Booking Excursions in advance - is it recommended?

[4merlurker]

Our cruise isn't for another year but I always like to pay everything off ahead of time. I'm not talking about booking quite this early but if we do book excursions, either thru RCCL or an independent, are they refundable?

thx,

curly... aka 4merlurker

[serene56]

I dont think RCCL will allow you to book your excursions a year in advance- (Once you book through thte cruiselines it it charged to your account)

 

I would wait a few months before i booked. 6-8 months out. Research your port of calls to find what you are interested in then do your excursion list.

 

I like getting my excursions paid before we go. (wish carnival allowed this)

[LoneStar72]

You probably know that you can book shore excursions directly with the cruise line (usually via their web site), or you can use independent operators. These boards are full of discussions on the plusses and minuses of each position -- I've done both, and it can turn out very well either way if you know what the limitations are. It's much easier to get refunds if you book through the cruise line, and you minimize your chances of a tour running late and you missing the ship's departure. OTOH, it's more expensive, your choices are somewhat limited, and there's almost no flexibility.

 

Additionally, you can book shore excursions with the cruise line in advance (each line sets the minimum and maximum number of days before each cruise that they will allow advance bookings), or on board. When you book in advance, some cruise lines will immediately charge your credit card for the excursions -- some folks like that because they can pay off some of the cost of the cruise early. Other cruise lines will just add the cost of the excursion(s) onto your shipboard account. Message -- find out what your cruise line does, so you won't get an unpleasant surprise (either an early charge on your credit card, or a large charge on your shipboard account when you're on vacation.)

 

Booking with the cruise line early has the advantage of getting you better odds of snagging the most popular shore excursions -- I've seen some excursions sell out before the ship sails! Another advantage is that you can do your "homework" before you go on vacation, saving that valuable on-board time for more relaxing stuff. A third advantage is that you avoid the sometimes long lines at the ship's shore excursion desk (again, wasting that valuable on-board time.) The down-side of booking with the cruise line early is that things change, and the cruise lines aren't very good about notifying you that they have (e.g., port substitutions, different arrival and departure times in ports, changes in the features and lengths of tours, etc.). What you can do to mitigate that situation is to keep a regular watch on these boards for what returning cruisers are reporting -- I recommend checking both the board dedicated to the cruise line you're going on, and the "ports of call" forums for the places your cruise is scheduled to stop.

 

Good question!

John

[4merlurker]

Thank you both for awesom replies. I've got alot of research ahead of me.

 

 

curly

[Big Al B.]

As for canceling tours, I know NCL allows most tours to be canceled with 24 hours notice. Some were non-cancel, but that was indicated in the information on the tour.