What are the Pro's & Con's of Pre-booking shore excursions

[Luvmesomeme]

I am ambivalent about pre-booking...What if the weather is bad...Will I get a refund? On the other hand if I wait until I get on the ship the ones I want may be full. Any advice will be appreciated as I am not sailing until January but have already chosen the ones that I would like to go on.

[KruisinKath]

I think refunds vary by vendor, so you would need to check with the particular vendors you want to reserve excursions with. For popular excursions, you may want to book right away, or there may not be space available closer to your trip. I know for my Alaska trip, many of the popular vendors fill up fast, so I booked them between 6 and 12 months out.

 

Hope this helps!

[Merion_Mom]

I am ambivalent about pre-booking...What if the weather is bad...Will I get a refund? On the other hand if I wait until I get on the ship the ones I want may be full. Any advice will be appreciated as I am not sailing until January but have already chosen the ones that I would like to go on.

 

Pros to booking on board: You can use OBC to pay for them.

 

Cons to booking on board: You may miss out on something that you really want to do because it is sold out

 

 

Pros to booking ahead of time: You can pay for them and not feel the "ouchie" on your SeaPass account, if you don't have OBC

[AustinCruise]

If it is a 'must do' tour, book ahead to be sure. Our last trip, we booked one ahead (zip line was a must for us) with the RCCL, one with an outside vendor (good reviews on cruise critic), and waited to decide/book the third on the ship.

[leaveitallbehind]

Regarding RCI sponsored shore excursions, pre-booking allows for the best choice of desired excursions and times by selecting them in advance. This also eliminates the time to book and potentially limited choices on board. However, payment is due at the time of booking, so you are also paying in advance, which means an OBC cannot be used for the excursion.

 

If you decide to cancel for any reason, the policy is as long as it is done 4 days in advance of sailing, a credit will be made directly to your credit card. After that, you can still cancel as long as it is 24 hours in advance of the tour, at which point the credit will be issued as an OBC to your Sea Pass account. There may be individual exceptions made, but this is the policy. There are no penalties for cancelations done in this manner. If the ship or tour provider cancels you are issued a refund or they will try to find an acceptable alternative that would be agreeable to you.

[negc]

One point to be made about cancelling an excursion due to bad weather. If the weather causes the excursion to be cancelled by the ship or the tour operator you will receive a refund. However, if you decide not to go on an excursion simply because the weather is less than optimal, and the tour does operate, you will not receive a refund.

[Miss Vickie]

We book everything in advance. We almost always go with an independent operator, so arrange them on our own, in advance. The one exception next January may be Martinique. We haven't figured that one out yet, we're open to suggestions!

[Luvmesomeme]

I don't have any OBC so I would be paying up front. I am leaning towards booking now just to alleviate the stress of possible not being able to get what I want when I board.

[leaveitallbehind]

I don't have any OBC so I would be paying up front. I am leaning towards booking now just to alleviate the stress of possible not being able to get what I want when I board.

 

I think you realize this but just to be clear, an OBC is not required to purchase a tour on board - it just is a nice way to defer the expense. As stated earlier, if you book in advance you have to pay when you book and cannot use and OBC. An on board booking would just become a charge to your Sea Pass card.

 

But your reasoning regarding the stress of not being able to get what you want on board is one of the reasons why - if we book any ship sponsored tours - we would do it in advance.

 

Certain things - such as the Zip Line or Nellie's Beach Cabanas on Labadee as examples - are always best to book as far in advance as possible to assure you get what you want.

[goneclear]

Unless it's a port that I am going to walk off the ship and walk around the town or walk to a nearby beach, I always use Shore excursions through RCL online. I Research the ports and the excursions I want to do and then Book it on line usually two months before Cruise date.

I do this because 1. If any thing goes wrong with excursion and you are late the ship will wait for you. 2. If you book through RCL and your tour is cancelled for what ever reason you will be reimbursed. 3. I book on line early because that way I get what I want and I hate to line up at guest relations.

[cflower04]

We book everything in advance. We almost always go with an independent operator, so arrange them on our own, in advance. The one exception next January may be Martinique. We haven't figured that one out yet, we're open to suggestions!

 

Looking for the same information too!!!

[Desert Cruizers]

I have always prebooked ou tours, and for our upcoming Australia trip, and first time there, I have gone strictly with the ships tours for our NZ cruise, Transpacific and Hawaii. The advantage as mentioned, they won't be on the Sea Pass charges so hopefully that will be lower.:) I recently cancelled a tour and have already had my card credited. I went into my History on RCL and printed out a copy of Tours for each cruise.