I will be going on the NCL for 12-11-05 and was looking to book some excursions. I just wanted to get some insight from you guys about how to go about doing that. Is it cheaper if I book ahead of time online before I get on the boat (assuming this is possible)? Should I book on the boat? Or should I just wing it at my destination and hope to find something cheap. I would really love to go scuba diving. That is basically the only excursion that I have my heart set on. I am not PADI certified so I guess that will limit my options. It is a 7 people group by the way. Everyone is over 18 years of age. Any and all info would be greatly appreciated. My itenerary(sp?) is below if needed:

Sunday, December 11, 2005 Houston, Texas -- 05:30 PM
Monday, December 12, 2005 At Sea -- --
Tuesday, December 13, 2005 Playa del Carmen, Mexico
Tuesday, December 13, 2005 Cozumel, Mexico 12:00 PM 08:00 PM
Wednesday, December 14, 2005 Belize City, Belize 09:00 AM 07:00 PM
Thursday, December 15, 2005 Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras Friday, December 16, 2005 At Sea -- --
Saturday, December 17, 2005 At Sea -- --
Sunday, December 18, 2005 Houston, Texas 07:00 AM --

I would strongly recommend spending some time on www.cruisecritic.com . They have a lot of information on ports of call, including excursions and general tips. Good luck, and have fun

I assume this is the Norwegian Sun? She's a great ship, usually with a great crew, and I love her to bits.

MeLike2Travel's advice is very sound - take some time to navigate around the various different forums there, particularly those for the individual ports of call.

As a general rule, the ship's excursions are more expensive than those booked directly with the tour operators, usually somewhere between 50-100% more - this applies whether you book the ship's excursions before you go or after you get on board. However, there are some benefits with booking with the ship. First, you can usually cancel quite late without penalty if you change your plans, because you have direct access to the shorex desk on board; in contrast, communicating directly with a shore-based operator is more difficult when you're at sea or in a different country. Second, if you're on a ship's excursion and you're delayed, the ship will wait for you. You take on a certain level of risk in this respect if you go on your own - but then that applies even if you just walk to the shops and linger too long over your coffee. Third, the tour operators should be properly insured and meet the cruise line's standards - this safeguard doesn't always work but there are significant incentives for the local contractors to toe the line.

However, many people do book directly with local operators and skip the ship's excursions entirely. This involves a certain amount of legwork on your part before you go, but can save you money - and often get you better tours too.

If you want to go scuba diving and you want to book independently, make sure you do some thorough research. As your life literally depends on the integrity of the operator, make sure that they're properly approved and come with reliable recommendations. However, not being PADI certified won't stop you doing this; many PADI shops offer resort dives where you get a limited amount of necessary training before you do an easy dive. If you want to try this, you might even see if a local dive shop can do you a session in a local pool so it isn't all completely unfamiliar to you when you arrive at the port.

For ordinary tours, you have the additional option of just choosing when you get to the port. There are usually plenty of people hawking their wares at or near the quay when you arrive. However, you do take on a significant level of risk by doing this because you may have no idea who the operator is or what they really offer. If you're well travelled and used to judging people, this may be fine, but it would spook quite a lot of cruisers.

Don't forget to poke your head into Carlos and Charlie's in Cozumel, if they're up and running again by the time you get there and you have time. Always a good laugh, even better if it's busy.

And may I please indulge one pet peeve: She's a ship, not a "boat".

Have fun!

I will reinforce the comment that the ship will wait if your tour is late getting back...if you booked your shore excursion through the cruise line.

On my last cruise stop in Belize, I booked a tour to visit Mayan ruins. The bus broke down on the way back and we were stranded at the side of the road for four hours until a rescue bus arrived. We arrived 45 minutes after the ships scheduled departure time from Belize...and the ship was waiting for us. We sailed for our next port about 10 minutes after the last bus pax had boarded.

For me, it was worth paying more for peace of mind.

Haha. Sorry about the boat comment. I thought that was kind of funny. Thanks for all the great advice. The ship will actually leave you if you are not back on time? What will you do then? Sounds kind of odd to be stranded while one vacation. It doesn't look like scuba will have such a big problem though since that excursion usually runs pretty short. I have scuba'ed before (the newbie stuff), but I just want to introduce it to my family. I am really afraid of booking with just some no body and ending up like the movie "open water." Maybe I am just being too paranoid....

If you were doing an excursion on your own (or just spending too long in Carlos and Charlie's), you'd have to make your own way to the next port at your own expense. The ship's agent may well help you with that - they will, of course, have been told who's failed to board before sailing - but it's not a comfortable position to be in.

If you only just miss the ship, it might be possible to retrieve you by a tender if the ship isn't pressed for time to make it to the next port - but expect a pretty noisy reception when you get on board! Also, I've heard of people being taken out on the pilot cutter but I don't expect that this is done very often because transferring from the cutter to the ship takes some skill.

What type of place is Carlos and Charlie? A bar? I am going with my family so it might not be the best place for me.

Haha. The getting left thing sounds really funny for some odd reason. That would REALLY suck big time though.

It's a bar and restaurant. The restaurant side is relatively tame and is actually OK for a family. During cruise ship hours, the bar varies between just being noisy and being a little raunchy - although I haven't seen any of the really "good" stuff that used to go on in their old place further along the waterfront before they moved to the Punta Langosta shopping centre. (The very best that I heard about but missed seeing by about 20 minutes - the fault of an early last tender for my ship - was the very drunk shop girl who decided that it was too hot on the dance floor and stripped, absolutely stark naked. She was reportedly looking very sheepish when she was back at work the next day, in front of many colleagues and passengers who'd seen it, and more who'd heard about it.)

Great advice ^

I would be interested in booking the excursions directly from the tour operators, but couldn't find a website. The cruiseciritc website doesn't really tell you much about excursions. It just tells you historical stuff about the ports and favorite drinks and stuff. I don't really need to know all of that. Plus. I can't even see all my ports listed. Maybe I am looking in the wrong section. The restaurant and bar sounds cool, but I doubt it would be the proper setting since I am going with my parents.

Try boards.cruisecritic.com? Lots of forums, usually with up-to-date discussion about exactly the things which you're asking about.

I understand about C&C's. But don't forget that it's there in case you do manage to get away by yourself. If you're on the Sun and she docks at her usual place, C&C is just over the road from the pier. However, I have a feeling that everyone will still be tendering by the time you get to Cozumel.

great site. Thanks people.