Excursion Availability Issues

[mlbcruiser]

We & our dd, her husband, & their 3 kids are supposed to finalize a cruise that is 3 1/2 months away by Monday. However, I read on a  social media rollcall that most of the excursions are already sold out. Additionally, the cost of many of these runs very close to $200 a person! Yikes!
 

There was one particular excursion that dd’s family was very excited about doing. Unfortunately, I think that excursion is sold out already through the ship as well as through other channels. I checked online to see if it would be bookable independently.  Unfortunately, on the various vendors’ availability calendars, most, if not, all are sold out as well. I’m now wondering if we should finalize this cruise.  Being able to book several months ago was not an option due to restrictions on vacation time and so on.

 

It’s unfortunate for those who can’t jump online the second excursion booking opens up and choose what they are going to do in the ports. 

 

Some years back RCI are used to hold a few slots open for pax unaware of early booking. I doubt this is the same anymore.  (?)

 

My dh and I just got off of a Celebrity ship two and a half weeks ago. Same thing occurred on that ship. It seems to be extra common now. Especially since so many of the ships are carrying 3,000 - 5,000 passengers with some about to debut carrying over 5,000! 
 

If anyone knows of any ways to get around this, please chime in!  Feel free to vent about this issue as well, lol!

 

 

[perfect match]

Same thing on our upcoming cruise, both excursions and onboard activities are showing up as sold out, and have been for a while now. I’m hoping some slots have been saved so people who are expecting to be able to book onboard can do so. I was checking daily for one onboard activity to show up in our cruise planner. The activity we were looking to book wasn’t there. The day it finally did show up it was already sold out in my cruise planner and has never shown up at all in the app. 🤷‍♀️

[TheBucketLister]

I have noticed this recently as well.  There are multiple excursions that are already sold out on our transatlantic for October.  Also, I have noticed that a bunch of excursions have increased in price as well, and in some cases pretty substantially.  I am talking about the base price before discounts, as well as many discounts having been removed completely and no longer being offered for a majority of them.

[Escortmad79]

We've noticed the same for our upcoming Oasis cruise.

 

Everything has been showing sold out for months or are ridiculously expensive!

[papaflamingo]

I think a big part of the problem is that Covid caused a lot of tour companies to go out of business.  This is happening on all cruise lines.  Add to that, you are likely not the only ship in port.  We have an upcoming cruise on another line and I checked the port schedules and in most ports there'll be 3-5 ships in.  Given the size of most ships, that's likely 6,000-15,000 cruise passengers.  There are only so many tour operators around. It just seems that full ships and limited shore excursions will be the current cruise experience. 

Edited March 19, 2023 by papaflamingo

[mlbcruiser]

Good point, but it was already happening somewhat before Covid. Been on over 50 cruises and I started noticing it some while back. I agree though in Nassau we have been there when there are eight ships! I agree that size and number of ships definitely points to that and somewhat, no doubt, Covid causing companies to fold. Thanks for your reply.

[BennyandBo]

On 3/19/2023 at 12:36 AM, mlbcruiser said:

We & our dd, her husband, & their 3 kids are supposed to finalize a cruise that is 3 1/2 months away by Monday. However, I read on a  social media rollcall that most of the excursions are already sold out. Additionally, the cost of many of these runs very close to $200 a person! Yikes!
 

There was one particular excursion that dd’s family was very excited about doing. Unfortunately, I think that excursion is sold out already through the ship as well as through other channels. I checked online to see if it would be bookable independently.  Unfortunately, on the various vendors’ availability calendars, most, if not, all are sold out as well. I’m now wondering if we should finalize this cruise.  Being able to book several months ago was not an option due to restrictions on vacation time and so on.

 

It’s unfortunate for those who can’t jump online the second excursion booking opens up and choose what they are going to do in the ports. 

 

Some years back RCI are used to hold a few slots open for pax unaware of early booking. I doubt this is the same anymore.  (?)

 

My dh and I just got off of a Celebrity ship two and a half weeks ago. Same thing occurred on that ship. It seems to be extra common now. Especially since so many of the ships are carrying 3,000 - 5,000 passengers with some about to debut carrying over 5,000! 
 

If anyone knows of any ways to get around this, please chime in!  Feel free to vent about this issue as well, lol!

 

 

My excursions sold put 9 months in advance. 3 months is really coming to the party late.

[jean87510]

On 3/19/2023 at 1:36 AM, mlbcruiser said:

We & our dd, her husband, & their 3 kids are supposed to finalize a cruise that is 3 1/2 months away by Monday. However, I read on a  social media rollcall that most of the excursions are already sold out. Additionally, the cost of many of these runs very close to $200 a person! Yikes!
 

There was one particular excursion that dd’s family was very excited about doing. Unfortunately, I think that excursion is sold out already through the ship as well as through other channels. I checked online to see if it would be bookable independently.  Unfortunately, on the various vendors’ availability calendars, most, if not, all are sold out as well. I’m now wondering if we should finalize this cruise.  Being able to book several months ago was not an option due to restrictions on vacation time and so on.

 

It’s unfortunate for those who can’t jump online the second excursion booking opens up and choose what they are going to do in the ports. 

 

Some years back RCI are used to hold a few slots open for pax unaware of early booking. I doubt this is the same anymore.  (?)

 

My dh and I just got off of a Celebrity ship two and a half weeks ago. Same thing occurred on that ship. It seems to be extra common now. Especially since so many of the ships are carrying 3,000 - 5,000 passengers with some about to debut carrying over 5,000! 
 

If anyone knows of any ways to get around this, please chime in!  Feel free to vent about this issue as well, lol!

 

 

Can you be more specific as to which port?  I have noticed as well especially on Alaska excursions.