I used to think that I had only two options when it came to shore days on a cruise – book an excursion with the cruise line or explore independently.
But this year, I discovered a third option, and it’s a gamechanger!
Shore Excursions Group offers organised excursions that are better than the cruise line ones while also being cheaper! Read on for my full review.
Note: Shore Excursions Group provided us with one complimentary excursion. All opinions expressed here are entirely my own and I have since gone on to book more excursions with them.
Who Are Shore Excursions Group?
Shore Excursions Group is the world’s largest shore excursion company. Since 2008, they’ve organised almost 5 million shore excursions.
You can book Shore Excursions Group excursions through your travel agent, or make your own booking on their website, ShoreExcursionsGroup.com.
What Is A Shore Excursions Group Excursion Like?
The excursions provided by Shore Excursions Group are just like the ones that your cruise line offers – but better!
On most sailings you’ll have a huge choice of options including:
- Scenic tours taking in natural wonders like glaciers, reefs and volcanoes
- Cultural tours where you can experience local food and customs
- Active tours with options for hiking, cycling or kayaking
- City tours led by expert guides who will offer unique insights
On a typical cruise line excursion, you’ll board a coach of around 50 people. This limits the places you can go to and what you can do when you get there.
Shore Excursions Group have much smaller group sizes, usually just 2 to 12 people. Our excursion had just six people, which meant that we could drive into the heart of the places we visited and enjoy a much more personalised experience.
Can You Miss The Ship?
The fear of missing the ship is the main reason why I always used to avoid third-party excursions. If a cruise line excursion is late back for any reason, the ship will always wait for them.
However, if you’re exploring on your own or with another excursion company and you miss the all aboard time, the ship will leave without you. I’ve seen the ship leave without people many times on cruises and I always feel so sorry for anyone who has to make their own way to the next port or back home without their belongings.
Shore Excursions Group offers a return to ship guarantee. The excursions are so well planned that they ALWAYS get every guest back to the ship on time. And if ever they couldn’t, they get you to the next port, pay for any accommodation or meals you need, and also give you $1,000 per person for the inconvenience.
What If The Cruise Itinerary Changes?
Cruise itineraries change all the time! In fact, on most cruises I’ve been on there’s been at least one day when the ship has arrived late, a port has been missed due to the weather or the order or ports has been rearranged. It’s super common.
If you book a cruise line excursion, you don’t need to worry about this as they’ll just move your excursion to a different time or date or refund you. But usually, if you book independently, you would lose your money.
A Shore Excursions Group Excursion is just like a cruise line excursion in that that if your port of call is cancelled, you’ll receive a full refund.
On the day of our excursion, the ship was an hour late coming in to port. As we stepped off the ship, the vehicle was there waiting for us – no problems! Our all-aboard time was also changed. The guide was aware of that and adjusted the itinerary to match.
Shore Excursions Group offers 24/7 support, so you can just call or email them if you need help at any point.
Shore Excursions Groups Offers Incredible Value For Money
The price of cruise line excursions varies hugely. I find that with the British cruise lines like P&O Cruises and Marella, they’re often quite reasonable. But with the American cruise lines like Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean, the prices are astronomical. Booking excursions in every port could double the cost of your cruise!
When looking at the options with Shore Excursions Group, I found the prices to be very reasonable indeed, with savings of around 40% compared to the cruise line options.
There’s also a price-match guarantee, so you can be confident you’re getting the best price without having to shop around.
Save up to 40% on Cruise Excursions!
Choose from over 4,000 excursions with a return-to-ship guarantee
The Booking Experience
Booking my excursion was SO easy! You just head over to the Shore Excursions Group website and tell it which ship you’re going on and which dates.
I found that the prices came up in USD$ at first, but you can change it to GBP£ or your currency with a dropdown in the top menu.
You can see all of the excursions that are available in each of the ports that you’ll visit.
I found the website to be really easy to navigate. You can sort by price, customer rating or popularity and it’s easy to see all the details like how long each excurison is, whether you’ll get food and how much walking is required.
The website has lots of reviews for each excursion and plenty of photos too so you know exactly what you’re getting.
The Excursion Experience
I’ve only taken one excursion with Shore Excursions Group so far, but it was one of the best we’ve ever done!
Our excursion was in Madeira. This is a port we’ve been to several times and we’ve already done all the usual tourist stuff like taking the cable car up the mountain and coming back down in a basket and visiting the botanical gardens. We were ready to try something completely different and our excurison delivered on that!
We were picked up from the ship in a Jeep and headed up in to the mountains! On the way, the lovely driver stopped at a shop so that we could grab snacks and use the bathroom.
Once we got offroad, he opened the roof and let us stand up as we headed up the bumpy track and saw the most incredible scenery. He told us about life in Madeira and pointed out interesting things that we saw, like banana trees!
We then visited a few more local spots like a lake with cows and a viewpoint with a swing for the kids. With just six of us on the tour, there was no hanging around waiting for people to get on and off the coach.
We stopped in a lovely town with free time for lunch and to explore the volcanic pools, then we headed to a stunning beach where we spent an hour.
Finally, we were returned to the ship, 30 minutes before all-aboard time as promised. It was a magical and stress-free day and the best day we’ve ever had in Madeira.
The Verdict
I am thrilled to have discovered Shore Excursions Group. It’s now the first place I’ll go when planning days ashore on my subsequent cruises.
I honestly couldn’t fault any aspect of what they offer. Don’t just take my word for it though. The company has almost 50,000 reviews online, with an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars!
If you want excursions that are CHEAPER than the cruise line, BETTER QUALITY and with SMALLER GROUPS, then you should definitely head over to ShoreExcursionsGroup.com and get yours booked.
Save up to 40% on Cruise Excursions!
Choose from over 4,000 excursions with a return-to-ship guarantee
Related Posts:
- What To Do In The WORST Cruise Ports in Europe
- 8 Reasons I Book Shore Excursions Elsewhere (Not With The Cruise Line)
- 14 Best Walkable Cruise Ports You Don’t Need Excursions For
Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.
hi jenny, this company sounds really good, but when i go on their website they don’t show marella cruises. Do they only work with certain cruise lines.
Hi Carol. They work with almost all of the cruise lines, however, Marella are typically different in that they don’t usually work with third parties or most travel agents. The good news is that Marella’s own excursions are pretty reasonable too so I hope you find some you like there. Jenni