop somewhere else or if there is it's just more of a Scenic stop but really the point is to
go to a specific Beach if your goal is to go to a beach anywhere you're visiting in the Caribbean my advice to you is to skip these the problem with any shore Excursion through the cruise line that goes to a beach is it is almost guaranteed to be an oversold mess of people not to say the beach isn't
nice but there's just too many people that there you're much better off researching and finding a beach to go to and getting your own transportation to get you there when you're talking about beaches especially in the cariban number one most of these places are very small to navigate so it's not like you're
driving many hours to get there and you truly have to be worried about getting back the ship on time whether you're talking about cosmel or Aruba or Antiga or St Thomas it's fairly easy to get around these islands and taxi services plentiful you're not the first tourist to try to attempt this so that should be
something that you should look at number one number two this allows you to also go to a very less crowded beach in fact my favorite places to go to are actually resorts for a day in which you purchase a day pass to a resort which is obviously a hotel operation and you can get in there and enjoy the facilities
because the beach is great but having a place to change having air conditioning in a restaurant or simply drink service clean bathrooms these are all really nice amenities to have and they're going to be a lot less crowded because the hotel has limited capacity for who could go there even if you want to go to just
a traditional Beach you want just a piece of sand put your towel down that's all you need great there are fantastic Alternatives out there and a lot smaller beaches you can find if you research it on your own just like the other tours we talked about the problem with beach day excursions through the cruise line is
you're way overpaying for it a lot of times these excursions cost $50 to $100 per person to access an overcrowded beach with overpriced food and drinks waiting for you over there so in my opinion you're better off skipping those excursions and doing it on your own all right what about three sh work serieses
you should book almost anywhere number one and I have not taken my own advice on this one but I recognize that's a really good idea and that is in Alaska a helicopter and Glacier Landing tour glaciers in Alaska are the thing to see it's a Once in- lifetime experience and people to see a glacier is one thing be
able to fly over a glacier and land on them for a close-up view is got to be an incredible thing now I have a fear of flying but despite my fear of flying I really want to try this one and I've heard nothing but a amazing reviews from folks who have tried it whether you're an adventure Seeker you want some great
photos or you simply want to experience Alaska's Beauty this is the best thing to do you can do this in places like Juno and Skagway and by far it is the Excursion to do now the problem with these excursions is that they're extremely expensive usually it's like at least $500 a person but how often are
you going to Alaska right so this is definitely one that you should definitely book number two is Cabana at perfect day at CoCo Key and I've talked about this in past videos some people kind of umage with it about the cost we'll get to that in a second but there are a number of private Cabanas you can
book at Perfect Day c key there are Cabanas in thrill water park there Cabanas at chill Island the Coco Beach Club has the amazing overthe water Cabanas there's actually new Cabanas over at Hideway Beach which is the adults only area and there's a lot of reasons to book one or the other really
when you're picking a cabana at CoCo Key it's about the area that appeals to you like as an example if you're looking to enjoy time at the beach well then a chill outan is really good but if you really are more a pool person well then the aist Lagoon Cabanas might be a fantastic choice if you have young kids
perhaps through water park you kind of get where I'm going with this the point is is I've generally found the Cabas to be some of the best excursions I've done anywhere else because it provides your family with a base of operations great service because you have a cabana attendant that brings you food and
drinks to you and on top of all that there's plentiful seating you have to compete with anybody and a lot of shade and I really like these Cabanas for what they offer now the downside is what I already talked about they can be pricey so really when you're talking about a cabana I wouldn't say you should book
the Cabana no matter what like the the glacier Landing that one's going to cost you a lot of money but probably because you're not going to Alaska every single year it's probably a good idea to invest in it if you happen to go there at least once with Coco Key I get it I wouldn't
pay any price for these Cabanas I'd be the first to admit that but if you can be opportunistic about it if you can time it with a good sale because there are actually discounts on Cabanas on certain salings especially if you can time it with things like the Black Friday sale or other sales throughout
the year July 4th Memorial Day Labor Day Christmas there are actually discounts available and if you can get a decent price on it I would highly recommend it and the last type of short you should book are private catamaran Charters or sailings on catamarans to begin with when you're in the Caribbean in warm
Waters catamarans are a great all-encompassing type of activity that the family can really get behind often times especially this is true with my family we're cruising with my kids and other friends and their kids they're different ages different genders different needs but the great thing
about renting a c camaran is it allows I think really a crowd-pleasing activity there are catamarans it'll bring you to all sorts of activities and the great thing is you can customize it the way you want to do it perhaps you're looking for a private swimming spot an opportunity to see wildlife like sea
turtles fish or just enjoy time in the water or maybe have some food and a drink and a snack with some music behind it it has always been a very entertaining Excursion recently did one actually in Bermuda which is very different than the Caribbean but still an enjoyable on the water experience we
had a great Sunset it was absolutely stunning and we've done catamarans and boat rentals in a variety of different ports and I got to tell you it has been by far some of the best shore EXs I've ever done and I really think is absolutely worthwhile now the key here is if you can split it because often times we're
talking about going on a catamaran especially if you're doing a private Charter is you know you're going to need to have well more people than just you know say four if you can split it with two three or four families it can really make the price far more palatable now how much does it cost well it really
depends on what time of year how many people are going the size of the craft you're looking for but my advice is when you're looking for sheries something different something really cool to do with different groups or families and friends that you're sailing with this has been by far a home run every single
time we've done it and I got to tell you this is something I would definitely recommend to anybody who's looking for really fun and unique type of activity all right there you have it my picks of three excursions to try and three to skip have you done any of these excursions let me know in the comments
below and while you're about this video if you found this helpful hit that like button and subscribe for more tips and please hit that little bell icon that way YouTube us you know have a brand new video to share so few of you have ever hit that button but you're missing out on being notified when we have these new
videos you never miss out on any of these great videos we have to share thanks for watching this has been Matt and we'll talk again real soon
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