No Excursions Available for Some Alaska Ports?

[curiouscruisekay3405]

Hi everyone! I am new to the forums but have checked them periodically before. It's been ages since I've taken a Carnival Cruise, and my first time booking it myself. I am now booked on an 8 day Alaskan cruise in May, very excited! But when I went to book excursions, none are showing up for multiple ports - specifically Icy Strait Point and the cruise Tracy Arm Fjord day. Is this normal? Will any become available? There were a few I had my eye on prior to actually booking the cruise, and since I'm not familiar with the system I don't know if there aren't going to be any available or if they're possibly just sold out because I'm too late to the game. 

 

Thank you for your patience! Looking forward to reading all of your topics more actively 🙂

 

edit - just wanted to clarify that an excursion I had seen was kayaking for icy Strait Point, and is listed as unavailable for my sailing, though I could have sworn I saw one for the Tracy Arm fjord day listed under a different day, cannot find it again unfortunately. 

Edited March 9, 2022 by curiouscruisekay3405

[Darlee50]

Maybe there is a glitch in their system and that is why you cannot see excursions for Icy Strait Point because I am going in July and all the excursions they have for Icy strait is showing. Tracy Arm Fjord is their glacier day so the only excursion that they will have is the small boat tour which you have to book from your departure port. It might show up in other port excursions but they have it in the description notes that you can only buy it from the departure port excursion page. 

[LadyMac72]

Tracy Arm Fjord excursion can only be booked under Seattle.  It may show up in other stops but you won't be able to book it that way.  We did it in September and it caused angst until I figured it out.

[RazorPokesHoney]

We are book for May 2nd.  The Tracy Arm Fjord is showing as available for me.  We booked it and it shows up as a Seattle excursion. Nothing for Icy Straight Point excursions are showing. We did book one though but directly through a local charter.

[curiouscruisekay3405]

 

Thank you all so much!! @Darlee50and @LadyMac72I have now found the Tracy Arm fjord one through your help ☺️ very much appreciated!

Glad to hear Icy Strait Point excursions are showing up for other bookings, but I too am in the May 2nd sailing @RazorPokesHoney. I'll check back later with the page, see if it pops up. Or look into the local charters! May I ask what you're doing for that port? My first non Caribbean cruise (aside from a Canadian one when I was much younger), it's been exciting seeing everything that's new to me!

[RazorPokesHoney]

15 minutes ago, curiouscruisekay3405 said:

 

Thank you all so much!! @Darlee50and @LadyMac72I have now found the Tracy Arm fjord one through your help ☺️ very much appreciated!

Glad to hear Icy Strait Point excursions are showing up for other bookings, but I too am in the May 2nd sailing @RazorPokesHoney. I'll check back later with the page, see if it pops up. Or look into the local charters! May I ask what you're doing for that port? My first non Caribbean cruise (aside from a Canadian one when I was much younger), it's been exciting seeing everything that's new to me!

This is our first non-Caribbean as well.  We booked a whale and wildlife excursion with Glacier Wind Charters. They've had several recommendations and their boats are smaller so not as crowded.

[LadyMac72]

37 minutes ago, curiouscruisekay3405 said:

 

Thank you all so much!! @Darlee50and @LadyMac72I have now found the Tracy Arm fjord one through your help ☺️ very much appreciated!

Glad to hear Icy Strait Point excursions are showing up for other bookings, but I too am in the May 2nd sailing @RazorPokesHoney. I'll check back later with the page, see if it pops up. Or look into the local charters! May I ask what you're doing for that port? My first non Caribbean cruise (aside from a Canadian one when I was much younger), it's been exciting seeing everything that's new to me!

You will LOVE the Tracy Arm Fjord excursion.  It was our favorite by far.  We didn't do anything in Icy Strait Point but I heard there was seriously good whale watching while we were there.  I wish I had booked it.  

[mysteryms]

This is my first cruise (third attempt since 2019). We were kicked off our cruise last month and onto another ship that visited Tracy Arm Fiord but no Skagway. We jumped ship to the Spirit a few weeks ago.

 

No shore excursions until maybe 5 days ago. They're not releasing all of them. Instead, it's drips and dabs of excursions added, maybe 8-10 ones a day (most days). They sure are taking their time. 

 

This is disgusting having to wait for the excursions and fighting for them (I missed the luxury train trip in skagway because I didn't know your excursion is not yours until you pay for it. No notices about that anywhere. But this excursion magically disappeared out of my cart twice). So just a warning that you must book and pay for your excursion, or else it will disappear from your cart as well unless you pay for it. 

 

My travel coordinator said she couldn't do anything about the missing excursions. I've gotten conflicting information from the shore excursion email group and calling them directly. This is completely unprofessional, and a huge issue that nobody is talking about or working very hard to rectify it. 

 

My cruise friends have faith that carnival will transfer the excursions we had booked before to the new ship. That's not going to happen. Honestly, to limit shore excursion booking to their website is insane and this is the result of their disorganization. Carnival is not meeting my expectations at this point. 

 

But good luck to you all in finding and booking your excursions. We're all in the same boat (literally), and I'm sure we're all not happy with the process. I wish carnival gave a darn. 

 

 

[herdhopeful07]

1 hour ago, mysteryms said:

 

 

This is disgusting having to wait for the excursions and fighting for them (I missed the luxury train trip in skagway because I didn't know your excursion is not yours until you pay for it. No notices about that anywhere. But this excursion magically disappeared out of my cart twice). So just a warning that you must book and pay for your excursion, or else it will disappear from your cart as well unless you pay for it. 

 

 

 

 

Why would you be shocked that Carnival sold something that you actually didnt own? You cant just have something in your cart and not pay for it, then expect carnival not to sell it to someone who is paying. 

[Lane Hog]

Just like everyone else in the US, excursion operators in Alaska are having trouble finding employees to operate the excursions.  That's probably why it's a moving target as far as availability. 

On our RCL adventure last week, we had one excursion cancel on us the day prior, and two weeks prior we had a port of call swap, so I feel your pain on the process.  It's not just Carnival. 

[mysteryms]

Lane Hog, thank you for that response. It makes total sense that they're having trouble finding employees. Thank you for that. 

 

herdhopeful07, as I said this is my first experience cruising. It would have been nice to see some sort of warning that all excursions in your cart are subject to being sold to another passenger until you pay for it. I'm confused, I don't know how this stuff works, no warnings about items in the cart... I fully plan to pay, but I'm still shopping. Excuse me! 

 

All I'm asking for is more information. Especially for newbies. Had to figure out this stuff myself. Wanted to let yalls know how my cruise excursions were appearing so it might help someone. 

[Jamran77]

I have also been waiting for excursions to appear.  We finally just booked the Skagway train directly with the Train company.  They say the only difference is where you get on the train.  I am also looking to book a Juneau excursion through an independent operator.  From what I hear they need our money and the cruise lines take a big portion if you book through the cruise line, not sure how true that is but I figure I might as well support the locals if the cruise lines cannot get their crap together.  

[mysteryms]

Too bad carnival isn't thinking that folks won't be doing this if they can't get their excursions through them. So if they're available independently, what's the issue? I know the shore excursion site in carnival is experiencing too much traffic to book at times... 

[heidiatmn1]

On 3/9/2022 at 8:15 PM, mysteryms said:

This is my first cruise (third attempt since 2019). We were kicked off our cruise last month and onto another ship that visited Tracy Arm Fiord but no Skagway. We jumped ship to the Spirit a few weeks ago.

 

No shore excursions until maybe 5 days ago. They're not releasing all of them. Instead, it's drips and dabs of excursions added, maybe 8-10 ones a day (most days). They sure are taking their time. 

 

This is disgusting having to wait for the excursions and fighting for them (I missed the luxury train trip in skagway because I didn't know your excursion is not yours until you pay for it. No notices about that anywhere. But this excursion magically disappeared out of my cart twice). So just a warning that you must book and pay for your excursion, or else it will disappear from your cart as well unless you pay for it. 

 

My travel coordinator said she couldn't do anything about the missing excursions. I've gotten conflicting information from the shore excursion email group and calling them directly. This is completely unprofessional, and a huge issue that nobody is talking about or working very hard to rectify it. 

 

My cruise friends have faith that carnival will transfer the excursions we had booked before to the new ship. That's not going to happen. Honestly, to limit shore excursion booking to their website is insane and this is the result of their disorganization. Carnival is not meeting my expectations at this point. 

 

But good luck to you all in finding and booking your excursions. We're all in the same boat (literally), and I'm sure we're all not happy with the process. I wish carnival gave a darn. 

 

 

My hunch is many Skagway ones are not yet released as they cross the boarder into Canada. They are waiting to release them to see if Canada changes their testing requirements. We are waiting to hear/book as we’d like to do one that crosses over into the Yukon via train and comes back via hiway. 

[firefly333]

On 3/9/2022 at 10:28 PM, mysteryms said:

Lane Hog, thank you for that response. It makes total sense that they're having trouble finding employees. Thank you for that. 

 

herdhopeful07, as I said this is my first experience cruising. It would have been nice to see some sort of warning that all excursions in your cart are subject to being sold to another passenger until you pay for it. I'm confused, I don't know how this stuff works, no warnings about items in the cart... I fully plan to pay, but I'm still shopping. Excuse me! 

 

All I'm asking for is more information. Especially for newbies. Had to figure out this stuff myself. Wanted to let yalls know how my cruise excursions were appearing so it might help someone. 

Walmart will sell something you have in your cart too. .. if it's a item running out.

 

I think it's all cruise lines doing this, releasing excursions so late. Maybe so many ports got cancelled now they are wary.  Idk .. its every cruise not just this one.

[mysteryms]

Carnival has been releasing about 4-8 new excursions a day for my cruise, except weekends. They're up to 70 for it now.

 

I've been looking into the excursions offered by other excursion companies. Many are the same ones that carnival is offering. I've also looked at the individual ones I want from their own websites. Several I had booked on my former cruise are not operating now, probably due to covid. But others that I've been waiting for are operating and offering tickets online. And there are shows that work for our cruise date/time. 

 

Don't know what the hold up with carnival is. I would look into booking any missing excursions independently. Excursion operators may include transportation to/from port. If your booking is refundable, you can always buy tickets from them and continue to check the excursions carnival is offering. If the one you want eventually shows up, you can always cancel the one you bought yourself and buy the excursion through carnival. If it doesn't show up, then you still get the experience you wanted even if carnival couldn't offer it. 

 

Of course if you buy an excursion yourself and are late getting back to the ship, you're screwed. If you buy it through carnival it's no problem, they'll get you back to your ship. But it's true, they're much cheaper than the ones offered through carnival. 

 

BTW, to the couple of people in this chat who are dismissive of my idiocy of thinking items in my cart will stay there while shopping, be kind. I'm just relaying my experience. Not everyone here is a cruising expert, or has common sense. Regardless of our issues, we're just looking for advice, not negativity.

[rj59]

You have to realize that it's going to be probably a record season for Alaska cruising, and so ports are going to have multiple ships on the same day and limited excursion space. I went to Alaska in September, and all the cities felt like ghost towns, so a lot of the tourist places have shut down for good, and as others have mentioned, finding employees is going to be tough. I try to plan ahead on Alaska cruises and try different things. So in Skagway I rented an electric bike and went exploring. My general advice is to choose whale watching over futile searches for animals that are difficult to find, like bald eagles or bears. Then I'd skip plane glacier tours in Ketchikan, since there have been two fatal crashes with cruise passengers killed in the past several years.