Do many first time cruisers get shut out of booking excursions via Disney?

[EastCoastCdn]

Does this happen very often given that Silver, Gold and Platinum can book earlier? I'm hoping to book through Disney, but trying to gauge how much extra research I may need to do.

 

[Msidescooter]

When we took our first DCL cruise there were plenty of open spots for port adventures. That may have been because we were doing a Bahamas cruise since it seems a lot of people don't do port adventures at Nassau

 

[pontikes67]

You won't score a cabana on CC but I'd be willing to bet many of the other adventures will be available.

 

[Jennifer777]

Our first cruise was a 3 night Bahamian and as the PP mentioned, many people don't book excursions (or even get off the ship) at Nassau, so we had no trouble booking port adventures with the exception of cabanas at Castaway Cay.

Our second cruise was a 7 night eastern caribbean. I did notice many more excursions did sell out the closer we got to our sail date. There are plenty of non-Disney excursions to book privately though, many of which are less expensive, and this was what we ended up doing. I'm not against booking through Disney in any way but would not get upset if DCL sold out. I would just do my research, read reviews and book privately instead. Since this is not an option at Castaway Cay, that's the first place I book when my window opens up.

Also, if there's something you really want to do and it's booked, check back frequently and something could open up if someone cancels.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Does this happen very often given that Silver, Gold and Platinum can book earlier? I'm hoping to book through Disney, but trying to gauge how much extra research I may need to do.

Not at all. Except as noted - cabanas - there is generally plenty of availability to book DCL excursions. We've never had to change excursion plans due to our planned ones being sold out, even on our first cruise.

But it wouldn't hurt to do some research on private ones. You'll find that they tend to be less costly and a better option for those with kids whose ages are under the DCL limits.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

In Alaska a lot sold out at Gold.
In the Caribbean, anything with dolphins or horses has sold out.
In Europe, St Petersburg, Rome, Athens there were tours that sold out, one Athens they added on two more coaches.

So in 13 DCL cruises we gave seen a lot sell out.

I booked Norway and Iceland this week at Platinum, and there are some adventures sold out pre Gold.

Often it's anything to do with animals, Golf, Helicopters, and popular iconic places that sell out.

 

[Pens Fan]

I have to agree with Disney Fantasy on this one. It just depends on the cruise and what you want to do. On our last cruise - Norway / Iceland - there were a LOT of gold and platinum cruisers on board. Several excursions were booked when we (Silver) could book. Even some spa treatments, Palo reservations, etc were tricky to book, and I was online at midnight when our window opened. It just depends. As others noted, the Bahamas and Caribbean ones are much easier because there are just so many of the same itineraries sailing over and over. You end up with less repeat cruisers on those, so it's easier to get what you want. We booked a dolphin swim on our very first cruise - no problem. YMMV though!

But again, repeating what others recommended - just book privately. That is what we mostly did for Norway / Iceland. We saved money and saw so much more than we ever would have had we stuck with Disney and had private guides all to ourselves - no cattle calls. We have two cruises booked in the future - one DCL, one NCL and we won't be using the cruise line for any excursions on either one. Everything is already booked privately.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Yes, it depends on the cruise and destination. I was Silver on our Norway cruise last year and was not able to book an excursion I wanted because it was sold out. For Alaska, we booked almost all of our excursions privately.

 

[EastCoastCdn]

We're doing an Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy and are considering zip lining in Tortola or St. Thomas.

 

[poohs4me]

My dad is a first time cruiser and I took care of his bookings and I kept checking back and was able to get what he wanted. This is for a very busy cruise

 

[Aby]

We've done 2 DCL cruises to Alaska and one to the Caribbean in August, and only one or two excursions sold out in advance of the cruises - if I remember correctly they were usually the private charters, cabanas, and some of the helicopter/glacier ones. There was still plenty to choose from!

Aby

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Going on our first cruise in one week; 7 night Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy. I booked on the first day available to me, right at midnight:

• A number of excursions we were interested in were already full.
• Obviously no cabanas available.
• Even reservations at Remy were scarce for our first choice times.
• Even worse for spa treatments.

Honestly, I was disappointed at how much was already booked.

 

[DnA2010]

We've only done one DCL cruise- a Fantasy eastern- I think the only thing we wouldn't have been able to get was a cabana. We had no issues getting a Palo brunch reso once we got on board- I don't remember seeing any of the excursions sold out, we booked ours privately as of cost.