Royal Caribbean excursions

[Sunbeam]

I have a cruise reserved on the Med for October 4th. I went into "My cruises" on Royal Caribbean to check my account and I noticed that I could already reserve excursions.

My problem is that you can reserve the excursion but you have to pay for it right away - over 7 months in advance. Has anybody else experienced that ? I do not think that it is fair.

[Suzila]

We booked our excursions online when we did RCCL in 2006 to Alaska, and we didn't pay for the excursions until after the cruise. They may have changed it since then, but that's the way it was.

We did the same on NCL for Hawaii last August...we booked first, online, then paid for the excursions at the end of the cruise when we settled our account...the charge was automatically on our account. We are doing the same for our Mexico trip on NCL in April. We've booked the excursions, then pay for it at the end of the cruise.

When we did our 2006 Alaska cruise on RCCL, we booked an excursion, then changed our minds about it almost up to the time we were going...they didn't make us pay in advance. I'd call RCCL if you're in doubt.

[Sunbeam]

Thanks. I will get in touch with my travel agent. I don't think I can talk to them if I have a travel agent.

We went on the Crown Princess in November and we reserved our excursions on the internet ahead of time and paid only at the end of the trip.

I am not ready to give them my hard earned money for them to invest 7 months in advance.

[Sunbeam]

I just called Royal Caribbean and if you want to reserve shore excursions before getting on the ship, you have to pay for them right away.

Well, I am not a happy camper at this point and we are seriously thinking of cancelling the whole cruise. They just ruined it for us. No way will they get my money ahead of time.

As far as I am concerned it is just another scam from RCI to get a hold of our cash.

[zebra]

Wow that seems crazy Sunbeam, like you I'm used to reserving our cruise on line but only paying for it onboard. I had no idea that RCCL charged upfront for an excursion that has not even been taken yet.... hmmm?

[Sunbeam]

Wow that seems crazy Sunbeam, like you I'm used to reserving our cruise on line but only paying for it onboard. I had no idea that RCCL charged upfront for an excursion that has not even been taken yet.... hmmm?

It is crazy. When you reserve your cruise, you give a deposit and you fully pay a few months ahead. For an excursion which is a smaller amount, you have to pay in full --- ?????

[Joanandjoe]

I'm amazed that anyone is surprised by having to pay for shore excursions in advance. That's been true for us on every cruise since we began accessing cruise information on the internet: HAL, X, and Windstar. The only exception we've had is Regent, where you don't pay in advance,.

[TheSkipper]

We sailed on the Legend of the Seas out of Rome last May and we did have to pay for our excursions in advance. I agree it sucks.

[Sunbeam]

I'm amazed that anyone is surprised by having to pay for shore excursions in advance. That's been true for us on every cruise since we began accessing cruise information on the internet: HAL, X, and Windstar. The only exception we've had is Regent, where you don't pay in advance,.

We cruised with Princess in November 2007 - you reserve ahead of time and pay at the end of the cruise.

I am canadian and from Québec, I am not protected from one province to the next. Can you imagine from one country to another.

[cruisetarp]

Sunbeam - I have always booked excursions with RC and paid in advance - I liked having that much of the bill out of the way before we sailed. The one time I had to cancel an excursion I got a prompt refund. With that said though, last year I wanted to book an excursion on line which was listed as sold out. When I called Crown & Anchor they told me they keep a small percentage of the openings available for those who book on the ship but if I wanted a special tour to go to the excursion desk immediately when it opened on board. I did that and got the tour I wanted.