When are shore excursions open for booking?

[high seas gal]

I've been re-checking the Celebrity site to download info on the shore excursions for our October Mercury/Mexico cruise. So far, I keep getting an error message which indicates that no booklet is available yet for this cruise. Any ideas on when excursion info should be available on an October cruise?

High Seas Gal
Northern California

Celebrity Mercury - October 13, 2004 - Mexico!
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NCL Sky Jun. 2000 (ALASKA)
NCL Sky Aug. 2001 (ALASKA)
Princess Regal Princess Jul. 2002 (ALASKA)
NCL Sun Sep. 2003 (ALASKA)

[JNLROSE]

HSG,

They say usually right at around 6 months online, which means yours should already be available! I booked in October for our last February trip, all online! Keep checking, hopefully VERY soon!

Rosie
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CELEBRITY MERCURY HERE I COME!!!

[Cruisin Around]

I called Celebrity because we are going on a cruise in October to the Western Caribbean on the Galaxy and I had the same question as you. They told me that excursions will not be available on-line until July (3 months before). They also said you can only pre-purchase on-line- not by phone or you had to purchase on the ship at the time of the cruise.

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[JNLROSE]

Really, now it's 3 months? That's a bummer!

When I booked ours online for the last cruise, it was kinda nice because they were all paid for way in advance!

Yes, remember they charge your CC immediately when you book them!

Rosie
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CELEBRITY MERCURY HERE I COME!!!

[btoohill]

if you don't book online in advance and you try and book as soon as you can after you get on the ship, do you think there's still a chance that a shore excursion will be sold out through advance, online sales?

[JNLROSE]

Anything is possible depending on the actual excursion & it's popularity & the # of pax it can accomodate! You also need to remember many might book online then once on board decide to cancel so openings would become available. I personally have never waited to book on board, just my personal choice.

Rosie
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CELEBRITY MERCURY HERE I COME!!!

[Joanandjoe]

Here are our two cents worth. You can still look at the excursions port by port even if you can't book the excursions. Just go to your itinerary and click on each port. You'll see a list of excursions. Click on any excursion and you'll see a screen that describes that excursion and has a link at the top to see other excursions for the port. You won't be able to book, but you'll be able to think about what you want. That way you'll be ready when booking does become available. For our last cruise, certain ports became available four months before the cruise, others three months. Your cruise is early for that itierary, so you probably will have a shorter booking window than people on the same itinerary several months later.

Also, look at the CC ports of call boards. In many cases you'll find suggestions that enable you do do more, with no crowds, and at less cost, than the ship's excursions. When we took our Horizon Panama cruise last November, we only took one ship's tour - in Panama.

[teedee]

I don't know if the policy changed or if it's different booking for Mexican cruises than the Caribbean, but I booked my excursions for my September Century cruise in February. Anyone know why they would be different?

Terri

Skyward - 1989
Carnivale - 1991
Holiday - 1994
Fantasy - 1998
Century - 2002
Century - 2003
Jubilee - 7/04
Century - 9/04
Coral Princess - 3/05
Valor - 10/05

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[high seas gal]

Thanks for all the tips! I'll be checking Celebrity's site, as well as checking the CC port boards. I appreciate all the experience and information that you all share on these boards!

High Seas Gal
Northern California

Celebrity Mercury - October 13, 2004 - Mexico!
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0000ff&cdt=2004;10;13;20;00;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img]

NCL Sky Jun. 2000 (ALASKA)
NCL Sky Aug. 2001 (ALASKA)
Princess Regal Princess Jul. 2002 (ALASKA)
NCL Sun Sep. 2003 (ALASKA)