Reservations on board?

[quarterman6]

I have waited to long and the excursions we wanted to do are booked...

Does anyone know if they save some for booking on board? It is the parasailing on castaway cay that my son wants to do...should I wait for onboard or talk him into something else?


Thanks for any info you might have!

 

[CraftyMouse]

Yes they do hold some reservations back. I'd stop by the shore excursion desk (Deck 3 Midship...to your immediate right as you board) as soon as you arrive as I know that parasailing is very popular.

 

[quarterman6]

Yes they do hold some reservations back. I'd stop by the shore excursion desk (Deck 3 Midship...to your immediate right as you board) as soon as you arrive as I know that parasailing is very popular.

Thanks so much! I called DCL and they told me that they never save resv...I know people get there Palo resv on board so I was hoping he was wrong!

 

[mjsagain]

Thanks so much! I called DCL and they told me that they never save resv...I know people get there Palo resv on board so I was hoping he was wrong!

As a cruise newbie, I'm kind of scratching my head as to why anyone waits until boarding to make shore excursion/spa/Palo reservations.

I mean, pretty much everyone here on the DIS boards is a planner to some degree, right? That's why we're all here. Is it just because of wanting to maintain some schedule flexibility until the last minute? Or are people making them after boarding to get access to time slots that people have canceled?

 

[wdhinn89]

Not everyone has accces to a computer. Also some people need to wait and see if they are financially able to afford an excursion. Another reason is some people like to see how the weather is going to be for the 3,4 or 7 days they are on the ship before they commit to an excursion. Just a few reasons I could think of off the top of my head.

 

[CraftyMouse]

As a cruise newbie, I'm kind of scratching my head as to why anyone waits until boarding to make shore excursion/spa/Palo reservations.

I mean, pretty much everyone here on the DIS boards is a planner to some degree, right? That's why we're all here. Is it just because of wanting to maintain some schedule flexibility until the last minute? Or are people making them after boarding to get access to time slots that people have canceled?

Everyone on the DIS knows about it, but first-timers without access to or knowledge of this site often don't know the timeline for such things. While DCL does send out a packet with the date when you can make these reservations they really don't walk guests through the process.

Aside from that and what wdhinn89 mentioned, and as in the original poster's case, sometimes people wait too long to make their reservations and then the things they want are booked up. With Palo that can happen within a matter of hours for some itineraries and it does happen with more popular shore excursions.

 

[quarterman6]

Not everyone has accces to a computer. Also some people need to wait and see if they are financially able to afford an excursion. Another reason is some people like to see how the weather is going to be for the 3,4 or 7 days they are on the ship before they commit to an excursion. Just a few reasons I could think of off the top of my head.

My personal reason is that I was too busy planning Christmas and taking my finals...I had made my cruise resv over a year ago and simply forgot when I hit my 90 day mark... Now everything I really wanted is booked so I am forced to do it onboard. And usually I am very much a planner and super organized!!! I just dropped the ball on this one...

Hopefully there will be availablity on board but now I wonder if I should plan something else...(did I mention that I'm a planner?) I hate to wait and see...

 

[CraftyMouse]

Hopefully there will be availablity on board but now I wonder if I should plan something else...(did I mention that I'm a planner?) I hate to wait and see...

Which itinerary are you on? You could possibly go parasailing in one of the ports. We did it in St. Thomas and it was fantastic! The islands are so mountainous and beautiful that it really made parasailing special.

 

[quarterman6]

Which itinerary are you on? You could possibly go parasailing in one of the ports. We did it in St. Thomas and it was fantastic! The islands are so mountainous and beautiful that it really made parasailing special.

Just the 4 night...stop in Nassua. At this point I'm not even sure we will get off the boat there. We weren't to crazy about it last time and may take advantage of the empty boat!

 

[carolmp]

Are they offering parasailing on CC now? I know they weren't for a while. I also wanted to get this but it was full. One of the women on my trip thread said that it showed full at the 105 day mark also. I was hoping they just weren't offering it yet, not that it was truly filled.

 

[quarterman6]

Are they offering parasailing on CC now? I know they weren't for a while. I also wanted to get this but it was full. One of the women on my trip thread said that it showed full at the 105 day mark also. I was hoping they just weren't offering it yet, not that it was truly filled.

I thought they were but never heard otherwise I know I have read about it on trip reports. Where did you get your info? Did you hear it had stopped or that it had never started? I guess I will wait and see...

 

[CraftyMouse]

I thought they were but never heard otherwise I know I have read about it on trip reports. Where did you get your info? Did you hear it had stopped or that it had never started? I guess I will wait and see...

They were offering it on our December cruises. They have to cancel it from time to time when they don't have a contractor to provide the service.

 

[quarterman6]

They were offering it on our December cruises. They have to cancel it from time to time when they don't have a contractor to provide the service.

Thanks for the info...I was feeling concerned with my lack of knowledge!

 

[LisaBi]

Just my own experiences on parasailing ressies.

Cruise #1 - Oct 06 Western Double Dip - booked parasailing a few weeks ahead - just didn't get the best of times. We had the first CC day, but was cancelled due to wind. Had no problem rescheduling for 2nd CC day.

Cruise #2 - Oct. 07 Eastern - DS booked 2 hours ahead of the 3:00 excursion. Got last seat on the boat.

Cruise # 3 - March 08 Eastern- Everytime I've looked, including 10 minutes after the 90 day window opened, it's shown "no available reservations" until today. And it is now showing quite a bit open.

I guess it just really depends on the individual cruise. I also think maybe if you check in the days just before the cruise you may find new times open up - people may be canceling just before the cruise, before its too late to get a refund.

 

[quarterman6]

Just my own experiences on parasailing ressies.

Cruise #1 - Oct 06 Western Double Dip - booked parasailing a few weeks ahead - just didn't get the best of times. We had the first CC day, but was cancelled due to wind. Had no problem rescheduling for 2nd CC day.

Cruise #2 - Oct. 07 Eastern - DS booked 2 hours ahead of the 3:00 excursion. Got last seat on the boat.

Cruise # 3 - March 08 Eastern- Everytime I've looked, including 10 minutes after the 90 day window opened, it's shown "no available reservations" until today. And it is now showing quite a bit open.

I guess it just really depends on the individual cruise. I also think maybe if you check in the days just before the cruise you may find new times open up - people may be canceling just before the cruise, before its too late to get a refund.

Thanks!

 

[mjsagain]

I guess it just really depends on the individual cruise. I also think maybe if you check in the days just before the cruise you may find new times open up - people may be canceling just before the cruise, before its too late to get a refund.

Thanks, Lisa. That was encouraging info . We booked our 2/28 3-day cruise within the 90-day window, and the DCL website has shown parasailing on CC as unavailable since the first time I checked upon receiving a reservation number. I'll keep re-checking everday and keep my fingers crossed.

 

[mjsagain]

Just to follow-up on my own post for the benefit of the OP:

I checked our reservation today at the DCL website, and was able to book parasailing on 3/1 at CC. None of the time slots showed as reserved, when previously it was the only shore excursion shown as "not available" every other time I had checked. I'm wondering if it was a 45-day window for some reason?