We are about to take our first cruise, just wondering about the $$$$ that we see on the excursions. If we are going on a jeep ride and it reads $$$ is that for each person or for all 4 in the jeep?

Not sure what excursion list you are referring to with $$$$ signs - but if it is a ship's tour, their rates are usually per person. What cruise line are you using?
Nancy

The cruise lines almost always quote per person rates.

Tom

If you enter your reservation number on the cruise line web site you can get the exact price of the excursion,subject to change of course. If you don't know you reservation # call your travelagent.

Be prepared for some pretty stiff rates. I was a little surpriused on my first cruise as to how much the ship's excursions were. I've done some, and I think you really have to price compare for the experience you'll be getting.

When you cruise, if you thinking paying for your cruise, flights and taxes/fees is it, you're very wrong. With excursions, beverages, photos, shopping, alt dining, spa etc etc, your ship board account can add up to hundreds of dollars very quickly. I've learned to allow $500 for my account and then at least I know what to expect.

And don't forget tips. All the expenses that Kate mentioned are unger your control but tips are a min. of $10 a day.

Try to make some shore excursions on your own, by hiring a private taxi. Thats much cheaper, almost half of the prices from a tour, offered from the cruise line and not crowded. And often you can tell the driver, where you wanna go, where to stop. And they have sometimes really good advices for some other things, like shopping.

You can save a huge amount of money by doing the shore excursions on your own. Plus you usually won't be jammed in with a whole herd of other passengers. Do a bit of research online prior to your trip and you should be able to plan out your own shore excursions. The time exploring each port is the fun part of any cruise and is money well spent, but do it wisely.

CaribbeanBlue

http://www.Carigem.org

We did the exact same excursions but booked directly and saved quite a bit of money. in catalina island we were in the water snorkeling while they were waiting for everyone to assemble. By the time they finished we were well on our way to another spot. On my next cruise in Sept. We have booked all but one direct through the tour.....at least 1/2 the price

I know Carnival has the little $ and they mean:
one $= approx $50 per person
two $$= app. $50-100 pp
3 $$$= app. $100-150 pp
4$$$$= app. $150 and up.

It can cost alot by the end of the day. This was the only serious area of complaint I had with carnival. We had questions about the excursion. We really needed more specific info on transportation and the involvement of our young daughter. I called carnival and they seemed a tad shocked that i called them for info. they said that they really didn't have anyone there that fielded calls about excursion questions. She actually sounded like I was the first one! Sure, but anyway they couldn't even give me the name of the company to call directly. She suggested we wait until we got on board to ask. Our dinner interfered with the excursion sign ups and we ended up going ashore with no plans or reservations. it turned out ok, we enjoyed our visit and didn't spend a ton of money...My husband didn't get to do much snorkeling and that's the one thing he said he really wanted to do there...whoops. We intially were going to take my young daughter to the dolphin thing but it was like 70-80 dollars per person and she would pay full price at 4 yrs old.

I have to agree with the costs. I misinterperted and thought $ was $25 instead of $50 and so on. We were traveling 2 adults/3 kids so that REALLY made a huge difference in what I had budgeted! For our two cruises this year I am going to book some on our own and then book one from the ship for Jamiaca that takes most of the time we are there so we aren't hounded with drug sellers but at least I know better how to budget.

save your money...we went to bahamas last year and took a tour and could of just went on our own and saved that cash for other stuff!!! just research your ports of call very well...and take it from there good luck!!