Cruise lines strive to offer something for everybody with their excursion offerings, from a relaxing day on the beach to adventures tailor-made for thrill-seekers. Sightseeing excursions are guided tours of your port's most notable landmarks and venues. You'll often have a choice between bus or walking tours, and many reserve time for a short tour of a local cultural attraction and shopping. Active travelers can opt for horseback rides along beaches, challenge the links at a local golf course, or kayak along a lazy river. Snorkeling and scuba diving excursions are mainstays of Caribbean itineraries and most are open to first-timers. Wildlife encounters, most commonly with dolphins or sea lions, allow guests to pet and caress their new friends and have souvenir photos taken.
Packaged shore excursions are more expensive than arranging the same activities on your own, but they free you from handling logistics such as arranging transportation or equipment rentals. Cruise lines also screen tour operators to ensure they're reputable. If you're unsatisfied with your excursion, your cruise line is more likely to offer compensation or a refund than an operator you booked independently would be. Booking a cruise line's shore excursion guarantees your ship won't leave port without you, even if your excursion is late returning to port. If you're late returning from an independent excursion, your ship will sail, leaving you responsible for arranging transportation to its next port.
Cruise lines offer excursions for travelers who enjoy different levels of physical activity, providing details on how much exertion is involved in their excursion listings. Lines such as Carnival rate their excursions' activity level along a scale ranging from "easy" to "extreme," and others, such as Royal Caribbean, augment their written descriptions with stick figure icons to visually represent an excursion's physical demands. Disabled guests almost always find wheelchair-accessible excursions at major ports, as cruise lines strive to provide enjoyable excursions for all their guests at each stop along their journeys.
Vacationers have several options for booking excursions. After you book a cruise, you can view your itinerary's excursions on the cruise line's website and book on-line. Each excursion listing describes the outing, tells you how long and physically demanding the excursion is, and lists its price. Your cruise line also sends you literature that includes an excursion catalog and booking instructions. You can also book excursions when you're on board, but many excursions sell out before the ship sails, particularly those limited to small groups. If your heart is set on swimming with dolphins, book your excursion long before you sail.
