Warning: Do not book excursions just because you *MAY* want to go on them to hold the price because you won't see money

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

That has been my experience exactly.  Yet, some of the excursions do sell out. So, I have been booking ones and then something else I like much better will come out...or that is more appropriate for our family. 

But remember this, someone who does actually want to go on the excursion that you book as a placeholder is now shut out of it as it sells out.

[Eli_6]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

But remember this, someone who does actually want to go on the excursion that you book as a placeholder is now shut out of it as it sells out.

I am not booking it as a placeholder.  I book things that look interesting and that I want to do.  But, sometimes, something I am more interested in comes up later. Or, in this instance, something came open that I could take my kids on that was "family friendly."  I try to be considerate of both my children and other guests when booking these things...especially considering 90-95 percent of the people on these cruises are adults and probably 2/3 are older adults. I never enjoy myself quite as much when going without the kids because there is always that small worry of "what if" we got left and the kids were on the ship. However, the first/original excursion was basically a wine tasting so I wasn't about to take my kids on that. 

 

In the instance of the Paris excursion, I waited a long time for the Mont St. Michael excursion to come open and it never did. (Originally, I was supposed to go on this excursion in 2021.) I waited from September to March. In March, I finally booked the Paris excursion because it was close to selling out and the price had gone up significantly (and has since gone up again!).  Then, just in the last couple of weeks, the Mont St. Michel excursion popped up.

What am I supposed to do? Wait until a week before the cruise when anything I was interested in is booked up? Too much money and time go into these trips.

Edited April 23, 2023 by Eli_6

[Joanne G.]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

But remember this, someone who does actually want to go on the excursion that you book as a placeholder is now shut out of it as it sells out.

For my upcoming Carnival cruises, excursions that have shown as sold out have later shown availability, due to, I presume, cancellations or another bus being added.  People need to keep checking, or they need to book and pay as early as I do.   Like Eli_6, I don't book anything that I don't expect to go on, but I will cancel and book a newly available and more appealing option without feeling guilty that I kept someone else from taking the first one.  

 

Princess does it better by having an official waiting list for excursions, and they'll notify you if spots open up.   NCL does it much worse by no longer showing other options in a given port that conflict with a booked excursion.  Celebrity does it best of all by letting you see actual excursions for a particular cruise before making the decision to book that cruise. 

 

Now I know Carnival's way, at least in Europe - book early to avoid later BIG price increases, but keep checking as new ones may appear later.  And book with a credit card!

Edited April 23, 2023 by Joanne G.

[crooooze]

7 hours ago, mz-s said:

With a gift card you're essentially paying cash so you're relying on the goodwill of a company $30bn (and counting) in debt to pay you back. Sobering when you think about it.

Hmm… with a refund via a gift card, are they really paying anyone back? Carnival still has your money. It’s just some accounting magic with the books.

[BlerkOne]

4 minutes ago, crooooze said:

Hmm… with a refund via a gift card, are they really paying anyone back? Carnival still has your money. It’s just some accounting magic with the books.

Do you really expect a cash refund when you pay with a discounted gift card?

[mz-s]

6 minutes ago, crooooze said:

Hmm… with a refund via a gift card, are they really paying anyone back? Carnival still has your money. It’s just some accounting magic with the books.

gift card balances are liabilities to corporations, like debt. So when you get your refund on a gift card it is actually a refund.

[crooooze]

16 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Do you really expect a cash refund when you pay with a discounted gift card?

Nope - I did not say that.

[LibertyBella]

Well, I read this entire thread just for the interest of this financial adventure.  I had a similar issue with a gift card and my husband's local ski resort, and I was unceasingly persistent to get it resolved because it is the principle of the situation!  

 

So glad it all worked out for you.  On another note, it is certainly fun to plan your special Europe cruise. It will be a wonderful experience for everybody.  Having been to both Mont Saint-Michel and Paris, I would NOT want to choose between doing one or the other--I would have to do both. I frequently have all my excursions booked as soon as I make a cruise deposit.

 

Have a wonderful trip!

[AnitaVacation]

On 4/20/2023 at 6:14 PM, Eli_6 said:

I tried to call Carnival about it. I just sat on hold for about 20 minutes. Then, finally someone answered...after I had given them all the needed information, there was suddenly no one on the line. I waited a bit and then the "hold music" came on. After some time, someone new picked up and asked for all of the information again. By that time I had close out my window on my computer with the booking information as I had already given to someone and told the woman I would have to bring it up again so it would take a moment. She then hung up on me...for no reason. So, the first 25 minutes on the phone were wasted. Getting very annoyed at the hassle of trying to get this $150 back and suspecting it is just gone.   

 

THIS.....is one of the best reasons to have a PVP!!  I know some people just like to book direct and not be bothered, but I love the fact that I can call and leave a message for my PVP and she calls me back within a day and does not give me a run-around...if you do not have one, ask around for recommendations (extention numbers), PVP's love referrals!!

Edited April 24, 2023 by AnitaVacation

[Eli_6]

3 hours ago, AnitaVacation said:

 

THIS.....is one of the best reasons to have a PVP!!  I know some people just like to book direct and not be bothered, but I love the fact that I can call and leave a message for my PVP and she calls me back within a day and does not give me a run-around...if you do not have one, ask around for recommendations (extention numbers), PVP's love referrals!!

No thanks. I have used 3 or 4 different pvp's over the years.  All but 1 on recommendations. (Frankly, the one who was random was the best, but that isn't saying much.) They only screwed things up or made things worse.  One more step of people to have to communicate with and "get it wrong."  Made it even more trouble and would frequently mess things up during covid when I would have to rebook a rebook and they couldn't follow along. Pretty sure 1 lost me fcc. (Had one cruise I had to rebook 4 times to actually take it. MG ta was canceled then 2020 europe was canceled and then 2021 europe was cancelled and wasn't able to take it  until 2022.) So now I have a ta.  My TA didn't even want to be bothered with this. Frankly, given my experience, if I had had a PVP, I would probably have never seen the money back at all.

Edited April 24, 2023 by Eli_6

[Eli_6]

8 hours ago, LibertyBella said:

Well, I read this entire thread just for the interest of this financial adventure.  I had a similar issue with a gift card and my husband's local ski resort, and I was unceasingly persistent to get it resolved because it is the principle of the situation!  

 

So glad it all worked out for you.  On another note, it is certainly fun to plan your special Europe cruise. It will be a wonderful experience for everybody.  Having been to both Mont Saint-Michel and Paris, I would NOT want to choose between doing one or the other--I would have to do both. I frequently have all my excursions booked as soon as I make a cruise deposit.

 

Have a wonderful trip!

Thank you!  The main reason I am leaning towards Mont St Michel is that I am pretty sure we will go back to Paris at some point in the next 5 years, but I don't see any reason we would be going back to MSM.

[2wheelin]

22 hours ago, ontheweb said:

But remember this, someone who does actually want to go on the excursion that you book as a placeholder is now shut out of it as it sells out.

Let it go! Don’t tell us you have never had to make a change to any plans you have made. Maybe a reservation? Maybe an appointment? Maybe a trip? Things happen—and Eli and others have explained ad nauseum to everyone else’s satisfaction.

[ontheweb]

37 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

Let it go! Don’t tell us you have never had to make a change to any plans you have made. Maybe a reservation? Maybe an appointment? Maybe a trip? Things happen—and Eli and others have explained ad nauseum to everyone else’s satisfaction.

No, you take a reservation that you probably do not want (I won't leave my children alone on the ship and they are not going to be drinking wine), and someone else is shut out of it. That is pretty simple

 

Yes, sometimes you have to change things as circumstances change, but this is different..

[2wheelin]

6 hours ago, ontheweb said:

No, you take a reservation that you probably do not want (I won't leave my children alone on the ship and they are not going to be drinking wine), and someone else is shut out of it. That is pretty simple

 

Yes, sometimes you have to change things as circumstances change, but this is different..

No. She clearly said she would do the wine tasting if no NEW options were posted. Circumstances changed! 

[icft]

6 hours ago, ontheweb said:

No, you take a reservation that you probably do not want (I won't leave my children alone on the ship and they are not going to be drinking wine), and someone else is shut out of it. That is pretty simple

 

Yes, sometimes you have to change things as circumstances change, but this is different..

You've got your facts wrong. Go back and reread.

[ontheweb]

6 hours ago, ontheweb said:

No, you take a reservation that you probably do not want (I won't leave my children alone on the ship and they are not going to be drinking wine), and someone else is shut out of it. That is pretty simple

 

Yes, sometimes you have to change things as circumstances change, but this is different..

What circumstances changed other than she saw something else? Did she decide she was comfortable with leaving her kids alone on the ship? She did say she was afraid of what would happen if she and her husband did not make it back to the ship. Did her kids all of a sudden get old enough to to legally consume alcohol? I rather doubt that.

[ontheweb]

8 minutes ago, icft said:

You've got your facts wrong. Go back and reread.

Read my next post.

[Eli_6]

5 hours ago, 2wheelin said:

No. She clearly said she would do the wine tasting if no NEW options were posted. Circumstances changed! 

That is 100 percent correct. We would have taken the excursion without them had one we not wanted to do come open.  We took two excursions off the ship last year on our UK cruise and left the kids on the ship.  We didn't take them on one of the excursions because it involved a really long bus. We didn't take them on the other because they told me they didn't care about going on that excursion and wanted to stay in Camp Ocean.  It isn't my favorite thing to do, but I have done it before and would do it again.   

[Eli_6]

5 hours ago, ontheweb said:

What circumstances changed other than she saw something else? Did she decide she was comfortable with leaving her kids alone on the ship? She did say she was afraid of what would happen if she and her husband did not make it back to the ship. Did her kids all of a sudden get old enough to to legally consume alcohol? I rather doubt that.

I have left my kids on the ship before and will do it again when there is an excursion that clearly isn't appropriate for them.  Sometimes in these European ports there are no excursions that are appropriate for them (or that they want to go on) and, in those instances, they stay on the boat in Camp Ocean.  And they aren't the only ones in Camp Ocean either.  Many people leave their kids in Camp Ocean on port days.  They stayed on the boat in Camp Ocean twice on our UK cruise last year.  It isn't my favorite thing to do and I don't usually enjoy the excursion quite as much as I otherwise would, but I find that preferable to having kids who don't want to be there or having to stay on the ship myself and missing out on a port I may only go to once in my life. But when something pops up that is appropriate for ALL of us and that my kids want to do, I book that. That is exactly what I did here.  Originally there were no tours that seemed appropriate for kids or that my kids wanted to go on so I booked the wine tour because it was something I wanted to do.  Later on, a tour that is basically just a bus ride to a nearby city with "free time" on your own popped up.  The city has a beach and is known for its tapas.  Guess what?  My kids love the beach and they love to eat. 

 

What you are accusing me of doesn't even make sense. Why would I even book an excursion that I had no intention of going on??? What would be the point of doing that or the advantage of doing that?  There isn't any.    

Edited April 25, 2023 by Eli_6

[momof3cruisers]

On 4/22/2023 at 4:09 PM, Eli_6 said:

Oh no...I still have learned a valuable lesson out of this because I consider the amount of time I had to put in to "fix" this to have been an annoyance and not something I want to repeat.  If I have any doubt in my mind that I might cancel an excursion and rebook another one at a later time, I am paying for it with a credit card and not a gift card.  This is really only an issue for the Europe or the "unique" itineraries Carnival does where some of the excursions may not show up until close to sailing anyway and they may change from year to year.  The excursions for carribean or Mexico or even Alaska stay pretty constant.  

I’m glad you posted about this.  I learned a lesson too. 
 

 

On 4/21/2023 at 2:09 PM, Eli_6 said:

The biggest bummer part of this is that an excursion for "Mont St. Michel" showed up recently on the Carnival website and I was wanting to cancel my "Paris on your own" excursion and book it instead...but not doing that anymore since I paid for it ($600 for four of us) with a gift card for Paris. I may try on the ship to see if they can just "transfer" my money over from one excursion to the other. Anyone ever done this before? 

I have done that on the ship before. Go to the excursions desk on the first day and ask to switch. I’d be surprised if they didn’t help you out. You do need to cancel excursions 24 hours in advance.
 

Btw, there is nothing wrong with changing your mind. You’re not “ shutting anyone out.” They could have gotten their reservation in before you if they had really wanted to. Other people’s vacation planning issues are not yours.  It’s not like you reserved four different things until you made up your mind. 

Edited April 25, 2023 by momof3cruisers
Spelling

[2wheelin]

16 minutes ago, momof3cruisers said:

I’m glad you posted about this.  I learned a lesson too. 
 

 

I have done that on the ship before. Go to the excursions desk on the first day and ask to switch. I’d be surprised if they didn’t help you out. You do need to cancel excursions 24 hours in advance.
 

Btw, there is nothing wrong with changing your mind. You’re not “ shutting anyone out.” They could have gotten their reservation in before you if they had really wanted to. Other people’s vacation planning issues are not yours.  It’s not like you reserved four different things until you made up your mind. 

I have heard they cannot transfer to another excursion if paid with gift card but do not have experience with it. May depend on the person at the desk and their willingness to help.

[2wheelin]

8 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Read my next post.

Stop digging. The hole is getting pretty deep. Reading comprehension is fundamental.

[scoobysnacks70]

On 4/20/2023 at 5:53 PM, Eli_6 said:

Thankfully it is only $150 and not more.  My time is valuable enough that I am not spending any more time on this issue, but I won't be booking excursions on a "maybe" anymore and just having the attitude of "Oh, well, I can cancel and get my money back."  

Can you just email them?

[momof3cruisers]

13 hours ago, 2wheelin said:

I have heard they cannot transfer to another excursion if paid with gift card but do not have experience with it. May depend on the person at the desk and their willingness to help.

Oof. Yes, I had paid with a credit card. Shoot.

[mz-s]

On 4/23/2023 at 11:41 AM, ontheweb said:

But remember this, someone who does actually want to go on the excursion that you book as a placeholder is now shut out of it as it sells out.

 

Then they should have booked the excursion earlier. The early bird gets the worm.