Booked a year out... and I can buy excursions already? Is that right?

[Lunesse]

Hi, Cruisers. I looked for an answer for this, didn't find one, sorry if I missed it while searching.

I'm new to Norwegian. 

 

I see my booking on the site, just made it recently, for next summer, and I can browse excursions and.. buy them already? Is that true? Other lines there was a starting date for that sort of thing depending on your status, etc.  

 

I mean, if I can, I guess I would do that soon for one I really want but.... I've just never seen it work you could book so far ahead.  

 

Thank you, happy sailing! 

[KeithJenner]

There is no rule for excursions being made available on NCL. They appear whenever NCL make the arrangements themselves, and it can vary a lot.

 

Ive seen them available years out and also seen them not available just a few months out. Sometimes on an individual cruise they are available for some ports and not others.

 

There is no preference given to any status or cabin class for being able to book excursions. If they are released then anyone can book them.

[casofilia]

@Lunesse

 

Remember that you cannot "book" them as used to be possible; they MUST be paid for at the time of "booking" even though the terms & conditions talk of "pre-booked/pre-paid" shore excursions.

[complawyer]

log on  to ncl website, click where it tells you to log in. you will then see your reservations listed.

 

click shore excursions, when they come up, if they are available to be booked, it will allow you to do so. you will however need  to pay for them at that time. since ncl has a habit (good or bad) of sometimes changing, ports, itineraries, and sometimes even cancelling cruises, i personally wouldnt be that anxious to book that far out. just mho

[julig22]

Once you book an excursion you won't be able to see any other excursions that conflict - so if something better comes along you'll never know.

[dumbth]

Please don't prematurely commit to excursions. That was my greatest regret while juggling credit for 3 cancelled cruises. I forget the details but it was harder to recover and redeploy vs the cruise price. Aside from cancellation, other things may change

[InfrequentPNWCruiser]

Personally,  I wouldn't bother with booking and paying for excursions until after final payment at the 120 day mark. I've never had an issue with not being able to get what I wanted.

[Lunesse]

Thank you, all for the insights and suggestions. I will hold off and see what else pops up, it is good to know people aren't booking like mad so far in advance that it would make that a necessity. Thank you! You rock! 😃

[The Shrike]

9 hours ago, dumbth said:

Please don't prematurely commit to excursions. That was my greatest regret while juggling credit for 3 cancelled cruises. I forget the details but it was harder to recover and redeploy vs the cruise price. Aside from cancellation, other things may change

Had a cruise cancelled back in January and we had no problem getting excursion refunds.

For OP:  we just booked a cruise for Dec 2023 and there are excursions listed already.  From my experience, ports that NCL is always going to have excursions available pretty much as early as the cruise is available to be booked.

[shof515]

10 hours ago, InfrequentPNWCruiser said:

Personally,  I wouldn't bother with booking and paying for excursions until after final payment at the 120 day mark. I've never had an issue with not being able to get what I wanted.

this is what i noticed. I had a cruise booked 2 years in advance and every month or so i will see excursions get removed as the cruise gets closers and closer

[trivimp]

The only thing I would book way out is something like a cabana at GSC... you know the cabanas aren't going to be cancelled by a tour provider that goes out of business, you know they are in short supply & sell out frequently, and you know that you'll get refunded to your on-board account if the ship misses GSC due to rough weather.

 

Everything else is so hit-and-miss since the restart, I would wait until maybe 60 days out to even start looking.  Excursion stuff is appearing & disappearing almost constantly.  It's been frustrating.