Shore excursions - when do you pay?

[lgfromdg]

You'd think I'd know the answer to this, but I haven't taken a cruise line excursion in years. My DD is cruising in June and would like to book the shore excursions now to guarantee getting the ones she wants. I assume she's not charged until she's onboard and takes the excursion, but I don't want to give her the wrong information. Can you verify please?

[navybaby1113]

I'm pretty sure they charge your credit card immediately.

[kf657]

We booked our July 2010 cruise in September 2009. We booked and paid for our excursions in January ... As soon as we decided..we looked on the CC boards to get as much info as we could and did not want to worry about getting locked out of what we wanted..especially Cabana rentals...

[lgfromdg]

Thanks; I guess I was wrong about it. She & her BF are taking this cruise and since they just had to make final payment, they'll have to wait to book the excursions until they save the money.

[fleetingfam]

you pay with a credit card as soon as you book it.

[cccer]

They get your money right away if you book through the cruise line or privately.

You may want to get them some fun dollars so they can book their own excursions when they get on board. We have never had a problem booking a tour on the ship.

[DanJ]

If I recall, after you pay with your credit card at time of booking, you still get charged in your shipboard account, and then a "prepaid credit" is applied to your account at the same time. Kind of threw me when I checked our account on the TV in the cabin and saw the charge, but I didn't scroll down far enough to see the credit.

 

One thing I didn't like about how Carnival sells shore excursions is, when I booked last year for us and my wife's parents, I ended up paying, which is fine. The tour was canceled before we arrived in Freeport, and they just put a credit on each of our accounts for it. So basically, they got a $60 or so credit that I paid for LOL.