What if I cancel an excursion?

[melgray13]

I prebooked and paid for a ship excursion. My question - if we cancel on the ship (by the deadline) will the refund go to our ship account or back to my original credit card?

 

Thanks

[Gonzo70]

I prebooked and paid for a ship excursion. My question - if we cancel on the ship (by the deadline) will the refund go to our ship account or back to my original credit card?

 

Thanks

 

I did this recently on a Royal Caribbean sailing and it was creditted to my ship account. Hopefully someone can confirm if Celebrity handles this the same way.

[TRadle]

It is handled the same way.

[gramtofive]

We were on the Constellation several months ago and two people in our group had to cancel pre-paid excursions and their credit card was credited. Things could have changed since then.

[travelingmom37]

Do you need to have a "reason ( i.e. illness) to cancel ?

Is there a specific time you must cancel by prior to the excursion?

We are considering a popular excursion on the Solstice.

thanks

[ellbon]

Do you need to have a "reason ( i.e. illness) to cancel ?

Is there a specific time you must cancel by prior to the excursion?

We are considering a popular excursion on the Solstice.

thanks

 

It is 24 hours before on most ships as they need to tell the local tour operators they use. I have canceled tours twice on a different cruise line and my money went back to the card.

[robtulipe]

If you cancel your precruise booked excursion 3 days or more before embarkation the amount is credited back to you credit card. If canceled less than 3 days or on board it is credited to your on board account in $US. Since you must purchase precruise excursions in the currency of your booking this would impact foreign currency users the most. Here is the blurb from X's site. The info about the 3 day timing is only shown if you actually go to book an excursion precruise which I can't access since currently I don't have a booking.

Shore & Land Excursions must be purchased in the same currency as your cruise or Alaska Cruisetour reservation. Exchange rates are determined by a competitive pricing program and may be subject to change without notice. All monetary exchanges onboard are processed in U.S. Dollars directly to your SeaPass onboard charge account unless otherwise specified.

[travelingmom37]

Thank you all. I always thought once you were booked via the cruise line there was no possibility of a refund. I have taken maybe two ship excursions out of dozens of ports over the years. We always book w/ local operators ( first checked out on this board or on "tripadvisor") to avoid large crowds and excessive fees. This time we may just have to eat the increased cost ( about 300% ) as our ship leaves Tortola at 1 pm and we want to see the Baths in Virgin Gorda. I have also seen cruise sponsored excursions not be cancelled when there is bad weather, etc. and met many a remorseful buyer.

Thanks again for the info.

[gramtofive]

I really think it depends on the ship. On the TA I spoke of on an earlier post, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law cancelled on the morning of the tours due to an illness they could not seem to get over. Even on the morning we went into Paris, they got up and tried to get ready to go, but were both too dizzy to make it. When they called down to the desk they were refunded the money to their credit card which they had used to pre-book the tours, not to shipboard credit.

[Lsimon]

Our experience is:

 

The on-line excursion bookings close several days, maybe even a week or two, before a cruise. Both bookings and cancellations made through the on-line system go direct to a credit card.

 

Once on-board any bookings or cancellation refunds get charged/credited to your shipboard account.

 

The cut-off for excursion booking and cancellations is normally sometime the second evening before the port day. For example Monday evening for a Wednesday excursion. The cut-off time is usually supplied with the tickets or printed in the daily bulletin. I don't have any experience on what exceptions they make for cases where people are sick or have other extenuating circumstances.

 

While we too often book with local operators, or just tour on our own, there are many places where the ship sponsored excursions are excellent options. Everyone has different comfort levels and desires to research port activities which is why ships' excursions might be perfect for some at a given port while private excursions or touring is better for others.