Can the price of excursions fluctuate?

[SDcruiser66]

Is there a benefit to booking early?

[mousey]

The only advantage I know of to booking excursion early is that if your ship is sailing at full capacity, some of them might fill up and if you wait to the last minute to book one it may not be available. I don't think the prices fluctuate. But! I could be wrong. Let's see what others have to say.:)

[morganboys]

some excursions are limited. when we sailed last with rccl to nassau we had planned on doing a sealion excursion. we didn't book online and it was full when we boarded. come to find out there was only a 1pm time slot for a handful of people.

[marym933]

If you want to do an excursion, go ahead and book. We went to Alaska last year. I booked excursions as soon as I could so I wouldn't miss out on the ones I wanted. The excursion prices went up after I booked, but I got the original price. Carnival tends to negotiate with local tour operators in the early fall. You'll see prices change after that.

 

With the rising gas prices, I would not be surprised if excursion prices didn't rise accordingly.

[scgamecock]

Absolutely. One of the Carnival excursions my group is looking at for September has already gone up.

[Runaway Parent]

I haven't ever noticed a change in the posted price from the time we booked a cruise until the cruise actually left, but excursion prices have gone up in general recently.

 

The benefit to early booking is to get the trip you really want. We just booked an excursion last weekend that showed only 5 spots were left...and we aren't sailing until June.

 

When we went to the Bahamas a couple summers ago we didn't prebook any excursions except in one port. When trying to book on the ship, almost everything was sold out already.

 

So, go ahead and book and ensure you get the ones you really want!

[jayscore]

I agree about booking ahead of time, just in case the excursion may be limited.

And yes, one of my trips went up by a couple of bucks since i booked.

I hope this helps you to decide!;)

[SCUBA Mark]

I have seen prices on the ship slightly higher than the on-line price several different times.

[gunther619]

Like everyone else said. Book ahead of time to ensure your slot.

 

I booked a cabana and HMC and they are already sold out.

 

I also booked the day at atlantis and I see some other atlantis excursions are selling out....but there is also going to be 6 ships in port.

 

Looking at how many ships in port can help.

 

As for price, idk. I can tell you that the atlantis excursion went up $25 from 2 years ago....but I'm sure that does help

[SDcruiser66]

Thanks everyone, as always you are all very helpful.

[seashinesunshine]

We planned to go on a zip line excursion last cruise, didn't prebook right away, by time we did prebook it had gone up 5$pp. Cost me 20 $ more. I think it was an across the board increase rather than an increase due to any other reason. We did prebook that one, because we didn't want to miss the time slot we wanted. Otherwise we generally book on board, prices may be a bit higher.

[Creole Girl]

There is a benefit, but I have never seen the price change. I missed out on a cabana for Half Moon Cay on my upcoming cruise because my DH said to wait for it. When I went to book, sold out! I am hoping to get on a waiting list once I board.

[crusinpsychRN]

Yes, prices can go up. I booked America's Cup several months before the cruise as it was almost sold out. Had a great time!

[spiritfox]

I wanted to get the nasty payment stuff out of the way all at once so I made my final payment and booked our 3 excursions for our Freedom cruise in June. Can't really see any disadvantage for booking early since you can always cancel before the excursion.