how soon before cruise to book excursions

[pschweig]

We are going on b2b Mediterranean cruises on the Eurodam, leaving April 19, 2010. How soon before departure should we book shore excursions? The fee for the exursions are charged to your credit card immediately (if not waitlisted). We would like to delay this charge as long as possible, but still want to get the shore excursions that we want. Thank you in advance for your response.

[chrismch]

Take a look through the excursions to see what if any are of interest to you. Check your roll call to see if others are planning on doing independent tours. Research the ports section to see what might be interesting to see. If there is something that is unique that you really want to see, book now. Some excursions do sell out in advance.

[jtl513]

We would like to delay this charge as long as possible, but still want to get the shore excursions that we want.

If an excursion that you really want is marked "Limited Capacity", I would book it ASAP. Otherwise, you can wait.

[jackiedanny]

after determining where to do private tours and where to do ship tours i booked the ship tours as soon as i got my booking number. there is no way to tell what tours will be popular and fill up or not, if you would be very disappointed to miss a particular ships tour and not care so much about others then book the very important ones first

jackiedanny

[Typhoon1]

If you really want a specific Shorex, I would advise 60 days at the minimum.

 

If your not real picky, then let it slide as long as possible.

[English_in_Spain]

We have not yet booked any HAL excursions for our cruise in April (except our cabana in HMC). We thought about booking but now I glad we did not. Looking again at what is available at each port a lot of new options have been added. Some of these we prefer to those on the original list.

I know we could have cancelled and booked something else but that is such a hassle.

Does anyone know when the list will be final? Do they keep adding up until the cruise starts?

[redrover]

I think they must update the shorexs as time draws near. I'm booked on Eurodam from Dover on 29th May, and currently HAL have no shore excursions at all advertised for two of the ports of call.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Don't underrstand why you would want to wait until as late as possible to book tours. You may find yourself disappointed if the tour you want is already sold out.

 

We book as soon as the tours open up -- there have been instances on some of our cruises when people got on the ship and discovered that the tour they wanted was all sold out.

 

If this is your plan -- you must book tours no later than 10 days in advance of the cruise.

 

I have noticed that you mentioned you will be on a back-to-back cruise. What happens if that credit card bill comes in while you are away?? How will you pay it? Also do you have a high limit on that card if you want to buy gifts, etc.

 

Also are you aware that when it is time for you to do your "Check-In" on line that HAL will then put a credit card hold of $60 per day per person once you get on the ship???

[English_in_Spain]

Post deleted. I now realise you were not referring to my previous post.

[pschweig]

Thank you so much for the advice about the credit card billing for shore excursions occuring while we were away! That did not occur to me and is excellent advice. Another reason to book early. We have completed our online check-in and knew about the $60pp/day hold. I appreciate that advice also, though we have high credit limits. Another thing I did not think of!

 

Everyone has been so helpful. So many points were made that I did not consider.

[Kay240]

When we are on a cruise longer than a week or so, and there are several ports we would like HAL excursions for, we buy them over time, so they are billed in different "charge cycles". For instance, in March we will on on a 33 day cruise

(:D). We bought 3 excursions during the November cycle, paid for the cruise during the December cycle, bought three more excursions in the January cycle. (Part of why we have done this, is that all of these excursions are over $100pp.) We will buy at least onemore in the February cycle. The air fare was charged a long time ago. Our cruise will cover two cycles :D, so everything will be great (and DH will have enough "points" to probably fly around the world ;)).

We also purchase any excursion we REALLY WANT first, and leave those that are less appealing or we can't decide upon until later.

Karen

[maxmia]

Another question please, If by some unfortunate event, you have to cancel your cruise, would HAL refund the monies paid for shore tours pre booked with them? (Just trying to cover all our options). I cannot see any mention of refunds of additions in our travel insurance book.:confused:

[Mary Ellen]

Yes, if you cancel your cruise HAL automatically cancels any shore ex you have booked with them and refunds the money to your credit card. If any one has bought gifts for you (through the HAL site) those will also be canceled and refunded.