Waiting til last minute to book excursions?

[Vacationer17]

Will be on the Enchantment over New Year's and given the recent issues and having already had our itinerary shortened, I was wondering if it's ok to wait til we get on board to book excursions. We were going to book ahead of time, but it seems alot of ports have been missed lately or shortened and just don't want to go thru the trouble of cancelling or getting refunds. Do alot of excursions fill up or should we be ok waiting? Thanks!

[cruiserbryce]

we have found that the more desirable ones do fill up...I'm sure if the port gets skipped the process of recieveing a refund will be far easier than settling for an excursion that isnt your first choice

[JerseyGem]

DH & I will be on the Enchantment in January, so we too are wondering what to do about shore excursions. We've decided to wait until we're onboard- and find out what the actual ports (and port times) will be. Hopefully, we'll still have some choices left LOL.

 

If you have your heart set on a particular excursion- book it now- as long as this is an excursion through the cruiseline. If the excursion does not happen, you will find the amount automatically credited to your shipboard account. So there's no need to worry about a ship's excursion. However, if you book with an independent operator, you may not be as lucky. We recently had to cancel an excursion in Antigua- and went through quite a hassle with the well-known (& frequently mentioned on CC) operators- we did finally get the proper refund, but not until we contacted the fraud department of our credit card company for their help.

[cb at sea]

We always wait and book onboard. They should have plenty of spots available. Just try and book what you want the 1st day. Now, if there is something you MUST do, or your vacation will be ruined, go ahead and book now--you can cancel 24 hours with no penalty.

[madforcruising]

Will be on the Enchantment over New Year's and given the recent issues and having already had our itinerary shortened, I was wondering if it's ok to wait til we get on board to book excursions. We were going to book ahead of time, but it seems alot of ports have been missed lately or shortened and just don't want to go thru the trouble of cancelling or getting refunds. Do alot of excursions fill up or should we be ok waiting? Thanks!

 

I´m sorry but I think it´s a non-issue for you right now. According to your ticker you are 8 days from sailing and the online shore excursion booking option closes 10 days prior to the cruise, so you´ll have to wait until you board anyway as pre-booking is not an option for you anymore.

 

 

However I always book my excursion ahead of time. If there´s any changes in itinerary, time etc. RCCL will take care of it and either reschedule or refund the excursion. I also always have the option to cancel once onboard until the blackout day. Painless procedure. I like to have this all taken care off prior to the cruise and I avoid dissappointment with booked our excursions.

[krmlaw]

I stopped booking excursions through RCI. I have used the boards and found better and cheaper excursions myself and booked direclty with them. Left RCI, the middleman, out.

 

Where are you going? Maybe we can offer some advice! We just sailed her in November. GREAT ship.

[robtulipe]

If you have your heart set on a particular excursion- book it now- as long as this is an excursion through the cruiseline. If the excursion does not happen, you will find the amount automatically credited to your shipboard account. So there's no need to worry about a ship's excursion.

One problem with booking shore excursions before the cruise is that RC immediately bills your CC so IMO refunds must be credited to your CC and not to your shipboard account since the charge won't be there in the first place. This will result in a loss due to conversion fees for foreign currency transactions if your CC is a non US$ one as I have found when I have done this the prices were in $US. If done onboard the credit will cover the charge on you shipboard account and nothing extra gets billed to your CC.