Excursions booked through Carnival

[SDJen]

New to Carnival and have a few questions about excursions. We are sailing in April.

1. If I choose a Carnival excursion now do I pay now or when on the ship?

2. What is the cancellation policy if we would change our mind?

3. What if the weather isn't great - can you cancel day of?

4.  I usually book my own excursions (not through the cruise) but the one I am looking at is a decent price considering the transportation is included. Is it usually a slow process to do a cruse excursion (waiting for bus, etc...) would rather pay a little more and not waste a ton of time.

 

Thanks for any advice.

 

PS - the excursion I am looking at is the Segway tour on Blue Lagoon in Nassau. We are in port 7-5.

[klfrodo]

1. Pay now

2. IDK. I think 48 hours prior

3. No

4. maybe. depends on how the group of people are. Organized? Then quick. Herd of cats, then slow.

[riffatsea]

You pay when you book the cruise.

IF you have OBC it can be used to pay for the excursion before you get on board.

You can cancel and get money back before the cruise.

I don't know the policy about cancelling while on board.

We do our own thing or private tours but we do book cruise excursions sometimes.

We do that mainly in tender ports to get ashore more easily.

[Schoifmom]

23 minutes ago, SDJen said:

New to Carnival and have a few questions about excursions. We are sailing in April.

1. If I choose a Carnival excursion now do I pay now or when on the ship?

2. What is the cancellation policy if we would change our mind?

3. What if the weather isn't great - can you cancel day of?

4.  I usually book my own excursions (not through the cruise) but the one I am looking at is a decent price considering the transportation is included. Is it usually a slow process to do a cruse excursion (waiting for bus, etc...) would rather pay a little more and not waste a ton of time.

 

Thanks for any advice.

 

PS - the excursion I am looking at is the Segway tour on Blue Lagoon in Nassau. We are in port 7-5.

1.  You pay when you book the excursion (you can book now or when on the ship).  If you book on the ship, it will be charged to your S&S account.

2.  If you purchase prior to sailing, you can cancel online up until 11:30 pm the day prior to embarkation.  Afterward, you will have to make the adjustments on board at the excursions desk.  If you cancel on board, there is a 25% charge.  If it is within 24 hours of arrival in that port, it is a 100% fee.

3.  If you cancel day of, you will most likely lose what you paid.  I will say, though, that is at the discretion of the excursions team on board and they have been known to be typically understanding and will adjust or eliminate the cancellation fee.

4.  Highly popular Carnival excursions can have more people than private excursions, but I have them to leave on time.

 

Don't forget about the price match guarantee!!

 

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2866/~/shore-excursion-faqs

[ABQrobin]

As far as canceling the Day of or the night before.... it all depends on how nice you are to the Desk staff.  We switched an excursion the night before, no penalty.  We have also canceled one person the morning of, when they woke up too sore to do the excursion.  Both cases, no issues, full refund for canceled, and credit to account if a price difference.  

 

We have also had Carnival excursions canceled due to bad weather a few times, didn't get notice until last minute on one of them, like as we docked.  Others gave us notice night before that weather was canceling.  Full refund for onboard credit.  If you book on your own, you may not get any money back.  

[shof515]

3 hours ago, riffatsea said:

IF you have OBC it can be used to pay for the excursion before you get on board.

 

 

how is this possible?

Edited January 11, 2019 by shof515

[riffatsea]

Your OBC is listed in your account and when you book the tour you can use it to pay.

Hmm? Maybe I am mixing this up with Princess but that is what happened the last time I booked an excursion.

[coevan]

You don't assign OBC, it pay as you go, auto deducted.

[mistycruiser]

9 hours ago, riffatsea said:

Your OBC is listed in your account and when you book the tour you can use it to pay.

Hmm? Maybe I am mixing this up with Princess but that is what happened the last time I booked an excursion.

I think you're confusing it with Princess.  On Carnival the OBC can only be used once on board. 

[Lizzanna]

My husband and I changed our minds about an excursion we already booked and was charged to a credit card.  I cancelled on the Carnival website (we are still a month from sailing).  Will my credit card be refunded or will it go to OBC?  

 

[klfrodo]

18 minutes ago, Lizzanna said:

My husband and I changed our minds about an excursion we already booked and was charged to a credit card.  I cancelled on the Carnival website (we are still a month from sailing).  Will my credit card be refunded or will it go to OBC?  

 

credited back to the credit card you used to book the excursion

[OCruisers]

53 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

credited back to the credit card you used to book the excursion

 

Yes ... per above!

Just adding that it may not show up immediately as a cridit on the credit card you used ... but it will ... normally by the end of the month.  

 

 

[dmdiver]

I know my hubby & friend cancelled a scuba trip once.  We had prebooked & paid prior to cruising.  During the cruise, they decided not to dive & just hang out with us girls.  I think they cancelled it the evening before and our full refund was credited to our onboard account.  I was surprised that there wasn't a penalty, since it was less than 24 hours.

[Tracey.kinney425]

I was wondering the same thing. Also we looked up the excursions for our ports, dolphin swim was a must, now that we're booked the dolphin swim excursion we want isn't on our list of options, we sail April 2020, 1 port has no options at all, is it possible it will be added later and that it's just to early?

[Doggielover68]

Some excursions get cancelled if the weather is bad i.e. very windy or heavy downpours. In that event, your opinion of the weather won't matter, it is up to the excursion desk. 

 

There is usually a sign posting the cancellation fee at the shore excursion desk, but results may vary. On our last cruise, we had an excursion booked in Aruba and won a similar excursion on board. They allowed us to get a refund for the original one we had booked without any fees. 

[dmdiver]

Tracey, I wouldn't fret over the dolphin excursion since your cruise is so far away.  I've noticed changes in excursions being offered on our upcoming sailing that was booked last year.  Some were recently added that weren't there before - not sure if any were taken away.  I imagine that the cruise line is always looking at their vendors & updating the contracts they have with them.

[mdsgu]

On 1/11/2019 at 11:35 AM, SDJen said:

New to Carnival and have a few questions about excursions. We are sailing in April.

1. If I choose a Carnival excursion now do I pay now or when on the ship?

2. What is the cancellation policy if we would change our mind?

3. What if the weather isn't great - can you cancel day of?

4.  I usually book my own excursions (not through the cruise) but the one I am looking at is a decent price considering the transportation is included. Is it usually a slow process to do a cruse excursion (waiting for bus, etc...) would rather pay a little more and not waste a ton of time.

 

 

 

1.  Now.  Can only use OBC if you wait and book onboard.

2.  I think you have to notify them either 24 or 48 hours before docking at that port.

3.  Yes.  We did this in Cozumel.  We literally canceled our excursion 2 hours before it was to begin due to rain.  Full refund.  Just be nice.

4.  Yes.  Ship excursions seem to take longer than private ones.  You are always waiting for stragglers.  

[Tracey.kinney425]

2 hours ago, dmdiver said:

Tracey, I wouldn't fret over the dolphin excursion since your cruise is so far away.  I've noticed changes in excursions being offered on our upcoming sailing that was booked last year.  Some were recently added that weren't there before - not sure if any were taken away.  I imagine that the cruise line is always looking at their vendors & updating the contracts they have with them.

 

Thank you, I will try not to. I like my ducks in a row and everything booked/scheduled so it might be easier said than done. 😂

[Saint Greg]

If you book now you pay now. If you want to use OBC for it...just wait until you get onboard and go to the excursions desk to book.