Sold out excursion

[mistyPA]

We are more than 10 wks out before our sailing and says the excursion is sold out, we are on a wait list. Does anyone know what happens in this case, where there is a high demand excursion? Does the cruise line try to add to it  by way of another boat/bus or are you just tough out of luck?

 

[Outerdog]

Look into booking with a tour operator outside the cruise line. Folks could give you better advice if you were specific as to the excursions you're interested in.

 

Aside from that, get with the Shorex desk when you board. Those people can make things happen.

Edited February 7 by Outerdog

[lx200gps]

48 minutes ago, mistyPA said:

We are more than 10 wks out before our sailing and says the excursion is sold out, we are on a wait list. Does anyone know what happens in this case, where there is a high demand excursion? Does the cruise line try to add to it  by way of another boat/bus or are you just tough out of luck?

 

Same thing happened to us back in October. An excursion we wanted had been sold out and there wasn't even a wait list. As soon as we boarded, we headed to the Shore Excursions desk and had no problem booking the exact tour we wanted. Seemed pretty clear to me that not all inventory is put out for on-line booking, they seem to hold some slots open for walk-ups on embarkation day. YMMV of course, but that was our experience.

[1965]

We were waitlisted for an excursion in NYC a few yrs ago. I don't remember how long it took but we were notified we were on that excursion eventually. More recently our daughter & sil were waitlisted for an excursion to Stonehenge & Salisbury. I think 2 weeks or so later they were notified they are now on that excursion. Hope it works out for you. 😊

[beg3yrs]

I have heard of high-demand excursions getting extra buses allocated and new reservations being opened up. It is rare though as many stars and planets have to align for this to occur.

[memoak]

There may be some cancellations before sailing. Adding more buses/boats etc would depend on the tour providers capacity. Princess does not run the excursions themselves 

[Rick&Jeannie]

7 hours ago, lx200gps said:

Same thing happened to us back in October. An excursion we wanted had been sold out and there wasn't even a wait list. As soon as we boarded, we headed to the Shore Excursions desk and had no problem booking the exact tour we wanted. Seemed pretty clear to me that not all inventory is put out for on-line booking, they seem to hold some slots open for walk-ups on embarkation day. YMMV of course, but that was our experience.

Same here.  It was at that point that I came to realize how Princess seems to operate, both for excursions as well as dining reservations.  They always seem to hold some back to accommodate the passengers who just don't want to deal with an app.

[cr8tiv1]

3 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Same here.  It was at that point that I came to realize how Princess seems to operate, both for excursions as well as dining reservations.  They always seem to hold some back to accommodate the passengers who just don't want to deal with an app.

 

Almost always, excursions booked online are cheaper.  About a week or 2 out, rates rise about 10%.  Some passengers wait until nearer to sail date before cancelling.  On the other hand, I wasn't able to even get on a wait list.  To my advantage...it was expensive and I decided I didn't really want to do it after all.