IWantToLiveOverTheSea

I know there's a port of call section for port questions, but I thought I'd post here, as many people on here may have gone to Harvest Caye and can answer my questions. We'll be visiting Harvest Caye on Oceania and I was wondering if anyone can give me information about the ziplining there. Do you have to take a ship's excursion, or is it possible to just walk over to the "Flighthouse" and book a trip? And if so, what are the prices like - same as what the ship charges, or different? Oceania is offering a 1 hour excursion, and I figure that's probably just one zip on the shorter ride in the seated position But what if you want to do the Superman ride? Also, if anyone knows how things work in Harvest Caye regarding the "ferry" to Placencia, could you let me know? Do you buy a ticket on your cruise ship, or somewhere in Harvest Caye? And while I doubt I will, if you plan an independent excursion on shore, how do you get ashore to meet the vendor? Is there tender service? Also, if you went to the ruins near the Caye, or did anything else other than enjoying the things on Harvest Caye island itself, did you feel it was worthwhile?

Sorry to go off topic, but I'm curious if anyone has suggestions for Harvest Caye, Belize. It's basically a made up island for cruise line passengers. It has a lot of ways to play, or just enjoy the the sun and water, but I'd prefer to see and photograph natural or cultural things if possible.

I haven't read that it does, but who knows? I guess if it doesn't, you might be able to get a massage on the nearby island of Placencia, which is a fairly developed, upscale, public resort area. Apparently there is a ferry or tender service for cruise passengers on NCL (and presumably Oceania and Regent) ships. One person reported it was $20 roundtrip. Another person mentioned that tickets were sold on her NCL ship, but that there may be a place to get them in the NCL's Caye area. For more info on Placenia and the ferry, you may want to ask someone on the NCL section here.

I would guess that at some times, if there hasn't been enough rain, or too much rain, a company may have to pass up a particular tubing site. You could google Caves Branch Adventure Company.

Some people on our cruise were a little apprehensive about doing anything on their own in Belize City, assuming that's where you're going. It may not be unsafe, but from what little I saw it definitely looked like a poor place, and one with few attractions for tourists. I took an excursion to Lamanai Ruins, and really enjoyed it. But there was some transportation involved....

steeldrums, here's most of page 1 of the pdf version of excursions. Sorry the copy is so bad. The other pages of the lengthy document are just the excursions listed in a more readable/printable format. Emsmom, thanks for the info. I entered my required number of excursions and everything looked good to me, although I didn't go back and run the numbers to make sure, push the button to purchase, or add more excursions above the minimum. So thanks for the explanation and the alert!

If I can ever find Flatbush's info, I'll try to remember to post a link here. But basically, I don't know how soon you can get a pdf copy of excursions for your cruise, or when excursions are posted in your "Your Account" section of the website. But I'll find and attach the first page of my pdf excursion document. It doesn't explain everything but will at least be a start, with descriptions of terminology, how to get 25% off excursions, etc. Your booking invoice tells you what SM credit you have, broken down by traveler. The pdf document will tell you minimum number of excursions you must book to be able to get 25% off (any; your choice, except I think car/driver excursions, if offered, are off the table). For my 14 day cruise, 5 are required, and I have $400 credit from SM. But both these things vary by length of cruise. So in a nutshell, pre-cruise you're making up a package of the minimum number of excursions required, applying SM credit and paying any difference. You need to do this at least 7 days before your sail date. What you've paid for the whole package can be refunded pre-cruise, but it's not specifically stated whether you can switch from one excursion to another after the sail date. But availability may make this difficult, simply due to the number of people reporting very full excursions on both Oceania and the other cruise line we sometimes use. Once you find excursions posted on the website, you can play with that to get an idea of what's possible. But many people say the onboard system for excursions is glitchy for pricing, so it has been recommended that you pick excursions and then call Oceania or have travel agent call to book excursions. I'm finding the pdf and website agree pretty closely (7 or so months pre-cruise?) and availability is quite good. But what I owe and how it's calculated is a little confusing. When I finally pick excursions (maybe in a month or so?), I'll have my travel agent call Oceania to do the actual bookings. The onboard system does count your excursions separately from your travel partner's. But I've heard you can probably get away with using a partner's excursion ticket. And I've heard that you get 25% off any excursions, regardless of how booked, after the required number is chosen (and remains unchanged). But I don't know if the "regardless of how booked" part is accurate. If you have shipboard credit (for example, from O's loyalty program), you can use that on excursions as well. I'll attach something later.

Just ignore this. I didn't mean to quote and comment on this! I'm just going to figure out what excursions I want, and then have the TA book them, using any credit we have!

Good job. I typically (pre SM) I would do a mix of O excursions, third party excursions, or DIY days. But in certain areas of the world, I would probably pick more O excursions more than usual. And while a lot of people dislike ship excursions, there are certain occasions where they offer a lot more than I could find on my own. Up in the Canadian maritimes in early September, we went to a port in which I could find absolutely nothing - no tour providers, taxis, public transportation, or anything to walk to. I was glad there were ship excursions offered. But I'm curious - is there a reason you had the TA call in your excursions? I've seen some comments about the website being a little unpredictable, and I wondered if that was true.

I found the perfect excursion, should I need a 5th: Kayak in the Lagoon Rental, $25 tour price, or $18.75 with Simply More (in this case less)!

I've left mine once in a while. Not sure if I'd do it on Carnival, though.

I just choose a table on Waves, and if someone sits down there before I get my order in, I just ask the person taking my order to pick a table for me. It has very rarely been a problem. On the Terrace, if I want a particular table (like outside, when it's a great day and there are lots of people) I put my key card down and something else (if I have something else) on the table. Or I do something with the napkin. If I don't care where I sit (which is most of the time) I just get my food and then find a table. In the rare instance that either place is totally packed, it IS OK to ask someone politely if they'd mind sharing a table with you.

Could someone please enlighten me, or point me in the direction of where I can find a rundown on how Simply More excursion credit is applied in the online booking system? I know the basics for my excursion: The two of us each has $400 excursion credit when 5 or more excursions are purchased for our 14 day trip (counting as Oceania does - embark & disembark days = 1). And although I don't know which excursions I'm going to choose, I did look a little bit online under My Account to make sure a lot of excursions aren't already full. (They aren't -- we still have around 7 months before the cruise). But I have questions: 1. Can I use my ship board credit (SBC) with the Simply More excursion credit to book excursions on the booking system under "My Account" section? So if I book $500 worth of excursions, will the system total the "tour" (full) price of the 5 excursions, delete $400, and charge the remaining $100 to my (or possibly OUR) SBC? 2. The system keeps my and my spouse's picks separate, and applies the requirement for 5 excursions separately, right? 3. Do I have to book excursions with SM before I board the ship, or can I wait....if I'm willing to wait, given that excursions seem to be quite more in demand since Oceania went to SM? 4. What happens if we miss a port where we've booked an O excursion using SM credit? Do we get credit back to use in a remaining port? If the excursion was "paid" for partly in SM credit and partly with $$, how is that handled? And what about if I want to cancel one excursion (within the usual time frame for canceling) and add another? Is that possible? Easy? 5. Is there anything else I should know?

I'd call T Mobile. Our service covers all data (texts, etc.) and phone calls are (I think) 25c a minute in most parts of the world. Maybe you can change plans for a month if that's worth doing. In Europe we've gotten by with texts and an occasional 25c/minute phone call as needed. In other places, on occasion we've used whats app.

Isn't there a way to get waitlisted for an excursion on the website? My cruise isn't for 7 or 8 months and there are only a few excursions that aren't bookable. But when I saw one, I noticed a "wait list" selection popped up, though I didn't push it to see what happened. But even if there is, I agree with the poster above. Often people change excursions, and I have to believe that even with everyone now having Simply More credit, some people will always drop out/change their excursions. If I see something wait listed that I want to book, I'll likely come back later to see if anything has changed. I recently changed room categories that way, though of course it did take some time and effort.