Is it Dumb to Take a Boat Excursion During Your Cruise? Pros, Cons & Tips

Is it dumb to take a boating excursion during a vacation when you’re already on a cruise? Today, we answer this question with the pros, cons, and things you may not have thought of! Ultimately, we’re going to help you decide if your answer is yes or no. 

We’re also sharing what kinds of boating excursions are out there, from sunset sails to dolphin spotting, whale watching, SCUBA and snorkeling, alligator adventures, catamaran cruises, deep sea fishing, and more. Lastly, we’ll let you know what to bring along with you if you decide to sign up for one (like motion sickness medicine, just in case, and sun-blocking essentials). 

During this episode, we mention: 

• Motion sickness remedies: https://sometimessailing.com/anti-nausea-medication-cruise-sea-sickness-solutions/
• Mikkel’s favorite electronic mosquito bite zapper to fight those pesky bugs: https://amzn.to/4sSp4u2
• Or use the Bug Bite Thing:  https://amzn.to/4tzFG9M
• Our favorite excursions in Ketchikan: https://sometimessailing.com/ketchikan-top-activities-things-to-do-with-useful-area-info-map/

🚨Programming announcement: We are publishing bi-weekly podcast episodes, so we can bring you more video content on our YouTube channel, @sometimes-sailing!

Transcript

Dan (00:35)

Welcome to another edition of Small Ship Cruise Talk. Today we're talking about: is it dumb to take a boating excursion when you're already on a cruise? Now, we're in Charleston, South Carolina, today. We're docked with American Cruise Lines. And, you know, we were talking about it back and forth. Should we take excursions that involve a boat when we're already on a ship?

...Acknowledging it is kind of ironic and maybe a little bit of an oxymoron to do that. But truly, there's a different experience that can be had out on a smaller ship, and those vessels really take you to different places that you're not going to reach, but also, you're on a boat, and you get on another boat.

Mikkel (01:24)

Right. So, is it dumb to take a boating excursion when you've already purchased a boating vacation on a cruise? If you are watching us on YouTube— it is @sometimes-sailing—you'll see some boats behind us. It's very serene and peaceful. If you do hear some ⁓

crew working, it's because we are on an active working dock, but we always like to bring it to you live from live —while pre-recorded— but from the dock when we can. So today we're going to be talking about the topic at hand. A little overview of what to expect: the case for it, the case against it, why would you want to sign up for a boating excursion from a cruise or why wouldn't you, and also what kind of boating excursions are we talking about?

So, we're going to get right into the case for it and why it is different from a land tour. So you're on the cruise ship. You obviously have an affinity for the water, whether you're on a river or a lake, or the ocean, and you either are trying or already know you love this type of experience.

So the case for signing up, which you kind of alluded to before, is it gives you a different perspective, right? So, like one of the things I loved about an excursion that we did during this Sea Islands cruise on a coastal catamaran, so we're on a coastal catamaran ship, that is our cruise ship. It's a hundred passengers with American Cruise Lines on American Liberty. Liberty, biberty. On American Liberty...

Dan (03:00)

Don't sue us.

Mikkel (03:03)

...is that, I felt like one of the excursions we did on a shrimp boat, a former shrimp boat, really put me in tune with the marine life that was underneath us as we're sailing. And cruising, you're often sailing on the water, but you're not in it. You're not discovering the marine life underneath it. And that could be true of a different kind of excursion, too, like a snorkel,

which is obviously from a boat, scuba diving, or a glass-bottom boat, or a submarine of some sort. So a case for it is certainly that it'll put you in tune with the marine life and wildlife beneath the surface.

Dan (03:45)

Yeah, I think of it like ⁓ you can appreciate a bird or a mountain just by looking at it. But then when you put on a pair of binoculars, you're like, "Oh wow, really, it's a different perspective." And I get a lot more of a micro view of whatever I'm looking at.

Mikkel (04:04)

That brings up another point I thought of, a case for it is that the analogy I best think of is when we're driving in a car in a new city for us, versus walking. The cruise ship is your car, right? You have to go a certain speed. You have to get from point A to point B. You're not really experiencing it the same way you would by walking, which walking is like a smaller vessel, a motorboat, a small sailboat.

So, experiencing it in a different way. Even a kayak is kind of like a car versus walking. You just see more in a different way than you do when you're kind of in a car.

Dan (04:42)

It kind of slows everything down a little bit, right? More micro-experiences.

Mikkel (04:46)

Yeah, in a really nice way.

Dan (04:48)

The other thing is— we focus on small ships, so we try to stay as least amount of people as possible. But if you do an excursion, that's even smaller of a ship. So maybe you go from 120 passengers or 500 passengers down to six or eight passengers. So you really get that smaller scale experience and then more intimacy with the water or the crew. Yeah, really just making friends or something like that.

Mikkel (05:16)

Oh, and each other. I love that point. If you get to know people a little better on those smaller excursions.

A lot of the time, a bigger boat, even on small ships, like you were saying, even a river cruise, even a coastal catamaran that we're in, it actually can't get into the mangroves. It can't get into the estuaries. It can't get into the bluffs. So we cruise by them on this cruise, the Sea Islands cruise, which I've loved, going past these amazing bluffs in Georgia and South Carolina and Florida. But you get on a smaller ship, and you can go even deeper and explore those fingers through those marshlands and everything in a different way. So, I would say scale is another consideration.

Dan (05:59)

Yeah, absolutely. And then, you just mentioned it, but the proximity to the wildlife, right? So you can see it off the port side or something like that, but really getting into the water and it coming up next to the boat or something else chasing it, jumping into the boat or...

Mikkel (06:15)

We had that with the birds on this, the shrimp boat tour that we were on that we'll tell you about in a minute, but the birds came right in together.

Dan (06:23)

Gulls came in and really got up close and personal.

Mikkel (06:26)

Right, they don't really want our breakfast bacon and egg sandwiches on the Back Porch Cafe here, but they did want that fish that came right out from the water. Their favorite gourmet cuisine. And you know, another thing is on the ship that we are on now, it's amazing to see all the bottlenose dolphins kind of trailing the ship and around, that Dan's the best at spotting wildlife. So he could see them, you know, a mile away and points them out.

So another example is the dolphins. You can spot them a mile away off the ship. You're so good at spotting wildlife. But there's a difference between seeing it trailing the boat and then being on a dolphin excursion that the boat can then slow down, be quiet, and follow the dolphin pod. Right. Right. I thought that was a great argument for taking a boat excursion when you're already on a cruise. Yeah.

Dan (07:13)

The last point I think, is it's really about supporting locals too, right? Because you go to these stocks and you see these local operators and this is how they're making their money year round. Well, maybe not year-round, but it's a big chunk of the local economy. If you've taken the time, like listen to the shore talks and you the ports you're going to visit and kind of feel this attachment to it.

So, it's great to support the local economy and they know so much more information because they're living it every day.

Mikkel (07:47)

Okay, so what's the case against it?

Dan (07:50)

For me personally, it's like if I'm motion sick on the big ship— you know the quote-unquote big ship— I'm gonna stack that motion sickness when I get onto the small ship.

Mikkel (08:02)

Is that true 100 % of the time for you?

Dan (08:04)

Not 100 % of the time, but it has happened, especially in Ecuador. I was barely okay on the big ship, and then as soon as we got in the catamaran, I was like, okay, it was all over.

Mikkel (08:15)

Yeah, that is an interesting point. So motion sickness is a great consideration, which is why we always say it's never a bad idea to pack those motion sickness remedies, your ReliefBand, your motion sickness patches, those stickers. We have an article about this that is linked in the show description with exactly what to buy and some approaches, like the peppermint

Dan (08:13)

Okay, it was all over.

Mikkel (08:39)

roll on spray and such. So that's linked in the show notes article on SometimesSailing.com about motion sickness. Another factor is the weather.  So on a cruise, they're not going to cancel your cruise if it's simply raining, but if it is raining and you're supposed to go on a sunset sail and the weather is looking really terrible, like not just a sprinkle— thunderstorm, let's say, then there is the chance that they're going to cancel your excursion

Dan (08:49)

Yeah.

Mikkel (09:07)

is a consideration because maybe you passed up something else for that excursion. So that could be a little disappointing, which is why we're bringing it up to consider it when you're signing up for an excursion.

Dan (09:18)

Well, there is that variable either way, right? So it's the variable of weather and then the variable of time. Like, you want to make sure that your times especially go with a shore excursion not offered by the cruise line and make sure you've got enough time to do the excursion and get back before it's all aboard time.

Mikkel (09:35)

Yeah, so to add to that, two things I would say. One, you want to check those reviews. If you're signing up for something through Viator, for example, or Shore Excursions Group has a "Guaranteed back to ship time." But you do want to check those reviews and see what other people said about their experience with that group. If, like you said, Dan, you're booking a third party outside of the cruise line. And also, time-wise, you know, considering how much time for any excursion does this take up? Are you able to see, let's say like we're in Charleston right now, so we're going to Fort Sumter later. Can we see downtown Charleston too? 

So I mean, this is a consideration with any excursion, but just keep it in mind. You know, back to the weather, I just wanted to make one more point with the weather. I would say the layer of security in that is let's say you have to cancel an excursion 48 hours before, you know, it happens to get a refund or change your mind.

Just look at the forecast two days out. Set an alarm in your phone. You're on vacation. You're on the cruise. You're obviously very likely to forget that it's 48 hours before two days from now, let's say, because that's not what you're focused on. You're just focused on enjoying the here and now. But set an alarm or a reminder in your calendar to check the weather. So if it is looking like rain, then you can make a decision. Now the weather can change positively or negatively from 48 hours out.

But, just wanted to make everyone listening aware of that consideration.

Dan (11:01)

And to that point, you're in nature. So there's going to be variables that happen. There's going to be bugs. There's going to be weather. There's going to be sun, rain... Right. Or just the motion of the ocean is going to change. Right. So just overall, you're going to be less sheltered and less of a pampered environment if you go out on a smaller ship.

Mikkel (11:12)

Port changes.

Right.

Another consideration, speaking of wildlife, is bugs. I don't want to brag, but mosquitoes love me. They do. They do. Yes. They don't love Dan as much. They love me. They love my brother. So we think it's something hereditary, which an allergist has confirmed that there is something to that. 

But I don't travel without Zyrtec if I have a really bad flare up or The Bug Bite Thing or the little bug zapper that's electronic that actually I think a lot of time works even better than the bug bite thing. So I like to travel with both. But just be aware, if you are going into a mangrove, it's not going to be bug free. If you are out on the water and the season is such that there are noceums or other little biting bugs like in the South right now. here in April, so it's not as bad as it's going to be in a few months. We've been to Charleston in all sorts of seasons.

But, another consideration.

Dan (12:26)

So just to kind of finish up this point, I think a lot of it is doing your homework, vetting the operators, making sure it's an excursion that you're going to feel comfortable doing, and then understanding that it is going to be a different from your cruise, but it could also really add on and enrich. That's the right word for it. Enrich your experience and give you even more of an understanding of

Mikkel (12:45)

Enrich.

Dan (12:51)

of the ports you're visiting and the water you're cruising on.

Mikkel (12:55)

So let's get into some specific boating excursions that we have done or we've seen offered to kind of expand your mind. So what does a boat excursion mean when you are on a cruise, visiting a port?

Dan (13:10)

So here are a couple of examples of excursions that we've taken or that we've seen in the past. Probably the one that comes to mind the most is because we've been watching them all week is the dolphin spotting cruise.

Mikkel (13:22)

Dolphin spotting: highly recommend. It was cool to see them up close and personal. I wouldn't say it was mind-blowing. I mean, we're not too far away on the boat, but keep in mind, if you're on a big ship and there's 14 versus the ship we're on with only four decks, then being on a small motorboat to see those dolphins is truly going to get you a lot, a lot closer than you were before.

Dan (13:44)

Yeah. So I did an alligator excursion on this particular cruise and there was 10 people on the boat and we got right up pretty close, not uncomfortably close, but pretty close to some alligators. And that was, again, just an enriching experience that we would have never gotten on the bigger cruise.

Mikkel (14:04)

And it sounds like you learned a lot from an excellent tour guide that we don't get on the bigger ship— "bigger" 100 passengers, but still bigger— that you seemed like you gained a lot of knowledge about alligators from that great tour guide.

Dan (14:18)

Yeah, I'll be running that tour next season, so check it out.

Mikkel (14:21)

Check it out. Come on Dan's Alligator Alley Adventures. Another one is a glass-bottom boat. It's popular in the Bahamas, of course. Whether you're on a big ship or a small ship, your cruise ship is not a glass-bottomed ship. So going on a glass-bottom boat, if you don't want to go in the water, is a great way to see the wildlife and learn about it from an expert. 

Conversely, if you do want to go in the water and you have your scuba license, or you want to snorkel, which obviously you don't need a license for. You actually to know how to swim that well. You can wear a flotation device around you, which I can swim, but I always do that because I'm not a strong swimmer and it just levels up my enjoyment of the experience. But that's another excursion you can go on. If you're on something like UnCruise — and we were in Hawaii with UnCruise, a 36-passenger boat — we did snorkeling off the boat every day.

So a little bit different of an adventure, but I would say I would for sure sign up for a snorkel adventure if the itinerary was such that we weren't going snorkeling and it was a good place to snorkel.

Dan (15:24)

Yeah. Well, I think that's so key too, is you can stack these experiences. So you're seeing dolphins while you're going to snorkel. Yes, that's true. And then you've got the naturalist on board that's usually, you know, snorkeling with you or else on the boat with you. So you get that education while you're about to engage with the wildlife or the water.

Mikkel (15:34)

Two birds once don't. Two fish once don't.

Speaking of marine mammals, whale watching. My personal favorite, a whale watching tour is so different than whale watching on a cruise ship because they go to follow the whales and a bigger ship can't always do that. The bigger the ship, the harder it is to follow a whale to change the itinerary.

Dan (15:51)

Right, your personal favorite.

Mikkel (16:11)

One of the things we love about small ship cruising is that they do have a little more flexibility. Let's say you're in Alaska with UnCruise Cruise Lines. They can follow the boat a little more, but a lot of the time, most people are going to Alaska on a bigger ship. Let's say you're on MSC. We've talked about The Yacht Club, which is great. You get that small ship experience, but you ultimately are on a bigger ship. Right. The suite class. So you're going to need to sign up for an excursion if you want to go whale watching. Yeah.

And it's worth it. It's absolutely worth it. There's few things as majestic on the ocean as seeing a whale. You never forget that feeling. So whale watching. Two thumbs up. Highly recommend.

Dan (16:50)

Another kind of category of excursions is adventure or activity. Maybe you're going deep sea fishing.

Mikkel (16:58)

Deep sea fishing is a great one. So things to consider for that: the cost, the kind of fish in the area, if not catch or release, if they'll ship it back to your home for you, a lot of deep sea fishing adventures do that. So that is another great example.

Dan (17:13)

Kayaking is also pretty popular for stand-up paddleboard.

Mikkel (17:17)

And the thing I like about that is if you are very active and you're looking for exercise, I think that's a really amazing opportunity. Also, like the closer you can get to the wildlife, like we were saying before, or the environment, the mangroves, or, you know, can you get closer to the glaciers or the shoreline if you're, you know, somewhere that the big ship, you know, it can only go so, so far in depth of water. So like...

What do you need an inch or two? Not even you could just pull your kayak up to the shore. So I love that example. That's another great one.

Dan (17:49)

Now we've seen it in the Caribbean and a few other places, but like the speedboat excursions, right? Like, I don't even know how fast they go, but if you're into thrill rides, you know, that's also an option.

Mikkel (18:02)

Some of them purposely do the bouncing up and down in the water and you can get wet. I do love that feel of the wind in nice weather, and warmth. Not cold, rainy weather, but the wind hitting your face in a speedboat, which you can't get that sensation on a cruise.

Dan (18:20)

But that, I would say definitely check your seasickness for something like that.

Mikkel (18:27)

It made me think of another great one, a sail. So a sunset sail, let's say, is really popular. It depends on the time of year and all aboard time, sail away time and such. But a sunset sail, especially if it's in the fall and the sun sets at 5 PM in the northern hemisphere, then your boat doesn't leave until 8 PM. That a sunset sail is a really romantic and memorable way to see the sunset. 

If your stateroom on your cruise isn't on the right side of the ship. So maybe you're on the port side, but it's setting on the starboard side. So if you sign up for that sunset sail, you're going to be guaranteed to be cruising at sunset time. Another category of boating excursions is a working vessel. So during this cruise, the Sea Islands, we were able to sign up for a shrimp

boating tour. Now it's an educational vessel now. They've retrofitted it to be such, but you see the trowel and the net go into the water, and he explains how shrimp boats functioned in Georgia and the laws for shrimpers, and how to get a license and all this stuff. And it was really interesting. 

He took out marine life from brackish water, which is for anyone listening who doesn't know brackish is a mix of saltwater and freshwater. And we were able to see stingrays and different fish, flounder, trout. We were able to see shrimp, so that Georgia shrimp that we learned about. We were able to see jellyfish, even. I had no idea there were jellyfish in those bluffs, those waters and estuaries. So that was really cool. And we did in Maine, one of my all-time favorite excursions...

I'm noticing a theme. These tend to be my favorite excursions when we can learn about marine life!... was Lulu's Lobster Boat in Bar Harbor. I mean, I don't think there was another tour, another time that we learned so much about lobster.

Dan (20:15)

Yeah, well, if there's a place to learn about lobster, it's Maine.

Mikkel (20:17)

It's Maine. Yeah. But they showed us how the lobster man fish, lobster men/lobster woman fish, and different facts about lobsters, which was fascinating. Which makes me think, actually, of Alaska. Another favorite excursion we had was the King Fisherman Tour, the crab boat.

It's an out-of-commission boat that was on Deadliest Catch. Yeah. But... in Ketchikan, thank you. Yes. One of the best experiences we've had, and they do over a hundred people on these excursions, but oh my gosh, did we learn a lot? We heard the tales of them as fishermen, former fishermen, like just amazing.

Dan (20:41)

It's in Ketchikan now.

Just educational and fun and interactive too, like we were passing around the sea life and yeah, that was a great tour.

Mikkel (21:04)

If you are in Ketchikan on any of the ships, the big ships that dock there, it is very easy to get to this tour. I'm going to link an article to our excursions in Ketchikan, and you'll be able to sign up for that because it just, I mean, like 10 stars. I couldn't believe how phenomenal that excursion was.

All right, so before we finish, let's just go through what to keep in mind if you are going to sign up for one of these excursions. I'm going to start with verifying what's included. Is there lunch included, or dinner, or snacks, or drinks, or none of the above? Just know what you're getting. And then you know my question always is, is there a restroom on the ship? If not, I will not drink as much liquid at lunch, for example, or coffee at breakfast, because I don't want to have to go to the bathroom on the boat that doesn't have one.

A lot of the time, there is a bathroom right on the dock beforehand. So just know what you're getting yourself into amenity-wise, I would say.

Dan (21:56)

To piggyback off of that, I would also say just understand how big the ship is. Are you going to be with 20 passengers or are you going to be with six passengers? Right. And just understanding what those expectations are. And then also understanding what's included. So is there anything additional, will there be an additional cost or anything, any surprises along the way? Just fully understand what you're getting yourself into.

Mikkel (22:02)

Right, so you're not disappointed.

Right. If you're going on a snorkel tour, you want to know that the snorkel is included. The same for scuba, right? Right. Absolutely. If you're fishing, what kind of fishing gear do they provide? We are not fisher people: fishermen, fisherwomen. But I can imagine that if you are into fishing, you want to know like the quality of the fishing rod and all the materials.

Dan (22:37)

Yeah, there's a whole host of other questions that you're going to ask.

Mikkel (22:40)

That would never come to mind for us. Yeah. So knowing what to expect. I would also say the forecast, which we mentioned before, just to throw that in there again. Is it booked through the ship or independent? Now, if you booked independently, more of those dollars go back into the company. But if you book independently, then you also have the risk of return to ship guarantee, so keep that in mind as well.

Dan (23:02)

Yeah. I would say make sure you understand your physical requirements, too. So if you have mobility issues, some of these private tours, you may have more difficulty getting on and off the ship or even traversing the dock.

Mikkel (23:14)

Right, right.

Is there a ladder that steps up, steps down? Great thing to keep in mind. And then what to bring. So in a day pack, I would say it's always safe, never a bad idea to have sunscreen, sunglasses, that motion sickness medication if you need it, or motion sickness remedies. Water, right? Water. Do you need a dry pack if you're going on one of these crazy excursions that you're going to get wet? A bathing suit, a change of clothes.

Dan (23:42)

Yeah, a towel, anything like that.

Mikkel (23:44)

A towel, right? Do you need your own towels? So another thing: what's included, what's not? So that's a great point. And I'm sure I said it already, but no harm in saying sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen and also reef safe sunscreen. If you are going in the water, you want to make sure that is not going to harm the animals. All you have to do is read the label or the description on Amazon, let's say, and make sure it is reef safe. Yeah.

Dan (24:09)

So overall, should we take a boating excursion?

Mikkel (24:13)

Is it dumb to take a boating excursion if you're on a cruise? I vote no. It's great and it just brings you closer to the reason that you were on the cruise in the first place. For me at least. What about you?

Dan (24:26)

Yeah, I've enjoyed all the, well, pretty much all the excursions that we've done, but I also enjoy being on the ship. You know, the original cruise itself. So think there's definitely pros and cons to it.

Mikkel (24:39)

Is that an answer/non-answer? Yeah, I think. You're not committing.

Dan (24:43)

Because there's been a few times I'm like, I'm already on a cruise.  Why are we doing another boat trip?

Mikkel (24:47)

Okay, I guess a more direct question is, which have you been disappointed with?

He's thinking, ladies and gentlemen.

Dan (24:55)

I would say…

Mikkel (24:59)

Long pauses, long pauses.

Dan (25:02)

I wouldn't say there's one that comes to mind that I was extremely disappointed There was just sometimes I'm like, I think I could have had a better experience on the cruise boat.

Mikkel (25:12)

But I guess you got to be in it to win it, as they say. You have to take it to know. So again, that harkens back to reading those reviews, right? Right. Yeah. All right. Well, I hope that everybody listening learned something today, and it helped make your decision easier for your excursions one way or another. And until next time...

Dan (25:29)

Keep cruising and make sure you sign up for my alligator tour coming in the spring of 2027.