Gormless question re excursions

[shot2bits]

I know this will have been asked before, but; is it cheaper to book excursions before you go, or on board? Doing the Aegean/Adriatic trip 31st August and fancy a gondola ride!

[Wightryder]

Costs are the same but you will get priority when booking in advance which can make a difference if tours are oversubscribed.

[kruzseeka]

I know this will have been asked before, but; is it cheaper to book excursions before you go, or on board? Doing the Aegean/Adriatic trip 31st August and fancy a gondola ride!

 

Price is the same if you pre-book or wait until you are on board - BUT if you pay by Credit Card there is a 2.5% charge. No charge for Debit Card though. On board it will be charged to your on-board account - again CC charge but not for Debit Card depending how on how you chose to settle your account at the end of your cruise.

[smnb64]

Book before you go .. We went on Dream in June and some of the trips were sold out if you waited untill on board . and the prices are the same anyway. also pay in advance to book online.

[Grez]

I know this will have been asked before, but; is it cheaper to book excursions before you go, or on board? Doing the Aegean/Adriatic trip 31st August and fancy a gondola ride!

The gondola ride may not be what you expect. Do a bit of research before booking that one.

[Sekhmet]

And you can cancel on board if you change your mind, up to 24 hours before the shorex, so advance booking seems sensible. An extract of Booking Conditions is below.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Your right to change your Shore Excursion booking

You can change or cancel your shore excursion at any time up to three days before you travel by calling us. After that, just wait until you get onboard and then let us know.

 

Unfortunately, we cant refund the cost of your shore excursion if you amend or cancel your booking within 24 hours of your excursion’s scheduled start time – this includes not turning up on time on the day of your excursion.

 

The only exception to this rule is for cancellation on medical grounds – in these circumstances, we’ll need supporting documentation from the onboard doctor.

 

If you decide to cancel or change your booking once you’re onboard and need a refund, you’ll be given a refund back to your credit card. Please note that credit card fees if applicable and already charged, will not be refundable.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Sekhmet

[shot2bits]

The gondola ride may not be what you expect. Do a bit of research before booking that one.

 

Why? My manager seems to fancy this one! Thought we would do Athens using the HOHO bus and treat us to a gondola in Venice. Change of plan needed?:eek:

[infoqueen]

We had really heavy rain in venice in august wouldnt have liked to be on a gondala in that might be worth waiting to see what the weather is like first. The flooding in st marks square was so bad that we had to take off our shoes and paddle across.

Edited August 8, 2012 by infoqueen

[Rebababoo]

We booked before we went as we read that some trips had limited availability. If I was going to Venice again, I wouldn't book the excursion. Gondola rides ae easily available in Venice for those doing it on their own.

[Cymro1953]

The gondola ride may not be what you expect. Do a bit of research before booking that one.

 

I see Thomson's offer the Venice excursion including gondola ride as one of the options. We did this from a hotel holiday with them on Lake Garda. The gondola had six of us in it and we enjoyed it. Not quite the romantic 2 of you and the gondolier that you might envisage but an enjoyable ride all the same. And at least we got on one at a reasonable cost to say we'd done it.

 

Berwyn

[shot2bits]

We are thinking we will probably either book on board or not bother at all. The main thing, for me anyway, is to see Venice and that was the attraction of this itinerary. I have to say I didn't expect that a gondola ride would be so expensive!:eek:

[Cymro1953]

We are thinking we will probably either book on board or not bother at all. The main thing, for me anyway, is to see Venice and that was the attraction of this itinerary. I have to say I didn't expect that a gondola ride would be so expensive!:eek:

 

I checked on Gondola rides booking sites and it's no cheaper booking through them. Cheapest was 31 Euro for gondola ride alone for a gondola with 6 in. Since we did it we have been back to Venice on cruises and done Venice on our own.

It was £25 each when we did it back in 2006 or 2007.

 

Berwyn

[Grez]

Why? My manager seems to fancy this one! Thought we would do Athens using the HOHO bus and treat us to a gondola in Venice. Change of plan needed?:eek:

Hi, as Berwyn says some people think its going to be just the 2 of them, but it will be at least 6 in a boat. As others have mentioned there are lots of gondolas in Venice, so you could always just get one when you are off the ship if you wanted. It is very expensive however.

[shot2bits]

Hi, as Berwyn says some people think its going to be just the 2 of them, but it will be at least 6 in a boat. As others have mentioned there are lots of gondolas in Venice, so you could always just get one when you are off the ship if you wanted. It is very expensive however.

 

Looks like I will be entering high level negotiations with my wife and financial manager (they are both the same person needless to say)! Wonder if we can just get a reassuringly expensive coffee instead?;)

[shot2bits]

We did the gondola ride independently. Was ok, but frankly, not worth the money. Certainly not worth the excursion price.

[dronnygirl]

Best to get 4 or 6 people together and do your own gondola ride. Don't take one of the gondolas near St Marks Square or the Grand Canal - you will pay premium. Same if you take an afternoon or early evening trip.

We walked round the back streets/canals in a morning and found a lone goldola waiting for a fair. There were 4 of us and he charged us 60 euros in total which we thought was okay. We said we would go with him if he sang to us, and he did:D

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Best to get 4 or 6 people together and do your own gondola ride. Don't take one of the gondolas near St Marks Square or the Grand Canal - you will pay premium. Same if you take an afternoon or early evening trip.

We walked round the back streets/canals in a morning and found a lone goldola waiting for a fair. There were 4 of us and he charged us 60 euros in total which we thought was okay. We said we would go with him if he sang to us, and he did:D

Did he sing "Just one Cornetto" ? :D

[Grez]

We did the gondola ride independently. Was ok, but frankly, not worth the money. Certainly not worth the excursion price.

 

Just curious, why did you resurrect this thread two and a half years later?

[shot2bits]

Just curious, why did you resurrect this thread two and a half years later?

 

 

By accident to be truthful! I was puzzled too, put it down to an age thing!

[kruzseeka]

But to update in repsonse to the original question....

 

- Thomson did introduce a small reduction for booking on-line in advance of travel (a pound or two depending on cost of excursion - perhaps about 3/4%?) clearly this was after the date of the original post as no one mentioned it at the time

- they claimed this would be the cheapest price for the excursions

- then they muddied the waters by introducing a 'buy 3, get cheapest free' type offer on board, presumably because they wanted to boost sales

- that of course was contradictory, caused confusion and annoyance from passengers who had bought into the buy in advance option.

 

So, do Thomson still give a small discount on pre-booked excursions? And have they ever repeated that PR clanger of offering cheaper trips/offers on board?

[gillhalfpint]

I have never seen the offer of buy 3 cheapest free or any other type of offer on board. I usually find on line around £2 cheaper or even the same.

[kruzseeka]

It goes back a couple of years or so gill but not as far back as the original post. (I'm sure we would have mentioned it at the time otherwise!) I think it might even have been geo who discovered once on board buying three (selected) trips brought some significant discount so that Thomson's claim that online prices would be the cheapest price you could buy them was in fact incorrect. Was it an Egypt cruise? I have a feeling it was one where there were some long/big excursions.

 

I believe people did complain and if they had bought the same three trips on line they were awarded the discount as if they'd bought on board - but it begs the question as to whether you would have chosen to buy the three trips on offer rather than say three others (different combo not on offer) if you'd been given the option in the first place. I think some people cancelled and rebooked discounted ones iirc. I'm a bit hazy because this is second hand info from me - but there definitely was a furore about it at the time. Obviously someone hadn't thought through the implications properly. We've not heard about that more recently so perhaps it was a one-off or at least they've had second thoughts about repeating it.

 

But good to know there is still a bit of discount if you want to buy online.

 

P.S. Found the thread - April 2013 and it was geo but related to the Caribbean not Eygpt. Makes interesting reading!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1819835&highlight=excursion+discounts

Edited February 23, 2015 by kruzseeka