excursion on your own or through the ship?

[kel]

Can anyone tell me their experiences with booking your own excursions not through the ship? Have you booked through your cruise and on your own.The pro's and con's of doing this? Who you used? We will be in cococay, St.Thomas,and St. Martin.

[oppis]

On both islands, you can take an independent tour.
In St. Thomas we spoke the taxi dispatcher, close to the pier and he showed us some drivers and we spoke with them and got a tour for four persons, lasting 2 1/2 hours to all interesting places on the island for 80 $, means 20 $ per person.
And he stopped where we wanted to stop and made a shorter or a longer break.
In St. Martin they offer independent tours close to the pier, for about 25-30 $.
Cococay is a private island, you can only book sportive things via RCCL. Theres nothing else, but a nice place for a beach day, with enough deckchairs, a buffet and more.
We have done almost every shore excursion in the caribean on our own and never had problems and safed a lot of money.

[Oggy Boy]

A lot depends on how comfortable you are taking off on your own. You can save money by doing it on your own, but you also have a greater element of risk. If you miss the ship's departure from the port, you are on your own. On the other hand, if you have specific things you want to do or see, doing it on your own can be so much more rewarding.

Tom