Shore excursions - book on-line ahead, or wait until on-board, or book privately?

Hi

First time cruisers with SB. We'll be in Greece, Italy, FR in September on Odyssey. Looking for your experience and recommendations, please.

Should we book the shore excursions ahead on-line, or wait until on-board, or find private tours?

If booked ahead there is a fee if cancelled on board. For example, we make friends and want to do what they're doing that day, or the weather is bad, or we're sick/tired.

If we wait until on-board might we get closed out?

Thanks in advance

S&P

My advice is to always to private tours wherever you can. Much nicer to be in your own car with your own driver/guide than on a bus with forty other people. Plus you control the agenda, change it at will and many times, especially if you share with another couple, the cost is less.

If you prebook and prepay SB excursions online I believe you can cancel up to 48 hours prior. Most excursions do not sell out so you can certainly wait until you're onboard. Only those excursions which are limited or include something unique sell out so if you are interested in one of those I'd book in advance.

If you never been to a port. Use ship tours. You can prebook and pay. You could also book on board but some tours might be sold out.

We always do our own thing find it easier than waiting for people when on a coach etc.

You will always find the one that never comes back on time and makes others wait. If you do your own you decide your times and places etc.

We normally do morning so that we know we will be back in time for sail away.

Also being first time Seabourn look up the offer for 400 dollars OBC. Not sure if you have done this.

Happy sailing I am sure you willl ove Seabourn.

Worth mentioning that if you pre-book, you have to prepay. We try to use up any onboard credit on shore excursions and it's easier to book after boarding.

I used to book some in advance, but now wait until I'm on board. On our last cruise, the description of the tour had described on board changed from that described in the Prelimnary Documents...so much so that we canceled our booking. Seabourn was very understanding and accommodating about the refund, but that experience argues against booking in advance.

We always wait until on board.Never have had a excursion booked.We normally do our own but sometimes with our credits we find a couple to do.On our last cruise 3 weeks ago we had 3 ports changed due to whatever.One new port had an additional great side trip to a private beach in Greece . This was not on the original itinerary.I would say wait and see.

I second the suggestions to wait until you are on the ship. We mostly do private tours unless the destination is long way, say 3 hours each way and the arrival and departure times make it tight. Last year we went on a 12 hour ship tour, 3+ hours each way, and the departure time of the tour was delayed due to issues at the port which delayed anyone getting off the ship for 30 minutes,and we got back past the departure time but since a Seabourn tour they waited for us. But as others have noted a private tour is preferable so you control the experience.

We almost exclusively use a private guide for excursion. Nothing is as infuriating as waiting for that one last person to get back to the bus... With a private guide everyone on the tour should be on the same page and you have control of the itinerary. Want to see something extra? Not a problem!

However, if you do want a Seabourn tour and there are several reasons to do so (ease, worry free, and generally decent tours) I would second what others have said and wait till you are onboard. If you are concerned with things booking up then I'd get to Seabourn Square as soon as possible. You can cover a couple of things immediately - excursions, computer access, and Grill reservations.

In almost every case, you're better off with a private tour. It definitely requires more work but you can do what you want, where you want and when you want it. We've found that (although it does require more work) it's almost always cheaper then cruise line prices. Frequently, we found another couple and shared with them bringing the cost way, way below what you would pay to be on a bus with others. TripAdvisor is a great site for checking our private tours.

We generally do Seabourn tours and have very rarely been disappointed. A few weeks before the cruise we look through the various tours and identify the 'must do' ones. Those we generally pre-book so that we know we will not be disappointed if they fill up. It does happen that some tours fill up and, if you leave booking too late, you can miss out. Others, we will book once we are on-board.

If you book something special pre-cruise to make sure you have it (which means you also pay on your credit card pre-cruise), and then change your mind on-board and cancel (e.g., if you are sick), SB does not refund your credit card. Instead, they credit that amount to on-board credit. So if it is a large amount, you need to be ready to either spend it on board, or lose it. You cannot apply it to the crew fund, either. Nor will they give you back cash.

If you cancel and book another tour, then they will apply that amount to the other tour if you want.

I had gotten misinformation about this prior to my first BTB SB cruises on the Odyssey late 2015, where I already had a huge amount of OBC, which is why I am bringing it up.

You should also watch your in-room TV account statement regularly, to catch mistakes early. SB made a mistake on my account relating to a changed excursion towards the end of a cruise which I did not notice on the last hectic disembarkation day, and then it took countless hours to get it rectified after I got home.

Anchorhead, which ports will you be at?

One additional thing to be careful about when booking is if an excursion is dubbed "exclusive", and is expensive, do not assume it is really exclusive. You may wish to ask how many people will be on the excursion and get more specifics. EX: an "exclusive" and very expensive dinner and tour at a winery in France out of Bordeaux turned out to be 70 people bussed to a winery to then play follow-the-leader in 2 groups of 35 touring the place, and then sitting at giant tables getting served corporate convention style food.

Other tours not dubbed exclusive were actually quite nice.

Anchorhead, which ports will you be at?

 

One additional thing to be careful about when booking is if an excursion is dubbed "exclusive", and is expensive, do not assume it is really exclusive. You may wish to ask how many people will be on the excursion and get more specifics. EX: an "exclusive" and very expensive dinner and tour at a winery in France out of Bordeaux turned out to be 70 people bussed to a winery to then play follow-the-leader in 2 groups of 35 touring the place, and then sitting at giant tables getting served corporate convention style food.

Other tours not dubbed exclusive were actually quite nice.

Money much better spent for dinner at one of Bordeaux's wonderful restaurants.