Shore excursions

[Bell Boy]

Shore excursions Quest ?

 

Next month ( March 13th )I'm joining Quest for 41 days cruise and have been trying to pre book a selection of the shore excursions prior to joining the ship.

 

Within an hour of receiving the pre cruise booklet ( Jan 4th)I was surprised to see/read 'ALL ! excursions were waitlisted' !

 

However, this morning I received confirmation that some of the waitlisted requests are now available ( 72 hours to confirm & book/pay)

 

Very disappointed that Seabourn expect full payment in $US upfront ( via a credit card )..... not to mention the 'rate of exchange' added on for those of us who live in UK)

 

I have Two Thousand $US onboard credit that I expected to use towards some excursions ..... Question ! Is this the norm to pay in advance on Seabourn ? ... Can OBC ( on Seabourn) not be used for the excursions :confused:..... (how many times do I really want to use the spar or drink expensive wine ;))

 

Never had any problems with Cunard ....Pre booked shore excursions are always debited from OBC once onboard.

 

Help :(

 

Bell Boy:)

[Seabourntraveller]

Shore excursions Quest ?

 

Next month ( March 13th )I'm joining Quest for 41 days cruise and have been trying to pre book a selection of the shore excursions prior to joining the ship.

 

Within an hour of receiving the pre cruise booklet ( Jan 4th)I was surprised to see/read 'ALL ! excursions were waitlisted' !

 

However, this morning I received confirmation that some of the waitlisted requests are now available ( 72 hours to confirm & book/pay)

 

Very disappointed that Seabourn expect full payment in $US upfront ( via a credit card )..... not to mention the 'rate of exchange' added on for those of us who live in UK)

 

I have Two Thousand $US onboard credit that I expected to use towards some excursions ..... Question ! Is this the norm to pay in advance on Seabourn ? ... Can OBC ( on Seabourn) not be used for the excursions :confused:..... (how many times do I really want to use the spar or drink expensive wine ;))

 

Never had any problems with Cunard ....Pre booked shore excursions are always debited from OBC once onboard.

 

Help :(

 

Bell Boy:)

 

Yes this is the norm when you pre-book you must pay up front with a credit card. Having said that, there is always space on shore excursions once you arrive onboard. If demand is strong they will ask thier supplier to add another bus/tour for the excursion if it is sold out. They did this on the Legend when I last onboard a couple of weeks ago,

I wouldn't pay up front if I had $2000.00 OBC either.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Does SB actually bill your card for the shore ex before you board? Or is the card info just to put a firm reservation on the excursion(s), and then all onboard charges, including the pre-reserved shore ex, are settled up using obcs and credit card at the end?

[Seabourntraveller]

Does SB actually bill your card for the shore ex before you board? Or is the card info just to put a firm reservation on the excursion(s), and then all onboard charges, including the pre-reserved shore ex, are settled up using obcs and credit card at the end?

 

The credit card is billed immediately once you make the purchase online on the website.

[wripro]

This is a terrible new policy instituted by the geniuses at Holland America. Up until a couple of years ago you could pre book all excursions without paying up front, as befits a luxury line. I know Regent does the same thing. I rest my case.

[cwn]

This is a terrible new policy instituted by the geniuses at Holland America. Up until a couple of years ago you could pre book all excursions without paying up front, as befits a luxury line. I know Regent does the same thing. I rest my case.

 

I may have misunderstood the above. As far as I am concerned both Regent and Seabourn are luxury lines....though with the cuts in operating expenses these days, the line is getting a little blurred for those of us who sail the so called "luxury" and "mass market" lines regularly.

 

Regent is not part of HAL. In 2010 we had to prepay with credit card for the excursions booked before sailing on the Regent Mariner.

 

This paying when booking online started in the last couple of years on all the lines we sail on.. Princess, HAL, Carnival and Regent...Seabourn has been the slowest to join the party. In early 2009 we did not have to pre pay on either our Seabourn or Princess cruises, but by 2010 Carnival, HAL and Regent had gone to pre pay on our cruises with them. Not sure about Princess...we don't sail with them again until 2013.

 

This isn't really a big deal to us as we don't do many ship's tours. If we have a big OBC, we just wait and take our chances on board.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

I guess well be drinking our OBC :rolleyes:

[turtlemichael]

Of course, on Regent you not only pre-pay for the select tours you book which have a charge attached, you also effectively pre-pay for the rest as they are included in the cruise price. And that is whether you take them or not. :rolleyes:

 

Personally, I don't think whether the cruise line charges in advance or not has much to do with luxury. I determine "luxury" by my cruise experience.

[Ockatty]

I was curious about this as well. I noticed when I went to checkout the following statement...

 

"For the World Cruise only you have the option to pre-reserve your shore excursions versus pre-pay on the website. If you wish to pre-reserve your tours please call Seabourn Shore Excursions at 800-984-3225 or 206-626-9187, Mon-Fri 6 a.m.-5 p.m. (Pacific) to speak with a shore excursion agent. Private Arrangements and Journeys will require full payment at the time of booking."

 

Is this for segments as well? Has anyone pre-reserved?

 

I plan to call Monday to inquire.

[grouchotoo]

I was curious about this as well. I noticed when I went to checkout the following statement...

 

"For the World Cruise only you have the option to pre-reserve your shore excursions versus pre-pay on the website. If you wish to pre-reserve your tours please call Seabourn Shore Excursions at 800-984-3225 or 206-626-9187, Mon-Fri 6 a.m.-5 p.m. (Pacific) to speak with a shore excursion agent. Private Arrangements and Journeys will require full payment at the time of booking."

 

Is this for segments as well? Has anyone pre-reserved?

 

I plan to call Monday to inquire.

 

It will be interesting to hear what they tell you. My wife and I will be on the Pride, Hong Kong to Singapore, this March---14 days --and when I taked to the Excursion Dept two weeks ago I was told that the shore excursions needed to be paid for at the time of booking whether done on the web site or talking to them directly.

-Barry

[LoveBora]

Not only do shore excursions need to be paid for at the time of booking, you are not allowed a refund if you cancel once you are on the ship. I understand this if you cancel within a couple of days of the excursion, but several days notice should not incur a penalty. I know of another luxury cruise line that allows you to book online, the charge simply goes to your onboard account, and cancellations with full refund are generally allowed with 24-hour notice. This is a good reason not to book a Seabourn excursion until you are on board and are very sure you want to go on the excursion.

[Karri Bay]

I have now been waitlisted for a tour to Luxor on Segment 5 of Quest's maiden voyage. This is our first time on Seabourn and first time to Egypt so barring political upheaval would like to go to Luxor.. I do object to paying upfront but seems this is the only way to get what one wants - possibly. I am not sure what 'waitlisted' means? All tours are full filled by earlier segment travellers? Seabourn is waiting to see if Egypt is OK?

Waiting to see if there is enough interest on the tour to put on another bus?

I have tried to rouse interest both on this thread and on the Quest roll call for anyone interested in sharing a private tour but to no avail. Ww do not wish to do a private tour on our own it is too risky. Unhappy! Karri Bay

[wripro]

To me luxury entails the entire experience from the moment you book to the moment you disembark. Every element should make you feel like a guest rather than a number. I realize that no cruise line including Seabourn performs completely up to those expectations but they certainly did more so before Holland America took over.

 

My comment re: Regent had more to do with the fact that one prepays for all excursion there since they are included in your fare. Perhaps I didn't word that correctly.

[Skeezics]

I was on the Legend Dec/Jan. Prebooked shore excursions, paid for them. Upon arrival on the ship, decided to cancel one.....cost was credited to my on board account. Actually the shore excursion desk was very nice...I cancelled after the cutoff date; however, they had a couple who wanted my excursion.....they gave me the refund.

[Bell Boy]

Many thanks to all for your comments and suggestions. However; not only are we confused, but it appears Seabourn are confused as well !

 

You won't believe this.... This morning I've had two Emails from Seabourn.

 

The first E mail saying that there has been an error in 'their system' and that pre booked excursions can be paid 'once onboard' with ! (or without) OBC and one will not be required to purchase (up front) 'regular' shore excursions prior to sailing with a credit card.

 

Well that sounds all very well.. until the next Email;

 

We inform you that your waitlisted request has now been cancelled and passed onto the next guest .... due to not receiving confirmation from me within 72 hours.

 

Talk about the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing ! :confused:

 

Are they now saying that upfront payments are only needed for the 'Private'/minibus tours ? and not required for the 'regular' tours ? if so they need to rectify their booking webb page .

 

Bell Boy :) (I'll keep you updated)

[wripro]

I do not believe they are saying that at all. And I think that you are correct that sometimes the left hand does not know what the right is doing. Have you thought about having your TA straighten all this out for you?

[Yorkiebargirl]

From following this page for a while, I get the impression that people in the US can book a cruise and cancel without penalty, ie lose deposit, fairly close to departure.

If that is the case, I can see why any company would want you to put your money where your mouth is, so to speak, re.tours they have to book themselves from people that they need to keep happy. If as many people who book Seabourn cruise and cancel them did that to the tour companies then those companies would not last long.

[Ockatty]

Further confusing the matter, I was informed this morning that they must be prebooked and paid, no pre-reserve was offered. My guess is if you elevated the issue you may getbuts offering answer, but as I had lost my wait list spot it didn't seem worth the effort.

 

I received my notification of availability on Saturday morning and I was out of town so I waited until I was back home this morning to call, but apparently the cutoff was midnight. Supposedly we'll be placed back on the waitlist. Lesson learned, don't wait to book by phone since you can't pre-reserve anyways.

 

Typically I do private excursions but I am pregnant and am not sure if the seabourn arranged tours would be "safer" if I have a problem. Probably doesn't matter, but that's a whole other topic :)