Paying for Cancelling a Celebrity Excursions?

[Liss]

I should know this but...

 

If we book a Celebrity excursion before the ship sails, can we cancel without being charged for the excursion, and if so, is there a time when it is non-refundable?

 

Thanks.

[Orator]

I should know this but...

 

If we book a Celebrity excursion before the ship sails, can we cancel without being charged for the excursion, and if so, is there a time when it is non-refundable?

 

Thanks.

 

Only excursions cancelled within 24 hours of the excursion are not refunded.

[cruisestitch]

On Celebrity you pay at the time you book the excursion. If you cancel the excursion prior to the cruise (I think the cutoff is three or four days prior) your credit card is refunded. Once you are on the ship, I believe that they will spell out when excursions can be cancelled, something like 24 hours in advance as I recall. You would then get the refund put onto your SeaPass account.

[Orator]

On Celebrity you pay at the time you book the excursion. If you cancel the excursion prior to the cruise (I think the cutoff is three or four days prior) your credit card is refunded. Once you are on the ship, I believe that they will spell out when excursions can be cancelled, something like 24 hours in advance as I recall. You would then get the refund put onto your SeaPass account.

 

Yes, it goes back to your account as a refundable OBC and if not used it will be refunded to your credit card. In reality. You are getting a cash refund if cancelled within 24 hours of the excursion.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

If you book a service on the ship and become ill and can't do said tour, massage, dinner reservation- call the department in question. They will sometimes take pity on you. I got sunburned one day and was supposed to do a 9Am massage the following day and they let me cancel. So sometimes they will bend the 24 hour cancellation if you are ill or in my case burned.

[jomf]

On the Eclipse last week we were told that we could cancel any excursion at any time and get a full refund. Even if it was within 24 hours of the excursion.

We did cancel one the night before it was happening and received a full refund to our onboard account.

[Lsimon]

Cancellation deadlines on board have always been sometime the afternoon or evening two days before the excursion day. The exact time is published in the excursion listing distributed on board or you can call the excursion desk for the deadline. The means, for example, that if you have an excursion on a Wednesday the cancellation deadline will be Monday afternoon or evening.

 

I've seen differing policies printed for excursions that are on the first day after embarkation if that is a port day.

 

While exceptions might sometimes be made in the past I would not count on them being made in the future.

 

I believe Celebrity sets this policy as they usually have to notify the local excursion operator of the head count a day in advance and need their own time to do their paperwork before passing along this information to all the local excursion operators.

Edited June 24, 2014 by Lsimon

[WestLakeGirl]

Once you are on the ship, the Shorex department will communicate the cancellation parameters. On the sign up form the policy will be listed.

 

Prior to the cruise you can cancel with no penalty but close to the cruise no changes can be made to your reservation and you'll have to wait until you are on the ship

[Ellen S]

If it is for medical reasons they give you your money back no matter when you cancel (as long as it's before the excursion).

[tai.chi.cruiser]

I have a lot of OBC to use up, but can't use them until I'm on board. Would it work if I book my excursions by credit card now, then cancel on board to have them credited as refundable OBC? Then use my non refundable OBC to book the same excursions?

Sounds like a lot of work, just don't know what to do with all those OBC.

Thanks for your thought.

[Lsimon]

I have a lot of OBC to use up, but can't use them until I'm on board. Would it work if I book my excursions by credit card now, then cancel on board to have them credited as refundable OBC? Then use my non refundable OBC to book the same excursions?

Sounds like a lot of work, just don't know what to do with all those OBC.

Thanks for your thought.

 

It seems to me that if your excursion is sold out with a waiting list then you'd lose your spot as soon as the staff entered your cancellation and would not be able to rebook it. Likewise if it was not sold out then the pre-booking would be for nothing.

 

It also sounds like a plan that would put the staff through a lot of extra work and, quite frankly, if I was the person standing in line behind you I think I'd be more than a little upset listening to you cancel your excursion and then immediately re-book it while I stood their waiting my turn to conduct more basic business.

 

If you read through these threads there are a lot of discussions about using up non-refundable OBC and you'd probably be better off using one of those methods.

[Karynanne]

Only excursions cancelled within 24 hours of the excursion are not refunded.

 

Not always. I've had to cancel an excursion, due to illness and it was within 24 hours. I didn't expect a refund, but was credited the amount a few days later. Maybe there had been a waitlist for this particular excursion, and they could fill my spot.

[Orator]

Not always. I've had to cancel an excursion, due to illness and it was within 24 hours. I didn't expect a refund, but was credited the amount a few days later. Maybe there had been a waitlist for this particular excursion, and they could fill my spot.

 

It is not unusual for them to give a refund due to illness or if they have a waitlist for the tour. We've also experienced some "exceptions", but it's their call. They really don't want angry customers.

[dhill]

I think only excursions cancelled within 24 hours of the excursion are not refundable:)

[Pean]

We were on Millenium with some friends last year. On the morning of the excursion the husband was not feeling the best but got up and met the group. On the tender ride to shore he felt worse so caught the tender back to the ship. His wife continued on the excursion and they received the payment back for his excursion.

[hcat]

We take mostly cruise line excursions and have had great experiences....but here are 3 of our cancellation experiences.,,,,

 

Sometimes conditions at the port can affect cancellation:

 

one time the sea water was going to be very rough..the excursion was not cancelled but they permitted folks to cancel if they felt they would not be able to manage rough seas....we cancelled and booked something else..went very smoothly!

 

One time in Cozumel thunderstorms were predicted...sky was very threatening and we did not want to take a chance on a smaller boat in predictably rough seas to a rustic beach island...only palapas for shelter..The. shorex staff at the pier gave us a very hard time about wanting to cancel...but after we made a fuss , which we should not have had to do, they took us aside , took our names and said we could get our cancellation papers later in the afternoon...a few others also joined in the request

 

we made it back to the ship across the long walkway...A bit later it started to rain, thunder etc. and we were glad to be safe on shore ...not sure what happened to the beach goers..

 

another time in Montego BayJamaica...the bus co sent too few and very small busses...after about 2 hrs of being backed up in the Celebrity theatre with no info, we went down to the Cnot ready for cruisers " pier where chaos was underway in several languages...finally the shorex mgr okayed cancellations,realizing many would never get into a tour bus that day

 

One downside to X is that the on ship shorex counter closes down while staff is organizing folks on shore...they should leave at least one staff member with authority behind to address issues..esp on days with problems...by the time they re open the place is a madhouse.....

Edited June 24, 2015 by hcat

[A1A]

Not sure where this 24 Hour rule is coming from but as I remember it provided us cancellation "up to the day before the excursion". On our last cruise on the Silhouette we cancelled an excursion about 3PM the day before our 9am excursion. We even checked it two days out and we're assured by the excursion we could do it the day before. Having said that I would with the excursion desk while on the cruise to make sure you follow their policy.

Have a great cruise!

[Tiggertastic]

When you board, the shore excursion offers are in the paper left on your bed. The rules for that sailing are on the front page

[GottaKnowWhen]

I have a lot of OBC to use up, but can't use them until I'm on board. Would it work if I book my excursions by credit card now, then cancel on board to have them credited as refundable OBC? Then use my non refundable OBC to book the same excursions?

 

Sounds like a lot of work, just don't know what to do with all those OBC.

 

Thanks for your thought.

 

 

If you paid via card ahead of time, the refund would go as a credit on your card. Cancel, take the chance that the waiting list isn't too long, and you MAY have a chance to rebook using OBC. If it were me, if it was an excursion I wanted to take, I would reserve, pay, and go. And not take a chance screwing around trying to launder credit for OBC or vice versa.