Is there a waitlist for sold out excursion??

[DimSum]

Well I missed the boat on booking an excursion for my upcoming sailing (11/17/18 on Royal Princess to Eastern Caribbean). 

I just looked at all the excursions online and the ones that I am interested in are already sold out.

Does anyone know if I can still book an excursion when I board the ship?  Or maybe get on a waiting list for the ones that are sold out? 

[neverbeenhere]

Yes.   But have you tried external providers?   

 

Passengers cancel all the time. 

Edited November 12, 2018 by neverbeenhere

[neverbeenhere]

The parent of cruise critic is Trip Advisor and they are very good at providing you information on thing available at ports.    (Suck up message for 2018) 

[DimSum]

8 minutes ago, neverbeenhere said:

Yes.   But have you tried external providers?   

 

Passengers cancel all the time. 

No, I have not tried external providers?  I've never heard of that?  Could you clarify?

TIA

[DimSum]

5 minutes ago, neverbeenhere said:

The parent of cruise critic is Trip Advisor and they are very good at providing you information on thing available at ports.    (Suck up message for 2018) 

I will try looking there.  

Thank you.

[neverbeenhere]

Every port has many tour companies that are reliable and with which you could book a tour. Do a bit of homework, save money and have a more enriching experience. 

[caribill]

I am not sure about the current way the Princess web site works, but in the past if an excursion was sold out pre-cruise you could put yourself on a waitlist for the excursion. If you did then clear the waitlist before the cruise, you would be able to see it in the Personalizer. If it did not clear, supposedly the waitlist was passed onto the ship. Of course this was before you had to pay to make an advance reservation, so I do not know if it works the same now.

 

In any case, as soon as you can after embarkation go to the shore excursion desk and ask about being put on a waitlist. If the desk is not yet open, fill out an excursion reservation form, mark that sold out excursion to indicate you want to be on a waitlist and then deposit the form in the slot or box that is at the excursion desk area.

[paul929207]

Have you joined the Roll Call for your cruise. Often people there will plan a private tour and be looking for others to join them. 

[capriccio]

6 hours ago, DimSum said:

No, I have not tried external providers?  I've never heard of that?  Could you clarify?

TIA

In addition to consulting your roll call and TripAdvisor, take a look at the Caribbean Ports of Call board for excursion recommendations:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/456-caribbean/

[nasa1974]

On our Pacific Coastal in September we were wait listed for an excursion in Monterrey. There must have been enough of us wait listed because Princess added a second excursion.

[1emerald1]

On a couple of occasions I have changed my mind about a booked excursion, past the cut off date for a refund.  The shore excursion desk took my ticket and said they would try and resell it, and then issue a credit to my account.  On both occasions they were able to resell them. 

[Mike45LC]

1.  Sometimes, there are cancellations and people on the wait list are able to take the excursion. 

 

2.  As NASA said, sometimes there are enough people waitlisted for Princess to add another tour.

 

3.  You might be able to book an excursion with a tour operator independent of Princess, on-line.

 

4.  You might be able to buy a tour without any advance planning from the tour operators and their shills who will be crowding around the passengers as they disembark.

 

Good luck, and enjoy!

 

 

[Ombud]

Options:

1) wait list --- they'll add another bus if enough interest

2) roll call to join a private tour 

3) hire a driver thru trip advisor / viator 

4) OTOH: They will add tours to book online, maybe one of those will suffice if you don't get off the wait list

 

I'm on a July cruise & they won't let me even VIEW optional tours until 120 days out. Is this new?

Edited November 14, 2018 by Ombud