How early do you book excursions

[seashell64]

On the Liberty for a 5 day in May; final cruise payment not due until early March. How soon do you book your excursions? We plan on one in Key West and one in Freeport - we will be doing a "do it yourself" in Nassau.

 

thanks!

[5Hawkeyes]

Great question. Always did our own excursions so have no idea when to do them through the ship. Can't wait to see the replies.

Edited January 21, 2014 by 5Hawkeyes

[wantocruisemore]

It varies. For our Liberty May Western cruise we've already booked our excursions. One reason is we were afraid with 3 ships in port that Maya Key would sell out. Also, wanted to go ahead and reserve a ruins excursion to try to get some OBC with their excursion price guarantee.

 

Another reason reason is we did it with our carnival visa in time for the extra points to allow us to get a OBC too.

 

I don't think I've ever waited to book on board since my first cruise. If I want an excursion, I go ahead and get while available. Plus, I don't know if they end up canceling some if so many people aren't reserved in advance.

[cwestbrook]

We waited until we were on our cruise to book one but it sold out so we had to do something else. Just something to think about. I hadn't really thought about limited space on the transportation getting you to your excursion.

[carrieluvsgreg]

We always book outside of carnival. But try to do so with in a month of departure.

 

 

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[AMisplacedCNuck]

We always book as soon as we decide. DW & I love snorkeling and sailing, so we often take the Catamaran Sail & Snorkel excursions*. They frequently sell out before sailing. Also, if you book you can always cancel and get a refund, so if you change your mind cancel and book another.

 

* Unfortunately, they also frequently get cancelled due to wind or rough seas in the late fall when we usually cruise.

[mum2bradley]

I usually book 4-5 months before we leave, just to make sure I can get the ones I like.

 

We are cruising at New Years and I have already picked out our excurisions, just having booked them!

[what to go here and there]

I just finshed booking all our excursions for our November cruise ,, all private ... i hit a sale and saved $20 each on one excursion, one of the other excursions i wanted a certain guide so i booked that a we got the guide we wanted. One of the other excrusions they only take a certain number of people and since we are a group of 5 i wanted to make sure we were booked on that.

 

it also depends how ships are in port that day, more ships can cause a problem with excursions

 

For our last cruises to Alaska i booked nearly a year out on those. It was important to us that we get the excursions we wanted,,,

[TruckinMama]

I've already booked all of ours for December. :)

[hannahsmomtoo]

Ive never waited until on board either...

We have our cabana booked for HMC in October ... and FTTF

Now saving up for Atlantis.

[CatlinSTJ]

It depends on what we are doing and where we are going. Only booking one shore excursion through Carnival this summer and it's not one that would typically sell out so I'm not too worried. Last year, we did a Segway tour in Freeport and there were 5 of us going and spaces were fairly limited so we booked that about 2 - 3 months out. Same with private tours - a little bit of research will tell you how far ahead you need to make reservations or if it is something that you'll find vendors selling at the pier when then ship docks.

 

And always have a backup plan in mind :)

[SharkCruiser24]

Good afternoon all!! I am booked on a cruise for late May and have booked two of our three planned excursions. We opted to book them now because we knew we would be disappointed if they sold out. Usually I do excursions on my own, but three of the four stops are new to me and I didn't want to figure too much, lol!! Lucky for me, I have friends who live in St. Thomas who are taking us around. But Aruba, Curaçao and St Kitts are new to me, so we went through the cruise line. Now the reason I booked only two, was because there was only one available time for the kayaking in curaçao and catamaran in Aruba. There are 4 start times for the ziplining in St Kitts, so we'll do that at a later date.

[Albrin1914]

I typically don't book too early but this time I booked shortly after getting back from our Fantasy cruise a couple of weeks ago.

[outerbks]

It doesn't hurt to book as early as possible once you've decided. There is always a chance it will get filled and you get shut out.

[golfadj]

We also book privately and do it a month or two before sail date.

[iheartmarshall]

We're newbies but booked months ago as soon as the excursions we wanted became available. Since then, we did switch once when something else (better?) popped up that we were interested in. I did a ton of research before we even booked our cruise and knew what to expect so we already had an idea of what excursions we would like to go on. It was just a waiting game for them to become available for purchase.

[asalligo]

I book what I do not want to miss the day I book the cruise if excursions are available at that point. Like the Disney excursion. The only reason I am doing that itinerary is so that the kids can do Disney, so I book that early.

 

Now my days in the Bahamas I want to play by ear until I see what the weather will be, so those will wait until I am onboard to book.

[rjrice1]

I was book as soon as possible. You can always cancel it or change it.

Like to get the best excursions for the best price....and smaller groups

Cathy

[shoppingfever]

I waited until I paid for our cruise completely, then started adding excursions, Fun Shop purchases, and cabin decorations. I just booked one of our excursions today and will book another one on Friday. We sail in April.