Port Excursions booking up?!

[monorailrabbit]

Another newbie question (sorry! ) Has anyone had any trouble with trying to book an excursion ahead of time and finding it has already been filled up? It's our first cruise and on the DCL website it kept telling me to "pay in full to start booking", so we made an extra effort to pay it off early thinking we could start booking. Now I find out I can't book anything until Feb (75 days out) I'm sure it's my own fault for not understanding, but now I'm worried we won't get the specific excursion we want. DH and I have our heart set on a specific dolphin swim (the Blue Lagoon one) Has anyone had trouble with those becoming booked up before your window opens? I understand first time cruisers have to book last. Hoping someone can put my fears to rest! Thank you!

 

[jburge12000]

I have never not been able to book an excursion that we wanted, however we have had to make some compromises on time of that excursion, we were hoping for morning but they only had afternoon available. You can book a lot of excursions direct with the facility/operator, not sure about the Blue Lagoon, and those you do not have to wait for like the DCL excursions to book.

 

[Prairiewinds]

We have never had a problem getting the ones we want. We just did the dolphin swim at blue lagoon in February and were the only family to choose the swim and had the dolphins completely to ourselves. The rest all took the interaction or sea lions.
It was the best experience that we have done so far.

 

[lbgraves]

Usually it's the excursions with animals like the sea lions and dolphins that book up early. DCL made it more difficult a few years ago when they stopped allowing vendors to prebook with guests on their own. Some are able to get around that once you dock. There are vendors near the pier offering excursion like the dolphin swim that might be sold out onboard. It will also depend on when you are cruising.

 

[Zeppelin]

early time slots for parasailing at CC fill up fast....

 

[bumbershoot]

It's our first cruise and on the DCL website it kept telling me to "pay in full to start booking", so we made an extra effort to pay it off early thinking we could start booking. Now I find out I can't book anything until Feb (75 days out)

Ugh, that wording is awful. Doesn't apply to new cruisers at all. Actually, can *anyone* book right now? concierge and platinum can start at 120 days out. I don't think you're there yet if Feb is 75 days out! Don't worry *now*.


Take this time to read through all the excursions, and then take a look on the ports section of cruisecritic. See if there are any trustworthy vendors that you can book directly with. Now, I wouldn't do that with excursions that take you a significant distance away, unless they are rock solid. Bernard's tours in St Maarten/St Martin, I would trust for a driving excursion. Not sure there are many others, though! Or figure out if you can do things on your own.

Really take this time to hone in on what you want, and what the best ways are to accomplish those things.

 

[monorailrabbit]

Thank you everyone! Feeling a bit better now! We have done our research for the past month and we have our hearts set on this specific excursion, but now we have backups in place as well. I can't remember what website (I have researched so much, lol) but I remember reading somewhere that you can't do Blue Lagoon directly through them... We are going end of April - hoping it won't be a crazy busy time? Thanks so much everyone!