When do I receive excursion details?

[kraft111]

Hi all,

I'm about three weeks from my cruise and starting to gather the paperwork I want to bring with me. One thing I noticed is that I don't really have details on my excursions. I can see that I'm booked on my itinerary and my personalized brochure (Holland America), and I have the general itinerary information such as time, length, etc, but when do I get information such as where to gather? Does that come once I'm on the ship? Is there an announcement? Sorry, this is probably obvious to most people, but I want to make sure I have all the information I need. Thanks!

[Italy52]

I can't speak for Holland America excursions. However, I can tell you that excursions I have taken with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Princess had the gathering information printed on my excursion ticket ---- ticket was found in our cabin upon embarkation.

Edited May 18, 2016 by Italy52

[kraft111]

Thanks so much Karen, that's just what I was hoping to hear.

[CruiserBruce]

On HAL, when you get on board, there will be an envelope of excursion tickets in your room. If there are any special instructions, you will get them then.

[peety3]

For us (on Princess), the "where/when to gather" instructions are printed on our excursion tickets, which are usually waiting for us in our room upon arrival. Expect a certain amount of hurry-up-and-wait; they'll want you on the pier at the designated spot probably 10 minutes earlier than the scheduled time.

 

Essentially, you're just going to follow the yellow brick road (aka gelatinous blob of anxious people heading off the ship) until you find someone holding up a sign with your tour number on it. It'll look like this (well, my parents probably won't be waving at you): Amongst the people you'll see some white-on-blue signs. There should be one for every tour, at least close to gathering time. Here's a time-lapse view of arrival into Ketchikan, where you'll see me taking the shot above:

 

Tours in Skagway probably have specific instructions, such as "on the pier", "by the train", or "past the checkpoint", if your ship docks at one of the "railroad" spots. If you were to hang out on your balcony and observe, it would look like this:

[Budget Queen]

Time, date, where to meet are all clearly marked on your tickets, which will be in your cabin. IF you don't have tickets, then go to the Excursion desk and have them check and obtain the tickets for you.

[kraft111]

Thanks all, this has been very helpful.

 

And Peety, I'm very nice. Your parents may well want to wave at me! :D