Does Royal hold back any excursion spots for booking onboard?

[OneParticularHarbour 71]

We booked last minute and the excursions we are interested in are sold out (not surprisingly) - does Royal hold back any spots for booking onboard or should I start looking elsewhere?

[eggnoodle]

Back in Dec on Harmony the excursion we wanted was sold out but we checked once onboard and they did have a few spots open.  YMMV though. 

[Tlbecker1]

They might have them available when you board due to folks cancelling their excursions or not boarding the cruise.  

[rudeney]

The suite concierge gets first dibs on cancellations.  If you are in a full suite, let the concierge know that you are looking for spots by replying to the welcome email.

[LeeW]

Tour operators over the past year have struggled to man even the excursions they have.  Maybe they will have more space but it is really dependent on the place you are visiting.  Likely all that is available onboard will be cancellations.  And we have had four or five tours cancelled when we got onboard.  As late as June we had folks on shore telling us that the tour we were taking had only been running for a day or two (in Jamaica we were first and Chukka was having problems getting their new iPads to work).

[bruzin_for_a_cruizin]

Personally, I wouldn't risk it. There are plenty of third-party options (I've used www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com/ a couple times) who will get you back on-board well before all-aboard.

[Nemomof3]

We really wanted a certain excursion in St Marten last November but it was sold out online. We went straight to the excursion desk on boarding day, no luck. We were put on a waiting list but never got the excursion we wanted. I figured since the ship was sailing at less than half capacity we would be ok but it didn't work that way for us.

[cruiseguy1016]

RCI used to hold some spots for booking on board. I don't know if they still do, it sounds like it's hit or miss. I would go to the excursions desk as soon as you get on the ship and see what's available.

[OneParticularHarbour 71]

Thanks everyone, I will see if we can find alternatives. 

[mets07]

2 hours ago, Nemomof3 said:

We really wanted a certain excursion in St Marten last November but it was sold out online. We went straight to the excursion desk on boarding day, no luck. We were put on a waiting list but never got the excursion we wanted. I figured since the ship was sailing at less than half capacity we would be ok but it didn't work that way for us.

We had the same experience. In fact, one of us could book an excursion pre-cruise, but not the other. We immediately got on the waiting list for the 2nd person, to no avail.

[George C]

7 hours ago, rudeney said:

The suite concierge gets first dibs on cancellations.  If you are in a full suite, let the concierge know that you are looking for spots by replying to the welcome email.

We wanted a excursion and was told it was sold out, concierge got it for us.

[broadwaybaby123]

You can try but don't get your hopes up.  I've waited until getting onboard to book before and the tours were sold out.

[rudeney]

4 hours ago, George C said:

We wanted a excursion and was told it was sold out, concierge got it for us.

 

I was in the suite lounge once and the concierge got a call.  When he hung up, he asked me if I wanted to go on this certain excursion.  I declined as we had already booked something, and he explained the process.  The call was the excursion desk with a cancellation.  They always call the concierge first to see if there is anyone on a waitlist.  In this case, there was no one, so he said they'd give him a few hours in case someone wanted it, then they'd open it to others.  It did not sounds like the shore excursion desk keeps a waitlist - only the concierge.  

[LMaxwell]

Yes