wait listing shore excursions from princess

[ggrizzy]

we will be on the grand princess and i tried to book private van tours at ephesus but they are all sold out. :( i opted for wait listing. as we will be a huge group, i would like to know before departure whether there's any chance of getting confirmed! does anyone have any prior experience with this on princess cruises? we are sailing the grand princess out of barcelona in july...

 

many many thanx

[spongerob]

How "huge" is huge? You might be better off trying to book a private tour, if possible, or split your group up.

[ggrizzy]

i need to book 5 vans! (40 people) we are not at the liberty of organizing a private shore tour because we do not all hold us/canadian passports and to get turkish visas on our own would cost more than the cost of the princess tour! :( i tried to book a similar excursion for the group but that one was also full :(

[cherylandtk]

Ggrizzy, are you saying that US and Canadian passport holders do not need visas, and that citizens of another country do need visas, but not if they are using a ship tour? Meaning that visa requirements are different for folks on a ship tour than those on private tours? (This is a new one on me and I am trying to clarify)

 

If so, would it be possible to put the US/CAN pax on a private tour and then put the remaining group on the ship's tour? I think anytime you are trying to organize 40 people together on anything, you generally have to make special arrangements far in advance, as that size group is too large for just about any standard setup (dining table size, tour size, chairs at the pool, etc.) Or is it possible to break the group into 4 or 5 smaller groups and they all can do something different? Good luck, I hope it works out one way or another for all of you.

[ggrizzy]

from my understanding, for those people holding canadian/us passports and participating in princess excursions, they will get 'landed' visas for free courtesy of princess - for those who are citizens of other countries, they need to get their visas prior to boarding the ship! as the cost of a double transit visa (we will be at 2 turkish ports) is alsmost usd70, it's more economical for our group to go with princess shore excursions. since this is our bi-annual family reunion, we hope to be able to do everything together ie join the same tours, eat together in traditional dining times, etc i have everything organized and confirmed except for kusadasi :( i wonder if after we get the landed visa from princess for istanbul, whether the visas are still good for kusadasi (second turkish port) so we can book a private tour? any prior experiences?

 

 

if that doesn't work, i was only able to book a short st john's basilica and virgin mary shrine tour for the whole group - anything longer/better is already full :(

 

thanx

ggrizzy

[cherylandtk]

Well, I learn something every day on these boards. Interesting about Princess taking care of the transit visas for only US/Canadian citizens. Had not known that, before. Sounds like you have done a great job of organizing, not an easy job. I hope that it all works out for you, and that perhaps someone else can chime in with help on the private tour/second transit visa issue.

 

I would suggest that you call Princess directly, but as others have reported, it might be easier to just wait and deal with onboard reps who are familliar with the issue rather than a phone bank reservationist in Santa Clarita.

 

Have done a private tour at Ephesus, but did not arrive via cruise ship, so I can't be of much help here. DO hope that you get a chance to take the longer tour, it is wondrous place to see.

[ggrizzy]

thanx for the kind words - i was only able to organize everything so well because of all the information available on these boards! (especially for our 3 day pre-cruise barcelona stay...)

 

anyways, hope someone can shed some light on this wait-listing thing....

 

;)

 

ps any suggestions for venice on our last day? our flight is at 6pm. (but i will have a 3y.o and 1.5y.o with me :o