How early to book a tour on a big ship?

[Been There, Planning That]

We're sailing on the Jade round trip from Barcelona in January. Right now there appears to be a couple of must do ship's tours we'd like to take.

 

We have only made a deposit with final payment due in November. It's our inclination to book tours after the final payment is made but, given the number of passengers, is this a mistake? We've never sailed on such a huge ship. I know that a smaller Celebrity ship's tours were booked before sailing around the Horn. We were OK with our bookings made just a week before sailing.

 

From others who have sailed in Europe on huge ships, what is your experience with leaving booking to a month or so before sailing dates?

 

I assume that like HAL and Celebrity tours are paid at the time of booking. I hate the fuss of chasing refunds should we change our minds closer to sailing times.

[hawaiilvr]

The payment will come out of your onboard account once on board. I'd book whatever you are anxious about as soon as you can. You can always call NCL and cancel the excursion if something else more interesting tickles your fancy.

[Toyz711]

make sure you check out the roll-call for that cruise, you might find others to tour with. also, check out the port-of-call boards, they have may helpful hints for the ports...how to get around on your own, local vendors for those that don't want to do ship tours.

if something is really important to you, don't take the chance of waiting too long.

[mattie00]

As already stated, your onboard account is not charged until you take the tour. We have already booked all the tours for our Santiago to Los Angeles cruise next April and won't pay the cruise in full until January of 2009. If you see something you want, book it now to avoid the possibility of it not being available later.

[Been There, Planning That]

On both HAL and Celebrity our Visa was charged at the time we booked the tours. The only one on our shipboard account was the difference owing when we changed to a more expensive tour. It was for this reason we've hesitated to pay so far in advance.

 

Guess NCL operates more on a trust basis.

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

And yes, Toyz, we are registered on the roll call and in contact with others about more independent tours.