When to book excursions

[msmate]

I will be on the Mercury the end of next month with my daughter (3) and parents (80's). I am looking through the cruises and wondered which ones will probably be booked by the time we board, will book up the first day, or we can book the day we are in port. I know it will vary, but some general thoughts on this would be helpful. I don't want to miss out of something we would like, but I also want to let my folks get the feel of the cruise first. This is the first trip for all of us! Oh, and dad doesn't fly, so that cuts down on the excursion options.

 

Thanks!!

[jstducky]

If there is an excursion that you would really be disappointed if you waited to book and it was sold out and you couldn't go, then I would suggest booking your excursion online now.

 

For example, back in January Royal Caribbean opened up online booking for my July 3rd cruise to Alaska. I knew for sure that I wanted to do dog sledding. I booked in the first couple of days. Exactly 1 week after they opened online booking of shore excursions, the dog sledding excursion in Skagway (2 times) and Juneau (2 times) were all sold out. Since that time a bunch of other excursions have also sold out as well.

 

Generally, the excursions that tend to sell out quickly are the ones where space is extremely limited and excursions that are very popular because they are uniquely Alaska. For example, the dog sledding and the flight seeing excursions tend to be the most popular and sell out the quickest.

 

However, tours such as the general city tours on a bus at each port tend to be the most available and usually there is no issue as far as capacity of the tour. These are the tours that you can book on board, or even wait til you get to port and find a tour operator on the docks.

[quickfingers]

My family is going on the Summit on Aug. 5th. We have already booked all of our excursions. We were able to choose the operator and the time we wanted to go. As jstducky recommended, book your excursions ASAP!!!

[msmate]

Just a clarification. If it was just me I would book today, but since it is my parents I really would like to wait, but I have no idea if all, half, or just the plane trips will book up pre-boarding. On my trip the excursions went on line a month ago and none are sold out yet. In particular I am wondering if the whale watch trips in Juneau will sell out pre-boarding or the rail trip in Skagway.

 

Thanks for the input so far.

[jstducky]

One thing to keep in mind is that if you wait to book while on board, you only have a certain amount of time to book excursions in each city before they "close"

 

Generally you only have until the afternoon or morning before you arrive in a city to make shore excursion bookings for that city. For example, on most ships, say you arrive in Juneau on Wednesday. Generally you can only book excursions for Juneau up until Tuesday afternoon.

 

Anyhow, I have noticed that for my sailing the train ride in Skagway is not yet full, but we are being offered 4 different departure times so that is probably one factor.

 

And as far as whale watching trips, you may want to consider going with Capt. Larry at Orca Enterprises. The most highly recommended whale watching operator in Juneau.

 

On my last trip to Alaska in July 2003, the whale watching trip had sold out before we boarded the ship.

 

Good luck! Enjoy Alaska!

[Budget Queen]

If you wait, most likely flights will be gone. If you aren't set on any particular tour, then you could wait until you board the ship and do ship tours. But I never recommend just getting off the ship then deciding in port. Options will be EXTREMELY limited and you are wasting your short port time. Always have reservations and plans in place before you arrive.

[hotmike98]

I don't know about Celebrity, but on Princess and Holland, you could cancel any excursion up to 24 hours prior without penalty. I would book any of the type that would likely fill up soon; you can always cancel. Just remember to cancel 24 hours before, or you will get charged!

[msmate]

I appreciate everyones feedback. I think I will try to give myself a deadline of tomorrow to make a decision!

[Bsan1221]

Well I booked my excurions outside of Carnival for my trip last week, but with the same companies Carnival uses. Carnival reserves slots of times which they cannot offer but usually if you book on your own they can put you before or after the first Carnival excursions.. They even put us people who where coming off the ship for the excurions.

 

The big excursions, dog sledding, helicopters, etc.., from what I heard and saw where almost sold out since most people did it online.

 

I would do it before you get on the boat at least 2 weeks before.