Unusual to see only 15 excursions for April cruise?

[KKB]

We have 7 ports (8 really as there is an excursion in Orlando, our point of embarkation).

Seems like far too few with 3 1/2 mos to go.

[Pitzel]

Have you booked any excursions through NCL? If so, they likely hide excursions that conflict with those that you have already booked.

 

It is also possible that they are sold out of many excursions OR they are having difficulties locking down excursion operators in some ports for those dates.

 

If you look online, are you able to find private excursions available for your cruise dates?

[amygutman]

We were looking for excursions for our April 26th Getaway cruise - only 6 total. Granted, there are only 2 stops on the 5 night cruise, Cozumel and GSC, but it's very light. 

 

I called the shore excursions desk (awesome customer service, btw...freaking hysterically funny representative), who said she and the other reps have noticed very late posting of excursions due to "port entry challenges".

 

She said rather than 120 days, they are seeing many Caribbean and Bahamas excursions not posted until <100 days. Interesting - I wonder if anyone else has had the same issue?

 

Warmest, Amy

[rj59]

I noticed the same thing for a May trip around Ireland, with many ports not having any excursions at all, or only a few. I would imagine that since it's a rare itinerary, where places like Galway and Dingle don't get large numbers of cruise ship tourists at once, and with the local tour companies having to negotiate pricing and having enough staff and transportation, it's something that needs to be worked out. In cases like Alaska or Cozumel, you have the challenges of many ships descending on a port at once, so the local companies also need to make sure of enough capacity, and they also have some pricing power so can negotiate with cruise lines against each other. Then for all of it, NCL has to decide how much to charge in order to maximize profits without encouraging people to take local tours or stay on the ship consuming free food and drinks. Oh, and they've been cutting down on ground staff and trying to manage full ships sailing everywhere now, so planning future excursions might get pushed back. 

[kelib]

I am on the Bliss Jan 27, and we finally have gotten some excursions on some of the ports this last week. 

[trivimp]

We've seen this on all of our post-restart cruises.  In addition to some of the other reasons mentioned, I've been told that many of the smaller tour providers went out of business during the pandemic, and getting new ones is challenging.  Be patient.  

[brngckn]

I am on Spirit Jan 27 and we have 23 shore excursions for 8 ports with zero excursions for at least 2 ports. I'm booking and planning stuff on my own.

[KKB]

19 hours ago, Pitzel said:

Have you booked any excursions through NCL? If so, they likely hide excursions that conflict with those that you have already booked.

 

It is also possible that they are sold out of many excursions OR they are having difficulties locking down excursion operators in some ports for those dates.

 

If you look online, are you able to find private excursions available for your cruise dates?

Nope, nothing booked.

Haven't looked online for anything yet.

[Travelling2Some]

10 hours ago, trivimp said:

We've seen this on all of our post-restart cruises.  In addition to some of the other reasons mentioned, I've been told that many of the smaller tour providers went out of business during the pandemic, and getting new ones is challenging.  Be patient.  

This.  Plus I also second the poster who pointed out that, once you book an excursion, other excursions that conflict with that time slot for that port (which will be most of the offerings) will no longer appear as an option if you are signed into your account.  I wish NCL would not do this since sometimes they will add excursions after you've booked one that you might have preferred.

[Turtles06]

9 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

This.  Plus I also second the poster who pointed out that, once you book an excursion, other excursions that conflict with that time slot for that port (which will be most of the offerings) will no longer appear as an option if you are signed into your account.  I wish NCL would not do this since sometimes they will add excursions after you've booked one that you might have preferred.

I agree. It’s foolish. Assuming they are concerned about your not booking something that has a time conflict with a prior booking, that problem is easily solved by technology.  On Celebrity, for example, if you try to book something (be it a dinner or a shorex) that conflicts with a prior booking, you’ll get an on screen message flagging the conflict and asking if you want to cancel the prior booking. You can’t double book, but you can still see everything available. 

[Markanddonna]

It was like this for a twelve day eastern Med cruise in November. Excursions were few until about 60 days before. That probably caused folks to book privately.

[amygutman]

7 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

It was like this for a twelve day eastern Med cruise in November. Excursions were few until about 60 days before. That probably caused folks to book privately.

We rather like booking our own excursions - our favorite is to find a local friendly looking taxi driver and ask him / her to show us their favorite non-touristy places to eat / sea for 2-4 hours and invite them to have a meal with us. Have had AMAZING experiences this way. 

 

However, things like the cabanas on the private islands are always through shore excursions, so the waiting game is a bit frustrating. It certainly wont make or break the vacation, but still, I like to have everything organized as soon as possible so the family can just focus on relaxation. 

[Markanddonna]

13 hours ago, amygutman said:

We rather like booking our own excursions - our favorite is to find a local friendly looking taxi driver and ask him / her to show us their favorite non-touristy places to eat / sea for 2-4 hours and invite them to have a meal with us. Have had AMAZING experiences this way. 

We did that in Fiji and the young taxi driver invited us to his home. His grandmother served us tea and desserts. What a wonderful way to see how others live!

[amygutman]

9 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

We did that in Fiji and the young taxi driver invited us to his home. His grandmother served us tea and desserts. What a wonderful way to see how others live!

That's wonderful! What an incredible memory to have!

[eileeshb]

There can be a variety of reasons you’re not seeing more options

1. Contracts with providers aren’t locked in

2. Excursion is sold out

3. You’ve already booked something in the port that clashes with other potential excursions.

4. There’s been sufficient complaints about an excursion to cause it to be pulled

 

since the pandemic the hospitality businesses around the world have been struggling for both liquidity and staff.  I’ve been looking into excursions for Alaska and noticed one incredibly popular excursion wasn’t offered at all last year as the business couldn’t get enough staff to accommodate cruise guests throughout the season. 
 

I was shocked to see a cruise ship to come into my home village, it was a national geographic ship with only about a hundred guests and had to use RIBs to get to shore as the local pier is only accessible at high tide for anything bigger. But it’s also the closest pier to the #2 tourist attraction in Ireland.