How Far In Advance Do You Book Private Excursions

[Jess_S]

For those who book excursions through private tour providers, I'm curious to hear how far out you book.

I'm curious because I have reserved a B2B on the Magic next April/May and I'm wondering when to start reaching out to tour providers. To the extent it influences your answer, we're doing the Southern Caribbean itinerary from San Juan (St. Kitts, Barbados, St. Lucia, Martinique, Antigua) and then a repositioning cruise from San Juan to FLL (St. Kitts, Antigua, Tortola, Castaway Cay).

 

[anricat]

For our cruise to Alaska in August we booked some of our private excursions in November and then one in January so that would have been 10 and 8 months in advance. If you know you're committed to the cruise (we paid in full right around that same time) and it's a popular excursions (ours weren't wildly popular, but I wanted to make sure we secured our spots) then I would book when you feel ready.

 

[DISNEYFAN3260]

Agree with the PP - as soon as you're committed to the cruise I would book private excursions. Just be sure you know the refund policy for the companies in case your plans change in advance. It's also important to know their refund policy in the event that your itinerary changes once on board (weather issues, etc) so your ship doesn't dock at a particular port as expected.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I've sent a private charter inquiry for a port on a cruise that's not until next Oct/Nov. And I haven't even booked the cruise yet. LOL!

Never too soon.

 

[SonyaShay]

For those who book excursions through private tour providers, I'm curious to hear how far out you book.

I'm curious because I have reserved a B2B on the Magic next April/May and I'm wondering when to start reaching out to tour providers. To the extent it influences your answer, we're doing the Southern Caribbean itinerary from San Juan (St. Kitts, Barbados, St. Lucia, Martinique, Antigua) and then a repositioning cruise from San Juan to FLL (St. Kitts, Antigua, Tortola, Castaway Cay).

It all depends on their cancellation policy. As long as they have a cancel for any reason without penalty I book as fast as possible. For our cruise in June 2015 (Western) we booked about 6-8 months in advance. For our cruise in June 2017 (Eastern) we have had our tour in Tortola booked for 2 months (so 11 months in advance) and St Thomas was booked last month (10 months in advance).

 

[Jess_S]

Thanks! I feel like I'm behind now. I will start reaching out to people tomorrow. Ability to cancel is exactly what I worried about. I'm not planning to pay our balance until closer to the final payment date, so it's always theoretically possible I'll cancel this cruise. (I certainly hope I won't have to for any reason though).