hazeleyes46 Posted July 19, 2022 #1 Share Posted July 19, 2022 There is an excursion I want to go on but it now says sold out. I thought someone said you might be able to still reserve it once on the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merion_Mom Posted July 19, 2022 #2 Share Posted July 19, 2022 Some people will tell you that they hold back some slots for on board booking. I am doubtful about that, but I know that people do cancel. That's what opens up the slots. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazeleyes46 Posted July 19, 2022 Author #3 Share Posted July 19, 2022 Just now, Merion_Mom said: Some people will tell you that they hold back some slots for on board booking. I am doubtful about that, but I know that people do cancel. That's what opens up the slots. Ahh yeah maybe some will do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robmtx Posted July 19, 2022 #4 Share Posted July 19, 2022 Your mileage may vary? Yes, we have, on multiple sailings, been able to book something that sold out online. No, we have, on multiple sailings, been told that excursion is sold out and unavailable. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramja96 Posted July 19, 2022 #5 Share Posted July 19, 2022 2 minutes ago, robmtx said: Your mileage may vary? Yes, we have, on multiple sailings, been able to book something that sold out online. No, we have, on multiple sailings, been told that excursion is sold out and unavailable. 🤔❓ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Sea Dog Posted July 19, 2022 #6 Share Posted July 19, 2022 One cruise we decided we wanted to do the Atlantis Submarine but when we went to the excursion desk they said it was sold out. When we got to port we saw Atlantis Submarine office and inquired about going on it. We ended up going on the submarine earlier than our excursion and even cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George C Posted July 19, 2022 #7 Share Posted July 19, 2022 We were told one was sold out by excursion desk, went to suite concierge and was able to book it . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare OCSC Mike Posted July 19, 2022 #8 Share Posted July 19, 2022 Have you tried booking it directly? It’s often not hard to find the company Royal is using for their excursions. They even cut & paste the description straight from the company’s website (then charge extra of course). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare rudeney Posted July 19, 2022 #9 Share Posted July 19, 2022 10 minutes ago, George C said: We were told one was sold out by excursion desk, went to suite concierge and was able to book it . I was once in the SL waiting to talk to the concierge and overheard him on the phone. When he got off, he went through the list he had just made of cancelled reservations for various spa services, excursions and specialty restaurants and asked if I needed any of those. He explained that they always call him first and see if he has any of his guests waiting on these things, and that they usually give him some time to ask his guests before they put them back on the list for GS to offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mum2Mercury Posted July 19, 2022 #10 Share Posted July 19, 2022 21 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said: Have you tried booking it directly? It’s often not hard to find the company Royal is using for their excursions. They even cut & paste the description straight from the company’s website (then charge extra of course). Yes, often a popular activity is offered by the ship + private vendors. With a private vendor, you're likely to be part of a smaller group. Paying less is just a bonus. I wouldn't want to join an already-bloated ship's excursion group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazeleyes46 Posted July 19, 2022 Author #11 Share Posted July 19, 2022 1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said: Have you tried booking it directly? It’s often not hard to find the company Royal is using for their excursions. They even cut & paste the description straight from the company’s website (then charge extra of course). I actually don't want to do that since it is farther from the port (swimming with the pigs) and wanted to make sure I am with RCCL to do it. It is actually more expensive to do with other places too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazeleyes46 Posted July 19, 2022 Author #12 Share Posted July 19, 2022 1 hour ago, Mum2Mercury said: Yes, often a popular activity is offered by the ship + private vendors. With a private vendor, you're likely to be part of a smaller group. Paying less is just a bonus. I wouldn't want to join an already-bloated ship's excursion group. It's actually more money to go private. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare BirdTravels Posted July 19, 2022 #13 Share Posted July 19, 2022 2 hours ago, hazeleyes46 said: There is an excursion I want to go on but it now says sold out. I thought someone said you might be able to still reserve it once on the ship. There is no reason for the cruise line to hold seats for onboard booking. They only make money when seats are full. That being said, there are often cancellations. People cancelling tours. People cancelling the cruise. So some seats may open up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooky981 Posted July 19, 2022 #14 Share Posted July 19, 2022 I did but I had a Genie who probably had something to do with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mum2Mercury Posted July 19, 2022 #15 Share Posted July 19, 2022 1 hour ago, hazeleyes46 said: It's actually more money to go private. Well, let's compare a couple excursions for my upcoming cruise in September. These aren't cherry-picked; they're the things I'm looking at doing myself on my upcoming cruise. You can verify the prices online: Bonaire Highlights and Sorobon Beach - The ship charges $59 - Shore Excursions Group.com charges $40 Cave Pool & Black Stone Beach by ATV - The ship charges $275 - Viator.com charges $142 Couldn't compare for Curacao -- the ship apparently doesn't offer an excursion to Christoffel National Park. I was going to list a couple more, but I lost interest. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mum2Mercury Posted July 19, 2022 #16 Share Posted July 19, 2022 1 hour ago, BirdTravels said: There is no reason for the cruise line to hold seats for onboard booking. They only make money when seats are full. That's just good sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CntPAcruiser Posted July 19, 2022 #17 Share Posted July 19, 2022 After not getting the one we wanted and booking something different prior to the cruise, we were able to switch excursions once on board for four of us, but I believe it may have been because of a cancellation. It doesn't hurt to ask once on board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterfever Posted July 20, 2022 #18 Share Posted July 20, 2022 I had the same experience for my upcoming Aug. 6 cruise. I needed 5 spots, but there were only 2 left. I emailed the shore excursion department (Shorex@RCCL.com) & got a very quick response. The person who responded was Lisseth Steiger. She said that she would check with the tour operator to see if they could add 3 more spots. Before she heard back, though, I decided to book something else instead, and I just cancelled my RCCL booking today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coralc Posted July 20, 2022 #19 Share Posted July 20, 2022 (edited) 12 hours ago, hazeleyes46 said: It's actually more money to go private. JMO. Swimming with the pigs sounds like fun, but I talked to friends that did it, and it is kind of a dumb excursion. Have you read the reviews? They are kind of highly food motivated and poop a lot. I thought it sounded cool at first, but now it is just a tourist thing with half-starved young pigs. Exuma in the Bahamas had the original swimming pigs. Sorry. I don't mean to discourage. You can feed them on land, why is swimming with unknown pigs in the water, special? Edited July 20, 2022 by Coralc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merion_Mom Posted July 20, 2022 #20 Share Posted July 20, 2022 12 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said: Well, let's compare a couple excursions for my upcoming cruise in September. These aren't cherry-picked; they're the things I'm looking at doing myself on my upcoming cruise. You can verify the prices online: Bonaire Highlights and Sorobon Beach - The ship charges $59 - Shore Excursions Group.com charges $40 Cave Pool & Black Stone Beach by ATV - The ship charges $275 - Viator.com charges $142 Couldn't compare for Curacao -- the ship apparently doesn't offer an excursion to Christoffel National Park. I was going to list a couple more, but I lost interest. She is talking specifically about HER excursion. Not a general comment. HER excursion would cost more to do privately., Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazeleyes46 Posted July 20, 2022 Author #21 Share Posted July 20, 2022 16 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said: Well, let's compare a couple excursions for my upcoming cruise in September. These aren't cherry-picked; they're the things I'm looking at doing myself on my upcoming cruise. You can verify the prices online: Bonaire Highlights and Sorobon Beach - The ship charges $59 - Shore Excursions Group.com charges $40 Cave Pool & Black Stone Beach by ATV - The ship charges $275 - Viator.com charges $142 Couldn't compare for Curacao -- the ship apparently doesn't offer an excursion to Christoffel National Park. I was going to list a couple more, but I lost interest. Yes some are but when I looked up swimming with the pigs, it was cheaper with RCCL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazeleyes46 Posted July 20, 2022 Author #22 Share Posted July 20, 2022 5 hours ago, Coralc said: JMO. Swimming with the pigs sounds like fun, but I talked to friends that did it, and it is kind of a dumb excursion. Have you read the reviews? They are kind of highly food motivated and poop a lot. I thought it sounded cool at first, but now it is just a tourist thing with half-starved young pigs. Exuma in the Bahamas had the original swimming pigs. Sorry. I don't mean to discourage. You can feed them on land, why is swimming with unknown pigs in the water, special? Yes, it is in Exuma. I heard good and bad things too but it is a bucket list thing and I really wanted to go if I could. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now