Miraviglia ship excursions dilemma

[EllieinNJ]

Looking at some of the ship excursions for our cruise, some say there is a minimum number of participants.  Do most excursions reach this number?  I would hate to reserve an excursion in advance and then once on the ship find out it's cancelled because lack of interest.  On the other hand I would be disappointed if I waited to book on board and find out that it is sold out or prices are higher.  Any thoughts?

[JT1962]

27 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

Looking at some of the ship excursions for our cruise, some say there is a minimum number of participants.  Do most excursions reach this number?  I would hate to reserve an excursion in advance and then once on the ship find out it's cancelled because lack of interest.  On the other hand I would be disappointed if I waited to book on board and find out that it is sold out or prices are higher.  Any thoughts?

Most excursions have enough people sign up.  Of the 6-7 excursions I have booked through MSC, only one was canceled due to not enough people signing up. It was to Kennedy Space Center for Back to Back cruisers, so a limited number of passengers (200 or so) taking the B2B and needed 25 for the excursion. 
 

Prices will be 15-20% higher onboard compared to booking prior to sailing, from my experience. If you see a ship excursion that you really want to do, I would book before you sail, but have a back-up plan in the rare case that it is canceled.

[Ryan82]

I've been on several msc provided excursions - probably about 10 now. One was cancelled (no reason given) but it wasn't lack of participants- but plenty of warning was given. I've found them relatively well organised and when I've done a quick price comparison with other sites the pre booking price is often pretty similar.

[perakcruiser]

21 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

Do most excursions reach this number?

Yes. But some very expensive "special" things sometimes not make the numbers. At least on European cruises. 

[mscdivina2016]

On 7/10/2023 at 9:06 AM, EllieinNJ said:

Looking at some of the ship excursions for our cruise, some say there is a minimum number of participants.  Do most excursions reach this number?  I would hate to reserve an excursion in advance and then once on the ship find out it's cancelled because lack of interest.  On the other hand I would be disappointed if I waited to book on board and find out that it is sold out or prices are higher.  Any thoughts?

Actually have had several cancelled over the years but they are not your average ones. Flight seeing, Scuba, and even Zipline are some examples.