Do Carnival excursions sell out?

[Crismess669]

Second cruise ever in December. We didn’t do planned excursions on our first one, and we’re a good six months away. 

 

Do I need to reserve and pay for Carnival excursions now? Specifically, sting ray city in Grand Cayman. 

[keywest1]

Carnival excursions do sell out.  If there are several in your group, it pays to book early.  You can click on an excursion and then click on departure time to see how many tickets are available. 

[arizdback]

Rule of thumb. If it is an excursion that would interest the whole family or involves animals it will sell out. At least that has been my experience.

[hard_eight]

Cabanas are also prone to selling out.

[BoozinCroozin]

Yes some do. But most excursions Carnival has can be done through other vendors.

[SRQbeachgirl]

A lot of the popular excursions for our upcoming MG cruise are sold out. 

 

Other vendors do offer many of the same options and are often a bit less expensive. Just be aware that if it is a long excursion or in a remote location where there is risk of getting back to the ship on time Carnival will not wait for you unless you are on a Carnival-sponsored excursion and they cannot help resolve any service or billing disputes with the outside vendors. 

[Crismess669]

18 minutes ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

A lot of the popular excursions for our upcoming MG cruise are sold out. 

 

Other vendors do offer many of the same options and are often a bit less expensive. Just be aware that if it is a long excursion or in a remote location where there is risk of getting back to the ship on time Carnival will not wait for you unless you are on a Carnival-sponsored excursion and they cannot help resolve any service or billing disputes with the outside vendors. 

Thanks. The latter part scares me. I do not want to be left behind in Ocho Rios. 

[bguppies]

2 hours ago, Crismess669 said:

Second cruise ever in December. We didn’t do planned excursions on our first one, and we’re a good six months away. 

 

Do I need to reserve and pay for Carnival excursions now? Specifically, sting ray city in Grand Cayman. 

I'd book Sting Ray City on your own .

 

Better experienced on a boat with 10-20 people versus a double decker Carnival excursion with hundreds. (swimming with the stingrays at that sandbar is by FAR my favorite excursion I've ever done.)

 

Everytime we've gone, I watch the Carnival boat unload and reload all those people and they waste most of their time at the sandbar getting on and off the boat, while our smaller group spends all that time with our guide, less people and the rays.

 

I'd head over to the Grand Cayman board and see which recommended vendors are still running after the restart.

[kctwinmommy]

Yep! Like others said, some will sell out, especially animal ones. I would book it now, and you can always cancel if you change your mind. We've done just a few excursions that weren't Carnival ones, simply because for some things, we really like the peace of mind we have being on a Carnival one (knowing we can't be left behind). And I think it's fine if others want to do independent ones too, you do what's comfortable for you.

 

[chocolate melting cake]

1 hour ago, Crismess669 said:

Thanks. The latter part scares me. I do not want to be left behind in Ocho Rios. 

Some people claim this never happens---it has happened to us (unlucky?) 3 times. Barbados, flat tire on the bus--no spare! Panama, huge traffic jam, bus arrived 1 hour after ship due to depart. Freeport, boat from Dolphin Encounter pulled in 45 minutes after departure time!

 

In all three cases we were on Carnival tours, the tour directors were in touch with the ship and we boarded with no problems. It was worth every cent of the extra charge!!

[mz-s]

If you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you want to do a certain excursion or speciality dining time or what have you, there's no downside to booking it now (except of course, you're paying for it now). You can cancel up to the night before embarkation if you change your mind with no penalty.

[1kaper]

32 minutes ago, bguppies said:

I'd book Sting Ray City on your own .

 

Better experienced on a boat with 10-20 people versus a double decker Carnival excursion with hundreds. (swimming with the stingrays at that sandbar is by FAR my favorite excursion I've ever done.)

 

Everytime we've gone, I watch the Carnival boat unload and reload all those people and they waste most of their time at the sandbar getting on and off the boat, while our smaller group spends all that time with our guide, less people and the rays.

 

I'd head over to the Grand Cayman board and see which recommended vendors are still running after the restart.

 

Same. 

I did it on my first cruise when I was younger and much less worried about stuff.  We got off the boat and some guy with a sign asked if we wanted to do it.  I know, I know. 
But it ended up being a great excursion and not crowded.  We left with lots of time to get back to the boat.  So much that we got dropped at 7 Mile Beach, spent some time there and then headed back to the boat. 

[Cruisesfun65]

Yes, excursions do sell out, especially those with limited availability. 

I stalk beach cabanas from the minute I book until one becomes available.

[SRQbeachgirl]

2 hours ago, chocolate melting cake said:

Some people claim this never happens---it has happened to us (unlucky?) 3 times. Barbados, flat tire on the bus--no spare! Panama, huge traffic jam, bus arrived 1 hour after ship due to depart. Freeport, boat from Dolphin Encounter pulled in 45 minutes after departure time!

 

In all three cases we were on Carnival tours, the tour directors were in touch with the ship and we boarded with no problems. It was worth every cent of the extra charge!!

 

Our tour bus was held up at gunpoint in Caracas, Venezuela (way back in the 90's when Carnival still stopped there). Once police were finished with statements we were all very grateful that we were on a Carnival excursion rather than an independent operator.  

[BlerkOne]

Cruisers are booking everything with a vengeance since cruise restarted.

 

You can always cancel later if you change your mind.

Edited June 10, 2022 by BlerkOne

[vwrestler171]

Popular excursions sell out.  I know Rhythms of the Night in Puerta Vallarta would sell out every cruise.

[kctwinmommy]

On 6/10/2022 at 1:33 PM, SRQbeachgirl said:

 

Our tour bus was held up at gunpoint in Caracas, Venezuela (way back in the 90's when Carnival still stopped there). Once police were finished with statements we were all very grateful that we were on a Carnival excursion rather than an independent operator.  

Yikes! We were actually supposed to go there on an MSC cruise in 2002. It was our first cruise. We boarded the ship on embarkation day and found out shortly after that our stop there had been canceled. Turns out, there was a coup going on at the time. We were quite thankful to NOT end up in that! LOL! Glad you guys were all OK on your experience!

[BallFour4]

Go to the excursion times listed and click. You can then view how many tickets remain. 

 

For our Alaska trip next summer a couple are sold out a year in advance. 

 

.

[ashkir]

Often. Especially in rare destinations or Alaska they will sell out. But, you can go the morning of the excursion and see if it became available. It's not that uncommon for someone to cancel their excursion because they're not feeling well, or, didn't get enough sleep. 

[ontheweb]

Two points:

 

1. If the ship is being held from leaving because one or more Carnival excursions are late, those not on those excursions will also be allowed to board even though late. So, if you are late ecause of a massive traffic jam, the odds are that there will also be Carnival excursions held up. Also, private tour operators know they have to get you back in time as the bad publicity of cruisers missing the ship will destroy their business.

 

2. With the aftermath of Covid, there may very well be less private excursions available as tour operators went out of business.

 

 

[SRQbeachgirl]

16 hours ago, kctwinmommy said:

Yikes! We were actually supposed to go there on an MSC cruise in 2002. It was our first cruise. We boarded the ship on embarkation day and found out shortly after that our stop there had been canceled. Turns out, there was a coup going on at the time. We were quite thankful to NOT end up in that! LOL! Glad you guys were all OK on your experience!

 

That experience is at the top of my "Things I Never Want To Do Again" list! One elderly gentleman did get pistol-whipped because he wasn't taking his watch off fast enough for the thugs, but thankfully he wasn't seriously injured, just bruised up. I will say that Carnival was truly wonderful in taking care of all of us afterwards.

 

We were not all all surprised Carnival dropped it as a port six months after we were there.