How far in advance should I book an excursion?

[dm5201]

Hi all,

 

My husband and I are getting ready to go on our very first cruise on March 6, 2011 on board the Princess. We are wondering how far in advance should we book our excursions?

 

Thanks for your time.

 

Donna

[Keith1010]

As soon as you have the ability to book them on line you should go ahead and do that. While many do not fill up some do so by booking early you get exactly what you want.

 

Keith

[paul929207]

We have one private tour already booked for late April.

 

If you want a ship's tour, it is better to book early. Some will sell out. You can always cancel if you change your mind.

[John Bull]

Hi all,

 

My husband and I are getting ready to go on our very first cruise on March 6, 2011 on board the Princess. We are wondering how far in advance should we book our excursions?

 

Thanks for your time.

 

Donna

 

Depending on your ports of call, & what you want to do there, you have cheaper & better options by booking private tours, joining a tour-share with others on your cruise via the Roll-Call on this website, or cheapest & most flexible of all by winging-it using taxis or vans or public transport.

I suggest you research your ports - via the ports of call section, by browsing the web, in Berlitz-type books, even by using the excursions offered by the ship as your starting point for research.

 

As a general rule, there are much better ways of seeing destinations than the cruiseline's "best of ...... " type of road tour. There's exceptions - such as when sights are a couple of hours from the port or in undeveloped countries.

 

But most activity excursions such as snorkelling or river-tubing or those involving specialised transport such as 4x4 or catamarans are impossible or much more difficult to replicate, so a newbie should book these thro the ship.

 

Any ship's excursions that you decide you want to do, best to book as soon as you've decided. Ships excursion prices dont go down, but availability does.

 

John Bull

[originolsin]

I don't use the ships tours any more. If I remember correctly, You can cancel up to two days before. So if there is something that you really want, like everyone else said book it and cancel if you change your mind. You can cancel right on the ship, or even sign up for things right on the ship. Princess is strict about their cancellation policy. Don't just not show up to an excursion and expect that you don't have to pay, they will charge you even if you miss it.

[cb at sea]

If it's a "must do" for you, then book as soon as you are able. If it's a "maybe", you can wait!

Do you know if you really even NEED an excursion to do what you want?

[geoherb]

I booked a couple for our upcoming cruise on the Island Princess through the Princess cruise personalizer. You don't get charged for them until you're on the ship, unlike some other cruise lines that charge you immediately. You can cancel them on board if you decide to do something different.

 

On our last cruise, we did everything independently. A lot depends on what we want to do, what Princess offers, and how long we have in port. The two excursions we're doing on our upcoming cruise were reasonably priced. In one port, we're going to be pressed for time, with our ship sailing at 12:30 p.m. I did not want to chance booking independently. The second port is one where I'm more comfortable going with a Princess excursion than going off on our own--even with recommended private tour guides.

 

We're tagging along with people from our roll call for an excursion in a third port. One of them made all the arrangements, which saved me from having to make decisions. And their tastes turned out to be very similar to ours.

[Mist_ynight]

I booked our excursions as soon as I paid the deposit a few weeks ago. My hubby would only go on a cruise if we could do certain excursions. I made sure he is going to be happy so he will cruise with me again lol.