How soon to book excursions for Alaska

[grak]

We're planning a cruise to Alaska early June. How soon would it be advisable to book excursions through Princess? I don't want to be wait-listed for a tour. Thanks.

[DougH]

Since you don't have to pay in advance I'd say book as soon as you know which ones you want to take. You can always cancel up until I believe 4 hours before the tour without any penalty.

 

That said with a little research you can probably find the same tour thru a private vendor for a cheaper price and with a much smaller group

[Pam in CA]

If tours are available, book 'em. You don't pay until the end of your cruise and even onboard, you can cancel them. You are far better off booking and then deciding what you want to do than try to book when you're sure you want to take the excursion.

[rpcv77]

I am on a 6/13/15 Alaska cruise (Crown). The excursions have been available for several weeks. I booked my excursions privately and saved some money (the ones I booked are very similar to some Princess is offering). As others have suggested, if you want the Princess excursions, book now, since you don't have to pay. Cancel if you change your mind, just keep the cancellation window in mind

Edited December 23, 2014 by rpcv77
Clarify date

[Kamloops50]

Since you don't have to pay in advance I'd say book as soon as you know which ones you want to take. You can always cancel up until I believe 4 hours before the tour without any penalty.

 

That said with a little research you can probably find the same tour thru a private vendor for a cheaper price and with a much smaller group

 

cancellation on Princess is usually 1PM the day before you arrive in port. That said helicopter or plane tours are only refundable up to 48 hours before .

[DougH]

cancellation on Princess is usually 1PM the day before you arrive in port. That said helicopter or plane tours are only refundable up to 48 hours before .

 

I see I did a typo and meant to say 48 hours before the tour for cancellation

[paul929207]

For Princess and private tours book as early as you can. Also, keep an eye on the Roll Call of private torus posted there. Nearly all have a maximum capacity

[Colo Cruiser]

I would book as soon as they are available and you know which ones you want.

[Mustangsally58]

We're planning a cruise to Alaska early June. How soon would it be advisable to book excursions through Princess? I don't want to be wait-listed for a tour. Thanks.

 

We booked the Mendenhall glacier helicopter and summer dog sled camp tour as early as we could for our September 2014 cruise, mainly because there were limited spaces and I didn't want to miss out. I researched other companies and felt the Princess excursion was the most suitable for us.

 

In saying all that .... Weather dictated our excursion and because of heavy rain that week the dog camp part of the excursion was inaccessible so the tour was cancelled. Princess gave us the option of booking another ... Just to the glacier, which we did and it was the best thing ever.

 

It certainly was one of the most memorial aspects of our 8 week trip!

[Mommypig]

Always book excursions as early as possible. You can always cancel if you change your mind, but if you wait to book you may be out of luck. I have my September 2015 excursions booked now.

 

 

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[dfields1814]

You need to keep your eyes on your personalizer, and as soon as the excursions are listed book them.

 

Prices do go up after they are posted. Princess will honor the lower price that you booked. On our last Alaska cruise we saved well over $100 by booking early because the prices rose.

 

I am on a 31 day to South America in March. I booked immediately an excursion in every port as soon as they were posted. Since then the prices for the exact same excursions have gone up over $550. In the mean time I booked a lot of private tours with CC people. So I will just cancel the Princess excursions in ports that I booked private tours.

Edited December 24, 2014 by dfields1814