When planning your next cruise, other than should you or shouldn’t you purchase the drink package, a question that always comes up is “Should I purchase an excursion through the cruise line or should I just explore the port on my own?” The answer to this question could depend on a variety of factors. Particularly for our Japan cruise, we wanted to make sure that we maximized our time at each port and saw as much as possible. As most of the excursions that you could book through the cruise line were 4 plus hour tours and pretty costly, we didn’t want to spend our entire time at the ports on a motor coach being taken from place to place when we could tour the port on our own.
During our planning of the cruise, we decided to book 3 excursions through the cruise line. We booked a tour for Nagasaki, we booked an excursion that would take us from the ship down to the lake with shrine while at Mt. Fuji and we booked a trip to the ramen museum, which included lunch. Because of our decision to get off of the ship for four days and tour parts of Japan on our own, we ended up canceling the excursions at Mt. Fuji and Tokyo to help pay for the loss we were taking by leaving the ship.
Here’s what we did at each port:
Jeju Island- While we were docked at Jeju Island, through the use of AI (Claude and ChatGPT) we mapped out our own tour through an interesting Fish market and then took an uber to a brewery where we had some great beer and some tasty lunch. It was suggested that we take an uber down to the harbor that had a pretty view and then walk back to the ship. It turned out that the walk to the ship was much farther then we were led to believe, so we abandoned the walk for an uber. Jeju Island did not have the massive public transportation system that we found in Japan, but uber got us to where we needed to go easily. There weren’t many excursions available for Jeju Island that appealed to us, which is the reason we skipped purchasing one through the cruise line. If we had a tour guide helping us through the fish market, walking through there would have been a lot more meaningful. If I went back, I would look into hiring someone who could help us navigate that area and suggest things for us to eat and/or buy. Everything was very cool but intimidating without a guide or Korean speaker.
Busan- Busan was added to our itinerary a couple of months before the cruise and was not a place that we were especially looking forward to seeing. Because we were still somewhat jet lagged, we opted to stay on the ship and enjoy a quiet day on board. My research showed that Busan is relatively easy to explore on your own but using uber or a taxi is recommended over public transportation as many of the highlights are spread out from each other so public transportation could add quite a bit of time and not as easy to navigate. So, is Busan doable on your own? Yes but an excursion that takes you to places like the Gamcheon Culture Village, BIFF square along with a visit to the Busan Tower plus a great lunch might be worthwhile as well.
Nagasaki- For Nagasaki, we had booked the Destination Highlight: Shimabara Castle, Samurai Village and Peace Memorial Park excursion through the cruise line. We purchased this excursion during the Black Friday sales and paid $325.98 total for both of us. This was an all day excursion where we traveled by a nice air-conditioned motor coach to a variety of places. On our way to a samurai village, we stopped at this sponge cake factory where we could use the bathroom, check out the sponge cake and see out some great views. At the samurai village, we got a great look at how the samurai used to live and our tour guide gave us some interesting information to go along with the visit. We then went to the Shimabara Castle where we walked around each floor and learned quite a bit about the samurai and culture of the area. We went to a really unique lunch spot (one we wouldn’t have found on our own) and had a great, traditional Japanese lunch. Then, our final stop was the Nagasaki Peace Park before heading back to the port. This excursion allowed us to have some really unique experiences that would have been difficult to navigate to on our own. We had a really good tour guide, which I am sure could make or break the experience. Since Nagasaki has a great tram system, we could have navigated Nagasaki on our own but we would have stayed closer to the port and likely not seen the castle or samurai village. I think the excursion was worthwhile at this stop but the DIY alternative would have also worked for us.
Kagoshima- In Kagoshima, the cruise line provided a shuttle that took us away from the port and towards a more central area of the city. We were able to walk from shuttle drop off spot towards a ferry that took us over to Sakurajima Island where the active volcano is. We walked around a bit of the island, saw a temple, a visitor center, a place where we could bathe our feet in hot springs and went in a Japanese grocery store. After our return ride on the ferry, which was lots of fun as it had its own noodle bar (we decided not to eat at it) and beautiful views, we got on public transportation that took us to the city’s center. There we found this shopping center where we ate some really great tonkatsu, rode a big ferris wheel and experienced our first Japanese arcade. This turned out to be a great city to tour on our own. The only trouble we had was figuring out where the shuttle was that would take us back to the ship. We had to retrace our steps a bit, but we found it and happily made our way back to the ship.
Hiroshima- Hiroshima was the stop that we decided to get off of the ship for our own four day land tour. So, we were definitely touring the city on our own. We took a shuttle provided by the cruise line to a downtown areas then got on public transportation that took us steps from their Peace Park. We walked all around the Peace Park, walked through an outdoor mall, found a brewery, ate at a McDonald’s before getting on a Shinkansen that took us to Osaka. Hiroshima was very easy to tour on our own with a little help from AI and Google Maps showing us how to navigate the public transportation and what to see while there.
Osaka- We spent the night in Osaka but we found that its public transportation was easy to navigate (with a little help from ChatGPT and Google Maps). AI encouraged us to try Takoyaki (Fried balls of dough with octopus inside) and it was definitely an experience that Im glad we shared. I would highly recommend touring Osaka on your own with a little aid from AI helping to guide what to see, where to eat and how to get there.
Kyoto- Kyoto is not a port city but can be reached by Shinkansen while at the Osaka port. With the help of AI, we found our way from Osaka to Kyoto and discovered that the public transportation made this very easy. Basically, we told Claude that we wanted to go from Osaka station to Kyoto and were given not only what time the train would be leaving but which station and track we needed to be at, how much it would cost and how to pay for it. AI also guided us to some great and unique food spots and suggested some destinations that definitely added to the enjoyment of our time in the city. With a bit of research, you could easily see the highlights of Kyoto on your own.
Shimizu/Mt. Fuji- We originally had an excursion booked at this port but needed to cancel it. The excursion would have take us by motor coach to the Hakone Museum and to Lake Ashi to see the Red Torii gate. It does appear, however, that with the use of public transportation (about 1.5 hours of travel with a mix of a Shinkansen ride and local trains) that we would be able to find our way from the port to this area on our own. Perhaps because it is a rather lengthy trip from the ship to these locations that having someone else guarantee your arrival there and return to the ship would make booking through the cruise line worthwhile.
Tokyo- Tokyo was a great place to tour around and the advanced public transportation made it extremely easy to see the city and its wards (different areas). We did still rely heavily on Claude, ChatGPT and Google Maps to help us get from place to place and to determine what was worth seeing and what we should avoid. Because we canceled the excursion that we had originally planned, we did not get to see the Ramen museum but we did find a restaurant that had some great ramen thanks to AI. We also missed seeing the Edo Castle, which other cruisers saw and said was really impressive. But, whether you are touring on your own or seeing the city through an excursion that you booked, you would need to pick and choose what you wanted to see and what you wanted to pass on. On our own, we walked through the busy intersection of Shibuya Crossing and wandered in to some great arcades and places while seeing the area on our own.
So, there are many pros and cons to booking an excursion through the cruise line versus touring the area on your own. A major pro is that all of the planning is done for you. If you are not comfortable with using AI, researching everything on your own, or simply don’t have the time for it, then booking an excursion makes things really easy. All you have to do is book it. Another major pro is that by booking an excursion through the cruise line, you are guaranteed that the ship won’t leave without you. This reassurance takes away a lot of the stress that you might have when seeing a city on your own, especially when significant travel is required. The biggest downside to booking an excursion through the cruise line is that they are expensive. Also, many of the excursions take up the entire day and leave no extra time for you to do anything on your own.
I feel that it really comes down to your comfort level (navigating a strange city, using AI and public transportation etc.) and desire for convenience (planning your own experiences can take time). Especially with areas like big cities in Japan where public transportation is extremely easy to navigate, I would think twice before booking another excursion through the cruise line. A really good travel agent can help you plan your next DIY excursions or in the very least help in your decision as to whether or not you should DIY it or do it on your own.
Whether your next cruise involves excursions booked through the cruise line or travel through an area on your own, I would love to help in the planning to ensure that your next vacation is a success. Contact me today to make that happen.