Excursion Sold Out?

[cruiselover19811981]

There is an excursion I'd like to book for our July cruise in the Mediterranean. It is only allowing me to add myself, and not the other three members of my family. It shows the price of the excursion next to my name, but shows  $0 next to my husband and kids' names. Does this mean there's only availability for 1 more person? Would phoning NCL help, or am I wasting my time?

[nordicacres]

Yes, there is only one space left on the tour.

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, cruiselover19811981 said:

There is an excursion I'd like to book for our July cruise in the Mediterranean. It is only allowing me to add myself, and not the other three members of my family. It shows the price of the excursion next to my name, but shows  $0 next to my husband and kids' names. Does this mean there's only availability for 1 more person? Would phoning NCL help, or am I wasting my time?

 

At this point, you have waited too long and the shore excursion is down to only 1 available seat. You would see a price for one person and $0 for the other. 

 

You can try calling the NCL shoreex number, but they will probably have the same results as you. NCL does not run any shore excursion. They contract with tour providers at each port. And the tour provider says "I have seats for 50 people on my bus". 

 

You could check every day looking for a cancellation, but most people book-and-forget and are not changing their shore excursions after they are booked. 

 

[kitkat343]

I took a 3 year old to St. Petersburg, and thanks to a private (just our family) tour, we were able to control the itinerary and give our child breaks whenever he needed them, and we were able to see all the major highlights of St. Petersburg.  The tour you want is currently full, and there’s a chance more spots might open up on the ship, but your best bet now is going on TripAdvisor and finding a private tour.   Look for companies with a lot of positive reviews that have been in business a long time.  Email them to ask about pricing for both a small group tour and a private tour for just your family.  Have a great trip.  

[BirdTravels]

17 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

now is going on TripAdvisor and finding a private tour. Look for companies with a lot of positive reviews that have been in business a long time.  

 

There was a similar thread yesterday. A poster saying that they were leaving for the Med on a 20+ day back-to-back in two weeks and just started looking for excursions. None that they wanted were available. If 3rd party providers were "doing a good job", they may be sold out at this late point. 

 

The OP was not specific on which port they were having an issue with. If it is a port like Rome or Florence, the cities are a long ways from the port and you need to ensure that your private tours or your DYI train trips get back well before your all aboard time to mitigate the risk of traffic delays. 

[zqvol]

OP should ignore everything that has been said and simply pick up the phone and call NCL

[cruiselover19811981]

Thanks for the replies. We booked our bucket list excursions with NCL well before final payment to Cinqueterre, Pompeii, and in Ibiza. However, we were told by close friends that Cannes to Monaco by train is very easy and doable as a DIY excursion (our daughter is a huge F1 fan), so when booking our original excursions, we figured we would take the train ourselves and spend a couple of hours in Monaco before heading back to Cannes for the ship, with a large enough window before all aboard time. Now that the date is getting closer, and seeing it's a tender port, I was just exploring options again and that's what brought me to this post. 

[The Traveling Man]

1 hour ago, cruiselover19811981 said:

Thanks for the replies. We booked our bucket list excursions with NCL well before final payment to Cinqueterre, Pompeii, and in Ibiza. However, we were told by close friends that Cannes to Monaco by train is very easy and doable as a DIY excursion (our daughter is a huge F1 fan), so when booking our original excursions, we figured we would take the train ourselves and spend a couple of hours in Monaco before heading back to Cannes for the ship, with a large enough window before all aboard time. Now that the date is getting closer, and seeing it's a tender port, I was just exploring options again and that's what brought me to this post. 

There always is the possibility of last minute cancellations, meaning that slots will become available once you are on the ship.  Stop by the Shorex desk as soon as you board the ship.  There may be availability at that time, or you can ask to be added to the standby list.  If there are enough persons on the waiting list, NCL may be able to arrange for an additional bus for a popular tour.  If all else fails, there may be availability on a different tour that is similar to the one you wanted.  One or another of these methods may work out for you.  They frequently have worked for us.  Perhaps as many as half of the tours we have taken with NCL were booked after we arrived on board.  On several others we received our tickets after being on the standby list for a day or two.  A few times we made last minute arrangements for a private tour.  Don't give up hope just because you're running into difficulties trying to book in advance.

[The Traveling Man]

6 hours ago, cruiselover19811981 said:

There is an excursion I'd like to book for our July cruise in the Mediterranean. It is only allowing me to add myself, and not the other three members of my family. It shows the price of the excursion next to my name, but shows  $0 next to my husband and kids' names. Does this mean there's only availability for 1 more person? Would phoning NCL help, or am I wasting my time?

If you are not able to book a tour, don't throw in the towel.  Many, perhaps most of the port stops in the Mediterranean offer a wealth of options for those who just want to walk off the ship and explore on foot.  Taxis are usually available near the pier.  They can take you to many interesting sites.  You'll miss out on having a guide to point out the highlights to you, but a little research with a good guidebook, such as those by Rick Steves, can work wonders.

[Wayward Son]

4 hours ago, zqvol said:

OP should ignore everything that has been said and simply pick up the phone and call NCL

 

Why? If OP can only book one spot, that one spot sold out the excursion. That is a fact. What is NCL going to tell them that we haven't?