When to book shore excursions

[miscstuff1]

We're booked on a cruise in 2024 visiting several African ports.  I'm told the shore excursions will be available to book one year in advance.  I am wondering how important it is to try to book excursions as soon as possible when the booking window opens.  Do excursions tend to sell out quickly (that has been our experience on Viking)?

[pinotlover]

There are a very few low capacity tours one might need to sign up for early. Very few. My recommendation is to watch your Roll Call for better options and not worry about actually signing up for ship tours until after final payment. So many cruise cancellations occur before then, plus a lot of people just wait to closer until cruise time to make a decision on tours.

 

Remember, if you book an Oceania shorex, you have to pay for it when booking. Why be in a rush to give Oceania more money sooner?

[AMHuntFerry]

There are different answers for different situations.

Do you have O-Life shorex that you need to book? If so, I would book as soon as you can so you get your first choice. You can always switch later if there is still availability (call your TA or O to switch) up until the O-Life deadline in your documents. If there are ports with limited tourist services and you are not a full-out DIYer (i.e., no local guide needed), you might want to prioritize those since O may have booked all available resources.

No O-Life shorex but you want to book some shorex via O? If you have OBC, use that to book your first choice or likely to sell out shorex as soon as possible. If you need to use a CC, use pinotlover's advice and decide between O shorex and other options; if there is an O shorex that is an absolute MUST for you, go ahead and lend them the money via your credit card, otherwise do the risk-reward balance to decide what's right for you. You can cancel/switch up to the deadlines in your docs and get refunds of the OBC or credit card charges.

[mauibabes]

@AMHuntFerry

Right on and I’ll take it a step farther possibly, if you have some SBC  due to an O Club level, you can use it to help cover the Excursion costs. We often travel in a Group and receive SBC and Club SBC and then some extra from having the On Board Booking Discount. We have had hundred(s) more SBC available so keep your options open. Whatever your situation, IMHO, if you want to NOT miss out on a specific excursion, BOOK IT. The little bit you are putting out in advance is probably nothing in comparison with the cost of the cruise.  Do what you need to do to enjoy your O adventure.  Pinch a different penny 😇🙏. 
Mauibabes

[miscstuff1]

We don't mind paying for the tours upfront.  My concern was whether or not tours sell out right away.  We have been experiencing that with Viking:  popular tours sold out before our cabin category is allowed to book.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, miscstuff1 said:

We don't mind paying for the tours upfront.  My concern was whether or not tours sell out right away.  We have been experiencing that with Viking:  popular tours sold out before our cabin category is allowed to book.

some tours will sell out  quickly  & you do not need to wait  on Oceania  for your cabin category to book tours

If it is something you want to do book early  if you find something better/cheaper  before sailing  then you can always cancel

They only have so many  providers in some ports  so that is also a factor

[RPen63]

I have read in this and other threads that excursions can be booked up to a year in advance.  I have a January 3, 2024, cruise — Serena, Miami to Panama City and return — and was checking my online account to see what excursions are available.  I noticed that excursions are not currently available for me to book.  I could see excursions for the first but not the second leg of the cruise.  It was not a weekend so cannot assume a nonfunctional website.
 

I then looked at the shore excursion pdf provided by my TA and noticed the following sentence in the preamble, “Guests in Suites and Concierge Level staterooms enjoy a 60-day priority booking period, prior to the 120-day online booking window.”  I surmise that excursions are no longer available to book as early as other posters have indicated in the past and higher level staterooms have been granted another perk.

 

I provide this for information, but was also wondering if I am missing something.  Does anyone know when the change was made?

[LHT28]

6 minutes ago, RPen63 said:

I then looked at the shore excursion pdf provided by my TA and noticed the following sentence in the preamble, “Guests in Suites and Concierge Level staterooms enjoy a 60-day priority booking period, prior to the 120-day online booking window.”  I surmise that excursions are no longer available to book as early as other posters have indicated in the past and higher level staterooms have been granted another perk.

 

I provide this for information, but was also wondering if I am missing something.  Does anyone know when the change was made?

Interesting

 

[AMHuntFerry]

59 minutes ago, RPen63 said:

I have read in this and other threads that excursions can be booked up to a year in advance.  I have a January 3, 2024, cruise — Serena, Miami to Panama City and return — and was checking my online account to see what excursions are available.  I noticed that excursions are not currently available for me to book.  I could see excursions for the first but not the second leg of the cruise.  It was not a weekend so cannot assume a nonfunctional website.
 

I then looked at the shore excursion pdf provided by my TA and noticed the following sentence in the preamble, “Guests in Suites and Concierge Level staterooms enjoy a 60-day priority booking period, prior to the 120-day online booking window.”  I surmise that excursions are no longer available to book as early as other posters have indicated in the past and higher level staterooms have been granted another perk.

 

I provide this for information, but was also wondering if I am missing something.  Does anyone know when the change was made?

I have seen that wording too, but wonder if it is leftover from pre-Covid (O's process and document control is not great...conflicting info is common so if it's not in the T&C or other overriding doc, I am skeptical...OK, I'm always skeptical, but more than normal here?).

So here's an example of the "120-day online booking window" not being current procedure: I have a September cruise that I recently (~2 weeks ago?) booked. Last week I booked some O shorex. I most definitely do not have priority over anyone else, but we are not even close to the 120-day mark. I vaguely remember booking shorex 6 or 7 months out for a December 2021 cruise (the last time I used O shorex).

Anyhoo, I'm pretty sure you can just book as soon as it shows up online; and maybe earlier if you (or your TA) call since the website does not always get updated quickly.

[ORV]

I just booked a cruise while onboard for Jan 21 of 2024. That would be about 10 months away, or about 300 days(approximately, I'm not doing math today) I am in a B4 and booked all of my excursions within a day of booking the cruise. So, if this rule is happening, it hasn't started yet. 

[RPen63]

I booked the cruise last week.  Interestingly, I was able to add excursions to the shopping cart for the first leg to Panama City but was unable to even see the excursions for the second part.  It could jyst be another example of Oceania’s glitchy website.

[DENIE]

We did just book a couple of excursions for a January 2024 Vista cruise.  A factor on one was  that it was a 6-hour catamaran cruise with lobster dinner on board.  Sounded like that one could sell out, so went ahead and purchased.  Our strategy with all excursions is to spread out the bookings so that we aren't on the hook all at once.  Likewise with private 3rd party tours, we book pretty early if we see one we really like. Got burned waiting too long once.

Edited March 28, 2023 by DENIE