Can a free tour actually compete with a shore tour supplied by the cruise line?
My 7-night Anthem of the Seas cruise would take me to the Spanish city of La Coruna, and I used to be taking a look at concepts for what excursions to e-book.
Often I e-book a shore tour by means of Royal Caribbean or just discover by myself. Earlier than I may choose certainly one of these choices, certainly one of our readers, Leeor, emailed me with an alternate.
“I assumed you would possibly need to attempt a free strolling tour for Bilbao and Coruna,” he wrote in his e mail after listening to about my cruise plans.
“These excursions are with native guides who love their metropolis, are tip based mostly, and are a good way to take advantage of out of a brief go to. They normally final about two hours and my spouse and I all the time do one once we first get to a brand new European vacation spot.”
I’ve to confess, I used to be skeptical as a result of I anxious how good a very free shore tour may actually be. Nevertheless, it seemed like the right introduction to a port I’ve by no means been to earlier than. Plus, it was only one or 2 hours, so it was a really low barrier to entry.
I went forward and booked my excursions by means of GuroWalk, which lists just a few completely different excursions in every of the cities. Certain sufficient, they’re free and all it’s important to do is e-book it upfront through the web site or app.
The “catch” to those excursions being free is you are inspired to tip on the finish based mostly on the standard of the tour.
I booked a strolling tour in Bilbao and La Coruna, though the Bilbao tour received cancelled a pair days earlier than my reservation as a result of the information was sick. I ended up exploring Bilboa by myself and had a good time.
As soon as the tour is confirmed, you get an e mail with the place to fulfill and who to search for. Transportation is by yourself, however this tour marketed as being good for cruise ship friends and it was a really quick stroll from the place Anthem of the Seas docked to the the statue of María Pita assembly spot.
The affirmation e mail additionally has a hyperlink to Google Maps to have the ability to simply get strolling instructions to the place to fulfill. As a result of I purchased an eSim for this cruise, I used to be in a position to simply use my telephone round Europe with out expensive roaming costs.
Certain sufficient, about 10 minutes earlier than the tour started, the information was ready the place he mentioned he’d be with an orange umbrella.
Our information, Cesar, greeted me and mentioned we would look ahead to the others. He indicated he anticipated about 9 of us in complete, though solely 5 would find yourself displaying.
Cesar lives in a suburb of La Coruna, and he does these excursions on a volunteer foundation. I requested him how many individuals normally present up for them, and he mentioned it varies significantly, however the teams are a lot bigger on the peak of summer time in June and July.
Becoming a member of me on the tour was a solo French vacationer and a 3 folks from England on a motor bike tour of Europe.
Cesar had a speaker with him, however didn’t want it given how small the group was. He began by explaining the importance of the plaza we have been assembly at, and why there is a big statue of María Pita. She’s the heroine of town who helped defeat an English assault within the sixteenth century.
Cesar rigorously defined the main points of every website we might go to, declaring the historic significance, architectural intricacies, and different details concerning the space.
Though he apologized for his English, I assumed he was very straightforward to grasp and intensely educated. In reality, I used to be blown away how a lot he knew. Being a free tour, I used to be anticipating somebody who was a strolling Google Map at greatest, however he knew a number of particulars and clearly was well-versed within the info.
I used to be additionally leery of a glorified gross sales pitch, however as soon as once more, he had no angle or something he was pushing.
We took a really leisurely tempo by means of the previous metropolis of La Coruna, and made at the very least 9 stops that I may depend.
We visited historic church buildings, army buildings of significance, scenic overlooks, and well-known spots.
The tour took 2 hours, though he volunteered to maintain going longer. I’d have taken him up on the supply, but it surely was 12:30pm and I used to be getting very hungry for lunch. To his credit score, he offered a Google Map hyperlink with all of his favourite eating places within the space.
On the finish of the tour, I tipped him €20, though I noticed others have been tipping about €10 per individual.
I used to be very impressed by this tour providing, and I feel Leeor is unquestionably proper these are nice introductions to any European metropolis to get a way of the place earlier than you enterprise off by yourself.
For those who’re somebody who needs to get a strolling tour of a metropolis, GuruWalk looks as if a very sensible choice.
Throughout our tour, we handed different excursions that have been considerably bigger teams and clearly from the cruise ship. I am unable to converse to what they could have included past the strolling tour, however I felt good about my alternative in excursions.
For example, the “Historic Previous City Stroll” shore tour supplied by Royal Caribbean prices $50.99 per grownup ($30.99 per youngster) and its description sounds precisely like what we noticed on our free tour.
The downsides to the GuruWalk excursions are there isn’t any telling how massive your group shall be, nor who your information will truly be. And there could solely be one or two excursions supplied that match for a cruise ship customer.
Furthermore, these are fast strolling excursions. For those who’re trying to see various sq. blocks, a paid cruise ship shore tour could be a superior alternative.
However should you’re trying to get a have a look at what makes town you are visiting fascinating after which go off by yourself after, these could be an excellent possibility for a metropolis port go to.