When do all excursions get posted?

[Monica887]

How far out do ALL the excursions get posted? When can I start to obsessively plan without missing any choices...lol... (Alaska, so excursions matter!)

[shof515]

usually from 6 to 12 months from sail date depending on the port

[MeHeartCruising]

They don’t always all appear at once either.  They sometimes dribble in.  Probably as they get contracts signed with local operators. 

[IAcruising]

 

Impossible to answer. Book what you like, and if something better comes up, cancel and rebook.

 

Also, a little flexibility might not hurt. We once booked an excursion in St. Thomas to St. John. It was cancelled and refunded. We got on the ship, and it was miraculously available again.

 

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, Monica887 said:

How far out do ALL the excursions get posted? When can I start to obsessively plan without missing any choices...lol... (Alaska, so excursions matter!)

 

59 minutes ago, IAcruising said:

Impossible to answer. Book what you like, and if something better comes up, cancel and rebook.

 

Also, a little flexibility might not hurt. We once booked an excursion in St. Thomas to St. John. It was cancelled and refunded. We got on the ship, and it was miraculously available again.

It totally depends on when NCL gets contracts in place with tour providers. You can go to their main web page and Explore | Shore Excursions and search by port to see the excursions they usually have. 
 

No, you can’t watch for something better and cancel and rebook. . Once you book, your calendar will be blocked and you would never see anything new (that conflicts on time with what you have booked). 
 

Popular, low capacity tours, especially helicopters and float planes sell out months in advance. Note: those have to be cancelled a week before embarkation and can not be cancelled onboard. 

[Monica887]

5 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

 

You can go to their main web page and Explore | Shore Excursions and search by port to see the excursions they usually have. 
 

But that's what's weird too...right now I'm looking at Juneau, not logged in, just in the main website. And there's only 32 listed excursions, and no helicopter tours. No helicopters in Skagway either. No sled dogs in Skagway. I still have a list of some of the ones I was considering last time, so those stand out to me as missing. 

 

I'm still many months out, but it's odd that it's not on the main excursion page. 

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, Monica887 said:

But that's what's weird too...right now I'm looking at Juneau, not logged in, just in the main website. And there's only 32 listed excursions, and no helicopter tours. No helicopters in Skagway either. No sled dogs in Skagway. I still have a list of some of the ones I was considering last time, so those stand out to me as missing. 

 

I'm still many months out, but it's odd that it's not on the main excursion page. 

Helos are kind of one off tours. Keep watching online if you really want them. We’re just back from Alaska and the k e tour we wanted sold out. We waitlisted on the ship and were at the top of the list, but no luck. We did a back up excursion. 

[Back to school]

Bird, no resting?😀 

[cruiser2015]

6 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

 

It totally depends on when NCL gets contracts in place with tour providers. You can go to their main web page and Explore | Shore Excursions and search by port to see the excursions they usually have. 
 

No, you can’t watch for something better and cancel and rebook. . Once you book, your calendar will be blocked and you would never see anything new (that conflicts on time with what you have booked). 
 

Popular, low capacity tours, especially helicopters and float planes sell out months in advance. Note: those have to be cancelled a week before embarkation and can not be cancelled onboard. 

If you cancel a tour, wouldn't the conflict be removed, allowing you to book the new offering?

And, if that was still an issue, couldn't a call to the NCL tour shorex desk get them to book it for you?

[ready2cruzagain]

I have no idea when they do the excursion listings. I have 3 cruises booked out of PC in January and they are showing no excursions for Great Stirrup Cay except for Villas and the Zip Line. I know there are other excursions such as paddle boarding, swim with the pigs, clam shells, snorkeling, etc but none of these are showing up.

[eileeshb]

5 hours ago, cruiser2015 said:

If you cancel a tour, wouldn't the conflict be removed, allowing you to book the new offering?

And, if that was still an issue, couldn't a call to the NCL tour shorex desk get them to book it for you?

The problem is if you have an excursion booked, when you look in the explore & plan area on the app or when logged into the website and your cruise you won't see any excursions listed that conflict with the timing of your booked excursion.  That is why bird said to look at the main website under explore - Shore excursions. But even that is not a guarantee as some items listed in that area of the website may not be available on your particular itinerary due to the scheduled time in port.

[cruiser2015]

49 minutes ago, eileeshb said:

The problem is if you have an excursion booked, when you look in the explore & plan area on the app or when logged into the website and your cruise you won't see any excursions listed that conflict with the timing of your booked excursion.  That is why bird said to look at the main website under explore - Shore excursions. But even that is not a guarantee as some items listed in that area of the website may not be available on your particular itinerary due to the scheduled time in port.

Understood.

My comment was based on someone knowing, or suspecting, that their was a new alternative that they were interested in.

Otherwise, I would periodically call for assistance and query about any offering (per the general lists, as you mentioned) that was not previously listed. Annoying to do, but that's the only way to play the game other than checking when you get aboard or using a non-ship operator.

One more "wild card". NCL's shorex lists are inconsistent. For my January cruise, I have reservations in 6 ports. For 3, only my choice remains in the listing; the other 3 still show all of the options. Oops.

[eileeshb]

6 minutes ago, cruiser2015 said:

Understood.

My comment was based on someone knowing, or suspecting, that their was a new alternative that they were interested in.

Otherwise, I would periodically call for assistance and query about any offering (per the general lists, as you mentioned) that was not previously listed. Annoying to do, but that's the only way to play the game other than checking when you get aboard or using a non-ship operator.

One more "wild card". NCL's shorex lists are inconsistent. For my January cruise, I have reservations in 6 ports. For 3, only my choice remains in the listing; the other 3 still show all of the options. Oops.

There are some "excursions" that don't have a time implication, e.g. the goldbelt tram in Juneau, if you book that one you still see everything else in that port. There's a similar one in St Thomas I think, I got that one before. I think it was called the skylift to Paradise Point, it was a gondola lift that you could use at any time while we were in port. 

[cruiser2015]

6 minutes ago, eileeshb said:

There are some "excursions" that don't have a time implication, e.g. the goldbelt tram in Juneau, if you book that one you still see everything else in that port. There's a similar one in St Thomas I think, I got that one before. I think it was called the skylift to Paradise Point, it was a gondola lift that you could use at any time while we were in port. 

Okay, allow me to elaborate on my comments.

In some cases (for me) there were non-conflicts, especially for short length tours, which were showing as available, 1 one port; for the other 2, there were conflicts galore.

I realize that no one can rely on that happening - but it does. 

 

[BirdTravels]

11 hours ago, Back to school said:

Bird, no resting?😀 

It’s been a month on land. Time to cruise again!

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, eileeshb said:

There are some "excursions" that don't have a time implication, e.g. the goldbelt tram in Juneau, if you book that one you still see everything else in that port. There's a similar one in St Thomas I think, I got that one before. I think it was called the skylift to Paradise Point, it was a gondola lift that you could use at any time while we were in port. 

 

1 hour ago, cruiser2015 said:

Okay, allow me to elaborate on my comments.

In some cases (for me) there were non-conflicts, especially for short length tours, which were showing as available, 1 one port; for the other 2, there were conflicts galore.

I realize that no one can rely on that happening - but it does. 

 

OK, one-off examples are not how you provide advice to people. That is “bad advice”,,, especially to the OP. If you read the OP post, you know exactly what they are looking for. 
 

NCL is faced with the same thing all travel industry is. The vendors are jacking up their prices. And over the past two years have provided very unreliable service. Vendors are signing contracts hoping that they have the employees to run the tours when the time comes.NCL is “negotiating” for better prices and guaranteed service (short the other cruise lines in a port on any given day).

 

I sail about 6 times a year and have seen many tours cancelled, some times on day of tour due to staffing. 

[cruiser2015]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

 

OK, one-off examples are not how you provide advice to people. That is “bad advice”,,, especially to the OP. If you read the OP post, you know exactly what they are looking for. 
 

NCL is faced with the same thing all travel industry is. The vendors are jacking up their prices. And over the past two years have provided very unreliable service. Vendors are signing contracts hoping that they have the employees to run the tours when the time comes.NCL is “negotiating” for better prices and guaranteed service (short the other cruise lines in a port on any given day).

 

I sail about 6 times a year and have seen many tours cancelled, some times on day of tour due to staffing. 

Excellent insights.

Note that I was not the poster to recommend booking up everything right now and looking later for changes. I merely provided an insight to a possibility, should he decide to try that route.

Oh, and for the record, that was a "two-off".  🙂

[Cruising Lynne]

I have found that with NCL excursions, I have to check almost daily if I am looking for certain excursions. The number of excursions available changes often. The popular ones book up quickly so checking often is the best thing. I have found that in regards to NCL removing excursions that have times that conflict with what you already have booked, it is inconsistent. 

 

Check daily if this is a bucket list trip, but don't stress about it. It seems like a lot of the Alaska experience is the scenic cruising.