Shore Excursion booking ?

[tartanmom]

Our cruise is still a ways off -- 100 days but contemplating booking a few shore excursions soon. On our previous cruise we left it too late and some of our top picks sold out. We do have a lot of OBC including the HIA package with $200 shore excursion credit. Just wondering if we book something now, and then change our minds can you just cancel and then credits are adjusted? I know that they could possible add more excursions as the sail date gets closer but is there any penalty if you cancel/change your mind weeks before the cruise starts? 

[CruiserBruce]

100 days out is not "still a ways off". As you are discovering, things are already booking up.

 

Yes, the credit will come back to you if you cancel. But if you don't spend that money, most reports are it is lost, and you can't spend it on anything else. There have been a report or two that somehow that money is refundable, but not confident in that.

[QuattroRomeo]

I recently cancelled an excursion to book a different one, and the shore excursion credit adjusted automatically. You can make changes online until 4 days prior to the cruise; after that, you must do it on board.

As CruiserBruce said, 100 days out isn't very long when it comes to booking tours, even private ones. Our Alaska cruise is more than 250 days out and several excursions are showing "Sold Out", including one I booked (thankfully)! And many others have only 1or 2 spots left. If there is something you would be disappointed to miss, book it now! 

[CruiserBruce]

3 minutes ago, QuattroRomeo said:

 

As CruiserBruce said, 100 days out isn't very long when it comes to booking tours, even private ones. 

My bolding and underlining. Private tours definitely need to be booked far more than 100 days out, particularly if in a busy port competing against a number of other ships.

[tartanmom]

20 minutes ago, QuattroRomeo said:

I recently cancelled an excursion to book a different one, and the shore excursion credit adjusted automatically. You can make changes online until 4 days prior to the cruise; after that, you must do it on board.

As CruiserBruce said, 100 days out isn't very long when it comes to booking tours, even private ones. Our Alaska cruise is more than 250 days out and several excursions are showing "Sold Out", including one I booked (thankfully)! And many others have only 1or 2 spots left. If there is something you would be disappointed to miss, book it now! 

Thank you . This is exactly what I needed to know. 

 

[QuattroRomeo]

No problem, glad to help!

 

Another consideration to have is that some sensitive sites have limits on the number of visitors that can go there, so the possibility of adding more tour groups on a given day might be nil!  For example, the Mendenhall glacier has commercial tour limits. 

 

https://www.juneauempire.com/news/unprecedented-visitors-at-mendenhall-glacier-rapidly-outpacing-allowed-capacity/