Shore excursion questions

[Cheetah13]

I'm going on my first cruise in May on the Norwegian Bliss to Alaska. Our ports of call are Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Victoria. I have a few questions about shore excursions.

 

1. When should I start booking these? It seems that Norwegian keeps adding them so I'm not sure when to book since I don't know what all the final possibilities will be.

2. How do you decide on which ones to do? There seem to be so many good options.

3. Do you have back-ups picked out in case the one you booked is cancelled?

 

Thanks for any advice! 

 

*please note that as a first-time cruiser I'm not comfortable with the idea of booking third party excursions and will only be booking through Norwegian 

[cb at sea]

If you are dead-set on only booking thru the ship, then book as soon as you see what you want.  There is no "downside" to early booking.  If something better comes along, you can cancel and rebook something else!

 

In the meantime, research your ports!  You may find that it's not necessary to book thru the ship OR a 3rd party at all!  Some things are quite doable on your own....just so you know!  

 

It's rare for them to cancel an excursion, especially in Alaska....and IF it should happen, they will have plenty of others to choose from!

[MCC retired]

If you are looking for a shore tour that has limited capacity such as helicopter , float plane etc. , book asap .

If it is a tour that these merely add an additional bus , you can wait . Again as stated , you can cancel if something better comes up.

[angie7911922]

If you are booking through the ship, book early, as they usually sell out fast. You can always change to a different one later. We usually don't book through the ship, but look for local tour guides that can meet our needs in each port. They are usually a bit less expensive than the ship, and we have had really good luck with them in the past. sometimes they can even customize the tours to meet your needs. 

[paul929207]

I book early. If you change your mind, you can cancel until the date/time the excursions for that port close.

[SRF]

A good place to research what to do and what excursions to take are 1)  the Ports of Call section here on CC, and 2) the NCL section here on CC.

[Krazy Kruizers]

If there is a particular excursion you want to do -- book it now.  Excursions like helicopters, float planes and some whale watching ones do sell out quickly.

 

Once on the ship, you will get a booklet that will list all the shore excursions as well as the dates you need to cancel by in case you change your mind.

[jujuyu211]

Like everyone else said, book now and you can cancel later. A lot excursions, especially Alaska, sells out fast due to limited availability. I'd also recommend mentally having a few back up options in case the tour is cancelled (the most common reason is weather related for flights, etc.) That way, if your excursion is cancelled, you will have a few other options ready instead of scrambling to find the excursions catalog and making a last minute hasty decision.

 

Deciding where to go really depends on what you want to see or do. Do you want to go up high (flights) or see what's below (whale watching) or explore land (scenery tours)... picking out what you wanna do is half the fun 🙂

[Tourist1292]

We are also going to our first Cruise in Alaska in May. I just book the stateroom 10 days ago and have been studying hard about shore excursions. We narrowed down on a few things we want to do and then look up prices and reviews on the web. I found the excursions from the cruise website is usually more expensive than 3rd party, perhaps they leave room for their discount from time to time. Yesterday, I found Juneau Tours has better price and is still offering 15% off with coupon code "END2018". I booked the excursion in Juneau and Skagway right away as it can be cancelled later if we ever change our mind (but losing some fee for credit card transaction). The final cost is cheaper than just booking the whale and glazier excursion at Juneau from Celebrity.

[SRF]

The advantages of doing a ship excursion is:

 

1)  Tour participants get to disembark earlier to get going on their excursion.

 

2)  If something goes wrong and you end up coming back late, the ship will try to wait for you, but if you miss the ship, the cruise line is responsible (cost and organizing), getting you to the next port to meet the ship and reboard.

 

Yes, they do tend to cost more, but do shop around.  I have seen where the 3rd party excursions are very close or even slightly cheaper though the cruise line.

 

 

[Tourist1292]

The time to get back is a valid concern. We actually planned the excursions to leave at least 1.5-2 hours for disembark/embark and exploring area around the port. 

[donaldsc]

On 1/6/2019 at 2:54 AM, SRF said:

The advantages of doing a ship excursion is:

 

1)  Tour participants get to disembark earlier to get going on their excursion.

 

2)  If something goes wrong and you end up coming back late, the ship will try to wait for you, but if you miss the ship, the cruise line is responsible (cost and organizing), getting you to the next port to meet the ship and reboard.

 

Yes, they do tend to cost more, but do shop around.  I have seen where the 3rd party excursions are very close or even slightly cheaper though the cruise line.

 

 

 

These responses relate specifically to AK cruises

 

1) Disembarking early is only important for tender ports.  In general, all almost all AK ports are not tender ports

 

2) This might be a problem if the excursion is going far from the ship and there may be a traffic or transportation issue.  In AK, excursions are generally local and there is almost zero probability of getting back late.  Worse case scenario, a good tour company will put you on a plane and it will be a short plane ride to the next port.  Tour companies can't afford to strand their customers.

 

There might be a very few places where taking a ship tour is a good idea or is required because the cruise company has bought up all the tour slots but very few and certainly not in AK.

 

DON

[SRF]

2 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

These responses relate specifically to AK cruises

 

2) This might be a problem if the excursion is going far from the ship and there may be a traffic or transportation issue.  In AK, excursions are generally local and there is almost zero probability of getting back late.  Worse case scenario, a good tour company will put you on a plane and it will be a short plane ride to the next port.  Tour companies can't afford to strand their customers.

 

There might be a very few places where taking a ship tour is a good idea or is required because the cruise company has bought up all the tour slots but very few and certainly not in AK.

 

DON

 

Make sure the tour operator will do this.  Just ask.

 

And if one port is in the US and the next one in Canada or vice versa, you may have issues without a passport or passport card.