Excursions? Waitlist vs Sold Out

[Yehootu]

I always book excursions I REALLY want early from the ship and then research and determine what way I want to go. I know that's why you now have to pay up front for the excursions. I've got on the waitlist before once aboard for a last minute excursion we wanted to do and too lazy to research, and have always cleared. I'd rather skip going somewhere than do a LONG big bus excursion. Mount St Michel was the LAST one I'll do.

 Folks are always saying that the ship will add extra buses, etc if full. What's the difference between Waitlist vs Sold Out. Is it the number of cruisers on the Waitlist? Was asked and I couldn't answer.

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

I personally (don't know for sure) think that it is more up to the tour provider in question.  They know that there *could* be a big demand from the cruise ship crowd.  I would *think* that they would provide as many buses as they possibly could in order to maximize their profits.  Of course, there are many variables involved with this; more cruise ships in port, number of qualified guides & such.  I have never done a waitlist...but I *have* waited until on the ship to check on a tour that was "sold out"...had no trouble getting tickets at the excursion desk.  YMMV!

[karatemom2]

It really depends on the tour. Some types of tours may be able to expand capacity by adding buses or guides - but that is a big if. Other tours that are more niche - like a boat tour in Alaska for example with very specific capacity - can’t just add extra passengers. We have waitlisted three times for Princess tours and never been successful. One was a horseback riding tour, another a boat tour and the other a kayak trip. All of these types of tours clearly have more limited capacity then a tour where you could perhaps just fill up an extra bus. So keep that in mind as all tours are not created equal where adding capacity is concerned. Also, I am finding even with tours that remain open, Princess raises the prices as it gets closer to the sail date. So, if there is an excursion you really want that you can only access through Princess book early. 

Edited February 15 by karatemom2

[Rick&Jeannie]

4 minutes ago, karatemom2 said:

It really depends on the tour. Some types of tours may be able to expand capacity by adding buses or guides - but that is a big if. Other tours that are more niche - like a boat tour in Alaska for example with very specific capacity - can’t just add extra passengers. We have waitlisted three times for Princess tours and never been successful. One was a horseback riding tour, another a boat tour and the other a kayak trip. All of these types of tours clearly have more limited capacity then a tour where you could perhaps just fill up an extra bus. So keep that in mind as all tours are not created equal where adding capacity is concerned. Also, I am finding even with tours that remain open, Princess raises the prices as it gets closer to the sail date. So, if there is an excursion you really want that you can only access through Princess book early. 

^^^^^ This! Many tours have an absolute finite set of resources available.

[Pushka]

So it still begs the question. Why are there two categories (in our planner)  of a sold out excursion, and one that has a wait list? 

[karatemom2]

2 hours ago, Pushka said:

So it still begs the question. Why are there two categories (in our planner)  of a sold out excursion, and one that has a wait list? 

This is just a guess but I imagine they only allow so many slots on a waitlist. My DH and I have waitlisted in the past on a couple of excursions. In both cases, at some point the option to waitlist disappeared and it just said sold out. I know this because I tried to add my daughter and her husband to a waitlist we were on and the option to do so was no longer available. 
 

So perhaps they limit the waitlist to a certain number of people. Regardless, we were not successful in getting on either excursion we waitlisted for as apparently no one ever dropped. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

4 hours ago, Pushka said:

So it still begs the question. Why are there two categories (in our planner)  of a sold out excursion, and one that has a wait list? 

It is very common to see the same excursion listed twice...one would be wheelchair capable. 

[Pushka]

5 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

It is very common to see the same excursion listed twice...one would be wheelchair capable. 

Yes, tht is happening on our cruise, but because one is in Japanese. But that isn't what I'm asking about. It's sold out versus waitlisted. 

[DallasGuy75219]

On 2/15/2024 at 8:01 AM, Yehootu said:

What's the difference between Waitlist vs Sold Out. Is it the number of cruisers on the Waitlist? 

I suspect they have a historical average of how may reservations ultimately get canceled, possibly down to the itinerary or excursion. Once they get to that number of waitlisted passengers on a excursion, they call it sold out because it's not likely anyone else they add to the waitlist will actual get a seat.

[Cruise2End]

7 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

I suspect they have a historical average of how may reservations ultimately get canceled, possibly down to the itinerary or excursion. Once they get to that number of waitlisted passengers on an excursion, they call it sold out because it's not likely anyone else they add to the waitlist will actual get a seat.

I noticed this as well on my Japan cruise next month.   There were a smaller number of English speaking tours than Japanese.   I took Sold Out to mean they maxed out their resources so that excursion was basically no longer available, but I did put myself on the Waitlist for another and recently was sent an email that I was now booked for the excursion.

 

 

[Pushka]

1 hour ago, Cruise2End said:

I noticed this as well on my Japan cruise next month.   There were a smaller number of English speaking tours than Japanese.   I took Sold Out to mean they maxed out their resources so that excursion was basically no longer available, but I did put myself on the Waitlist for another and recently was sent an email that I was now booked for the excursion.

 

 

We are booked for March 2025 and many excursions are sold out and others have a waitlist. I'm thinking one of the best ones we may well book the Japanese speaking tour. 

[Cafabi]

On 2/19/2024 at 7:25 AM, karatemom2 said:

This is just a guess but I imagine they only allow so many slots on a waitlist.

This is the right answer. I tried to add our party of 3 to a waitlist, and it would only accept 2. I signed up two for the waitlist just to see what would happen (canceled later), and it changed to "Sold Out."