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Shore excursions, entertainment on ship...


kjw83

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Excuse my naivety..we are going on our 1st ever cruise in April on the Harmony. We had pretty much just planned to wing it with the excursions and on board entertainment but I keep seeing people say how they have it all planned out...whats the best way to plan? What should we know in planning excursions, as far as timing to get back to the ship on time? What are the must sees on the ship, that we would want to have reservations for? I`m starting to wonder if we should plan a bit ?

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You certainly can wing it, just be aware of the drawbacks.  

As far as entertainment, if you do not have reservations for the majority of the show, you will be seated on standby on a first come/first served basis pending availability.  This is OK if you are okay with less than prime seating and standing in line prior to the shows in return for that flexibility.

As far as excursions, it is possible that popular ones will sell out.  I honestly do not know the frequency of this happening.  I rarely pull off a last second excursion purchase.

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What WhiteSoxFan said is correct. On the larger ships they have reservations for the shows a month or more before sailing and they book fast. I usually make my reservations online because you have to stand in line and the seating can be pretty bad. Since I am a long time cruiser, I believe in booking excursions way before the cruise, but I also like to book private excursions not offered by the ships. You have to be very careful doing this and I wouldn't recommend it for a first time cruiser. My first time in any port I usually do an excursion that introduces me to the port city and the culture, after that I venture into other excursions. BTW, the specialty restaurants offer reservations online, so if you want to book any meals at one of these restaurants, I highly advise to do it before getting onboard. On my last cruise in March on the Liberty, every specialty restaurant was booked full before we sailed and the ship was not taking any new reservations.

Candie

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Start booking as soon as you can.  You can always cancel or reschedule . Also watch for sales on : Excursions, Drinks, Spa, Specialty Dinners;  especially on Black Friday.    Booking early allows you do those things as they sell out quite fast or shows are all reserved.  You are prepaying now and not hit with a large Folio tab  at the end of the cruise which  helps with the budget and gives you  a nice piece of mind.    Welcome to the blog and enjoy your first cruise of hopefully more to come.   P.S. we miss Chicago.

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Welcome to cruising and the Blog. I agree with other comments listed. my two(or three) cents: On the bigger ships, book as much as possible for activities on the ship on the daily planner, you can always cancel it out. For a first timer, I would just stick to main dining room so you can get a feel for the regular menu options, then on future cruises you can decide on whether you want to pay extra for dining/special event. For port excursions, if for nothing else but piece of mind, I would do excursions thru RC and reserve ahead. I agree to excursions that do port city overviews maybe that also leave time to walk in the port areas. Last, check out ship layout ahead of time and once on board walk around to find key areas of interest to you, theater locations, dining area, different pool spots, etc.  Added thought, arrive a day or two before cruise to enjoy the embarkment city and need not worry about making ship due to delays. Relax and have a great time.

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