Pre Booking Excursions On Rccl Website

[SEA SOUNDS]

Just wondering if the times are correct when looking at the rccl website to pre book an excursion!!! I want to book an excursion but want to plan other thing to do around the tour during the day. My concern is if the times listed on their website are approximate or fairly close to the actual time.

 

Can anyone help me with this? Thanks

[SEA SOUNDS]

Is this a good thing to do?? I need feedback on this. I want to book but want to make sure the times are correct on their site, so I can plan the rest of my day around the excursion.

[Pumbaamd]

The times are pretty reliable. How far out is your cruise? The longer you wait, the more excursions they may post, as it gets closer to cruise time. The pages of available excursions expand from the first day of postings. If necessary, you can cancel and rebook other excursions later. Don't get excited, be patient. It takes time for these to sell out. They'll book extra boats, busses, guides, etc. if the excursions are extra popular. "Get Out There!"

[rajjohnson]

The times on the first excursion page are approximate. When you go to actually book them, it gives the exact times. I don't think we'll ever sail with RCCL again (MUCH prefer Princess), but when I was booking our excursions for our cruise last week, they IMMEDIATELY charged my credit card!!! It was not billed to my cabin as the other lines do. It hit my card before we ever sailed! This was especially irritating because we had a large shipboard credit that I was using to pay for the excursions. I had to go to the casino and charge cash to my SeaPass and bring the cash home to pay on my VISA.

 

They excursions were also then NONREFUNDABLE!! If you'd gotten on board and for some reason weren;t going - too bad. On Princess, we had up to 24 or 48 hours before the excursion to cancel without a penalty. No go with RCCL. A friend was "scared" off his excursion after seeing the video about it on the shipboard channel and all they would say was "NO REFUNDS" even when he tried to return his tickets just to be given to someone else who might want to go for free.

[NAHA]

My husband and I have pre booked our excursions many times and have always been satisfied. The time of the excursion is the time you should plan on being on the dock ready to go. Sometimes you stand there for a little while waiting for everyone to gather, but it is not long.

 

When you get your tickets in your stateroom, they will state the excursion and the time.

 

We have never had a problem with refunds because we choose very carefully. If you have any questions about an excursion, post it on these boards or call RCCL. I do not know what would happen if we had decided to cancel an excursion.

 

It is nice to have your excursions all paid for and the tickets waiting for you in your stateroom when you arrive.

 

HOWEVER, if you upgrade at the pier, you will have to go to the excursion desk to get your tickets because they will be delivered to your first room.

 

Hope this is helpful.

[pltag]

They excursions were also then NONREFUNDABLE!! If you'd gotten on board and for some reason weren;t going - too bad. On Princess, we had up to 24 or 48 hours before the excursion to cancel without a penalty. No go with RCCL. A friend was "scared" off his excursion after seeing the video about it on the shipboard channel and all they would say was "NO REFUNDS" even when he tried to return his tickets just to be given to someone else who might want to go for free.

We prebook when possible. Yes, they charge you up front but this is openly and clearly discussed. We prefer spreading the cost a little......leaves a little more room for the ol' bar bill! :D :D

 

Also curious about your "friend" and the No Refund policy. We have both cancelled excursions and had them cancelled on us and never had a problem.....$'s would show as a credit on SeaPass Account. Not questioning you on this, just wondering if this might have been an isolated situation.

[critterchick]

We prebook our excursions just to have it out of the way. Some will sell out - helicopter & dogsled excursions in Alaska, for example. There are only so many choppers & pooches out there, so they can't add more. Same with wine tasting tours - the venues can only handle so many people at a time. You certainly can change your excursions without penalty up until 10 days before the cruise. On our Alaska cruise, we decided two days ahead that we didn't want to go on one excursion and traded our tickets for a less expensive one. The difference was refunded to us. That may be a ship-by-ship thing, but I don't know for sure.

 

Your tickets will tell you where to meet for your particular excursion - sometimes it's on the dock, sometimes it's in a lounge where they call the excursions one by one. So check them carefully and be sure to be on time, because they will leave without you!

[moby roby]

I was wondering this too as we're doing the Jolly Roger in Barbados from Serenade on Feb 10 and I tried to book direct with Tall Ships in Barbados. Their schedule says 4 hours 11 am to 3 pm. But they told me that the Serenade booked it for Feb 10 from 1pm for 3 hours to 4pm. Anyway it looks like the ship's times for excursions are in fact accurate. Also, if you book through the ship they'll never leave without you (hopefully) if the tour is a little late getting back!

[MopedMama]

We always pre-book our shore excursions. And we've always been happy doing it that way. We started out doing that because we were paranoid about missing the boat on a self-tour or independent op :rolleyes: , but we have found it so easy that we kept on booking through RCCL. Its a little more expensive, but the peace of mind is worth it. We've had several tours cancelled due to weather, and those were always credited to our SeaPass accounts. We've never tried to cancel anything ourselves though.

 

Good luck!

SherryB

[rajjohnson]

I do prefer to prebook - but don't want to be charged before I get on the ship. And YES my friend was told - NO REFUNDS. All they were trying to do was give the tickets away - not even asking for a refund - because they knew it was sold out and someone else could use the tickets. The ONLY thing the purser's desk would say is "NO REFUNDS".