Jump to content

When to book?


Lovestotravel

Recommended Posts

New to cruising:  We sail to the ABC islands end of May 2020, leaving from San Juan.  I was thinking I had lots of time to book excursions.  However, browsing around Cruise Planner today I see one of the excursions I was looking at is already fully booked.  Yikes!  Should we lock in our excursions already?  We are over 10 months out yet.  Also, we are planning on doing some through RC and some through other organizations.  Does that matter on the timing?  TIA!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

44 minutes ago, Lovestotravel said:

Should we lock in our excursions already?

As you saw, there is always a chance that any given excursion can sell out, be it Royal or third party. If you can see yourself clear to pay this far in advance, then I would lock in any of the ones you want from Royal. I say that because if the price does decrease you cancel and rebook at the lower price. But I would call to do that rather than doing it on line to make sure you don't lose your spot to someone else when you cancel. 

I would check with the third party companies to find out their policies regarding cancellations or price changes. Also, there are some companies that offer reservations with no payment or deposit needed.

Happy sailing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Popular excursion can and do sell out early,  Along with the advice given by @Skid and @markm I would add it you see something your interested in book it now and then research that port of call and if you find a private tour you like better you can always cancel and get your money back.

I do know that when I was new to cruising i was hesitant of booking a 3rd party shore excursion. 

But I have since done a lot of research, Cruise Critic has "Port of Call" forum for most ports and I have never gone wrong on a highly recommended 3rd party from those forums.  Also verify them using Trip Advisor and seeing what is said there.  In addition i find many knowledgeable people on this forum and would not hesitate to ask here on someone I was considering.

Remember you can always cancel a ships tour for a full refund up to ? 48 hours before, verify that but I believe I'm correct as they just changed it recently from 24 hours.

I have also seen a number of tours through the ship go up after i booked them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ugh I guess I need to start looking at excursions for our sailing May 2020.  We're doing the Mediterranean and have no idea what we want to do yet.  I hate to pay this far out though...we've got a couple other cruises coming up before it that we just made final payments on...then the airfare for one of them...and those darn cheap drink packages from the oops...damn.  I need to wait. Sigh.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

If you see an excursion you like at a price you're willing to pay - book it. Then keep an eye on pricing during various "sales" (and random checks when no "sale" is announced) - you will often find an opportunity to cancel and rebook at a lower price. We have rebooked the same excursion as many as five times when the price keeps dropping.

Worst case scenario - the price you were comfortable paying when you first booked is the best price you find.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been booking things as early as possible to get the best rate.  I have noticed somethings going up after I booked them.  The only thing that has gone down was the Thrill Waterpark cabana that dropped in price.  I gave up the South Beach cabana I had booked previously.  A week later the SBC was up to $999. I had booked it at $399.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/25/2019 at 9:38 AM, HeWhoWaits said:

If you see an excursion you like at a price you're willing to pay - book it. Then keep an eye on pricing during various "sales" (and random checks when no "sale" is announced) - you will often find an opportunity to cancel and rebook at a lower price. We have rebooked the same excursion as many as five times when the price keeps dropping.

Worst case scenario - the price you were comfortable paying when you first booked is the best price you find.

This is what we do.  If we see it and like it....and the price is good we book it but watch the price like a hawk to see if it goes down (which it sometimes does, but most often just goes up).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...