For those that enjoy a cruise ship holiday part of the fun is having adventures off the boat organised for you.
But a former cruise ship worker has warned that just a few excursion errors could actually wreck your trip.
Lucy Southerton, 28, who worked on cruise ships for a decade says one of the biggest mistakes passengers can make is not doing their research before signing up for an outing.
Speaking in a video posted to her YouTube channel, which has over 86,000 subscribers, she said: ‘So many people book cruise line excursions without doing any research on the port that they’re actually visiting.
‘Many attractions that people are paying to see like the government buildings and the shopping streets, they could find on their own really easy.
‘You should research the ports that you’re visiting and if you can see that the thing you want to visit and see is less than 30 minutes away from where the ship is going to dock.
‘In my opinion you don’t need an excursion. You can explore it on your own.
‘Or if you still want to do a tour, you could look at a local tour, which nine times out of 10 will be a lot more affordable than the same tour that’s offered by the cruise line.’
Lucy Southerton (pictured), 28, has warned that just a few excursion errors could actually wreck your holiday
Ms Southerton (pictured), who worked on cruise ships for a decade says one of the biggest mistakes passengers can make is not doing their research before signing up for an outing
However, Ms Southerton, from Birmingham, did emphasise that excursions can add enormous value to a holiday.
She said: ‘Excursions can be extremely valuable when the destination is far from the port.
‘One of their main selling points is if something does happen like the tour bus gets stuck in traffic or it breaks down, the cruise ship has to wait for you because you’ve booked that excursion through the cruise line.’
Another shocking mistake, that only an expert could reveal is not paying attention to the terms and conditions.
Ms Southerton said: ‘The T’s and C’s are where you might be caught out. So as much as it is a bit tedious to read it is worth it.
‘And some of the things that you need to look out for is the fitness level of the excursion.
‘So cruise lines will classify their excursions based on activity level and if you book without checking this you might end up on a tour that is a lot more physically demanding than you are prepared for.
‘Another one is height and weight restrictions.
Ms Southerton (pictured) revealed not paying attention to the terms and conditions of an excursion is a vital mistake passengers make
The former cruise ship worker (pictured) has a YouTube channel with over 86,000 subscribers where she talks about her experience working on cruise ships
‘You also want to pay attention to time allocations, a lot of people don’t pay attention to how long each attraction has been allocated.
‘So if you go on a tour and you’re really excited to see this one thing but then you find out that actually only 30 minutes has been allocated you might think actually I probably would have been better off booking a tour that only took me to this destination rather than trying to fit in loads of little attractions that I’m not really bothered about.’
The brit also explained that hidden stops are a common hindrance hidden in the T’s and C’s.
She added: ‘Some excursions include stops at souvenir shops and restaurants because they have agreements with these businesses, that they will bring tourists to these souvenir shops in hopes that they buy something.
‘Pay attention to if there is a dress code or they recommend a certain type of footwear.’
The cruise ship connoisseur also suggested that it’s worth pre-booking excursions to avoid queuing or even missing out on a trip.
She said: ‘You are going to be stuck in a mammoth queue because the excursion desk is only open at certain times during the day and during these times everyone wants to book their excursions in.
‘So you don’t want to be spending your valuable limited time of your cruise queuing up.’
Ms Southerton (pictured) warned to never assume that cruise line excursions are the best option
The cruise ship connoisseur (pictured) also suggested that it’s worth pre-booking excursions to avoid queuing or even missing out on a trip
The next vital blunder she explained, was assuming that cruise line excursions are the best option.
She said: ‘You already have that built in trust with the cruise line, especially if you’ve done multiple cruises with them.
‘And therefore you assume that if a cruise line is offering a particular excursion that must be the best thing that there is to do in this port.
‘But in reality cruise lines rely on tour operators with available capacity when the ship arrives in port.
‘So this doesn’t always mean that they offer the best attractions.’
And the final mistake she emphasised was unnecessarily booking excursions independently.
She said: ‘As I said earlier you can often save a lot of money by booking a very similar excursion with an independent company.
‘Because a lot of these excursions will simply charge you a premium for something you can do on your own.’
