When to book private excursions?

How far in advance of your PG cruise do you recommend contacting private tour operators to book excursions? I don't want my first choice tours to be sold out before I book them, but my cruise isn't until September 2017 and I don't want to book them too early either. The airlines won't release the flight schedule until about one year in advance, so I was thinking of contacting the private tour companies right after we book our flights... is that good timing or should I contact them now? I also don't want to risk them possibly confusing my dates with a 2016 cruise!

How far in advance of your PG cruise do you recommend contacting private tour operators to book excursions? I don't want my first choice tours to be sold out before I book them, but my cruise isn't until September 2017 and I don't want to book them too early either. The airlines won't release the flight schedule until about one year in advance, so I was thinking of contacting the private tour companies right after we book our flights... is that good timing or should I contact them now? I also don't want to risk them possibly confusing my dates with a 2016 cruise!

If this helps....I have already booked excursions for the 2017 reunion! Some operators have small capacity so I needed to do that.

We also book once we are certain that we want to do something. We have never had a tour operator tell us it was too early, but even if you find one who does there is no harm done.

I thought that for PG tours you had to wait until the 90 day period. Except for some dive tours and Dr Poole's tours you usually can book on the ship upon embarking.

I thought that for PG tours you had to wait until the 90 day period. Except for some dive tours and Dr Poole's tours you usually can book on the ship upon embarking.

Yea, I know, but I am asking about when to book private tours, not the ones through PG :) I rarely book excursions directly through the cruise line (although I may end up booking something with PG if I have left over OBC).

If this helps....I have already booked excursions for the 2017 reunion! Some operators have small capacity so I needed to do that.

We also book once we are certain that we want to do something. We have never had a tour operator tell us it was too early, but even if you find one who does there is no harm done.

Thanks for your replies! I just wanted to be sure it wouldn't confuse them if I asked about tours this far in advance. That actually happened to me when I was planning for my days in Panama, Colombia, and Costa Rica on my last cruise... I contacted the tour companies shortly after booking last June (9 months in advance) and many of them replied that it was way too soon to book anything and they wouldn't set up their schedules until the dates got closer. I still can't book anything for Moorea until I know how many days I'll be there pre-cruise, but I want to get things set up for the other smaller islands if I can :)