Waitlist for Princess shore excursions

[jimhpa]

I will be cruising this summer and signed up for some Princess shore excursions. I noticed that one of them is wait listed. While I know that there are many factors involved, what is the likelihood that I will get or not get on the shore excursion? I welcome others' experiences.

[paul929207]

Usually, you will have a good chance of getting on. People often cancel. In addition, Princess will sometimes add another bus if there is enough demand

[Toto2Kansas]

Since Princess doesn't charge for excursions when you book, many passengers book when the excursions first come out not knowing if they really want to take that excursion or not, only to cancel later, or after they board the ship (sometimes before they even leave for the cruise). If you are interested in the one waitlisted, I would stay on the waitlist and you should have a good chance to clear before the day of the tour. Good Luck!

[Pam in CA]

I will be cruising this summer and signed up for some Princess shore excursions. I noticed that one of them is wait listed. While I know that there are many factors involved, what is the likelihood that I will get or not get on the shore excursion? I welcome others' experiences.

It all depends and there's no way to answer your question without knowing the port and type of excursion. If it's a helicopter tour in Alaska with limited seating, your chances are less than a bus tour in Norway. Buses can be added, helicopters can't.

 

The Princess shore excursion system is a reservation system, not a pre-paid one and people often change their minds, even after boarding. I was once waitlisted for a tour and when I boarded the ship, went to the Excursion Desk and made sure they knew I wanted to take this tour. Someone canceled and I got the tour. Other times, I've been on wait lists that cleared quickly when another segment (time) was added.

[Putterdude]

Tours that involve a bus or coach will often clear as they just add an extra bus. However where you are dealing with something that has a finite number of seats on say a plane or catamaran can prove to be be a little less likely to clear.

[remydiva]

We were waitlisted for 3 tours at three different ports. Meanwhile, I booked 3 tours at those ports so we wouldn't be left with nothing.

 

I got a phone call on nite at 8pm to see if we wanted to go on the waitlisted tour for the next morning but it was a 7am start and we'd had a long day so declined (we had booked a tour that started later in the morning and took that).

 

The other two tours (both requiring buses) that we were waitlisted for, we never got a call so I guess we were way down the waitlist.

[willysgrandma]

There are outside companies you can book shore excursions through - have you looked to see if they have any availability.

[ReverendOlaf]

With our cruise to New Zealand last December we were wait listed on a couple excursions (oddly even though we booked a day or two after they were first offered--I'm guessing it was more due to post Christchurch earthquake logistics rather than capacity). A few weeks later, but prior to the cruise, we were still wait listed, but the excursions were free to book. We simply cancelled our wait list and added it like we never were on the wait list. No emails or anything happened and the wait list didn't do anything automatically, so my advice is to check back periodically.

[jimhpa]

Thank you for all the responses. I have options but was wondering whether I should book something else or wait. I think I'll wait and see. I can always do something else.

 

Jim