Normal
We are doing a little of both - on ship excursion and one on our own.In St. Maarten, I have arranged a two-hour horseback trail and beach ride directly with the stables. However, my wife does not want to miss out on the Dolphin Encounter (as she did on a previous cruise because it was sold out), so we pre-booked that through Celebrity for our stop in the Bahamas.Now, before the replies start flying that I could have booked that directly through Dolphin Encounter and save a few bucks, let me explain my reasoning. I think the cruise lines are purposefully limiting their times in ports to "force" you to use their excursions in some instances. We ar eonly in the Bahams for (I believe) 5 hours. The dolphin encoutner is a 3 1/2 hour excursion. There are only so many water taxis going to the island where the encounter occurs. My guess is that if I called Dolphin Encounter directly, they would say that the time I want to have the dolphin encounter is already booked by the ship.Just my thoughts,Bill
We are doing a little of both - on ship excursion and one on our own.
In St. Maarten, I have arranged a two-hour horseback trail and beach ride directly with the stables. However, my wife does not want to miss out on the Dolphin Encounter (as she did on a previous cruise because it was sold out), so we pre-booked that through Celebrity for our stop in the Bahamas.
Now, before the replies start flying that I could have booked that directly through Dolphin Encounter and save a few bucks, let me explain my reasoning. I think the cruise lines are purposefully limiting their times in ports to "force" you to use their excursions in some instances. We ar eonly in the Bahams for (I believe) 5 hours. The dolphin encoutner is a 3 1/2 hour excursion. There are only so many water taxis going to the island where the encounter occurs. My guess is that if I called Dolphin Encounter directly, they would say that the time I want to have the dolphin encounter is already booked by the ship.
Just my thoughts,
Bill
