How far in advance to book excursions

[luxury-lizard]

We are first time Seabourn'ers (doing 14-days Venice to Istanbul) from Aug 29. I am just now starting to research the many ports of call and am wondering how far in advance does one need to books the ship's excursions? We are sort of DIY sort of people but some of the half-day excursions look good and seem reasonably priced so I was thinking we could do our own thing for half a day then a tour for the other half. We would probably prefer to wait until we are on board to book - but I was wondering if these tours fill up.

 

Any advice??

[dalliowner]

Book as soon as you get on board, I have never had a excursion fully booked unless whithin a day or so of starting. Also if you book before boarding you will have to pay then instead of just debiting your account on board.

 

John

[wripro]

Exactly right, You used to be able to prebook without paying but no longer so I'd wait to get on board. It's rare that something will be full unless it's very special and limited to a few people.

[luxury-lizard]

Many thanks - I think we'll wait as suggested. Into count-down mode pretty soon !!!

[JaneBP]

The one 'excursion' not to be missed is the Market Tour with the Chef. Just go to the PUrsers; office when you get onboard and see if there is a day scheduled and then ask to be put on the list. You can be put on a list even if there is no date scheduled. I figure that pretty much by now, the Chefs have their favorite markets.

[alexandra cruiser]

Exactly right, You used to be able to prebook without paying but no longer so I'd wait to get on board. It's rare that something will be full unless it's very special and limited to a few people.

Sometimes hard to know WHAT shore excursions to book,with just description in brochure,etc..must have missed this change,,just got off last mo.and booked those before with no prepayment,,if you book and cancel will money be refunded,,or taken off account at end??Preferred "old"way.Hate to lineup on first day,and spend "valuable"cruise time,,waiting and deciding on excursions,,NOT HAPPY with change...sorry.:(

[lincslady]

Sometimes hard to know WHAT shore excursions to book,with just description in brochure,etc..must have missed this change,,just got off last mo.and booked those before with no prepayment,,if you book and cancel will money be refunded,,or taken off account at end??Preferred "old"way.Hate to lineup on first day,and spend "valuable"cruise time,,waiting and deciding on excursions,,NOT HAPPY with change...sorry.:(

 

You don't have to queue- line up - to book your excursions; there will be a sheet about all of them in your suite on arrival, just fill it in and give it to the excursions desk. We find the booklet you get sent quite a while before you board gives you a good idea of what is offered; we always look if necessary online at the different ports to see if they are worthwhile, and then decide whether to do our own thing or book a SB excursion. Then it takes 5 minutes to fill in the form and hand it in. I personally would not book and pay in advance; this is not normally necessary.

 

But one good idea is to sign up at reception soon after arrival for the Chef's market tour if you are into food and markets. This could be any morning, but can only take about 15 people so occasionally gets overbooked. Usually starts at 9.30 a.m.

[curiousx]

We usually book onboard, using the sign-up sheet in the suite, and have never had trouble getting what we wanted. In my experience, the issue is usually too few people signing up for an excursion and having it cancelled as a result (sigh).

[luxury-lizard]

One more question - The Chef's market tour sounds right up our alley but if you need to book before you know the day/port what happens if it conflicts with another tour you book? Clearly you can drop out of the Chef's tour but what if you want to drop out of the 'other' tour - my understanding is that you cannot just cancel a tour close in - you would end up paying and not receiving a refund.

 

(BTW - I can see from this and other posts that people don't like this new pre-pay when booking tours in advance policy but, as long as you get a refund / credit if you cancel before the stated cancellation date, I personally don't have a big issue with this. So many travel "things" must be prepaid these days (cruises, hotels, tours, trains, flights etc etc) a few cruise tours seem like a drop in the bucket.) My biggest gripe is that credit card companies charge the 3% foreign currency exchange fee on credits / refunds as well as purchases which is a big issue for non-US residents and we (Aussies) do not have available a cc product which does not charge this fee. Anyway I digress.

[ozecruiser]

One more question - The Chef's market tour sounds right up our alley but if you need to book before you know the day/port what happens if it conflicts with another tour you book? Clearly you can drop out of the Chef's tour but what if you want to drop out of the 'other' tour - my understanding is that you cannot just cancel a tour close in - you would end up paying and not receiving a refund.

 

(BTW - I can see from this and other posts that people don't like this new pre-pay when booking tours in advance policy but, as long as you get a refund / credit if you cancel before the stated cancellation date, I personally don't have a big issue with this. So many travel "things" must be prepaid these days (cruises, hotels, tours, trains, flights etc etc) a few cruise tours seem like a drop in the bucket.) My biggest gripe is that credit card companies charge the 3% foreign currency exchange fee on credits / refunds as well as purchases which is a big issue for non-US residents and we (Aussies) do not have available a cc product which does not charge this fee. Anyway I digress.

 

Hello Luxury Lizard

In reply to your biggest gripe, credit card international transaction fees you might be interested in reading the attached link. We too, are cruising later this year and have been prepaying for quite a few things and have been lucky enough too not have to pay those pesky fees. http://www.creditcardfinder.com.au/ge-money-28-degrees-credit-card-is-a-great-card-for-international-shoppers.html

Enjoy your cruise

[luxury-lizard]

Thanks for the link ozecruiser - of course the trade-off is no FF points which can be significant particularly for large ticket items. We actually use an ANZ money card (preloaded with a particular foreign currency) for smaller items (eg restaurants, museum entry fees, etc) and cash from ATMs while travelling to avoid these fees - I did not want to hijack this thread on pre-booking tours with a tirade on cc fees. Again OT - we prepaid our entire Seabourn cruise many months before required when the AUD was around 1.02 thinking it couldn't go much higher but could easily slide - well that trick didn't work. You just can't win sometimes. :)

[Chairsin]

LuxuryLizard,

I feel your pain. We have a great TA in the UK that we started using based on Miss Martita's suggestion. The only negative is of course timing the exchange rate -- we made our final payment at 1.64 to the dollar -- it them dropped to 1.59.( We have a credit card without foriegn transaction fees so that is not an issue for us). But on the bright side this TA gives us a very nice discount.All I know is that once on board all is forgotten!