"Inquire onboard" do excursions often sell out?

[kidstoteach]

We booked a LONG cruise so we could get to Egypt--the only port I decided to use the cruise line excursion. I sat down to do it yesterday and discovered that it is too close to the time of sailing. Gulp. Am I likely to still be able to get a slot on a ship excursion when I board or have you all found that such things sell out? I am reluctant to book something private when it is so far from the port to Cairo, but I may have to. Any advice appreciated.

[KCcruisin07]

We booked a LONG cruise so we could get to Egypt--the only port I decided to use the cruise line excursion. I sat down to do it yesterday and discovered that it is too close to the time of sailing. Gulp. Am I likely to still be able to get a slot on a ship excursion when I board or have you all found that such things sell out? I am reluctant to book something private when it is so far from the port to Cairo, but I may have to. Any advice appreciated.

First try looking in your own cruise group's blog before you leave. Sometimes people decide not to take the official shore excursion and make reservations to go as a group. Once you board you can ask at the desk where they make reservations.

But if that doesn't work, last year we had one lady join us at the bus as we boarded, and sure enough there was someone who didn't show up. (She got on-so happy!) We couldn't get reservations to go to Nordkapp and just showed up at the bus. We also were added to the group! So good luck, I hope this works and have a great cruise.

[martinibird]

Hi, My husband and I just returned from a Mediterranean cruise on Legend of the Seas. We booked most of our excursions through the ship including our Egypt excursion. I did lots of research on the Egypt excursions. All the information I found strongly reccomended not doing an independant tour. After visiting Cairo I can see why! It's about a three hour drive from the port and you don't want to risk missing the ship. There is extreme poverty. I felt very safe with our group but I wouldn't have felt comfortable with an independant guide. RCC offers many different Egypt excursions and Everyone we talked to enjoyed theirs. I think you should take whichever is available. We went to the Pyramids and the museum which contains the King Tut collection. It was incredible! We took so many pictures. Be careful of the vendors at the Pyramids. They are VERY aggresive. They will give you something for free then demand money. One guy in our group had a vendor actually take his wallet out of his hand and try to take as much money as he wanted! Another woman we met was taking a picture and a guy on a camel came by and demanded she pay him for his picture. She didn't take a picture of him but he demanded to see all the pictures on her camera to prove it. If you see them coming just ignore them or walk in a different direction and they will leave you alone. Your cruise ship will tell you to use hand sanitizer, do it. We saw so many sick people on our ship after Egypt. Overall , I'm glad we went. It really was amazing!