Question About Excursion Start Times

[Sweetpea711423]

Hi.  My husband and I are planning a Mediterranean cruise on the Splendor.  While we sailed with Regent many years ago, that was before the line included some excursions in the price.  We have continued to sail with other lines in the ensuing years, such as Silversea and Crystal, but we have tended to do our own independent arrangements for excursions.  I have read the description of the various excursions for this cruise, both "free" and not free, and some of them seem quite interesting.  My question relates to the usual start times for excursions.  My husband and I are not early risers, if we can avoid it.  That was one of the benefits of arranging our own excursions.  I couldn't find any information about the start times for any of the excursions.  Is there some advice that anyone can provide on this?  For example, I know that on Crystal a number of excursions were scheduled for the afternoon.  Is there something comparable on RSSC?  Will I be able to know the start time of an excursion before I have to decide what excursions to book?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provided.

[Travelcat2]

It really depends upon the length of the excursion.  If it is a long, full-day excursion, it could start anywhere from 8:00 - 9:00 a.m.  Four hour excursions start around 9:00 a.m. unless they include lunch and then they may begin late-morning.  Many times there are options for a morning or afternoon excursion.

 

Be sure to book your excursions when they open online (240 days prior to your cruise for most passengers). You can check the date on the RSSC website under “My Account” (once you put in the information for your cruise).  

 

Generally (but not always) you can look up the cost for Regent Choice excursions and the times they are offered on the website.  We check the website to see which excursions will likely be offered.  We are booking for our January cruise tomorrow night (9:00 p.m. west coast time since they open midnight eastern time).  We understand that some excursions may have changed but we have first and second choices and will learn the times when we book.  

 

Hope that you enjoy your cruise.  The Regent Choice excursions are usually great!

 

 

Edited May 24, 2020 by Travelcat2

[RachelG]

When you go to book the excursion online, it will tell you the start time.  This can change though.  As Travelcat said, book as soon as you are able to insure that you will get the widest choice of start times.  Some places, they all start pretty early.  My husband has complained to me about having to get up early on vacation more than once.

[DeepFreeze63]

Go to the itinerary for your cruise. Select the first (or any) port after embarkation. Right in the center of the page just above the description of excursions offered will be a link offering to send to your email a list of all excursions offered on that cruise. This email will not only detail descriptions but also the extra costs (if any) and the start times. Check back a week or so before your cruise for most reliable info before selection time. I'm doing this right now for the cruise that Tavelcat2  mentioned.

[Sweetpea711423]

All fabulous information!!!!!  Thank you so much!!

[ronrick1943]

I agree with your husband, why go on a vacation to get up early.  Some days it's just nice to enjoy breakfast, and just walk around town, people watching is a lot of fun at a outside cafe.

[rcandkc]

Also, when picking excursions....the meet time will be earlier than posted excursion time.  Early time worth it a few times while on cruise and then we say ...to heck with it.  So, try to plan accordingly. 

[Travelcat2]

We find on port intensive itineraries, after a few days you begin to see cancelations.  Passengers get tired and also want to spend time on the ship.  We tend to look up the ports to see if there is some that we would enjoy walking around, have some local food and visit local stores.  

 

Just be sure to give adequate notice when you want to cancel.  This enables people that may be on the waitlist to take your place.

[rcandkc]

10 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

We find on port intensive itineraries, after a few days you begin to see cancelations.  Passengers get tired and also want to spend time on the ship.  We tend to look up the ports to see if there is some that we would enjoy walking around, have some local food and visit local stores.  

 

Just be sure to give adequate notice when you want to cancel.  This enables people that may be on the waitlist to take your place.

Yes, if we change our mind we always do so at least a day ahead and turn in our tickets.  We go on most we sign up for because we have learned to be more realistic when we are signing up. 

[BBWC]

We also find that the excursions start quite early, even if you are in port all day - 8:00am is not unusual. They now tend to try and get you back on board for lunch since very few “free” excursions now include lunch. We also usually burn out after a few days and just do our own thing which we find much more enjoyable, especially since we have been to most ports at least once.

[Ladys Mom]

If you choose any excursions that require an "up charge" there is usually a date by which you can cancel without losing your investment.  We have learned this the hard way when we get tired midway through the cruise and decide to cancel a shore excursion the day before, only to find that we have passed the cancellation deadline.

[Foggyzx9r]

Having just booked our excursions for our January cruise we have done a mix of 8am starts and afternoon excursions. We also took a day off for Bora Bora as it is roughly over half way through the trip. Not sure if your Med cruise offers the same flexibility but for us it means not every day is an early start.

 

have a fabulous cruise.

[Sweetpea711423]

Thank you to everyone for all of your extremely helpful replies.