Princess Excursion wait less question

[san diego spartan]

So we're looking at booking some excursions for our Alaska cruise coming up next month. Unfortunately many of the ones that we are interested in are already booked but there is an option to wait list it. I am wondering if I book another Excursion at the same time and date as the one that I am waitlisting what happens if a spot opens up and I can take the Excursion that I really want to take. Is there a penalty to cancel the one I've already booked? Can I just transfer what I paid on the one I booked to the one that I really want? I am not sure how this works. Thank you very much First Time Princess Cruiser. By the way I have many other questions that I will post separately.

[SiliconCruiser]

There are plenty of third party excursion operators.  I know that as a first time cruiser, you'll be scared away by some second time cruisers that will tell you that you are only safe with a Princess excursion.  Realistically, many of the excursion operators also contract with cruise lines.  In any case, for most, their livelihood can be entirely dependent on cruise-line traffic, they know their business and have the proverbial bee-line to ship schedules (probably better than you do, and probably better than Princess phone agents.)  That is why many of them have a "guarantee" of getting you back to the ship on time or paying to fly you to the next port and if necessary, putting you up in a hotel (with meals).  That guarantee would far exceed the cost of the excursion. Wanna know why they can offer that guarantee? Probably because they have never been called upon to honor it!  These operators will schedule their excursions around variations to the ship schedules and will cancel (and refund) if they cannot fulfill their end of the services (something you may not get from Princess these days if they cancel your excursion.)

[san diego spartan]

Thanks.  Sorry for the typo.  

 

Yes I am very familiar with non ship excursions and have used them many times.  We are new to princess  but have sailed other cruise lines almost 30 times.

 

Was just wondering about specific Princess policy on this.

Edited August 25, 2022 by san diego spartan
Typo

[Essiesmom]

Somewhere on the Princess website it probably tells you how late you can cancel an excursion without penalty.  Sometimes it is 14 hours…. EM

[Ombud]

11 hours ago, san diego spartan said:

So we're looking at booking some excursions for our Alaska cruise coming up next month. Unfortunately many of the ones that we are interested in are already booked but there is an option to wait list it. I am wondering if I book another Excursion at the same time and date as the one that I am waitlisting what happens if a spot opens up and I can take the Excursion that I really want to take. Is there a penalty to cancel the one I've already booked? NO Can I just transfer what I paid on the one I booked to the one that I really want? FWIW I'd waitlist the one I really wanted and wait for them to add another bus. Perhaps put 2nd choice on wishlist. If looking for a refund pre- embarkation that takes about a day. If onboard you can cancel up to 2 days ahead. Shorter times now. But if transferring from 1 to another then only the Shore Excursion Desk can do it after that (I did this the morning of an Excursion so yes they can) I am not sure how this works. Thank you very much First Time Princess Cruiser. By the way I have many other questions that I will post separately.

 

Edited August 25, 2022 by Ombud

[san diego spartan]

OK called Princess and they said that if you get offered the wait list Excursion you can take the and get the other refunded if there is a difference.