When do you pay for excursions?

[Bkmat]

First time on NCL, trying to get as much info as possible.   Our cruise is not until January 2024, but I’m seeing some excursions are starting to appear to book.   When can you book ship excursions?   Do you pay for excursions when you book them and if that is the case, do you get a refund if you change your mind?  Thanks, in advance!  

[LadyZolt]

You pay when you book them. Yes, you will get a refund if you cancel. I think you have to cancel something like 24 hours or more before the excursion. You will be automatically refunded if the ship ends up not being able to provide the excursion, like if weather causes the ship to miss a port or something along those lines.

[shof515]

after you add the excursion to the cart, make sure you complete the process and book it. it will require a payment at the end. you can cancel the excursion anytime by calling or doing it onboard the ship

 

do not leave the excursion in the cart

 

 

[Bkmat]

One more question:  do you get a refund on your original payment or do you get an OBC?   Thanks for the quick replies!

[complawyer]

(1) you get a refund, (2) unless it appears as a must see excursion, you can book it on the ship. this works (sometimes) if you are taking a longer cruise. or, since this is y our 1st time on ncl, at a great number of ports, i merely take the excursion description, hire a cab, and show the driver exactly where i want  to go. much cheaper also, and there are usually a slew of cabs and tour available at every port

[dbrown84]

19 minutes ago, Bkmat said:

One more question:  do you get a refund on your original payment or do you get an OBC?   Thanks for the quick replies!

if you cancel before the cruise, it will go to the original payment.  If you cancel onboard, it will be OBC.  It will refundable OBC though, so you can get the cash on the last night if you don't spend it

[ChiefMateJRK]

NCL cancelled my excursion this week, but they never told me. The tickets we’re in my room.  Fortunately, I figured it out before going to the departure point. I need to talk to them later today about the refund.  I paid it a month or so ago.  

[ontheweb]

10 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

NCL cancelled my excursion this week, but they never told me. The tickets we’re in my room.  Fortunately, I figured it out before going to the departure point. I need to talk to them later today about the refund.  I paid it a month or so ago.  

That sounds odd. How did you figure it out that it had been cancelled since the tickets were in your room? Just hope they don't say you got the tickets, no refund.

[TYTY]

If you call the Shore Excursion number to make a reservation do you pay then or does it just get added to your account and you pay onboard?  I seem to remember you could do that...maybe before covid

[mjkacmom]

19 minutes ago, TYTY said:

If you call the Shore Excursion number to make a reservation do you pay then or does it just get added to your account and you pay onboard?  I seem to remember you could do that...maybe before covid

Haven’t cruised since 2016 and excursions were charged to my credit card at the time off booking.

[julig22]

26 minutes ago, TYTY said:

If you call the Shore Excursion number to make a reservation do you pay then or does it just get added to your account and you pay onboard?  I seem to remember you could do that...maybe before covid

You used to be able to reserve your excursions if you had the $50 FAS promo, then pay onboard.  They changed that just prior to covid, probably about the time they changed FAS to take everything (in the past you had to choose 1 or more, depending on the promo) and added the excursion benefit to Sailaway.

[genealogyfan]

On 4/25/2023 at 9:02 PM, ChiefMateJRK said:

NCL cancelled my excursion this week, but they never told me. The tickets we’re in my room.  Fortunately, I figured it out before going to the departure point. I need to talk to them later today about the refund.  I paid it a month or so ago.  

That's annoying. I had an excursion canceled on my most recent cruise about 2 days ahead of time. .I got a notice in my room stating because of not enough participation they canceled it. I booked another on the tv/account. They should have left you a notice.

[ChiefMateJRK]

36 minutes ago, LadyZolt said:

Just bumping this thread to say -- when you do book excursions, I recommend that you book each one separately so you have a confirmation number for each one. 

That's a great pro tip.  It looks like I failed to respond to a few questions last year (I think I was still on the ship and generally not spending time on the internet).  The only reason I found out my Shorex was cancelled is because I tried to do the cancel/rebook thing at the Shorex desk to utilize non-refundable OBC.  They told me my initial cruise was cancelled.  Then they told me I wasn't entitled to a refund because it was "pre-paid."  What?!  It was a minor cluster.  I was on a B2B and the Shorex guy was looking at the wrong week when he told me there was no evidence of my buying and paying for the Shorex in advance.  I asked him, "then why do I have tickets that were left in my room?"  He spent about a half hour on the phone with HQ back in Miami and still couldn't figure it out.  Eventually, he gave up with HQ and called up the correct week's invoice.  At the end of the day, I got refunded.....twice.  I initiated a case to report the over-refund once back home, but they just gave up and said don't worry about it.

[Distinctive-Destinations]

22 hours ago, LadyZolt said:

I had 16 excursions booked with Royal Caribbean

 

I’m confused, are you saying your experience also relates to Norwegian? Or did you just post in the wrong forum?

[LadyZolt]

2 hours ago, Distinctive-Destinations said:

 

I’m confused, are you saying your experience also relates to Norwegian? Or did you just post in the wrong forum?

I'm saying -- book each excursion separately, no matter which cruise line you're on.  I used the Royal Caribbean experience to show how badly it can go when you don't.  LOL!  Usually, the cruise line doesn't cancel a dozen or more excursions within a short time frame (at least, I hope none of them do), but I was certainly glad I always book mine individually when that did happen.