Has anyone had canceled shore excursions?

[fateknows]

I was wondering how often ship sponsored shore excursions get canceled? Has anyone had this happen to them?

If so, how much forewarning did you get? Did you have any other options available?

[Cruzin Terri]

I was wondering how often ship sponsored shore excursions get canceled? Has anyone had this happen to them?

 

If so, how much forewarning did you get? Did you have any other options available?

This happened to us on the Zuiderdam in September. We were booked for a tour in Monaco to go to St. Paul de Vence for a four-hour tour. We were notified that it was canceled when we boarded the ship in Barcelona two days prior to the tour. There was an envelope in the room advising us of the cancelation and a notice that the amount of the tour would be credited to our on-board account. They did not offer an alternatives to the tour. If we wanted another tour we had to go to the Shore Excursion desk and book another. We decided against that option and toured Monaco on our own.

We were disappointed because that was one place we really wanted to visit. However getting there on our own was going to be a real challenge since we arrived in Monaco at noon on a Sunday. The bus service did not operate on Sunday and taking the train and then the bus to St. Paul de Vence would have been quite time-consuming.

We will just have to go back and try another time!

Terri

[medfordgirl]

I have a question regarding ship sponsored shore excursions also. What if you book and pay for one a few weeks ahead of time and then change your mind, can you cancel? How much notice do you need to give them?

Fateknows, I hope it is ok if I added this question to your thread, since it was along the same lines, sort of? I can't help with your question because it never happened to me. but I am curious to know the answer to yours too.

[Roz]

It happened to me on my first cruise in Alaska. We met at the appointed place on the pier in Juneau, and were told that due to weather conditions the helicopter tours were canceled. This happens all the time in Alaska. We didn't have many options, since mosts of the other tours were full. My onboard acct. was credited the $200 cost of the tour.

 

Roz

[codyody]

We received a note the night before the excursion that it was cancelled due to not having enough participants.

[Roz]

According to the HAL website, you need to cancel pre-booked tours more than 5 days out from your cruise departure date.

 

Roz

[fateknows]

Thank-you for the replies. This lets us know that it does happen and that we may not get much notice at all. I wonder how often it happens? In your cruising experience what percentage of excursions were canceled? Can we make good of a bad situation?

 

If it happened to me, my first thought would be to wander the port and hope for an independent tour operator. My second thought is that I'll spend all of my port time walking in circles.

 

Does anyone have advice on what would be a good plan of attack when you are in last minute scramble mode?

[Roz]

Fate,

 

A lot depends on your itinerary. As I mentioned, Alaska is very fog/weather sensitive. Caribbean; few cancellations; more likely due to not enough interest.

 

At most ports there will be independent operators and taxis available at the pier. Many times there are visitors centers with maps so you don't have to walk around in a circle. :D Just go with a Plan B in mind.

 

Roz

[fateknows]

I have a question regarding ship sponsored shore excursions also. What if you book and pay for one a few weeks ahead of time and then change your mind, can you cancel? How much notice do you need to give them?

 

Fateknows, I hope it is ok if I added this question to your thread, since it was along the same lines, sort of? I can't help with your question because it never happened to me. but I am curious to know the answer to yours too.

 

Of course it is okay.

 

I booked and canceled quite a few shore excursions on the HA website. (It is our first cruise and I couldn't make up my mind.) With each cancellation, my credit card was promptly credited with the full amount that I paid.

 

HA has closed the online bookings for our cruise because it is within 5 working days of the cruise. So, I can't do that any longer.

 

When I booked the tours, there was a note that if I canceled it after I boarded the ship there would be a 10% fee. If I canceled it after the excursion left -for any reason at all, the fee would be 100%.

[hammybee]

Fate,

 

A lot depends on your itinerary. As I mentioned, Alaska is very fog/weather sensitive. Caribbean; few cancellations; more likely due to not enough interest.

 

At most ports there will be independent operators and taxis available at the pier. Many times there are visitors centers with maps so you don't have to walk around in a circle. :D Just go with a Plan B in mind.

 

Roz

 

Good summary. No doubt Alaska has the most cancellations for the reasons stated.

 

Most tour operators have minimums. Reality was that most tours used to sell out.

 

Relying on what was may not be practical, given the current economy.

[Cruzin Terri]

Of course it is okay.

 

I booked and canceled quite a few shore excursions on the HA website. (It is our first cruise and I couldn't make up my mind.) With each cancellation, my credit card was promptly credited with the full amount that I paid.

 

HA has closed the online bookings for our cruise because it is within 5 working days of the cruise. So, I can't do that any longer.

 

When I booked the tours, there was a note that if I canceled it after I boarded the ship there would be a 10% fee. If I canceled it after the excursion left -for any reason at all, the fee would be 100%.

You can cancel on board. However, there will be a 10% charge for that. I canceled one tour that I decided not to do.

Terri

[Kween Karen]

I have had a couple of shore excursions cancelled by the ship for lack of people signed up. I only had one day notice......but they did give me a full refund since it was THEM who cancelled and not ME!

[gizmo]

I just had an excursion cancelled in Dominica.

 

Hal had 2 different whale excursions. One was whale only and the other was whale and snorkel. We wanted to snorkel so we booked that excursion.

 

Whoever runs this is not reliable. We were instructed to meet at the end of the pier at 8:15. It was a zoo. Some of the Hal excursion staff had no idea what was going on. The bottom line was ours was cancelled. They wanted to put us on the other excursion that had no snorkeling. We got refunded. It wasn't because of lack of people. I talked to someone that took it and she said that there were quite a few that were on the tour and upset about no snorkeling. I saw others returning to the ship around 8:30 carrying snorkel gear. I assumed they were more than likely on our tour and asked for a refund like we did.

 

I ran into another lady in the elevator and she said she was notified of her site seeing tour being cancelled late the night before which was too late to book anything else.

 

In both cases it left pax scrambling for something to do. We went back on shore around 10:30 and there were still plenty of taxis and vans. We took a 4 hour private tour which we enjoyed. :)

[RuthC]

You can cancel on board. However, there will be a 10% charge for that.

Not necessarily. I've canceled the first day aboard, but substituted another tour. I was charged the exact difference in price. I don't know if the lack of penalty was due to it being the first day, or because I was still taking a HAL tour.

IIRC, there was another time I canceled (probably the first day) after deciding it would be too strenuous. Again, there was no penalty.

 

OP asked (I think it was OP :o) if this happens often. I would have to say, no, not really. I've taken many HAL cruises, with many, many HAL tours. I can't remember the specifics of HAL cancellations, but there were probably two or three in all these years.

I do remember once when the tour was canceled due to lack of interest, but a similar tour was suggested.

[dj_crusin]

Not necessarily. I've canceled the first day aboard, but substituted another tour. I was charged the exact difference in price. I don't know if the lack of penalty was due to it being the first day, or because I was still taking a HAL tour.

IIRC, there was another time I canceled (probably the first day) after deciding it would be too strenuous. Again, there was no penalty.

............................................

 

You're right. We cancelled the day of the tour on a recent Westerdam cruise and were given full credit. We did substitute another tour.

 

On the same cruise Grand Cayman was cancelled as a port due to rough seas, and full tour refunds were given, along with a refund of port taxes.

[Howasaur]

Hi Fakeknows: We did last May at Skagway Alaska, We had book a Fight in the morning over the glacier but due to Fog we couldn't go but they said it should clear up by the afternoon, since we alway had book the dog mushing tour in the afternoon we were given the choice to choose either the dogs or the Plane. We choose the dogs and enjoyed it . We received our money back with no problems for the fight :):)but also we had book through HAL.

[Howasaur]

Sorry about the spelling S/B Fateknows.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

On the cruise to Alaska another couple had booked an excursion from a vendor on shore a lot cheaper but they nearly missed the ship just arrived in time as they were preparing to pull up the gang plank. we could hearthem yelling the length of the ship.

[kryos]

I was wondering how often ship sponsored shore excursions get canceled? Has anyone had this happen to them?

If so, how much forewarning did you get? Did you have any other options available?

Yep! Happened to me twice on my last cruise. One of the times it was simply a matter of flipping around the two excursions I was doing in Bora Bora on two consecutive days. They cancelled the one for the first day, but were offering it on the second. So, I just switched them around. The second time was an excursion I had booked in Kauai ... a movie tour ... that was totally cancelled because only two of us had booked it and the tour operator wasn't about to run it for only two people. They have to use a mini van with drop down video screens in order to play the movie segments as you drive to the location of the filming ... so there's no way he can switch out to a smaller vehicle.

 

I think I found out about these changes/cancellations a couple of days before the excursion, and was offered plenty of options for replacement excursions. In the case of the Bora Bora cancellation, it was the shore excursion woman who suggested that I simply switch the excursions I had booked for the two days and that way I could still do both. They generally are very helpful in making suggestions for alternate excursions. After all, they hate to lose a sale when an excursion is cancelled and would only be too happy to get you onto something else you might enjoy.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[fateknows]

Fate,

 

A lot depends on your itinerary. As I mentioned, Alaska is very fog/weather sensitive. Caribbean; few cancellations; more likely due to not enough interest.

 

At most ports there will be independent operators and taxis available at the pier. Many times there are visitors centers with maps so you don't have to walk around in a circle. :D Just go with a Plan B in mind.

 

Roz

 

Thank-you. This is good advice. I'm working on Plan Bs.

[fateknows]

Yep! Happened to me twice on my last cruise. One of the times it was simply a matter of flipping around the two excursions I was doing in Bora Bora on two consecutive days. They cancelled the one for the first day, but were offering it on the second. So, I just switched them around. The second time was an excursion I had booked in Kauai ... a movie tour ... that was totally cancelled because only two of us had booked it and the tour operator wasn't about to run it for only two people. They have to use a mini van with drop down video screens in order to play the movie segments as you drive to the location of the filming ... so there's no way he can switch out to a smaller vehicle.

 

I think I found out about these changes/cancellations a couple of days before the excursion, and was offered plenty of options for replacement excursions. In the case of the Bora Bora cancellation, it was the shore excursion woman who suggested that I simply switch the excursions I had booked for the two days and that way I could still do both. They generally are very helpful in making suggestions for alternate excursions. After all, they hate to lose a sale when an excursion is cancelled and would only be too happy to get you onto something else you might enjoy.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

 

Rita,

 

Blue skies... What more can we ask for? :) The picture is clear in my mind. Blue skies, is a good place to be. Thank-you for this reminder.

[fateknows]

Sorry about the spelling S/B Fateknows.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

On the cruise to Alaska another couple had booked an excursion from a vendor on shore a lot cheaper but they nearly missed the ship just arrived in time as they were preparing to pull up the gang plank. we could hearthem yelling the length of the ship.

 

It is okay. My screen name is a result of hearing my name being mispronounced. I tried some really cool names, but they were all taken. You can't imagine the ways this simple name is pronounced for someone who is trying to learn English.

 

faith

[OCruisers]

I have had a couple of shore excursions cancelled by the ship for lack of people signed up. I only had one day notice......but they did give me a full refund since it was THEM who cancelled and not ME!

 

Same Here! Also, no problem with the credit!

 

That's why we always have a Plan B, C, & sometimes D for each port! :D

[GeriatricNurse]

According to the HAL website, you need to cancel pre-booked tours more than 5 days out from your cruise departure date.

 

Roz

 

 

I believe that the cut-off is 10 days before the cruise departure.

[OCruisers]

I believe that the cut-off is 10 days before the cruise departure.

 

That's for PRE-Bookings. Fortunately, once aboard the ship, you can still cancel.

They'll give to a cancel time. Normally, it's 24-Hours or so ....