Can book excurions 6 months out

[Acrusa]

Just checked my cruise for July 26th 2009 sailing on Insignia.All the excurions where there to be purchased now.Checked with rep from O and said they now put the, out 6 months in advance .Used to be only 90 days in advance.

[Paulchili]

Just checked my cruise for July 26th 2009 sailing on Insignia.All the excurions where there to be purchased now.Checked with rep from O and said they now put the, out 6 months in advance .Used to be only 90 days in advance.

 

I guess they want your money ASAP?

[Acrusa]

yup

[wripro]

Do you have to pull in full before you can book excursions?

[Acrusa]

do you have to pull in full before you can book excursions?

 

nope

[LHT28]

Do you have to pull in full before you can book excursions?

Just a guess

I think when you add it to your "shopping cart" & checkout it is added to your CC the excursion price that is

 

I have never booked in advance I wait till we are onboard

Unless it is something like an overnight shore trip or special excursion that may fill up fast you probably can wait.

[Paulchili]

nope

 

I like your style - short and to the point.

[Acrusa]

Thanks LOL

[Acrusa]

Just a guess

I think when you add it to your "shopping cart" & checkout it is added to your CC the excursion price that is

 

I have never booked in advance I wait till we are onboard

Unless it is something like an overnight shore trip or special excursion that may fill up fast you probably can wait.

 

It's charged to your CC when you book the excursion. It is refundable if you cancel 36hrs. before. So if you book it on line it can be canceled on the ship.

[Wineart]

Be sure to check your credit card if you cancel an excursion. I cancelled some prior to sailing, but didn't receive the credit on my credit card. I then assumed that it had been applied as a credit to my onboard account, but it wasn't. So the moral is - if you cancel an excursion, follow up to make sure you receive the credit!

[hondorner]

We pre-booked an excursion then canceled it on board when we learned further details. The credit was applied to our on board account. near the end of the cruise, we had not spent enough on board to use up that credit. The pursar notified us that they are not able to process a credit to our credit card from aboard ship. Therefore, they paid us the amount remaining as a credit in cash. There were no problems, and everything was handled in an expeditious and professional manner.

[wripro]

There's no way I would book and pay for a shore excursion six months out. The other lines I've sailed allowed you to book without payment and you'd find tickets in your cabin upon embarkation. You could still cancel up to 48 hours prior. Who wants to go to the hassle of trying to get a refund? Plus they have your money for months earning interest for them and not you.

[StanandJim]

There's no way I would book and pay for a shore excursion six months out. The other lines I've sailed allowed you to book without payment and you'd find tickets in your cabin upon embarkation. You could still cancel up to 48 hours prior. Who wants to go to the hassle of trying to get a refund? Plus they have your money for months earning interest for them and not you.

 

Wripro-

 

As you may have heard, there had been an issue with Shore Excursions being cancelled when the required minimum number of participants could not be reached. These cancellations were happening on board the ship, during the course of the cruise.

 

Although, at first blush, it seems aggravating, having to pay so far in advance; that is surely preferrable to having the excursion cancelled when it is too late to book anything else.

 

Making the booking requirements stricter keeps the registrants limited to the serious, and Oceania will better be able to gauge interest in its' offerings.

 

If the new policy results in a sharper focus on what the passengers are interested in booking and a more reliable program of excursions, I'm all for it.

[Paulchili]

Although, at first blush, it seems aggravating, having to pay so far in advance; that is surely preferrable to having the excursion cancelled when it is too late to book anything else.

 

This only works in theory.

I had booked and pre-paid my Medieval Cairo tour well in advance, only to have it cancelled the day before (due to too few participants).

I still haven't forgiven O for that, but that's a different story.

[lcand1923]

Here is our experience with pre-cruise booked shore excursions.

 

It depends on the cruise line if your credit card is charged immediately, some do and some don't. Oceania does.

 

When Oceania cancelled a shore excursion prior to the cruise,

they issued a credit to the credit card used to book the excursion.

 

When we cancelled a shore excursion prior to the cruise,

we needed to call the Shore Excursion office and they refunded

the money to our travel agent who then issued a check to us.

 

When we cancelled a shore excursion while on the cruise,

Oceania issued an On Board Credit.

 

We were told by various Oceania folks that the cancellation time period can vary based upon the Shore Excursion with 72 hours being the safest for no-penalty cancellation.

[wripro]

StanandJim,

 

All the more reason to book private excursions.

[Acrusa]

We have been cruiseing the world since 1990, and we are very comfortable taking the ships tour's through out all these years. We find that we feel secure that the cruise line is mostly responsible for getting us back to the ship on time.In the Med. I can understand maybe prvt. tours. But once you reach Africa , the Middle east, Southeast Asia, I think being part of the cruise tours adds some security, IMHO.

[SunDapple]

In the Med. I can understand maybe prvt. tours. But once you reach Africa , the Middle east, Southeast Asia, I think being part of the cruise tours adds some security, IMHO.

 

I have to agree, we felt totally safe on the ship's excursion into Cairo for the day, which stretched into the night. No worries. We saw everything we wanted to see. It was a very full itinerary. Nevertheless I was never so happy to see the ship after the long schlep back from Cairo. It was close to midnight when we arrived at the dock. We were all tired, and dusty from the pyramids. The midnight buffet was a just what we needed, that and a shower. :)

[ShopperfiendTO]

This only works in theory.

I had booked and pre-paid my Medieval Cairo tour well in advance, only to have it cancelled the day before (due to too few participants).

I still haven't forgiven O for that, but that's a different story.

 

+1. However, I'm willing to give O another chance :p since we have a repeater port coming up on our next cruise (with O again) and it happens to be the port that O cancelled the (only) booked excursion we made.

 

This excursion was cancelled while on the cruise, a couple of days before arriving at the port :( (as others have posted, it was refunded as an onboard credit). The replacement excursion (of the list of around a dozen excursions that was available when we received the itinerary, only about 5 were available - the rest were cancelled) was the best of a bad lot and was such a downer. :mad:

 

On a related note, my TA advised that she did get a commission if we booked an excursion with her, so wouldn't to wait until on board to book mean that you don't give a commission to your agent? As a corollary, what happens if the excursion then gets cancelled - does the TA still get to keep the commission (if not, then the TA would be interested in the excursion NOT getting cancelled too :p?!)?

[lcand1923]

When Oceania issued the refund on our cancelled shore excursions to our TA she was surprised. I asked if it was because of the commission that the TA got and she said that they didn't get any.

 

I hope Jan or one of her agents will provide the definitive answer. (Maybe it depends upon HOW the Shore Excursion is booked? We booked ours using the Oceania Web Site.)

[hondorner]

...my TA advised that she did get a commission if we booked an excursion with her, so wouldn't to wait until on board to book mean that you don't give a commission to your agent?

I'm pretty sure that my TA told me he doesn't get a commission on shore excursions; he reads these, so I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong...:cool:

[LHT28]

Maybe they get commission on the excursion Packages?

 

So many get cancelled because of lack of participation.....so many O cruisers do their own thing or private tours.