Waitlist on excursions

[ReverendOlaf]

My wife and I are going on the Diamond Princess' cruise from Sydney to Aukland in December. The excursions opened up last week, and since we were checking most days (mostly out of excitement as opposed to concerns of them being full), we had to have booked our within the first 24 hours.

 

Most of the excursions showed "20" spots available, which may be the max free slots they display (the actual # may be much higher or even infinite). These #s didn't change when we booked ours, so I'm guessing that was the case. Anyway, there were a handful of excursions, particularly in New Zealand (as opposed to Australia or Tasmania) that had waitlist. I'm guessing they aren't full , and Princess is merely covering their asses while logistics get hammered out. I could be wrong, but that was my logic.

 

Here's the question, we signed up for the waitlist and book a "plan b" since we have ample time to cancel. The plan B is an all day excursion, so we cannot do both. Do you know if having a plan b will impact our waitlist status? I wouldn't imagine so, but I wanted to be sure. Also, will we be notified of the change, or will we need to keep checking, or even wait until we get onboard? Thanks

[cnd crsr]

We have done as you have, waitlisted what we want and also booked a plan b. We have always got our first choice. We didn't find out our status until on board and then canceled plan B. Enjoy your trip, Australia, New Zealand was one of our favourites!

[Kinkacruiser]

Not sure if this would work...if one person booked 2 seats on the 'waitlisted' excursion and the other person booked 2 seat the plan B, maybe that would give you more security. That said, it would depend if the'waitlist' label was replaced with a 'confirmed' before the time when all excursions are removed from personalisers.

[caribill]

Anyway, there were a handful of excursions, particularly in New Zealand (as opposed to Australia or Tasmania) that had waitlist.

 

Look at the descriptions of those waitlisted excursions and see if there is a sentence saying they are only offered on certain ships and if your ship is one of those.

 

On a Singapore to Sydney cruise, it turned out all the "waitlisted" ones were ones offered on ships other than the one we were on.

 

Computer programming at its best.

[Infi]

I have done the same thing, and I asked about the situation at the shore excursion desk. The plan B excursion doesn't preclude you from the waitlist of the first. However, I would recommend going to the shore excursion desk first thing when you board and cementing your spot on the waitlist by speaking with them. This shows more interest than just the online waitlist, so you'll have a better chance of getting on your desired excursion. Good luck.