Usual practices for shore excursions

[VitaminSea53]

I am 100 days out from an Asia cruise and find that the basic sightseeing tour for a certain port is Sold Out.  Do they generally add more spaces (another bus) as the cruise date gets closer?  I wonder if the SOLD OUT notice is just there to get people to sign up for more pricey tours.  I appreciate your experiences.

[1025cruise]

They might, or the excursion is sold out. 

[leaveitallbehind]

In fairness we don't typically do cruise ship sponsored tours, but as they are third party contractors, if they are sold out the ability to add another tour would depend on that operator's ability to provide an additional bus and operator / guide.  They may in fact be a popular tour that sells out early.  I doubt that there would any effort on the cruise line's part to manipulate a tour booking to sell more expensive tours as they don't control the sales or the capacity of the tours.  

Edited July 9 by leaveitallbehind

[VitaminSea53]

Just now, leaveitallbehind said:

In fairness we don't typically do cruise ship sponsored tours, but as they are third party contractors, if they are sold out the ability to add another tour would depend on that operator's ability to provide an additional bus and operator / guide.  They may in fact be a popular tour that sells out early,  I doubt that there would any effort on the cruise line's part to sell more expensive tours as they don't control the sales or the capacity of the tours.  

Thanks - that makes sense.  I guess “you snooze- you lose”

[DaKahuna]

 We noticed on our Japan cruise in May that a lot of the excursions sold out early.  We also saw a number of them were added the closer we got to our cruise date but they also saw a lot of excursions being offered once we were onboard. 

 

[ggo85]

Keep checking back, especially right after final payment is due. People cancel, they may add extra capacity, etc.  I personally don’t think they say SOLD OUT to get you to take a more $$ excursion. 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Definitely check back. One I'm doing on my upcoming ABC cruise had one departure time when I booked it, then when I cancelled to rebook with a better price, there were two departure times. I gather from that that if they are able to secure another time (or another bus, guide, etc.) with the vendor they may open it back up with the new time.

[Liao]

12 hours ago, VitaminSea53 said:

Thanks - that makes sense.  I guess “you snooze- you lose”

Keep checking both before you cruise and once on board.  Folks can and do cancel after they board.

[the penguins]

On 7/9/2024 at 3:28 PM, VitaminSea53 said:

Thanks - that makes sense.  I guess “you snooze- you lose”

Check out your Roll Call there may well be private tours on offer that will give you much better value. Failing that look at booking a private guide yourself and splitting the cost with another couple - this is our preferred option although we would have booked it much earlier.