Shore excursion issues

[marydz]

Hi Everyone:

 

I am sailing on the March 21st Carnival Miracle and am having issues booking excursions online. Is anyone else experiencing these problems. Called and was told they were not loaded yet to keep checking. I usually book independently but this time I wanted a particular excursion thru Carnival. Hopefully it will still be available.

 

Thanks,

 

Mary

 

Carnival Victory

Carnival Triumph

Carnival Legend (twice)

Carnival Conquest

Caribbean Princess

Sapphire Princess

[rjpolly]

Carnival hasnt gotten all the contracts finalized yet, read one of the other 1000 posts on this exact subject.

[Chigirlcruzin]

Ignore Rjpolly. People were having problems late in 2008 because 2009 contracts weren't secured yet. However, that has been rectified. I'm wondering if you're having issues because the Miracle is changing itineraries due to the propulsion issue, so the ports and sailings aren't linked up. I know you're sailing post dry-dock, but I'm wondering if the Miracle issues have something to do with it. I'm sorry I can't really help you. I've had no issues with my April Freedom sailing.

[momofzeke]

Carnival hasnt gotten all the contracts finalized yet, read one of the other 1000 posts on this exact subject.

 

Dude, not cool. :rolleyes:

 

Mary ~ I think Chigirl is probably right. Just keep checking the website and the excursions should be showing up. At least you know that no one else is able to book anything yet either, so you shouldn't have a problem getting the one you want when they finally do show up. Enjoy your cruise! :)

[Cruiser23490578]

Hi Everyone:

 

I am sailing on the March 21st Carnival Miracle and am having issues booking excursions online. Is anyone else experiencing these problems. Called and was told they were not loaded yet to keep checking. I usually book independently but this time I wanted a particular excursion thru Carnival. Hopefully it will still be available.

 

Thanks,

 

Mary

 

Carnival Victory

Carnival Triumph

Carnival Legend (twice)

Carnival Conquest

Caribbean Princess

Sapphire Princess

 

Hi Mary,

We are on the Miracle sailing the week before you. So far the only excursions loaded for our cruise are for those on St. Martin and they have just been added in the last few days. I have called Carnival a few times and they keep telling me to keep checking, so I keep checking! Hope you have a great trip!

[balcony bound]

I'm not able to access them for our cruise, either. One thing I did notice though, if you go in through "manage your booking" you may be able to access some in your itinerary on the right hand side the "shore excursions" will take you to prices.

[momofzeke]

Mary ~ I forgot to say.....Miracle is a GREAT ship! Enjoy your cruise on her.

 

Also, don't ever hesitate to ask a question (I see that you've been a member a long time, but haven't posted a lot). If no one ever asked a question that has not been asked many times before..........I daresay there would be very few new threads.

[vkramer]

I am within 60 days and can only book excursions at 2 of our 6 ports right now. St. Thomas and Barbados are showing up, and one excursion is able to book on Dominica right now. I am waiting for the other ports to show up. Probably day by day.

 

vicki

[marydz]

Thanks everyone for coming to my defense. Actually I was not even going to dignify rjpolly's response with a comment. Having been a longtime member I did search the forum and found other threads regarding this topic but like Chigirl and momofzeke said I wondered if they were still relevant as they were dated from the beginning of December. Anyway, thanks for the kind responses. I hope that the itinerary is not changed as we booked this cruise for the Panama Canal experience. I will keep checking back frequently to see if the excursions get loaded.

 

Mary

[NCTribeFan]

Well, the search DOES work quite well now, when used properly, and the subject does come up frequently.

 

Anyway, you can always call Carnival's excursion desk and ask them. True, you may get a different response from everyone there you talk to, but you also can get a dozen different responses from a dozen posters here, none of which really know what's going on with the excursions!

 

And, of course, there are always independent excursions (which is now all I do, unless something is ONLY offered through Carnival).

 

The "120 day" thing isn't accurate, anyway. I've had some excursions show many months in advance and others not become available online until just a few weeks before sailing.

[heypeety]

Mary, we leave on the Miracle on the 24th of January . They did change one of our ports. They replaced St. Lucia with Grand Turk. They said we could book excursions for Grand Turk after the 1st of the year. We can book for our first island St Maarten, and our third island Grand Turk, but not St Kitts. So not sure what is going on. We have sailed on the Legend and loved that, so we are very excite to sail on the Miracle. Hope you have a wonderful vacation!

[seahorsecruising]

We always use shoretrips.com for a better quality shore excursion.

[starlight0229]

I've been trying to look at the excursions for my cruise in late April (closer than 120 days) and am not able to click on the link on the carnival website. I have tried different computers and different browsers. When I'm on the plan activities page, the image for shore excursions does not contain a link and neither do the words "Reserve Now". All I can do is view the general list for each port, but have no way to see what is available on my specific dates. It looks like other people are able to get further in the process than I am.

[cks]

I've been trying to look at the excursions for my cruise in late April (closer than 120 days) and am not able to click on the link on the carnival website. I have tried different computers and different browsers. When I'm on the plan activities page, the image for shore excursions does not contain a link and neither do the words "Reserve Now". All I can do is view the general list for each port, but have no way to see what is available on my specific dates. It looks like other people are able to get further in the process than I am.

 

I'm glad you answered with such a detailed response. I asked this question a few days ago, but I think people were misunderstanding what my problem was. They kept saying "keep checking and they'll show up." Well, my excursions are already there, the prices are already there, the links work, etc. The only problem I have is at the very last step, I click reserve, and it just reloads my current page. So, who knows what's going on. I'll probably end up trying to call Carnival. I wouldn't even book a cruise ship excursion, except it's an excursion to some ruins, which are far away. Wouldn't want the ship to leave without me.

[teddygurl28]

im not sure what ports you are going to, or if it even makes a difference, but when i went on the miracle last year i left march 6 and the excursions to panama and costa rica didnt show up until about mid january (if i remember correctly) i was nervous because i had the excursions that i wanted picked out but was afraid that they had maybe already been sold out but Carnival just kept saying they werent secured yet and to keep checking. Finally they showed up, it was definately less than 2 months before sailing. Again these were for Panama and Costa rica (Costa rica ended up being cancelled anyways and we ended up in Roatan ha) so like everyone said just keep checking, they are probably still working out contracts and the likes with certain locations and uploading it to their system. Good luck!

[teddygurl28]

also, the prices for all excursions are now listed on the website, it doesn't just show for a specific cruise, so even though you can see the prices when you look, it doesnt mean that that excursion is available yet. if that makes sense? maybe im not exactly getting what your saying, but within the past couple of months carnival made it so that you can see the prices of all excursions without being booked on a ship to get a more general idea of costs (rather than just random $ signs)

[robinlbe]

Mary, I'm on the same sailing...and you're right. The only excursions that we are actually able to book are the ones in Belize. Supposedly, the others were to have opened late December/early January...

I just keep checking every day, too..

 

This is just my 2nd cruise, but on our 1st cruise, we booked all our own excursions, so this is my 1st time to book a Carnival excursion. But because my mom and I want to go through the entire Panama Canal (the long tour), I don't want to take a chance of missing the boat, so we're going through the cruise line.

 

Also, to the other poster....I don't remember which one, sorry....

but when you keep clicking on the "click here to reserve", and then you do, and it comes right back to it.....well, it's just not ready to be reserved. When you really can reserve, that doesn't even show up. It's different. I called Carnival about it, too, so I understand.

 

Mary...have you joined our roll call???

[zillabe]

Ah I'm glad you asked! I thought I remembered for the last cruise that we could view our excursions well in advance. My cruise isn't until May and I only have one excursion available at one port... I was starting to worry.

[Big Smooth]

Mary (and Robin), I'm also on the 3/21 Miracle sailing and am only able to view a few excursions in Belize. I called the Shore Excursions desk today and the CSR claimed they'd be available to reserve in "mid January", but I now see above that they were previously claiming late December, so that doesn't inspire much confidence.

 

We are doing private tours in Panama/Costa Rica but planned to do a Carnival excursion in Belize because the snorkeling tours leave straight from the ship so you don't have to tender into port. I'm not big on uncertainty, so now I'm leaning more towards dealing with the tender and reserving a private tour in Belize as well.

[IGGY63]

I guess I will see you guys in March!

 

I have been to Belize and booked a private tour for cave tubing, and on another visit I booked the snorkel tour with CCL. Usually I book the tours directly because they are often better, and a better value.

 

However, it would be very unusual that Carnival would not offer a myriad of excursions to extract as much money out of us as possible.... They are most likely just finalizing the details to maximize their profit margins.

 

Every cruise I have been on, there has always been a wide variety of options to choose. If you are not sure, book an independent. They thrive on our business, and are conscientious of Ship time.

 

See you in March!

 

Cheers....

[OZjones12]

This is an even better reason to book private excursions... through carnival is a rip off and too crowded most of the time... HAVE FUN!

[cks]

 

Also, to the other poster....I don't remember which one, sorry....

but when you keep clicking on the "click here to reserve", and then you do, and it comes right back to it.....well, it's just not ready to be reserved. When you really can reserve, that doesn't even show up. It's different. I called Carnival about it, too, so I understand.

 

Thanks, that's the specific info I needed. Just to know someone else can actually view their options but can't yet book.

[cks]

For anyone who's a little slow today, like myself, I actually was just able to book my excursion online. But, I had to do it from the "plan activities" tab in my account. Anywhere else you try to do it from, it doesn't work. I even tried doing it from other pages on my account, but this one is the only one that worked. I know it doesn't help those of you who don't have yours loaded yet, but it might help some other ditzy first-timer like me. :D

[robinlbe]

We have already booked our Costa Rica excursion outside of Carnival, and are still trying to decide what to do in Belize.

However, in Panama, mom and I want to do the Panama Canal excursion, where we take the ferry through the entire canal. This is a long excursion, and there's a good possibility that traffic could be backed up...

I don't want to run late, and risk missing the boat...

therefore, I am willing to pay the extra and book through Carnival.

 

(btw...we booked our own excursions on our first cruise last summer....the outfit we chose for our snorkeling/stingray city in grand caymans told us that the cruise lines keep asking him to work for them...but he won't. they would charge double what he charges, but he would get only half of what he gets now. That is some profit, I'd say.....)

 

So, while I have you on here, reading my note....I need some suggestions for Belize. My mom hasn't been there, but I was just there in July. We had a private driver who drove us around, although our final destination was Altun Ha. My mom has been to other Mayan ruins, and I'd rather see something else anyway. My mom doesn't swim, and I don't enjoy snorkeling (as I found out this past summer). I did find one place with a glass bottom boat, but the time doesn't work out.

Is there anything you guys would recommend??? (thanks!!)

[IGGY63]

I doubt she would kike the cave tubing, so I would suggest checking the Belize threads.

 

If the canal tour is that long, then the CCl excursion is the smart choice.

 

I have done the odd CCl excursion, but not usually.