Waitlisted for Shore Excursion...good chance or no?

[Cruising Jedi]

Sailing on the Carribean Princess in September and I went in to pre-book a shore excursion last night. It says we are waitlisted. Dang! I of course really only wanted this particular tour.

 

I guess our other options would be to go with a private tour, or rent a car and do it on our own.

 

We would far rather take the ship tour though.

 

So my question is, have you ever been waitlisted for a Princess excursion? Did you get on the tour? Did they open up another group to accomodate people? When do you find out if you made it in or not? Or is it best to give up and find another way.

 

Thank you!

[paul929207]

Princess will open another section of a tour if the demand warrants and the logistics can be worked out. Check when you get onboard to see where you stand. You could plan to rent a car that can be canceled with no penalty as a backup to the ship's tour.

[StLouisCruisers]

We were waitlisted for a shore excursion for a boat tour in Nha Trang Vietnam. Friends of ours booked it and we went to book it immediately after, but were waitlisted. They only had so much room in these small boats. We never did make it to the top of the list, but had booked another tour as back up, so at least we had something to do and it turned to be okay as a tour. I guess sometimes they do add to tours if they have a lot of people waitlisted but not in our case. I would find another alternative just to be sure you have something to do.

[tjcox9]

Some ports, particularly those smaller, less frequented ports do have limited resources available and it's not possible for tours to be added. It really depends on the type of port and tour type as well.

[Pam in CA]

A suggestion is to go to the Excursion Desk as soon as it's open and make sure you're on their list. People do cancel and if your on the top of the list, your chances are pretty good. As has been said, sometimes they are able to set up another tour section but that depends on the local resources.

[TracieABD]

The one time that I was waitlisted to do a tour (St. Petersburg), I did make it onto the tour.

Once on board, I did check in with the excursion desk to confirm that I was on the waitlist and to let them know I was interested.

 

I received my shore-ex tickets in about 48 hours of checking in.:)

[NUGal]

I tried this week to book a shore excursion to Los Arcos in Cabo during our cruise beginning November 27th and was wait-listed. I couldn't believe it was sold out this far in advance. We're hoping they will add another section to the excursion.

[turquoisesea]

We did the southern route on the Crown two years ago. I didn't realize that I could prebook excursions early, and waited until about 45 days out. Unfortunately, we were wait listed on two of the excursions we wanted. So, I booked alternative tours just in case the ones we wanted didn't clear. As Pam suggested, we went to the Excursion Desk as soon as it opened to see how many were ahead of us on the wait list. Too bad for us...we weren't even close. :eek: They also told us that both of the tours we wanted rarely had cancelations. So, in the end I was glad I had booked the backup excursions.

[Colo Cruiser]

Chances are pretty good they will add space if necessary.

[janina]

Definately follow Pams advice. I have had tours waitlisted that have cleared. The staff also has done it so many times, they can give you a good guess on where you stand. Good Luck.:):)

[RMLincoln]

Call the Princess shore excursion line and talk with them about history as to cancellations, additional tours or other options. We were waitlisted once but that was signing up on board. We signed up for something else and never did clear that waitlist. Glad we had a back up plan. Hope it works out for you.

[NUGal]

I called the Princess Excursion line twice and asked two different representatives where we stood on the wait-list. Neither one could (or would) tell me. I guess we'll have to wait until we are on board to find out unless someone has another suggestion.

[genevieve7000]

I tried this week to book a shore excursion to Los Arcos in Cabo during our cruise beginning November 27th and was wait-listed. I couldn't believe it was sold out this far in advance. We're hoping they will add another section to the excursion.

 

You can easily book this tour independently when you walk off the ship. You will see dozens of tour vendors in Cabo just as you get off the ship. We booked a glass bottom boat tour that took us out to Los Arcos and the boat owner rented snorkeling equipment for us, too. You can easily arrange a Los Arcos tour on your own for a fraction of the ship's tour cost and the vendors will be happy to customize it to include what you want!