Booking shore excursions on-line

[crznfuls]

We're going on our first Princess cruise in February. When I look at the shore excursions and place the ones we want to do in my Wish List, I'm not able to book them. Does Princess allow on-line booking of shore excursions? If so, how far in advance of the cruise date?

 

Thanks

[paul929207]

Princess usually opens the shore excurions 60 to 120 days prior to sailing.

 

Yes, they let you book them online. Cost is added to your onboard account

[tennisobo]

FYI:

The online prices in advance of your cruise are usually less expensive than waiting to book excursions on the ship.

[paul929207]

Also, you can cancel any excursion up until the closing time listed in the Princess Patter.

[Astro Flyer]

FYI:

The online prices in advance of your cruise are usually less expensive than waiting to book excursions on the ship.

 

This is becoming more common & I've experienced an increase of up to 50%. For a May cruise the per person cost booked online early was $80, up to $100 online closer to sailing and $120 onboard. :eek:

[dchip]

This is becoming more common & I've experienced an increase of up to 50%. For a May cruise the per person cost booked online early was $80, up to $100 online closer to sailing and $120 onboard. :eek:

 

Wow, really? I had no idea Princess was doing this! We always book the minute we can to get the excursions we want. Who knew we were saving some $$ while doing so.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

 

Cheers, Denise

[alicam]

We are sailing new year's eve and excursions for that sailing just opened up this past weekend (at least that is when I noticed)...I would start looking in 3-4 weeks from now

[Astro Flyer]

Wow, really? I had no idea Princess was doing this! We always book the minute we can to get the excursions we want. Who knew we were saving some $$ while doing so.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

 

Cheers, Denise

There's really no downside to booking early with the great system in place with Princess.

 

For a recent cruise excurisons were available more than 160 days before sailing but definitely not the norm. :p

 

I also discovered that if a tour is on their list of generally available tours but not available for a particular cruise, Princess' shore excursion department is willing to respond to passengers' requests. We booked a Wine Country Coastal from LA to Vancouver which prominently adverstised wine tours in SF in their description for this cruise. Due to our hours in port, it was only possible with a ship's tour (5 hours) during our 10 hours in port. After passengers expressed their disappointment they added the Sonoma wine tasting tour & filled up 2 buses with happy passengers. There was a desire for this tour & Princess came through with it. :D

[Pam in CA]

Unlike some other cruiselines, when you pre-book a tour, you don't pay for it up front. You reserve it. When you check in and board, your tour tickets will be in your cabin or delivered shortly after boarding. The amount(s) will be charged to your onboard account at that time. You have 24-48 hours before the tour to cancel or change it with no penalty. (Some cruiselines charge a fee to cancel after embarking the cruise.)

 

A notice will be in the Patter with the day and time for the next port's cancelation deadline. To cancel, all you have to do is drop the tour ticket in the drop box in front of the Shore Excursion Desk. You don't have to wait for it to open. The night before the tour, the Patter will list the tour meeting times and places which can sometimes differ from what's printed on the ticket.

[sabookkeeper]

We are cruising in February and booked our shore excursions about 3 weeks ago. This is the earliest we have seen the excursions become available.

[joll]

We are cruising in February and booked our shore excursions about 3 weeks ago. This is the earliest we have seen the excursions become available.

 

Our cruise on the Diamond starts in April and the excursions for most ports became available over a week ago.

[caribill]

This is becoming more common & I've experienced an increase of up to 50%. For a May cruise the per person cost booked online early was $80, up to $100 online closer to sailing and $120 onboard. :eek:

 

From a report I did on a May Princess cruise:

 

Shore excursions:

We used a combination of Princess tours and private tours arranged on our roll calls. One thing about the Princess tours: The prices on board were higher (up to 89%) than the prices for most tours that we booked in advance.

Tour 1 In advance $49 Onboard $59, $10 more

Tour 2 In advance $99 Onboard $129, $30 more

Tour 3 In advance $69 Onboard $69, same pricing

Tour 4 In advance $69 Onboard $89, $20 more

Tour 5 In advance $29 Onboard $55, $26 more

Tour 6 In advance $129 Onboard $139, $10 more

Tour 7 In advance $59 Onboard $69, $10 more

[fireytaz]

I'm sailing on the Sun in Feb and our tours are available to be booked already.

[Bogof1]

Just had a quick look at the tours we booked on line 2 weeks ago for our trip in September. One has gone up in price by $6 per person so earlier you book the better:)

[UandMe4Ever]

Unlike some other cruiselines, when you pre-book a tour, you don't pay for it up front. You reserve it. When you check in and board, your tour tickets will be in your cabin or delivered shortly after boarding. The amount(s) will be charged to your onboard account at that time. You have 24-48 hours before the tour to cancel or change it with no penalty. (Some cruiselines charge a fee to cancel after embarking the cruise.)

 

A notice will be in the Patter with the day and time for the next port's cancelation deadline. To cancel, all you have to do is drop the tour ticket in the drop box in front of the Shore Excursion Desk. You don't have to wait for it to open. The night before the tour, the Patter will list the tour meeting times and places which can sometimes differ from what's printed on the ticket.

 

Works very much like that on NCL - Just reserve excursion on line and tickets in your cabin. You can also cancel w/in 24-48 hours @ no charge. However, on RCI, your charge card is charged upon online booking! You can cancel and they will send you a notice of cancellation and it will come off pretty quickly. Same procedure...tickets in cabin...same cancelation policy.

 

Safe sails always!

[Kinkacruiser]

Our cruise on the Diamond starts in April and the excursions for most ports became available over a week ago.

 

Likewise. Our 35 day Hawaii cruise excursions (April 2012) were there yesterday....at the 8 month point. That's the earliest I have experienced.

[duck addict]

One BIG advantage is that you get the excursion. When I got on board the Star Princess in March, several excursions were SOLD OUT. You could put your name on a waiting list and hope someone cancelled. (They can't just add another bus or boat, etc. because more suddenly want the excursion.)

[Astro Flyer]

One BIG advantage is that you get the excursion. When I got on board the Star Princess in March, several excursions were SOLD OUT. You could put your name on a waiting list and hope someone cancelled. (They can't just add another bus or boat, etc. because more suddenly want the excursion.)

Not only have to be on a waiting list but there's a good chance it would at a much higher price. :eek:

[cdngrl]

From a report I did on a May Princess cruise:

 

Shore excursions:

We used a combination of Princess tours and private tours arranged on our roll calls. One thing about the Princess tours: The prices on board were higher (up to 89%) than the prices for most tours that we booked in advance.

Tour 1 In advance $49 Onboard $59, $10 more

Tour 2 In advance $99 Onboard $129, $30 more

Tour 3 In advance $69 Onboard $69, same pricing

Tour 4 In advance $69 Onboard $89, $20 more

Tour 5 In advance $29 Onboard $55, $26 more

Tour 6 In advance $129 Onboard $139, $10 more

Tour 7 In advance $59 Onboard $69, $10 more

 

wow! its a good thing i am a planner and like everything booked and organized. it looks like i'm going to be saving some money by having it all done early. did princess really charge you the advance booking price?

[caribill]

wow! its a good thing i am a planner and like everything booked and organized. it looks like i'm going to be saving some money by having it all done early. did princess really charge you the advance booking price?

 

Yes. The price I booked at was the price I was charged on my onboard account.

[KVR]

We booked 2 shore excursions for our Alaska cruise next month back in January. I noticed the other day that on one of them the price is now $50 p/p more and the other is still the same. I guess it depends on how popular the excursion is.

[paul929207]

We booked 2 shore excursions for our Alaska cruise next month back in January. I noticed the other day that on one of them the price is now $50 p/p more and the other is still the same. I guess it depends on how popular the excursion is.

Yes, it is supply & demand

[1Turbo]

going to alaksa in 2 days on Sapphire.

i cant book anything online :(

 

-Excursions are not currently available for online reservations.

-Shore excursions are currently not available for online reservation. You will need to handle shore excursion requests onboard

 

Whats going on?

[caribill]

going to alaksa in 2 days on Sapphire.

i cant book anything online :(

 

-Excursions are not currently available for online reservations.

-Shore excursions are currently not available for online reservation. You will need to handle shore excursion requests onboard

 

Whats going on?

 

Several days before embarkation day online changes in the personalize,r including shore excursion reservations, are frozen so that the information can be sent to the ship for processing.

 

This close to the cruise you will need to book excursions onboard.

[HawaiianAndy]

We looked around at prices, compared tours and then booked. Didn't see any reason to wait. We booked our volacano and waterfalls tour online with http://hawaiicruiseexcursions.com/BigIslandVolcanoIslandTour.htm for $70 each. Princess wants $149 online for just the volcanos. I talked to these guys on their live help before i booked, and they sell tours to all the cruise ships. their tour times are all planned around our port times. We were back at the ship 2 hours before we departed. We never felt rushed and it was a great tour.