How likely will European Excursions sell out quickly?

[FSU Girl]

I know in the Caribbean the Cabanas go really fast, but I've never really noticed excursions disappearing quick. Are excursions harder to get in Europe? I'll be on the September 2019 British Isles cruise and will have Gold status. Will I have any issues getting what I want?

 

[cruiser21]

No they're not hard get. I think most people are less likely to book excursions in Europe due to how easy it is to tour on your own. Unlike the Caribbean, European cities have good public transportation systems.

 

[FSU Girl]

No they're not hard get. I think most people are less likely to book excursions in Europe due to how easy it is to tour on your own. Unlike the Caribbean, European cities have good public transportation systems.

That's funny I feel like the opposite I rarely do an excursion in the Caribbean but love doing the ones through the cruise in Europe. So that's good to know when it's time for me to book I don't need to stress.

 

[anjuan]

I can't speak for the British Isles ones but for our Mediterranean one I did check occasionally and some of the Rome ones did sell out a few months in advance. My guess was that more people chose the Disney excursions for that day because Rome was an hour from the port and they wanted to make sure that they were able to get back to the ship in time.

 

[MasonDuo]

Don't sweat - we just hit the booking window for our British Isles cruise a couple days ago (first time cruisers so we didn't get an early advantage) and I would say nearly everything was available. The only sold-outs I noticed were for private cars in the city. We were able to get everything we wanted right down to the Palo dinner. You'll be fine And I agree with a previous poster - a lot can be done on your own as well due to the great public transportation.

 

[FSU Girl]

I can't speak for the British Isles ones but for our Mediterranean one I did check occasionally and some of the Rome ones did sell out a few months in advance. My guess was that more people chose the Disney excursions for that day because Rome was an hour from the port and they wanted to make sure that they were able to get back to the ship in time.

The Mediterranean ports are really far from the cities, I've done that cruise.

Don't sweat - we just hit the booking window for our British Isles cruise a couple days ago (first time cruisers so we didn't get an early advantage) and I would say nearly everything was available. The only sold-outs I noticed were for private cars in the city. We were able to get everything we wanted right down to the Palo dinner. You'll be fine And I agree with a previous poster - a lot can be done on your own as well due to the great public transportation.

This is good to hear. We are definitely not getting private cars so that's not concerning. Have a fun cruise I'll be there a year later

 

[dclpluto]

That's funny I feel like the opposite I rarely do an excursion in the Caribbean but love doing the ones through the cruise in Europe. So that's good to know when it's time for me to book I don't need to stress.

You are correct. Bigger percentage of people do dcl excursions in Europe than in the carribbean

 

[JayhawkCruiser]

The Mediterranean ports are really far from the cities, I've done that cruise.

Definitely true, especially in Rome and even Florence - but we ended up exploring every port on our own with the help of Rick Steves’ med. cruise guide and the way he walks you through taking trains to get to these far out areas makes things a breeze. The biggest plus for us was that we got to control our own pace, whereas it sounded like our table mates who booked excursions had to make some sacrifices in regards to what they wanted to see.

 

[FSU Girl]

You are correct. Bigger percentage of people do dcl excursions in Europe than in the carribbean

That's my worry, but hopefully being Gold will help.

Definitely true, especially in Rome and even Florence - but we ended up exploring every port on our own with the help of Rick Steves’ med. cruise guide and the way he walks you through taking trains to get to these far out areas makes things a breeze. The biggest plus for us was that we got to control our own pace, whereas it sounded like our table mates who booked excursions had to make some sacrifices in regards to what they wanted to see.

I find it really impressive when people do the cities on their own, but I'm definitely a cruise excursion girl. I like knowing the cruise won't leave without us and having everything planned out for me. We're going to be doing Paris for a week before the cruise so that'll be where I have to explore on my own.

 

[dvcdisney]

Our first European cruise was the 12 night British Isles. I was very nervous about the excursions because this was our first time in Europe and we were only Gold. So I thought that by the time I was able to book, it would be sold out. Fortunately, that wasn't the case, but I did book at exactly 105 days prior and was able to get the ones I wanted.

I was a bit overwhelmed with the planning and learning everything about travelling and visiting UK, that I believed that I should book everything with DCL. Within a month or two, I cancelled a couple and decided to visit the town ourselves which we were glad we did.

I do feel that if we had a long time at port, I would choose to do a private excursion. However, not being familiar, we were hesitant. With our upcoming Norway/Iceland cruise, we are also doing some DCL excursion, but not to the extend of our British Isles Cruise.

As a background, we rarely booked DCL or any excursions when we went to the Caribbean. We spent most of the time in town. After several Caribbean/Bahamian cruises, we had booked only 2 DCL excursion...one was (on one of our earlier cruises) in St. Thomas and the other one in Cozumel. Our excursion in Cozumel was amazing and we were very glad to have done it....the one in St. Thomas...no so much.

For us, I would be more interested in doing excursions (vs going into town) in Europe than Caribbean.

 

[Belle2002]

I'm gold status as well and haven't had any trouble booking excursions. I usually log on the minute my booking window opens, but was lazy with my upcoming Northern European cruise and didn't book excursions until a few days into my booking window with no trouble at all. To be honest, I have way more trouble booking Palo or a wine tasting - those sell out immediately!!

 

[mmmears]

I'm silver and had no trouble booking what I wanted. I have heard that one or two were booked up afterwards, but honestly most things are still available at this point and even the first-time cruisers have had a few weeks to book their excursions. Booking Palo Brunch in advance was tough for silver members, but not gold. From what I can tell from my cruise group, most of us have booked things privately outside of DCL. I have booked a few private tours since we don't like being part of the "herd" in large buses and this way we can see exactly what we want to see. Many from our cruise group have done the same, with others renting cars in some of the ports.

I honestly wouldn't worry about this, especially if you have Castaway Gold. While there are lots of plat & gold cruisers on the Magic in the summer, it's a smaller ship with fewer passengers, many of whom are seasoned travelers who will be booking things on their own.

 

[goofeypete]

[QUOTE=" We were able to get everything we wanted right down to the Palo dinner. You'll be fine And I agree with a previous poster - a lot can be done on your own as well due to the great public transportation.[/QUOTE

Agree. We are first timers as well, and it was easy to book anything pretty much, except Palo Brunch and tastings. The ports do appear to be easy to DIY.