Shore Excursions - Do the prices go down?

[mdepsmom]

Frequent Royal (Diamond) cruiser, trying Carnival again for the first time in 20 years, I have a solo cruise booked on Venezia next year.  I was looking at the shore excursions and found a couple I may consider (am looking at booking on my own too).  Does Carnival ever have a sale on their excursions?  e.g. Royal has their Black Friday and other sales, so I'm used to playing the book/cancel/repeat game with them whenever the price changes.  I searched and the last post I found on this was ten years ago.  Anyone?

[shof515]

very rarely like never. at best during black friday you might get a 10% off coupon code or something like that

[BobbiSox]

Just saying, if you book your own excursion and it has trouble getting you back on time, the ship will NOT wait for you. I always spend the few extra dollars it takes to insure that my ship will be waiting for me when and if there is a problem. 

[mdepsmom]

21 minutes ago, BobbiSox said:

Just saying, if you book your own excursion and it has trouble getting you back on time, the ship will NOT wait for you. I always spend the few extra dollars it takes to insure that my ship will be waiting for me when and if there is a problem. 

Yes, I appreciate that but as I've taken dozens of cruises over 30+ years, I am well aware of that.  Good info for those who haven't booked independent excursions, though.

[Joanne G.]

On my 3 upcoming European Carnival cruises this summer, excursion prices went up considerably, like 22-28%, between when I booked most of mine about 8 months out and when I decided on the last couple about 3 months out.  And one that I wanted was sold out. 😟 I do not recall any Black Friday sales, but occasionally I have seen a discount of 10%  if booked at the same time as an internet package.  
 

I have no idea what might happen with excursions on the OP’s particular cruise.  But for me going forward, I will book early.  I did cancel a couple when something more appealing became available, and the refund was processed within a few days. 

[notscb]

I've seen 10% off shore excursion when you buy wifi sometimes, but otherwise prices usually stay the same.

[Saint Greg]

8 hours ago, mdepsmom said:

Frequent Royal (Diamond) cruiser, trying Carnival again for the first time in 20 years, I have a solo cruise booked on Venezia next year.  I was looking at the shore excursions and found a couple I may consider (am looking at booking on my own too).  Does Carnival ever have a sale on their excursions?  e.g. Royal has their Black Friday and other sales, so I'm used to playing the book/cancel/repeat game with them whenever the price changes.  I searched and the last post I found on this was ten years ago.  Anyone?

Carnival used to have 10% off excursions for Black Friday but they haven’t done it since Covid. If you get the Carnival Mastercard they give you a 10% statement credit on excursions. Other ways to save 10% would be using discounted gift cards sold by Allstate and AARP.

 

[john91498]

In over 30 years of sailing with carnival, I've never ever bought an excursion from them. I've always gone on my own and have never had a problem. YMMV...

[Theosprey247]

If you use the Carnival card don’t you get 10% of excursions?

[teknoge3k]

9 hours ago, john91498 said:

In over 30 years of sailing with carnival, I've never ever bought an excursion from them. I've always gone on my own and have never had a problem. YMMV...

 

Same. We'd never do cruise line excursions. We much prefer doing something with the locals. 

[Phanlee91]

20 hours ago, mdepsmom said:

Frequent Royal (Diamond) cruiser, trying Carnival again for the first time in 20 years, I have a solo cruise booked on Venezia next year.  I was looking at the shore excursions and found a couple I may consider (am looking at booking on my own too).  Does Carnival ever have a sale on their excursions?  e.g. Royal has their Black Friday and other sales, so I'm used to playing the book/cancel/repeat game with them whenever the price changes.  I searched and the last post I found on this was ten years ago.  Anyone?

No it doesn't, but you can typically find it cheaper booking through a third party local excursion company at the destination.

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

We had an excursion go down in price once.  I canceled and rebooked at the lower price.  

 

It might have been a glitch though. Price went back up a few hours later.  

 

So while it is possible you could get a lower price (recently there was a15% off wifi if purchased with an excursion)  it's highly probable that excursions will increase in price by next year. 

 

If there's one you are highly interested in then might as well book it.  You can always cancel. 

[DallasGuy75219]

10 hours ago, Theosprey247 said:

If you use the Carnival card don’t you get 10% of excursions?

If you book in advance.  The 10% off shows up as a credit on your credit card statement. 

[sra12574]

They  do  different  sales  incentives . Right  now  they  have  save 15 percent  on  internet  packages  when  you  purchase that  at  the  same  time  as  your  excursion  . 

[firefly333]

29 minutes ago, sra12574 said:

They  do  different  sales  incentives . Right  now  they  have  save 15 percent  on  internet  packages  when  you  purchase that  at  the  same  time  as  your  excursion  . 

Where do you find this code?

[shof515]

5 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Where do you find this code?

it is part of the July 4 sale carnival is having. it is similar to previous sales they do every now and then. it expires at midnight:

 

Good thing i book my shore excursion a few months ago. that same shore excursion increased to 5 dollars 

[firefly333]

9 minutes ago, shof515 said:

it is part of the July 4 sale carnival is having. it is similar to previous sales they do every now and then. it expires at midnight:

 

Good thing i book my shore excursion a few months ago. that same shore excursion increased to 5 dollars 

How do you see this special? Thanks for the code. I wanted multiple excursions ..and pay restaurants.  Where can I see if there is another special? Next time ..thanks. 

[shof515]

check your emails. its in the promotional emails carnival sends 

[mdepsmom]

2 hours ago, firefly333 said:

How do you see this special? Thanks for the code. I wanted multiple excursions ..and pay restaurants.  Where can I see if there is another special? Next time ..thanks. 

I just tried using that code with a Wifi package and a shore excursion in my cart, and got a "that code is not valid" message, although the code expires at 11:59 tonight.  Has anyone had luck using it?

[Haljo1935]

I have not tried it yet, but planned on doing it this evening. Hopefully it's a temporary glitch and someone can confirm success in using it.

[Saint Greg]

On 6/25/2023 at 9:36 PM, Theosprey247 said:

If you use the Carnival card don’t you get 10% of excursions?

 

It comes back as a statement credit. Here's an example of one I just did. It took 3 days to post the credit.

 

 

Edited July 7, 2023 by Saint Greg

[mdepsmom]

19 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

I have not tried it yet, but planned on doing it this evening. Hopefully it's a temporary glitch and someone can confirm success in using it.

I didn't have a chance to go back online last night to try again before it expired.  I hope it worked for you!

[FastShip24]

On 6/25/2023 at 7:25 PM, john91498 said:

In over 30 years of sailing with carnival, I've never ever bought an excursion from them. I've always gone on my own and have never had a problem. YMMV...

Smart person

[Haljo1935]

5 hours ago, mdepsmom said:

I didn't have a chance to go back online last night to try again before it expired.  I hope it worked for you!

It did work for me, thanks, but I had to type it in rather than copy paste.

[Haljo1935]

26 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

It did work for me, thanks, but I had to type it in rather than copy paste.

@mdepsmomIt was after the time it was supposed to expire due to time zone, but it still worked, so you might try.