Booking Tours

[binbali]

How long before does everyone book thier tours? I have booked the Haleakala Sunrise tour but not sure about the rest. 20 weeks out we are at now.

[Lexi731]

I really believe it is a personal preference. For those who like to plan far ahead, they will book excursions as early as possible. For some they will book pre cruise and as a budget allows (in order to pay for it as you go). For others they don't book excursions until they get on the ship.

 

For me I start with my list and prioritize by importance of wanting to take the excursion. The one I want to do the most I book and pay for first. Then I book the rest, and pay for them, one at a time, during the time leading up to the cruise. I start this process as soon as the cruise line or excursion operator begins to take reservations. If an excursion is no longer available by the time i get to it - then i go with my plan B for that port. That way when I get to the ship there is no long line to wait in to sign up for an excursion :)

 

But perhaps I just plan way to much!:rolleyes:

 

Karen

[melody hounddog]

I booked my tours for our Christmas cruise 10mos in advance.

[Budget Queen]

Book your tours when you have ALL your plans in place. Having a good schedule with the best use of time, is valuable. :)

[agabbymama]

I'm one that books as soon as they are available. If you really want to do certain tours, I wouldn't take the chance that they would be full as the cruise gets closer. While I've been told the cruiselines hold some slots for those on-board to book, I'm not willing to take that chance. And some of the vendors won't take private bookings if they have a contract with the cruiselines.

 

Have a great cruise!

[BillNY]

How long before does everyone book thier tours? I have booked the Haleakala Sunrise tour but not sure about the rest. 20 weeks out we are at now.

 

I usually book tours as soon as they are available, both for excursions run by the ship and those where I book independent vendors. I have seen some instances of the prices rising as the sailing date gets closer. But, I mainly book early because I like to have everything planned out and settled.

I also booked the Haleakala Sunrise tour for our August POA sailing; I think that may be a tour that sells out quickly.

[binbali]

Thank you all to your replies,I will book the things we dont want to miss out on and play the rest by ear,thank you.. Very excited!!:)

[henny]

Within a month or two before the cruise I did find that some of the private tour companies were full. We were able to find someone else to do the same tour that we were very happy with so all was well, but if you want a tour that is popular and has limited openings you will want to book as early as is comfortable for you.

[Desert Cruizers]

Our family has a big trip next year with 3 cruises, 13 day NZ, 9 days land trip in and around Sydney followed by the 18 day Transpacific and 12 day Hawaii, we leave March 15th and have all tours booked, except what we will do for the 9 days but will do some before we leave or after we get there.

[melody hounddog]

Our family has a big trip next year with 3 cruises, 13 day NZ, 9 days land trip in and around Sydney followed by the 18 day Transpacific and 12 day Hawaii, we leave March 15th and have all tours booked, except what we will do for the 9 days but will do some before we leave or after we get there.

 

Jealous!

[duck addict]

If you wish to go to the Arizona Memorial by tour..book it as early as possible. Due to budget cuts they have cut the number of tours in 1/2.

[casa99]

We booked most of ours up to about 5 months in advance......especially if we saw one that we didn't want to miss out on.

One of our best tours was in Kauai with Jay from Tread Lightly. The website is http://treadlightlykauai.com/ . It is a tour personalized to your interests. Via email beforehand, we told Jay the things we were interested in seeing, and he planned the day to suit us. I can recommend him 100%. It was one of the best port days of our cruise!

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[Desert Cruizers]

We have a big trip next year, with 3 cruises plus land trip, NZ, Transpacific and Hawaii home and booked our Tours in groups of 3 or 4, paid off then grouped the rest, one cruise at a time. Presently all tours are booked except our Sydney stay, final payment on the cruises will begin in Oct. I set up an expense spreadsheet and kept track of the funds set aside along with expenses, by cruise, tours, flight & hotel. Everything will be paid for except our cost in Sydney and onboard expenses.