How easy it is to change a shore excursion?

[Arachnotron]

Hi all,

 

I'm sailing on my honeymoon (:D ) on November 11th from LA to San Juan. I want to buy my shore excursions online before the cruise, in order to get better chances of finding what I want. However, my fiance does not know where we are going (surprise surprise!) and I will not tell her until the day of our wedding.

 

Consequently, I would like to have the option of changing the shore excursions I buy with relative ease. I've been cruising for a long time now but never cruised Celebrity before. I know changing shore excursions in other cruise lines is a bit tricky, so I want to know your opinions on this topic before I go spill my e-money on excursions ;)

 

 

As a side question, does anyone know whether the honeymoon packages (those with Champagne, flowers, chocolate-dipped strawberries, robes, etc.) are worth the money? I cannot find any precise information in the Celebrity website, I only found some old information on About.com and my travel agent here in Mexico is trying to talk directly to Celebrity in USA about this.

 

Thanks a lot!

[Sheik]

Changing a pre-booked tour is really simple and without any problems. Their bookingprocess at the website is very easy. When you remove a tour and book a new one, you get your money back within a month. At the same time, Celebrity charges you the amount of the new tour.

[megabill]

Also, Celebrity's policy is you can get a refund as long as the tour is cancelled up to 24-hours before the day of the tour. (after 24 hours, no refund)

[DrKoob]

Even though you can get an easy refund for any shore excursion within 24 hours, keep in mind that the other ones you want to switch to may be full. We did this on our Panama Canal cruise and cancelled one and then found out that all the others in that port were booked solid. We wound up with no excursion in a port that really had no place else to go if you weren't on an excursion. So, don't cancel your current ones until you are sure that one new ones you want are still available.

[Bruin Steve]

We were on the Millennium in 2003 and had pre-booked all of our excursions months in advance over the net. For Livorno, we had booked the full day Florence and Pisa tour. The night before, my wife and I were talking and thought "We've been to Florence before...and it's really, reallly hot...and there's a lot of walking on that tour...maybe we should have opted for the San Gimignano/Volterra tour"...

 

Of course, the tour was less than 12 hours away and the Shorex desk was closed...so, we were prepared to take the Florence tour anyway...

 

But, I thought I'd inquire in the morning...What could be the harm...

 

So, the next morning, with the tours all leaving at 8:15 and 8:30, I went to the lounge where they had the tour check-in at about 7:45 and found the guy setting up...I asked him if there were any chance of switching the Florence/Pisa tour for the San Gimignano...He said "hold on a second" and called back to the Shorex desk, then told me NO PROBLEM...He made some notation and changed our tickets and checked us in for San Gim...

 

I think the only key was whether they had room on the bus...and they did...

As long as it didn't affect the number of buses on each tour, they were fine with it...even on a half-hour notice...

 

The next day, we found a small credit on our shipboard account for the difference between what we paid originally and the slightly lesser cost of the San Gim tour...It was all very easy...

 

So, basically, the 24 hour thing is because they have to let the tour providers know the number of buses etc., but they are very reasonable in working things out even if you miss that time...as long as you "ask real nice"...

 

I would book tours NOW that I know, at worst, your fiance wouldn't mind taking...Later, you can inquire as to availability if you want to switch...but you can't be any worse off...

 

Good luck...

[pattyj 1204]

On our Med. cruise we booked on line and when I looked at the times on line the 2 tours looked like we could do them. In reality, the day before we were to tour I rechecked the times, found out that we had to tender into port and back to the ship after the tour to get ready for the next one. No way were we going to make the 2nd tour. Went to visit the desk, there was no problem canceling the tour and we were credited the next day for the canceled tour. Have a wonderful wedding and cruise.

[CAKER]

Don't be fooled if you try to book a Celebrity tour excursion online, and it indicates it is already FULL.

 

Celebrity puts only 2/3 of each of their tours to be available online. They save 1/3 of each of their tours for booking only onboard the ship. Book it when you get onto the ship.

[stanjj111]

If you do not rebook a tour with X is there a service charge?

[Lois R]

If you do not rebook a tour with X is there a service charge?

 

Hi Stan, nope. I have never been "service charged".