What's Up With Princess Website And Sold Out Excursions?

[SargassoPirate]

I've got a couple of cruises booked, one this fall and the other in the winter.  I have an excursion wishlist for both.  I was checking excursions for the fall cruise and most of them show "sold out".  Sailing is still about three months away.

 

Do we now need to book excursions before we even make final payment?

[no1racefan1]

Depends on where/what, but I would say it has nothing to do with making final payment. Very popular excursions sell out quickly, so you should book them as soon as you are able.

[Rick&Jeannie]

We can't really comment intelligently since we don't know the ship/itinerary. We generally do not have these kinds of issues...but I tend to book as early as I can.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Maybe just a temporary glitch?

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, SargassoPirate said:

I've got a couple of cruises booked, one this fall and the other in the winter.  I have an excursion wishlist for both.  I was checking excursions for the fall cruise and most of them show "sold out".  Sailing is still about three months away.

 

Do we now need to book excursions before we even make final payment?

If we want a particular excursion, I do book it early.  Even before FP.  Seems as though more cruisers are booking the PCL excursions these days.  We fo both independent and PCL excursions.

 

Could it be since we are getting more brand new guests, they are more likely to book ship excursions?  IDK, but it sounds good. 😀

[SCX22]

Even if you do or don't make it on the waitlist, still check-in with the ShoreEx Desk as one of your first stops on embarkation day.  I've noticed that Princess doesn't release all of shore excursion inventory pre-cruise in the Personalizer.  Recently, the White Pass and Yukon Railway excursion was showing as sold out for all times offered, but upon checking with ShoreEx, all were still wide open.  The only excursions I couldn't get on were the ones were there was only one bus operating.  I think they do this to have excursions to sell onboard.

[Paula_MacFan]

2 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

 Sailing is still about three months away.

 

Do we now need to book excursions before we even make final payment?

Three months?  For our upcoming European cruise most excursions were sold old around 7 - 8 months.  We've already locked in excursions for our next 3 cruises that are anywhere from 2 months to 10 months away. 

 

I've noticed prices just keep going up, so if you know you want to do it, why not just lock it in. 

Edited July 10, 2023 by Paula_MacFan

[Ombud]

JMHO when PCL put out 200 technically-earmarked-for-shore-excursions obc (although we all know it doesn't matter onboard) ppl booked excursions BECAUSE they didn't have to put out cash now. Even I booked 3 on my November cruise. And I almost never book excursions beforehand. 

 

So now I'm seeing almost 1/2 of my April cruise excursions sold out.

 

Great marketing PCL,  I might need to bring out my charge card