Ships excursion tours....

[tullahlula]

I have booked some ship's excursion tours for my upcoming cruise in November, this will be the first time participating on any ships excursion's, regardless of cruise line, as normally we do DIY trips . If the tour has to be cancelled, say for lack of interest, insufficient numbers of people etc. when do they inform you ? Prior to the cruise, a few weeks ahead, day before tour etc. I just want to cover myself and have a backup plan, I don't want to be left scrambling on the day of. Thanks. :)

[Kamloops50]

I have booked some ship's excursion tours for my upcoming cruise in November, this will be the first time participating on any ships excursion's, regardless of cruise line, as normally we do DIY trips . If the tour has to be cancelled, say for lack of interest, insufficient numbers of people etc. when do they inform you ? Prior to the cruise, a few weeks ahead, day before tour etc. I just want to cover myself and have a backup plan, I don't want to be left scrambling on the day of. Thanks. :)

 

I have very rarely heard of ship tours being cancelled. I've seen them cancelled because of weather or problems with excursion provider.

[mdv31616]

We scheduled a snorkeling trip in Bermuda in May with Celebrity. The tickets were in an envelope in our stateroom when we boarded. We neglected to open until the day of the excursion. Much to our dismay, our trip had been cancelled and we were automatically given tickets to a similar trip the next day. We scrambled quickly to find another excursion that day in place of snorkeling...a beautiful, sunny day..by the way. The next day was windy, cold with rough seas. The tour company had to change the itinerary due to rough weather. We had an option to get a refund and 75% of the group, including us, bailed. We were disappointed that we were not able to snorkel in Bermuda. So.... open your tickets as soon as possible so that you have ample time to change.

[Lois R]

I have booked some ship's excursion tours for my upcoming cruise in November, this will be the first time participating on any ships excursion's, regardless of cruise line, as normally we do DIY trips . If the tour has to be cancelled, say for lack of interest, insufficient numbers of people etc. when do they inform you ? Prior to the cruise, a few weeks ahead, day before tour etc. I just want to cover myself and have a backup plan, I don't want to be left scrambling on the day of. Thanks. :)

 

Hi, it has happened to me a few times over the years. So yes, it does

happen. Lack of participation is one of the reasons. I can't remember

every tour that was cancelled in 11 years:eek:....not alot but a few.

THey normally send a notice to your cabin at least a day or 2 before

so you would have time to go to the Exucursion desk if you want

to book something else.

No, they don't usually do it "weeks ahead"..that would sort of defeat

the purpose of allowing you to book on line up to 4 days before your

cruise.

[Lois R]

I have very rarely heard of ship tours being cancelled. I've seen them cancelled because of weather or problems with excursion provider.

 

It happens,....but most folks just don't hear about it because their

particular tour wasn't the one cancelled;)

[gfkcruiser]

I have had a snorkeling trip cancelled due to poor conditions. I think I was notified the night before or that day. That was on my first cruise. I had a 4 x 4 trip in Cabo cancelled and I don't know why. This actually worked to my advantage as I had missed the ship in San Diego and had to board in Cabo and would not have made the excursion. Found this out when I boarded.

 

Gail

 

 

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[Macadian]

We had two tours cancelled on out Panama HAL cruise. Snorkeling, kayaking and some walking. We were informed the day before they were due to take place. Lack of 'take up' was the reason. Was most dissapointing but given the demographics on that cruise, not so surprising. We were offered an alternative or two...one of which we signed up for. It was less than thrilling and a waste of money. Since then, whichever line we cruise with, we DIY and have yet to be dissapointed. As for Celebrity we have yet to do an onboard excursion and may do one on our forthcoming cruise. Have fun!

Edited August 3, 2014 by Macadian

[Safety Squirrel]

I have booked some ship's excursion tours for my upcoming cruise in November, this will be the first time participating on any ships excursion's, regardless of cruise line, as normally we do DIY trips . If the tour has to be cancelled, say for lack of interest, insufficient numbers of people etc. when do they inform you ? Prior to the cruise, a few weeks ahead, day before tour etc. I just want to cover myself and have a backup plan, I don't want to be left scrambling on the day of. Thanks. :)

 

One of my excursions on Constellation (Caribbean cruise) was changed, They offered one in the morning and one in afternoon. Not enough people had registered for both - so they combined tour into the one with the most participants. I received notice a day or two before the excursion so could have picked another one. I just went with the adjusted time.

 

I also think sometimes it depends on the demographics of the cruise.

[stratixman]

It is rare that excursions would get canceled before the cruise sails. Many passengers wait to book excursions once on board. About the only reasons likely to cause a pre-sail cancellation would be things out of control of the cruise line, e.g. related to tour operator problems or perhaps health/safety issues at the destinations.

[Banjo]

This happened to me when I was on the Carnival Conquest back in 2005. My son and I scheduled a snorkeling adventure on Gran Cayman with Carnival. When we went looking for our tour on the dock we learned it was cancelled. With no opportunity of scheduling something else, we just ended up walking downtown Gran Cayman, not very interesting.

 

Concerning booking privately, on a Emerald Princess cruise in the Baltic, I booked with an internet TA. For each port the TA had very inexpensive tours. So I booked each port with them. 2 days prior to leaving home for Copenhagen, where we picked up the Emerald, each one was cancelled. Wife and I quickly went over Princess's tour options only to learn all the good ones booked. Fortunately for the 2 days in Saint Petersburg I booked with another private tour company and they were excellent. Did get on 2 or 3 other ship's tours with some late cancellations on the ship. For the remainder we did a lot do-it-your-selfers with ho-ho buses and public transportation. Actually ended up to be fun and adventurous cruise.

 

Other then those experiences, I never had an issue with tours booked with the cruise lines or privately. As with privately done tours some have been outstanding and some have been 'so-so'. Cruise line tours all are flexible if you want to cancel or change it to something else. One issue I do have with Celebrity is they don't count OBC until you are on-board. This up coming cruise on the Eclipse I am coming on-board with considerable OBC, can easily to cover the tours I found interesting. I will just have to wait till we board.

Edited August 4, 2014 by Banjo

[phoenix_dream]

Tours that are cancelled due to lack of response will not be cancelled until a day or two ahead. Occasionally a tour may be cancelled earlier due to a problem with the tour company. In that case, you would be notified at the time. The former tours are likely to be those that are very unusual or very pricey. The standard 'tour of the island/city, snorkeling, zip-lining', etc., are unlikely to be cancelled due to lack of response. If you have a unique tour you are concerned about, I would call Celebrity a few days before you leave to see how filled up your tour is. If it is lacking in bookings, do some research beforehand on alternatives.

[snyniew]

This happened to both me and a friend on our recent April sailing on the Reflection. We had booked our Excursions in the fall. Sometime in Feb, March we both received e-mails from Celebrity stating that our excursions had been cancelled. Full refunds were made and we had plenty of time to find another one we wanted to do.

[vacation luvver]

It is rare that excursions would get canceled before the cruise sails. Many passengers wait to book excursions once on board. About the only reasons likely to cause a pre-sail cancellation would be things out of control of the cruise line, e.g. related to tour operator problems or perhaps health/safety issues at the destinations.

Not so rare if you include engine problems as a reason to cancel excursions before the ship sails. That's what happened on the Norwegian Breakaway. I found a notice in my cabin right after I boarded that said that more than a dozen shore excursions (including mine) out of Port Canaveral had been cancelled, and we had to go to the Shore Excursions desk and wait on line to book another excursion.

 

On the Celebrity Summit, when we had to tender at Gaspe, there was a delay of so many hours while we all waited in the theater that it was finally announced that certain excursions had been cancelled because it was impossible for them to get us off the ship in a timely manner.

 

When I was on the Norwegian Dawn, I received a phone call the night before an excursion in Jamaica saying that departure would be one and a half hours after the time originally scheduled. That did not present a problem for me, but it might have presented a problem for others if they had planned to eat lunch in Jamaica after the tour, because now they would have one a half hour less time than they had thought they would have. We weren't told why the departure time was changed.

[tullahlula]

Thanks everyone for your input. I think I may work on a plan B just incase...we have booked three of the probably least popular excursions....we like to be different ;) and we're hoping for less crowded tours but it seems by doing this we may take the chance of being cancelled. Thanks again :)