How far in advance of sail date will excursions populate?

[Shellbelle28]

I've got a January 2020 cruise booked. Pretty much everything is at the "too early" stage for planning. When do excursions usually show up for a sailing. Since it's Australia/NZ I feel like I need a LOT of planning and research time!

[Mike D.]

I believe the current usual rule for dining and excursion reservations being available for booking on the web is 130 days before embarkation for suites/Haven, and 120 days before embarkation for other staterooms.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

MD

[Son of a son of a ...]

If you see an NCL excursion you like and are accepting of the price, then book it. I have seen excursions disappear and have been lucky to book some before they vanished. NCL may add more, but you can always change it prior to the cruise. I do not believe NCL holds back excursions ... others may disagree, but when the online excursion is no longer available online and there are four other ships in port that day, don’t anticipate NCL to have the same excursion available onboard. It is not the same as dining.

[Shellbelle28]

If you see an NCL excursion you like and are accepting of the price, then book it. I have seen excursions disappear and have been lucky to book some before they vanished. NCL may add more, but you can always change it prior to the cruise. I do not believe NCL holds back excursions ... others may disagree, but when the online excursion is no longer available online and there are four other ships in port that day, don’t anticipate NCL to have the same excursion available onboard. It is not the same as dining.

My sailing is so far out in time, there are no excursions online yet!

[df5250]

I recently booked a March 2019 Cruise where at 193 days out the excursions were available to book. I was surprised at this far out as I was expecting closer to 120/90 days. I am not in a suite. The excursion desk said this was a recent change.

[BeachyBoo]

I booked an excursion for our May 2019 cruise about a month ago. There were some others available well before that, but not many.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KeithJenner]

I believe the current usual rule for dining and excursion reservations being available for booking on the web is 130 days before embarkation for suites/Haven, and 120 days before embarkation for other staterooms.

 

 

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

 

 

MD

 

 

 

That is correct for dining, but not for excursions.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KeithJenner]

There is no rule about when excursions are available. I’ve seen them available over a year out on some cruises and not there until just a few months out on others. Sometimes you will see them available for some ports on a cruise whilst there is nothing available for other ports.

 

Just keep checking.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Something fun!]

Go to the shore excursions page, not myNCL, and research the offerings listed for each port.

 

Your sailing will populate excursions at any possible time, with the majority around 130-120 days out. But more may be added later as well.

[Shellbelle28]

Go to the shore excursions page, not myNCL, and research the offerings listed for each port.

 

Your sailing will populate excursions at any possible time, with the majority around 130-120 days out. But more may be added later as well.

Thank you! That was helpful. I was able to sort by ports and see the excursions currently being offered to help start thinking about what we can do.

[YVRBassElectric]

I've got a January 2020 cruise booked. Pretty much everything is at the "too early" stage for planning. When do excursions usually show up for a sailing. Since it's Australia/NZ I feel like I need a LOT of planning and research time!

 

Tours by locals has some great options in New Zealand. Highly recommend Timothy Rowberry Wellington, New Zealand. In Napier Paul Sweeney did a cool tour in a classic car, fit in with Napier's culture

[ighten]

Basically dont use NCL excursions - though somethingfun is correct - use the listings by port as a guide then find someone who can do it three times better for a small group rather than a coach cattle at half the price

[fortmilles]

I am going to the western Med next June, and noticed a real lack of options in terms of shore excursions from NCL. I called their shore excursion desk via their 1800#, and they told me what they had was what they had for the most part, with some maybe being added closer to sailing. I am disappointed in their offerings.

 

I have always used ship-offered excursions because my wife in particular has valued the guarantee of never being left at port. In this case, I'm starting to look at other options. I'm curious what others do - I see Viator has a ton of options. Is this decent, and is there really any risk of being left at port? I'm going to need to be able to convince my wife this is ok.

[Shellbelle28]

I am going to the western Med next June, and noticed a real lack of options in terms of shore excursions from NCL. I called their shore excursion desk via their 1800#, and they told me what they had was what they had for the most part, with some maybe being added closer to sailing. I am disappointed in their offerings.

 

I have always used ship-offered excursions because my wife in particular has valued the guarantee of never being left at port. In this case, I'm starting to look at other options. I'm curious what others do - I see Viator has a ton of options. Is this decent, and is there really any risk of being left at port? I'm going to need to be able to convince my wife this is ok.

I have done both ship provided and privately organized tours. I agree, that the certainty that you won't "miss the boat" is a comfort. I like to make sure any non-cruiseline tours I choose have a long history of good reviews with descriptions of their experiences from other members on Cruise Critic.

 

Sent from my SM-T817V using Forums mobile app