Meet early for Princess excursions?

[schlogee]

If you have an excursion booked through Princess is the time listed the time you meet up for the tour - or do you have to be there 15 min before (like most independent excursions)?  My husband is doing one excursion that ends at 3:00, and we want to do another that starts at 3:00 - not sure if this is going to work!

[EDDY0827]

What is your plan when the first excursion runs 20 minutes late?

[Papa Yoda]

 

 

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Edited July 10, 2019 by Ferd Berfle

[Aus Traveller]

33 minutes ago, schlogee said:

If you have an excursion booked through Princess is the time listed the time you meet up for the tour - or do you have to be there 15 min before (like most independent excursions)?  My husband is doing one excursion that ends at 3:00, and we want to do another that starts at 3:00 - not sure if this is going to work!

Is the 3pm meeting time on the ship or ashore? Usually the time Princess sets for a tour is the time, although a lot of people arrive a little bit early. The tour could not go until the nominated time, or slightly after. However, I think your problem would likely be that the earlier tour runs a bit overtime - even 10 minutes but could be more.

[Potstech]

We would not do that.  Tried it once and it was too nerve racking so now we only do one per port.

[Steelers36]

(Some of the) Princess tour buses invariably arrive back to the ship late at the end of the day.  Not difficult to imagine shorter tours also arriving back late. 

 

[fishywood]

Have you tried adding the second excursion through the Cruise Personalizer? If it is considered in conflict with an already booked one I believe the system will not allow you to.

 

In multiple places on the website (and the Excursion FAQs linked in your Personalizer as well) Princess states:

 

Multiple Excursions in One Port

Allow at least 60 minutes between each excursion. All excursions depart from, and return to, the cruise ship pier. By scheduling in this manner, you will have sufficient time to take multiple excursions.

[Cruiserkenn]

I think the timing is too close.  I have done excursions that have a time difference of an hour or more.  Too risky if there is no margin for error.  

[rocklinmom]

We have done Princess shorex's for years and the actual meeting time is always earlier than the shorex start time.  It can be as much as fifteen minutes to a half hour sooner. Also, it depends on where you are sailing, sometimes you meet onboard and sometimes you meet ashore. That means extra time if a tender port. For example, in Alaska we met our Princess shorex ashore, while just recently on the British Isles cruise we met onboard (in a dining room or lounge) first. 

[weedpindle]

Go for it, then reply to this thread to tell us how much you missed the second tour by.

[richmke]

Have you looked for private tours that combine the tours your want? Or, if a private company offers both tours too, you could call them about back-to-back scheduling.

[Tak8]

Normally, the meeting time is 15 minutes or so earlier.  At the least, it's very tight. 

[skynight]

Too tight. I don't believe you can determine the exact timing in the cruise personlizer.

The time on the tour ticket which you will receive in your cabin will show the meeting location and time. Meeting time is usually earlier than scheduled departure time. If the tour meets on the ship you will have to exit your transportation and re-board. Some afternoon tours meet on shore.

[riffatsea]

How can you be in 2 places at the same time??

Even if the first tour was exactly on time you could not possible make the 2nd one!

[LeeW]

Typically the tour time is the time that they start moving people to the buses.  On Princess, people tend to arrive 15-30 minutes early and then everyone is ready to depart on time.  Other cruise lines (RCI) they don't even start to show up until the meeting time and then it is 1/2 hour before everyone is ready to go.

 

This really depends on the type of tour and where it is.  Tours meeting on the pier are easy to get to from a previous tour.  Generally only early tours and tours involving tendering meet onboard. And of course you can take his ticket with you to check in.  Sometimes everyone has to sign a waiver themselves. But they will do a count as the time for departure nears and again as they are waking toward the buses.  Be prepared to explain that he missed the tour.  Large tours may have several buses and they sometimes dispatch them as they get enough people to fill them.  Last bus can be 1/2 hour or more after the "scheduled" time.

 

You should also be aware that the advertised time may be different than the meeting time on the ticket.  We have had the meeting time as early as 45 minutes before the time we thought the tour was.  We have also had them move the tour by several hours.

 

Will he make it?  He might.  Bring his ticket and sign him in for the second tour and hope he does.  Worst case is he misses it.  You won't get any money back at that point anyway.