Booking Excursions Early

[BcIcemen]

Is there any advantage to doing this? Are they cheaper?

[pe4all]

If there is a Carnival excursion you just "have to have" book it while you see it. There have been a few times the price has gone up- and there have been times certain excursions sell out, and are not offered on board. You can always cancel up to a week before, or switch if something better comes up.

[CruiseVacationQueen]

We book excursions early for 2 reasons:

 

1. to avoid disappointment if the excursion sells out early, or if the price goes up

 

~ AND, more importantly:

 

2. to avoid having to make any decisions once vacation starts!

 

On several of our first cruises, we wasted so much time on the first couple of days reading and re-reading the excursion brochure and standing in line to book, and then standing in line to make changes, etc. Now, we plan everything ahead of time, so that when we put our keys, cell phones, my purse & DH's wallet in the safe, we can "turn our brains off" and go into vacation mode! :D BTW ~ we always have a back-up plan in mind, in the rare case the excursion gets cancelled due to lack of participation.

[cb at sea]

They're no cheaper in advance. If it's something you REALLY want to do, go ahead and book it. If you're not sure, or don't really care if it happens to sell out, then you can wait! Your choice!

[golfadj]

We do all of our excursions privately so no reason to rush and book.

[nbsjcruiser]

Is there any advantage to doing this? Are they cheaper?

 

As a rule we don't book ship excursions as they are too expensive. It is cheaper to do the same excursions on your own you just need to make sure you plan them in advance. For example, we grabbed a cab and went to Coki Beach in St Thomas a few years ago. We had a great day at the beach and it cost us about $20 cab ride in total. There were people at the beach doing a shore excursion for $65pp. Same beach, same amenities only it cost a couple $130 and cost us $20. Plus we were free to leave once we felt like it. didn't need to wait on an excursion.

 

That being said, we did book an excursion in Belize for our upcoming Valor cruise in 2 weeks. We weren't having a whole lot of luck finding things to do in Belize on our own and our son wanted to do a Mayan ruins tour. So we decided it was best to do an excursion in that case. So we booked early (a couple months in advance) so that we knew we'd have our day all set.

 

So if you see something you want to do as a shore excursion, see if it is possible to do the same excursion on your own (a beach day is easy to do) and do it. If its difficult and you find an excursion you like, book early to hold your spot. There are times when popular excursion do sell out.

[jenelizab]

If there's a Carnival one I really want I like to book ahead of time so it's paid for before we board. I like to keep the S&S bill as low as possible.

[CruizinMom2c]

We always wait and book on the ship...just in case we notice that its a rainy day then we won't do a beach excursion..etc.

 

I would hate to have booked an all day beach excursion and the weather be bad.

[recyclelady]

A few years ago we really wanted to do this horse riding excursion on Isla Margarita on a Princess Cruise. I don't know if it has changed, but at that time Princess only put their excursions up for sale at a very given time before the cruise (something like 120 days before). I logged on and got four spots the moment they became availabe.

 

When we were actually on the excursion a few months later I was talking to another couple on it. They said that they had done the same thing and that their friends had waited until the next day and could not get a slot.

 

So I guess the moral of the story is : Book early and change your mind later if you need to!

[gazingm42]

You don't save anything, But they do fill up. When we wanted to do a excursion in the past it was not available. The good ones to sell out during peak seasons.

[cruisin 07]

Do your research on these boards. I aways book with independents. It keeps you from being hearded around like cattle. Had enough of that in the military. Two the savings. Booked 2 dive diving trips at different ports. Coki Beach. Saved $50 over what the ship excursion cost including taxi fare, another island same dive sites with 5 divers vice ships excursion with 12 divers - savings $70. Also have hired my own driver. Cheaper for a group and you set your own schedule. The only time I have booked through the ship was a zip line that the cruise line had contracts with so you couldn't book indepentently.

[TheMurr]

Generally motorized tours (ATV's, moped's etc) and animal excursions (swim with dolphins, etc) fill up first since they are more popular and have limited capacity. Beach excursions and the like have virtually unlimited capacity, so you can decide later.

 

Getting back to the ship is always the main concern when deciding between Carnival and private tours. But you should also consider the risk of injury and whether you have coverage or ability to get back to the ship - ie. a moped or ATV tour mishap. As is the case in all safety, you not only have to watch out for youself but the other guy too.

[MacSmooth]

Is there any advantage to doing this? Are they cheaper?

When my wife and I cruised, we booked all of our excursions early. The only real "advantage" was the piece of mind we had during our cruise. We knew exactly where we were going at every port and we got all of our excursion tickets after the first day of the cruise. We didn't have to worry about not getting the excursion we wanted or having to wait in line at the excursion desk in the lobby.

[MacSmooth]

A few years ago we really wanted to do this horse riding excursion on Isla Margarita on a Princess Cruise. I don't know if it has changed, but at that time Princess only put their excursions up for sale at a very given time before the cruise (something like 120 days before). I logged on and got four spots the moment they became availabe.

 

When we were actually on the excursion a few months later I was talking to another couple on it. They said that they had done the same thing and that their friends had waited until the next day and could not get a slot.

 

So I guess the moral of the story is : Book early and change your mind later if you need to!

It was the same way with Carnival when I was looking to book excursions for my honeymoon. If it was more than 120 days out, you could only browse the excursions that MAY be available at a given port. However once it was less than 120 days, you could browse and purchase the available excursions.