About Shore Excursions Group

Shore Excursions Group was created with one goal in mind – to provide exceptional travel experiences to cruise passengers in the ports they visit around the world. To accomplish this, They have compiled an exceptional array of tours delivered by local experts with decades of experience serving travelers and delivering excellent tours. They are experts in providing exceptional shore excursions. They understand that in today’s fast paced world, vacations have become an increasingly important way to relax, reconnect with family and friends, and experience new and interesting places.

With this in mind, they provide the highest quality tours by performing extensive research, site inspections, and detailed reviews. While other companies also offer excursions, They strongly believe their expertise and approach sets them apart. The large cruise lines sell shore excursions - typically in very large groups visiting high traffic sites. They focus on smaller groups visiting more interesting and authentic locations using more personalized local operators. While the cruise lines are experts in delivering cruises, they are experts in delivering shore excursions.

Company Review

Their Approach
They believe quality service is not only highly valued by customers, but ultimately leads to better experiences and higher satisfaction. Unlike the cruise lines and other tour companies that rely almost entirely on their web sites, They encourage customers to call them. They want to invest their time answering your questions, providing input, and selecting the excursions that best meet your needs.
 

Their goal is to provide customers a wide array of exciting, appealing, and enriching tours. For those customers who prefer to travel in smaller groups with more personalized service, they offer a wide variety of small group tours around the world. These tours generally range in size from 2-12 people compared to larger tours which can number up to 50 people. While exploring the destinations and ports on their site, feel free to search for these "Small Group Tours".

For those customers interested in private tours, they offer many outstanding excursions that allow you to travel with your party alone and, in many cases, to fully customize your tour. Search for "Private Tours" if you are interested in this experience.

Their "Scenic" tours provide up close and personal access to some of the most spectacular natural environments on Earth from majestic glaciers in Alaska to spectacular reefs in the Caribbean.

Their "Cultural" tours allow customers to experience local customs, entertainment and culinary delights ranging from tribal dances in Alaska to an outstanding local meal in Santorini, Greece.

Their "Active" tours offer a multitude of exciting and adventurous ways to experience their destinations. You can kayak the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, hike to a spectacular waterfall in Hawaii, or bicycle through quaint villages in France.

Their "City" tours allow travelers to see the highlights of great cities around the world with unique insights provided by expert tour guides.

Website Review

Shore Excursions Group  developed their website with one goal in mind – to make shopping and purchasing shore excursions an easy and enjoyable experience for both you and your family.

Their homepage  allows customers to shop and purchase excursions in two way: by their cruise itinerary or by their destination. 

Excursions by Cruise Itinerary

Customers simply enter their cruise information on the homepage through a series of dropdown menus.  Customers then click “Search for Excursions” and they are brought to a page displaying their cruise itinerary.  Next to each port, customers can click “View Excursions” to see all of the excursions in that port.  The excursions by port are shown at a summary level (summary description, pricing, tour type, food and beverage and duration).  To see the detailed information and to book, customers click “More Info  ”.

Excursions by Destination

The homepage also displays the regions where excursions are offered.  These include the Caribbean, Alaska, Europe, Hawaii, Mexico, and Bermuda.  Customers can simply click on a region to see the ports where they offer excursions and then click on a port to see a summary of the excursions provided there.  To see detailed excursion information, the user can click on the summary information.  Users also have the ability to view excursions by type.  At the top left corner of the port summary page, there is a dropdown box entitled “Find By Tour Type”.  Additionally, users can search for excursions using the search filed in the top right corner of every page. 

How do They do it?
While other companies sell cruises and other forms of travel, They focus exclusively on shore excursions. They utilize this expertise to select the highest quality shore excursions delivered by local experts in the most cost effective manner for our customers. Since they are not a large cruise line catering to thousands of customers per day, our shore excursions allow you to travel in much smaller groups offering a more personalized experience. In fact, for groups of 4 or more, They can usually arrange a private shore excursion for less than the cost of a large cruise line tour. They also offer a large number of unique cruise excursions that cannot be purchased from the cruise line. They encourage you to spend time on this site looking through the wide variety of shore excursions and to call them for personal advice. To help you navigate their website, you can view shore excursions based on Excursion Size as well as Excursion Type…

Excursion Sizes:

Private Shore Excursions allow you to travel with your party alone and, in many cases, to fully customize your tour. For groups of 4 or more, they can usually arrange a private shore excursion for less than the cost of a large cruise line tour.
Small Group Shore Excursions generally range in size from 2-20 people, providing a more personalized experience than the large excursions offered by the cruise lines.
Standard Shore Excursions typically range from 20-50 people. These tours are similar in size to those of the cruise lines. While these shore excursions are larger in size, our focus on quality remains extremely high.

Excursion Types:
Scenic Shore Excursions provide up close and personal access to some of the most spectacular natural environments on Earth.
Cultural Shore Excursions allow you to experience the customs, heritage, and local flavor of the destinations.
Active Shore Excursions offer a multitude of exciting and adventurous experiences.
Water/Beach Shore Excursions provide unique ways to enjoy the ocean, beach, and sea life.
Cuisine Shore Excursions allow you to sample the local culinary delights.

Activity Level

Easy
These excursions do not involve any extended walking or physical excursion. People of all ages and physical abilities can feel comfortable participating in these excursions.

Moderate
Moderate excursions may involve some extended walking but this typically occurs over the course of the excursion (i.e., not all at once). There may be some walking on uneven surfaces or elevations.

Difficult
These excursions typically involve a significant amount of walking, hiking, or other form of physical exertion. Difficult excursions require participants to have a high level of physical fitness.
 

Why book with Them?
They know that your time in port is one of the most important parts of your vacation, so they take their commitment to deliver great shore excursions very seriously. That's why shore excursions are our their only business. They carefully select only the best tour operators in each port, and, because they are not trying to reserve excursions for thousands of people at a time, in many cases they are able to choose tour providers who carry much smaller groups of travelers on more intimate, personalized experiences.

Because they know that it can be confusing to choose the best tour in each port, they have a staff of shore excursion experts available to answer your questions and provide suggestions on the best tour options to meet your individual needs. And they stand behind the tours they deliver.

The detailed information provided on their website for each excursion also contains several headings to ensure your customers are fully informed about their experience. These include “Food/Beverage” (the food and beverage provided, if applicable), “Dress” (the recommended attire), and “Restrictions” (any restrictions such as age, weight, physical requirements, etc).

Smaller Groups

When you travel on a cruise line shore excursion, you will likely be with a very large group of people.  In many cases this entails 50 or more people on a bus with one guide.  With such a large group, customers often become frustrated trying to hear the guide, waiting for every member of the group in order to move on, and the impersonal feel of the overall experience.  Shore Excursions Group shore excursions are the opposite.  Customers travel in much smaller groups, in many cases less than 10 people.  With such a small group, customers have far more access to the guide, the group is able to fully enjoy the tour as opposed to waiting for people, and the overall experience feels much more personalized.

Unique Excursions

Since  Shore Excursions Group is not a massive company catering to thousands of customers per day, they are able to develop and deliver unique, authentic, and personalized shore excursions that provide very high quality experiences.

Personalized Service

Unlike the cruise lines and most online travel companies,  Shore Excursions Group encourage you to speak with them.  Their 800 number is prominently displayed on their website and they offer live chat capability. 

Guaranteed Quality

They fully stand behind their excursions.  To the extent you are in any way dissatisfied with the experience they deliver, they will work hard to resolve your concerns, up to and including a full refund of their tour price.  Find out more about it at Shore Excursions Group

Is there a risk I'll miss the ship if I don't book through the cruise line?
No. Although the cruise lines would like you to believe that independent tours carry this risk, all of their tour operators are aware of your ship's departure time, and their tours are designed to get you back to the ship with time to spare. One of their tour developers worked onboard cruise ships for 16 years, and not once did a passenger on one of his sailings miss the ship because an independent tour was late getting back to the ship. In the extremely unlikely event you miss the ship due to one of their tours, they guarantee that they will pay the full cost of your meals, hotel, and transportation to the next port of call, and they will handle all of your arrangements for you.

How do I book shore excursions?
If you know which tours you want to take, you can reserve them directly through their web site by adding them to your shopping cart and checking out just like you would do with a typical online purchase.  If you are uncertain which tours you would like to take or want some advice or guidance on your tours, they encourage you to contact one of our Shore Excursion Experts during our regular business hours of 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday - Friday Eastern Standard Time.

How do I receive my booking confirmation and voucher?
Shortly after you reserve a tour, They will e-mail your confirmation which will include your tour vouchers as well as instructions on how and when to meet up with your guide for each tour.

When should I reserve my shore excursion?
Because some tours book up They'll in advance of the tour departure date, They recommend reserving your excursions as far in advance as possible. This will give you the best chance of reserving your first choice in each of the ports.

How close to the tour departure can I make a reservation?
They require you to make a reservation at least three business days in advance of your ship's departure so that They have the ability to ensure that all of the arrangements are confirmed, finalized, and communicated.

What do shore excursions include?
Shore excursions include transportation according to the itinerary, meals, refreshments, guides, and entrance fees as indicated in the individual tour descriptions.

What should I Wear?
While the specific recommended attire is described in the individual tour descriptions, travelers should always Wear comfortable shoes and use sunscreen, a sun hat and sunglasses in locations with ample sun. More What To Wear and Packing Tips.

How much physical activity is involved in the tours?
The level of activity varies by tour. In order to help you understand the level of activity involved in each tour, they have created the following three categories.

Minimal Physical Activity: Only light walking and no major climbing required. You may need to negotiate a few steps.
Moderate Physical Activity: A fair amount of walking is required, and you may need to climb up full flights of steps and or negotiate uneven terrain.
Significant Physical Activity: A large amount of walking and or climbing is required, often over unpaved and uneven terrain. You should be in good physical health if you reserve one of these tours.
Please refer to the specific tour descriptions to see which category applies to the tour. If you have more specific questions, please contact one of our Shore Excursion Experts during normal business hours.

Where do I go to start my tour?
Your booking confirmation will contain clear instructions on where and when to go to start each of your tours. It will also include instructions on what to do in the very unlikely event that you encounter difficulties in meeting up with your guide.

What is their cancellation policy?
With very few exceptions, you can cancel a tour up to 14 days in advance of tour departure and receive a full refund. The few exceptions to this rule are clearly noted in the tour description. If you would like to cancel a tour, simply give them a call during regular business hours, and they will be happy to assist you. Once you are within the 14 day tour departure window, the tour becomes non-refundable. This is because their operators have set aside space to accommodate your request and will often not be able to fill that space with another customer so close to departure.

Will you refund my money if I miss my tour because the ship is late or cannot make it into port?
Yes. You will receive a full refund for your tour if you cannot make a tour departure due to a ship delay or a missed port call. You will of course also receive a full refund if  an equipment problem prevents the tour operator from delivering the tour. Simply let them know within two weeks of date of the tour, and they will issue a full refund.

Am I expected to tip the Guide/Driver?
Extending a gratuity to your guide or driver is strictly optional but greatly appreciated by those guiding you through your tour. A commonly accepted guideline is USD $3.00 per person for a half-day tour and USD $5.00 per person for a full-day tour.

How do I make changes to my tour reservations?
If you need to make changes to your reservation or to cancel a tour, please contact one of our Shore Excursion Experts during regular business hours and they will be happy to assist you.

Are children's prices available?
Yes. Many of our tours offer children's prices for children under the age of 12 years. Toddlers aged 3 and younger sitting on a parent's lap (not occupying a seat), are not charged for most tours. Please see the individual tour descriptions for specifics on pricing.

Are there any age restrictions on tours?
For most tours, there is no minimum age for children as long as they are accompanied by a parent or guardian. Guests under the age of 18 years are not permitted to participate without a parent or guardian. In some cases, an unaccompanied minor may be permitted on a tour if a wavier is signed by the parent. Please call them for details on specific tours.

May I take more than one tour in a single port of call?
Yes. In Alaska, please allow at least 30 minutes between each tour. In all other regions, please allow at least 60 minutes between each tour.

What do you recommend for physically challenged passengers?
Please refer to the restrictions section of each detailed tour description for specific recommendations for physically challenged passengers. However, to the extent passengers are able to walk on their own, they recommend tours designated as requiring a low level of activity. The transportation on some tours may be able to accommodate a collapsible wheelchair stored below the bus; however, scooters or motorized wheelchairs are often too large to be stored on the transportation used for the tours. If passengers are non-ambulatory, They generally recommend independent transportation for their comfort and convenience. Their Shore Excursion Experts can provide suggested tours. They also recommend that non-ambulatory passengers be accompanied by someone who is able to assist them throughout the duration of the tour.