AK Excursions - Booking Outside of DCL

[emilystelzer]

My family and I are cruising to Alaska on DCL in August. We're first time cruisers, which means we'll be booking any excursions through DCL last.

There is a specific excursion in Skagway that we'd really like to do (and reserve before it fully books), and I was able to contact the tour company that offers the excursion. The company informed me that they have availability for our specific date, but that since we're using DCL we need to book through the cruise line as Disney handles all of their bookings. She also said to let her know if we have any trouble booking.

Has anyone else found tour companies who are reluctant to book outside of the formal cruise line excursion? I'm disappointed that we can't book the excursion now. Annnd, waiting is hard.

 

[TestingH2O]

We are doing Alaska in July and have found that all the companies are more than happy to book with us. We've actually booked all 3 port days already through independent vendors. I'd suggest you keep looking.

 

[Pens Fan]

I have run into this as well. I have found that for very specific activities that have only one tour operator sometimes they will not let you book independently as they are already contracted with the cruise line. If you are looking for more of a common excursion that multiple tour operators offer then you should be able to find someone to book outside of DCL.

What excursion specifically are you looking for? Hopefully someone on here will have some past experience with booking it and can better help you.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

My family and I are cruising to Alaska on DCL in August. We're first time cruisers, which means we'll be booking any excursions through DCL last.

There is a specific excursion in Skagway that we'd really like to do (and reserve before it fully books), and I was able to contact the tour company that offers the excursion. The company informed me that they have availability for our specific date, but that since we're using DCL we need to book through the cruise line as Disney handles all of their bookings. She also said to let her know if we have any trouble booking.

Has anyone else found tour companies who are reluctant to book outside of the formal cruise line excursion? I'm disappointed that we can't book the excursion now. Annnd, waiting is hard.

Often tour operators have exclusive contracts with cruise lines. And they will not book people privately, if the cruise line is offering their (the tour company's) excursion as one they (the cruise line) are booking.

It's not unusual.