Charge for shore excursions

[SPARKY12]

I thought booking shore excursions on line would be charged to your sign and sail card and you would owe this money at the end of your cruise. I just booked one last week and it was on my credit card statement that I received today. Surprise. At least my final sail and sign bill won't seem as bad.

[4FRCruising]

I thought booking shore excursions on line would be charged to your sign and sail card and you would owe this money at the end of your cruise. I just booked one last week and it was on my credit card statement that I received today. Surprise. At least my final sail and sign bill won't seem as bad.

Nope...goes directly on your credit card and I think there is something that tells you that when you book it.

 

If for some reason the excursion gets canceled (like you don't stop at the port), then the refund gets posted to your onboard account as a shipboard credit.

[skittl1321]

 

If for some reason the excursion gets canceled (like you don't stop at the port), then the refund gets posted to your onboard account as a shipboard credit.

 

If you don't spend the shipboard credit- do they then refund it to your card?

[cruisinjerseygirl]

A small word of advice. Booking through carnival directly is a little more costly then it is to book directly through the company so you might want to look into that. Also most things that you can book before you go you can just get off the ship and find someone to take you to and it ends up being a lot cheaper. This was a lesson my parents (seasoned cruisers) taught me before my first cruise and I found it to be a large help

[DavidandPaula]

Nope...goes directly on your credit card and I think there is something that tells you that when you book it.

 

If for some reason the excursion gets canceled (like you don't stop at the port), then the refund gets posted to your onboard account as a shipboard credit.

 

We actually cancelled an excursion and booked a more expensive one on the first night and the credit was put onto our S&S card and the new excursion charged to it.

 

As I had booked the excursions using my credit card well before the cruise the excursions already booked were listed on the eDocs.

 

David

[reno3]

A small word of advice. Booking through carnival directly is a little more costly then it is to book directly through the company so you might want to look into that. Also most things that you can book before you go you can just get off the ship and find someone to take you to and it ends up being a lot cheaper. This was a lesson my parents (seasoned cruisers) taught me before my first cruise and I found it to be a large help

 

Some excursions can't be booked unless it is with Carnival.

Like....Gumbalimba Park in Roatan:(

[No1Conner]

Gumbalimba Park can only be visited through a Carnival excursion?

 

Why is that? You do not have to be a cruiseship to go to the park. A lot of the activities there are done my outside vendors. Just wondering.... http://www.gumbalimbapark.com/

[padre]

I had pre booked all four of my excursions and then changed three of them once on board. The credit and subsequent re-billing were on my S & S card. Worked out pretty good. Everything was paid for and I was able to choose some excursions that only showed up after we boarded.

[dtchem1]

Many excursions can be done a lot cheaper than with Carnival. This time I have been finding that the scuba diving excursions are about the same as booking myself. One dive operator in Belize said tehy could not book with us direct because we were coming in on a Carnival cruise and they do the excursions for Carnival. Do your homework, so you don't pay too much. The internet is a wonderful tool to save money.

[Scoutcat]

I believe that the deal that Carnival has with most of the excursion companies that they have contracts with is this.....if the people are coming in on a Carnival ship, they have to book the excursion through Carnival. I know that was true for one excursion I was considering on our pre-Christmas cruise on the Valor in 2005. Some tour companies are more strict than others in observing this, I suspect.

 

When I checked around, I found that while some of the excursions were more expensive when booked through Carnival, some were actually less expensive than if I had been booking privately. It pays to do a little homework. Once in port we also found that we could save some money by showing our AAA card, especially in the US Virgin Islands.

 

"Scout" aka Carol

Dayton, OH

 

Carnival Valor~December 2005

[cul8er]

I searched the internet for an equivalent of the Mini Boat Adventure excursion in St. Thomas but was unsuccessful, so I booked the excursion through Carnival. The internet failed me!

[chasetf]

I believe that the deal that Carnival has with most of the excursion companies that they have contracts with is this.....if the people are coming in on a Carnival ship, they have to book the excursion through Carnival. I know that was true for one excursion I was considering on our pre-Christmas cruise on the Valor in 2005. Some tour companies are more strict than others in observing this, I suspect "Scout" aka Carol Dayton, OH Carnival Valor~December 2005

I do not know if it is just a matter of Carnival contracting for an exclusive deal.... it is probablly more a case of Carnival contracting for the total capacity of the tour operator.

[LornaT]

Booking excursions with Carnival has one big plus in my opinion ....... the ship waits for you if your excursion is late. We found that out in Zihuatenajo this last October, our tour was running late and the tour guide was in constant communication with a rep. at the pier who kept in contact with the ships personnel on the pier (tendering port) they left a tender at the pier for us so we all got back onto the ship, meanwhile others that obviously did their own thing were running frentically up behind us yelling for the tender not to leave them.

 

What was even nicer was that somehow my camera fell out of my bag in the bus, the driver found it and handed to a crewman on the pier who brought it back to the ship and gave it to the pursers desk where I was able to retrieve it the next day ............... awesome coordination in my opinion.

 

As to price being higher, in Alaska we were going to do the train in Skagway, I looked at the trains website to book direct, and they were only $1.00 less then going through Carnival, I think that kind of mark-up is reasonable, plus by buying the tour through Carnival we had tickets in hand and were able to board the train right on the pier, if I had bought on line I would have had to walk into town to the train depot to get my tickets and then board the train ....... if I got there in time, which would mean leaving the ship at least a half hour before I did to just hop onto the train right there on the pier.

[SPARKY12]

The excursion that I booked was the Gum. park in Roatan. A few have said you may be able to get inside the park on your own but most say you can't. It also includes a sail and snorkel, and a tour of the island. I book with private vendors whenever I can. saves a ton of money. never had a problem.

[chasetf]

.............As to price being higher, in Alaska we were going to do the train in Skagway, I looked at the trains website to book direct, and they were only $1.00 less then going through Carnival, I think that kind of mark-up is reasonable..................

We have talked with a number of tour operators around the world and the cruise line will typically pay the operator 50-60% of the tour price to the operator. This is for a typical "bus" tour with "minor" admission fees. In many places we can get a taxi / van tour for four for about half the ship's cost.

[sassyredhat]

We book with the cruiseline just for convience.

Carnival is very good about giving your refunds. We were on a golf cruise, and DH hurt his ankle playing one day, but he thought he would be able to make the next day tee time.

When he woke up and realized he couldn't walk, I went down to excursions to cancel. This was about 2 hrs. before he was to leave, and Carnival refunded without any questions.

 

Pat

[reller65]

dtchem1-Do you have any idea if you are booked on a SCUBA excursion and can't go due to having a cold, will it be refunded? We are leaving on 11/25 on Legend and have dives booked at all 4 ports and am fearing I'm getting a cold and won't be able to equalize my ears.:( I'm eating Zycam like candy trying to kick it before we leave. Thanks for any input and hope everyone has a great turkey day.