Excursions

ive heard different opinions about booking excursions early and/or waiting until you get there. Some say pricing better if you wait.

If you are referring to booking through a cruise line, it would help if we knew which cruise line you are considering, as different cruise lines have differing policies regarding this. The advantage typically is not with price but with availability and assuring that you get the excursion and timing you want. Some lines require full payment at the time of reservation, others do not. Each may have different cancellation policies as well.

If you are referring to booking independently, the same would hold true for availability as the primary advantage of booking early. In our experience, the price is usually the same regardless of when you book. You would have to contact the operator you are considering and discuss their policies and pricing with them to be sure.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

For example -- HAL:

Whether you purchase a ship's excursion before you sail or once on the ship --- the price will be the same.

If there is an excursion that you are interested, JMO -- book it now. There is always the possibility that it could sell out before the ship sails.

Check the Ports of Call thread and see what independent excursions are available. These are generally less expensive than booking thru the cruise line. You also may want to just wing it and not do an excursion! Just go on your own and do what you want.

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We always wait till we board the ship to book shore excursions ,primarily because you will know how the weather will be .

Sometimes the price can go up rather than down and can get booked out quickly on popular excursions so best to book ASAP. ;)

If it's something we maybe are considering depending on weather, etc., we wait to make a decision once on the ship.

We rarely book ship excursions, but I have noticed on some lines that there may be a 10-20% discount for booking earlier. I've never noticed the price going down.

If it's an independent tour, book it as soon as possible.

For a ship's tour, if it's the one and only tour for you at a particular port, then book it now. If the ship is offering several tours, and you would be happy with any one of them, you might want to wait to book it on board, even if it is a little more expensive, in order to make use of some of your non-refundable OBC.

I have never seen the price of an excursion go down on 11 different cruise lines. As others have said already, some popular excursions sell out fast. Others may be cancelled if not enough people sign up. These are usually the expensive overland tours where you may or may not spend time in a hotel.

Maybe your friends referred to excursions that you book spontaneously on shore. I saw offers like that in New Zealand, Australia and on Grand Cayman. They tend to be cheaper than excursions booked with the ship. On other Caribean islands, taxi drivers offered tours outside the port terminal.

I understand that Carnival will match any price from independent people but it has to be to the same tour.