Excursions from St. Thomas To St. John

[ajtraveler66]

We just booked our cruise for this February on the NCL Encore.

 

On the main NCL page with all of the shore excursions posted, several excursions from St. Thomas to St. John are listed.  However, once we registered and went to our registration, those particular excursions were not available to us for when we arrive at St. Thomas.  I realize some cannot be offered  because of time restraints, but that should not be the case for our day in question.

 

I called, and I was told that they might add more excursions in the future.

 

No disrespect to the person I talked to, but I know they don't always know everything, and I know they are constantly being flooded with other calls--and probably don't have time to dig deep into the question at hand.

 

Does anyone have the scoop on what might be happening here?

 

 

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, ajtraveler66 said:

 

Does anyone have the scoop on what might be happening here?

Yes...what's happening is exactly what they said. Not all possible excursions are offered on every sailing for a variety of reason including how long the ship is in port and how many other ships are in port that day...the latter because the cruise lines works with mostly the same vendors, which have only so many seats to sell. Not all excursions are posted for sale at the same time and what you're looking for may very well become available down the road so you need to check back periodically. I have cruises coming up in December and January where excursions are still being added and there still are none available for a couple of ports.

 

Why would you expect a telephone customer service rep whose job is to book excursions for cruisers to know exactly why, when and if a particular excursion will be be offered? The shore excursion department's management is responsible for that, not a clerk answering the phone.

Edited September 14, 2019 by njhorseman

[ajtraveler66]

6 hours ago, njhorseman said:

Yes...what's happening is exactly what they said. Not all possible excursions are offered on every sailing for a variety of reason including how long the ship is in port and how many other ships are in port that day...the latter because the cruise lines works with mostly the same vendors, which have only so many seats to sell. Not all excursions are posted for sale at the same time and what you're looking for may very well become available down the road so you need to check back periodically. I have cruises coming up in December and January where excursions are still being added and there still are none available for a couple of ports.

 

Why would you expect a telephone customer service rep whose job is to book excursions for cruisers to know exactly why, when and if a particular excursion will be be offered? The shore excursion department's management is responsible for that, not a clerk answering the phone.

 

[ajtraveler66]

1 hour ago, ajtraveler66 said:

Thanks for your answer.  That helps.  I didn't mean any disrespect to the person answering the phone.  I was very kind to her, and I didn't question her response.   I just feared that the hurricane may have caused some issues.  That or any other factor.  Just want to go to St. John really bad.  In fact that was why I booked this cruise.  I will keep my eyes on things over the course of the next few months.  Again.... thanks.

 

 

[Ms411]

You can easily go to St John on your own. There are tons of posts on how to do it, and the info is the same now as it was before the storms.

 

[imlulu]

Same issue for us on our Jan salining on encore. Went on today at 120 days and the excursions to St. John were there. 🙂

[blue_water]

The self- excursion is super easy and safe, there are numerous recent threads here on that topic alone. Much more flexibility and time on STJ than with a cruise line excursion - Enjoy your day!

Edited September 30, 2019 by blue_water