Private Snorkeling: Having a boat and a driver for the day, with only your travel companions, or perhaps a few others. Skip the crowded cruise ship excursions and save money too! Maybe some of you read our posts while thinking “I could never afford private snorkeling!” I am lucky to be able to just go on the cruise. Since we know exactly how you feel we decided to share our secret with you.
First of all, by using our credit card we get great protection from fraud. If you use your credit card and the tour company stands you up – you can just dispute the charge and your credit card company will do all the work to remove the charge from your bill. You will have to prove that you didn’t take the snorkeling tour and the tour company will have to prove that you did…. (if they want to get paid). The credit card company has a whole department of people who work for cardholders disputing charges that are made for things you aren’t obligated to pay for, for what ever reason. This simple fact completely eliminates the risk of being stood up, or billed for something you didn’t get.
How to narrow the odds of getting a Private Snorkeling Tour
First we do our research! – What specific tours is the cruise ship offering? If you know what is offered in any port of call, it makes it easier to find yourself. Example: Holland America Line is offering "Swim with Stingrays" tour at Grand Turk. You know there is a place at Grand Turk where you can swim with stingrays..
Then we find a reputable tour company online that is doing what we desire to do. We use resources like Google, Facebook groups and Cruise Critic. We choose a vendor with good reviews, and recommendations from others! If you need to find more people willing to split the excursion fare you can do this there as well. Most ship and sail date itineraries have a Facebook Group that you can join.
Another Lucky Day - We got a Private Charter!
One of the main reasons we use the local private companies and book directly through them is because we’ve learned that not only is it cheaper, but we stand a better chance of getting a private experience. These tour companies that exist in the popular ports of call are the very same tour companies that the cruise line uses. The cruise line purchases the same tours from these vendors and marks them up, in some cases more than DOUBLE! But the vendors don't mix their private clients with crowded sold out cruise excursions.
The cruise line also splits up activities, to sell them separately. Example: "Snorkel above a shipwreck" or "Swim with Sea Turtles". If you buy a tour directly from the vendor you might be able to do both. By booking these excursions directly with the vendor you get wholesale pricing, perhaps a longer experience and maybe even multiple activities!
Here is where the private part comes in:
When you contact the tour company to request a tour they will give you the pricing options for private and open reservations. Below is a classic example.
Our choice was:
Private - $600 to have the boat to ourselves that day – for a party of up to 10 (we find 10 people) OR
Open - $75 per person and we could join a group that they would assemble.
Yep - this is a no-brainer! There were 4 of us traveling together. $75 x 4 = $300 which is half the price of doing the work to find 6 other people! We decided to take our chances, as we have done many times before. The tour company was allowed to sell reservations on our tour to any other people they could assemble, up to a final count of 10. But they didn’t! So we got a private charter experience for half the price. Either way it would have been OK – a bit more crowded & new friends, or private charter! The risk was a win win situation! LUCK was on our side AGAIN!
Here in Barbados we had a similar experience - another lucky day!
One pontoon boat, one driver with raw tuna, two happy snorkelers!
Here are two other resources for finding out what is offered in your destination(s). These are also good options for a pre-organized tour that is less crowded and less expensive than booking through the cruise line. [affiliate links]
[affiliate links]
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Lynn & Rob Belles
Founders of "Planning To Cruise"
"We travel to get away and to be together, to learn and to teach, to experience and become wise, to turn off the news and ignore the clock, to connect to the world in a peaceful way all while leaving a bit of our wealth with someone else who needs it more than we do." — Lynn Belles
Note: Travel plans are always subject to change based on global events. We recommend always checking the latest travel advisories. Flexibility is key to a successful and enjoyable journey.
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Disclaimer: Rob and Lynn Belles wear many hats. If you happen upon a link within our blog here or at other linked sites, and you click it there is a possibility we could financially benefit from that. Generally speaking you have to make a purchase after clicking in order for us to earn income. But - It is our greatest hope that the things we share are of great value to you! Recently I have begun marking these links in the line, where they occur with [affiliate link] which is a third party commissionable link, or [convenience link] - which is just there for your convenience. If you see one of our business logos likely it is also a link to it's website. Obviously we earn money there at OUR website, but ONLY if you make a purchase.
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