Anyone who's ever cruised in January...

[MamaParrotHead]

Not that I'm a huge fan of ship excursions, but when nosing around Carnival.com tonight, I noticed I was getting these weird kind of error screen and no excursions were even listed.

 

I called Carnival.com and they told me it's because all the vendor contracts go January-December. So, basically, I couldn't book any ship excursions until a week or two before I leave on the cruise? That sounds really strange to me.

 

Can anyone confirm this?

[TabithaK]

We cruised a couple of weeks ago and I was able to book our excursions about 3 months ahead of time.

[mrpayroll]

We cruised last month ( Jan ) The excursions were available for booking starting around Nov.:rolleyes:

[Orionman]

Some of the excursion companies have contracts that expire at the end of the year. Carnival can't show them until the paperwork is updated for the upcoming year. I bet the excursions you want are available at the kiosks on board.

[yogimax]

I think it varies depending on the individual excursions

[klmorg]

We just cruised in January and although we don't normally do the ship excursions either, we did book the Mini-Sub Underwater Scooters in Cozumel thru Carnival about 3 months before the cruise.

 

If you call again, you'll probably get another answer. It might just be too far in advance to book anything yet, but I wouldn't think you'd have to wait for them to show up until a couple weeks before cruise time.

 

BTW and sort of off topic, but when we tried to book this tour independently, this is what they told us: "Thank you very much for your interest in our services. Unfortunately, we no longer off this tour. The reason behind this is because it is contract renewal time for the cruise ships, and they are forcing the operators to sign contracts stating they agree to not work with on line sales companies, otherwise they will no longer work with them. This is unethical and unfortunate for us, but we cannot offer this tour for you at a discounted price anymore, you would have to book it at the normal price with your cruise ship." (I thought that was interesting, and unfortunate.)

[NJcruisemom]

We had the same problem. About six months out it showed all excursions for Jamaica. About a month out all the Dunns River Falls excursions were gone. I called and Carnival agent said they must all be sold out (hard to believe). Then a notice appeared saying that some of the excursions were available for purchase onboard only. We set up Dunns River Falls with a non-Carnival vendor that gave us more for our money. Didn't want to find out when we got onboard that there wasn't anything available.

[MamaParrotHead]

Yeah, I honestly am not a fan of ship excursions, I just wanted to compare prices on some things I was looking at booking independantly. One of the good things about this trip is it's more laid back and less need for pre-planned excursions.

[Orionman]

In Costa Maya a week ago we waited almost an hour for a Carnival excursion to get back before sail away. I shudder to think about if they had gone "independent" instead of through the ship.

[saltmom1]

The contracts trickle in or at least that is the way that they are posted. SOMETIMES you can call the shore excursion desk and find out if a particular excursion is going to be available for your sailing. My last excursion when I sailed on the Legend in Jan 2009 came up 2 or 3 weeks before we sailed and it was one I REALLY wanted.

Good luck, but they do negotiate the new contracts for Jan. If you see it now you will PROBABLY be able to book it, just not now.

[Fun, Fun 44]

We usually find our own for the ports, but the few we have booked we just do it once we get on the ship and have NEVER been told they were sold out. Always got what we wanted. I wouldn't worry to much.

Have a great time,

Kat

[jessemon]

Some of the excursion companies have contracts that expire at the end of the year. Carnival can't show them until the paperwork is updated for the upcoming year. I bet the excursions you want are available at the kiosks on board.

Yep...Wanted to see the price on an all inclusive day beach thingy in Freeport. The price had always been listed but, for about two weeks it said "Book on board" type of thing. It is back on there now though.

Redoing the contract and it is now a whole $2 cheaper.....LOL....

[zqvol]

Not that I'm a huge fan of ship excursions, but when nosing around Carnival.com tonight, I noticed I was getting these weird kind of error screen and no excursions were even listed.

 

I called Carnival.com and they told me it's because all the vendor contracts go January-December. So, basically, I couldn't book any ship excursions until a week or two before I leave on the cruise? That sounds really strange to me.

 

Can anyone confirm this?

 

The excursion contracts run January through December, BUT they are finalized in late summer or early fall for the next year. I see that you are cursing in January 2011. You should be able to find excursion in September or October (maybe even a little sooner).