Charge for Shore Excursions & Bringing Water

[retiredmls]

First time on larger ship, so some basic questions. If you pre-book shore excursions is your credit card charged at time of booking or after the excursion?

I've been following the discussion re: bringing alcohol on board, but what about bottled water. On one of the boards I saw some people did bring it on board. Anyone have experience with this one?

[jhans24]

We always take a case of water on board. It sounds like a lot but we always pack 3 bottles in our bag as we go on each island. easy way to save a few bucks.

[Denny01]

For pre-booked ship excursions, you are charged at the time you book it on line/through your TA. Shows up as part of your bill. If you cancel (in time for refund) on the ship, it's added back onto your On Board Credit (OBC) and is refundable at the end if you don't use it all.

 

We book excursions we really want to make sure we get them. Many are open or they add more, others are set and close out. We missed a Panama Canal train tour that I really wanted because other family wanted to 'wait and see' - won't do that again.

 

But we usually wait until get onboard because we end up with lots of OBC added and we expend it on a few tours, and we meet new friends who suggest other options. Just depends. But the point you asked is, yes you are charged at the time you make the reservation.

 

Denny

[danacline]

I can't imagine why anyone would bring bottled water aboard - the ship's water is perfectly fine for drinking. Just bring an empty nalgene bottle and fill it for your day's excursions. Or book tours that provide free rum punch...

[Lsimon]

I can't imagine why anyone would bring bottled water aboard - the ship's water is perfectly fine for drinking. Just bring an empty nalgene bottle and fill it for your day's excursions. Or book tours that provide free rum punch...

 

Ship's water is high in sodium from the water softening process. We've noticed hands & feet feel a bit swollen & bloated when drinking it for several days since we are not used to that level. I guess if we had similar water at home we'd be accustomed to it.

 

Other than that the water has been fine on most of the Celebrity cruises we've taken. Exceptions were a Millennium cruise in the Mediterranean where the water had a very chemical taste - clearly from some type of unusual water treatment. Also on one cruise the water was very dark and murky the first day - ship personnel claimed it was harmless and from "stirring the tanks" but the look was very discomforting.

 

We do drink the water when bottled water isn't available, but we do use bottled water 90% of the time on board. We usually buy it on board but once or twice bought some as we boarded the ship if the port store sold large packages inexpensively.