Shore excursion question

[caribill]

I am on a Celebrity cruise where arrival at one port is 2 PM.

 

Shore excursions for this port say they depart at 1:30 Pm and 1:45 PM, before the ship arrives.

 

All other ports have the shore excursions departing after the ship arrives.

 

Anyone else ever encountered this type problem?

 

When I called Celebrity to ask about the discrepancy in timing I was told to book it now and ask on board about it 11 months from now.

[Slopoke15]

I am on a Celebrity cruise where arrival at one port is 2 PM.

 

Shore excursions for this port say they depart at 1:30 Pm and 1:45 PM, before the ship arrives.

 

All other ports have the shore excursions departing after the ship arrives.

 

Anyone else ever encountered this type problem?

 

When I called Celebrity to ask about the discrepancy in timing I was told to book it now and ask on board about it 11 months from now.

 

I have yet to encounter that issue, however, sounds to me like a disconnect between reality, and the web site offering the excursions. If it was me, I would not book it now, since they will want you to pay for it now. I'd prefer to get a proper answer about the discrepancy before booking. Might just be me though :)

[caribill]

I have yet to encounter that issue, however, sounds to me like a disconnect between reality, and the web site offering the excursions. If it was me, I would not book it now, since they will want you to pay for it now. I'd prefer to get a proper answer about the discrepancy before booking. Might just be me though :)

 

The shore excursions are being offered on the Celebrity web site, so the disconnect is 100% within Celebrity.

 

I agree not to book them at this time.

[bdoster]

I am on a Celebrity cruise where arrival at one port is 2 PM.

 

Shore excursions for this port say they depart at 1:30 Pm and 1:45 PM, before the ship arrives.

 

All other ports have the shore excursions departing after the ship arrives.

 

Anyone else ever encountered this type problem?

 

When I called Celebrity to ask about the discrepancy in timing I was told to book it now and ask on board about it 11 months from now.

 

 

Not surprised about the answer. As you pay now and they have the use of your $$$.

 

On the Panama Canal trip the ship stopped and let people off on tender for a specific excursion before arriving at colon.

 

 

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[fleckle]

I am on a Celebrity cruise where arrival at one port is 2 PM.

 

Shore excursions for this port say they depart at 1:30 Pm and 1:45 PM, before the ship arrives.

 

All other ports have the shore excursions departing after the ship arrives.

 

Anyone else ever encountered this type problem?

 

Yes, except that it was not a "problem" for us.

On Alaska cruises, they sometimes offer Tracy Arm excursions on a small boat where passengers transfer directly from the ship to the excursion boat before the ship arrives in port.

 

The Panama Canal excursion cited by a previous poster is another example of a location where they do this.

 

I cannot answer as to your specific situation, since I don't know which ship, location and excursion you are talking about.

 

So it is possible that the times listed for your excursions may be mistakes, or they may be correct.

 

 

[steve ch]

The same thing happens at Santorini. The ship's excursions go ashore first by tender before the ship relocates to the main tender station for the cable car.

[bigbeergut]

If this is a Celebrity sponsored shore excursion and I wanted to go on this shore excursion, I would certainly book NOW. Waiting is just is just allowing the excursion to become booked. Celebrity will sort out the timing. Once onboard you can cancel most excursions with a 24 hr notice.

[Fish Lover]

I agree with bigbeergut. Book now as it is celebrity excursion. In all likelihood the time will be adjusted if necessary. You can always cancel on board.

[caribill]

 

I cannot answer as to your specific situation' date=' since I don't know which ship, location and excursion you are talking about.

 

So it is possible that the times listed for your excursions may be mistakes, or they may be correct.

 

 

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A port in Italy where the ship docks.

 

From an E-mail response from the shore excursion folk:

 

"We will escalate the situation for the port of Catania to our Product Team, so they can make the necessary adjustments to the tour schedules.

 

As soon as we receive notice that the schedules have been adjusted we will contact you."

 

The problem with the shore excursions at the port is that sunset is around 4:45 PM and there is no way all that the tours promise can be done before sunset if the arrival time of 2 PM is correct.

 

If the ship arrives earlier so that the shore excursions can depart at the listed times, then what the excursions promise to deliver becomes more possible to accomplish.

[sanger727]

A port in Italy where the ship docks.

 

From an E-mail response from the shore excursion folk:

 

"We will escalate the situation for the port of Catania to our Product Team, so they can make the necessary adjustments to the tour schedules.

 

As soon as we receive notice that the schedules have been adjusted we will contact you."

 

The problem with the shore excursions at the port is that sunset is around 4:45 PM and there is no way all that the tours promise can be done before sunset if the arrival time of 2 PM is correct.

 

If the ship arrives earlier so that the shore excursions can depart at the listed times, then what the excursions promise to deliver becomes more possible to accomplish.

 

I agree with the sentiment that if the excursion is offered on Celebrity's website then it will be available, the time might just be a little off. If however, as you say, are sure that you can't finish the tour before sunset if the ship docks on time; I wouldn't at all be sure that the ship will dock early to accommodate the tour, think it's much more likely the tour will simply begin a little later.