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Okay ladies and gents, I said I would post it the moment it because official and that happened just a few minutes ago. Here it is concerning booking Carnival Shore Excursions online;
CARNIVAL ROLLS OUT NEW ON-LINE SHORE EXCURSION BOOKING SYSTEM
More Than 1,000 Different Choices Available On Comprehensive carnival.com Web Site
MIAMI (January 3, 2005) – Carnival Cruise Lines, the world’s largest cruise operator, has introduced a new on-line shore excursion booking system that provides guests the opportunity to purchase shore excursions prior to their cruise utilizing the line’s user-friendly Web site, carnival.com.
With the new system, guests are able to book shore excursions in conjunction with all Carnival “Fun Ships” sailing to 65 different ports throughout the Caribbean, Bahamas, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Hawaii, the Panama Canal, Canada, New England and Europe.
More than 1,000 different shore excursion choices are available. Snorkeling and scuba expeditions, horseback riding, helicopter flightseeing, shopping and city tours are among the excursions that can be booked via this new dynamic shore excursion booking engine. In-depth information such as excursion description, activity level, duration, and pricing are included in each listing.
“More consumers than ever are using the Internet for travel research and purchases and our new on-line shore excursion booking system provides Carnival guests with an easy and convenient means for purchasing the wide variety of fun and interesting shore excursions available aboard the ‘Fun Ships,’” said Bob Dickinson, Carnival president and CEO.
To access the new on-line shore excursion booking engine, guests must be registered on carnival.com and have a fully deposited cruise booking. After accessing their cruise booking through the “View Cruise Details” link, guests are prompted with the “Add Shore Excursions” option which lists all shore excursion choices associated with the ports of call featured on their particular cruise.
To purchase a shore excursion, guests simply click on the shore excursion of their choice and enter credit card payment information via a secure encrypted reservations portal. Guests are provided with a printable shore excursion confirmation and shore excursion tickets are delivered to guests’ staterooms on embarkation day.
On-line shore excursion orders can be made from 180 days up to five days prior to departure date. Guests are also welcome to visit the shore excursion desk once on board to book shore excursions and obtain additional information.
The new on-line shore excursion system is just the latest enhancement to Carnival’s popular carnival.com Internet site, which encompasses more than 2,000 Web pages and offers a host of new and expanded features, including enhanced site navigation, streaming video, personalized content tailored to each visitor, and more 360-degree “virtual tours” of the “Fun Ship” fleet.
Carnival, a unit of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), is the largest and most popular cruise line in the world, with 20 “Fun Ships” operating voyages ranging from three to 16 days in length to the Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Hawaii, the Panama Canal, Canada, New England and Europe. The line currently has two 110,000-ton “Fun Ships” – Carnival Liberty and Carnival Freedom – scheduled for delivery between now and spring 2007.
For additional information and reservations on Carnival’s “Fun Ship” cruises, contact any travel agent, call 1-800-CARNIVAL or visit carnival.com.
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Carnival Cruise Lines is a proud member of the exclusive World’s Leading Cruise Lines. Our exclusive alliance also includes Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Cunard Line, Costa Cruises, Windstar Cruises and The Yachts of Seabourn. Sharing a passion to please each guest, and a commitment to quality and value, our member lines appeal to a wide range of lifestyles and budgets. Together, we offer exciting and enriching cruise vacations to the world’s most desirable destinations.
I would suggest all crusiers spend some time to book their own excursions..Plan to save 50% or more and have a more intimate experience..Now the problem . the port time is so short that the cruise ship may have all the time slots booked for certain things on shore..Maybe that is why they have such short port times.
I agree with Elko but be careful!!! If you venture out on your own you take big risks. Do your research! Jamaica, for example, is not a good place to venture out on your own in my opinion. If you book through the cruise line and your tour is late, the cruise line is responsible for getting you back to the ship. I booked a stingray city tour on my own and it went without a hitch. Other people weren't so lucky. There must have been 10 people running back to the ship while it was sailing away.
If you're only going to save $10 per person, don't bother. Book through the cruise line. Think of the $10 as insurance.
103 day's until the Conquest . . . 2nd time around!
Also remember if you book thru the ship and have to cancel because of sickness or in my case not being able to walk, you can do it when on board 24 hours before the tour.
Well I have to disagree ELko very strongly here. Yes you can usually save money by booking independant tour BUT, and this is a huge but, this is not always a good idea. First, you will not save at least 50%. You might but more likely it is only about $10-$20. IN addition, the ships excursions have been checked by CCL personel to ensure that you WILL get what they advertise. If you don't you have recorse through them to get a full or partial refund. The tours are also inspected to comply with safety rules and regulations. The WILL get you back to the ship ontime or the ship will wait for you. At least one or more of the tour guides is fluent in English. When you do this on your own NONE of those things can be assured and you could get ripped off, miss the boat, have an accident and not be covered at all or worse. Anyone that is not familiar with a port or is the least bit concerned with their ability to get along completely on their own in a foriegn country should take the ships tour. That said, yes we do often go on our own and we have done independant tours and there are many that are great and wonderful folks out there. Of course everthing is always wonderful unless something happens and that is when you wish you had someone to talk to to get things right for you. With a ship's tour you have the entire cruiseline behind you, on your own, you as just out of luck. The decision is of course always yours, justy don't say you were not warned of the possible problems if you are doing so independently.
Jim
Whooooo Hooooooooooooo! This is great news! Thanks for the advice Jim - being new to cruising - I'm happy to book through the ship so I can "learn the ropes" for future trips...then, with a little more knowledge under my belt, independent excursions might be right....but for now - I'm perfectly content to go the safe route!
Ugh, it's not letting me book a shore excursion. I go to "View Cruise Details" and there's no "Add Shore Excursion" option. It says, "Book your shore excursions in advance by simply providing the required deposit on your reservation." But... my cruise is paid in full! I'm confused!
Thanks Jim for your info BUT!!! here in Australia I am having so much trouble as I have been trying to book online for the Carnival tours to no avail.
I have contacted my travel agent and between us we canot even sign in ! He in turn has contacted the Cunard people in Aus and we have been advised we canot book on line and have to wait till we get on board. ( boy would I be mad if this was incorrect)
Do you know if this is so?
thanks liz
Hi Liz,
I just spoke with some friends in that department for you and they told me that you can indeed book online. If you can get into the website at www.carnival.com you can book tours online no matter where in the world you are located at. The Canard rep is wrong. Now it seems that they have been havng problems this morning due to a large number of people online but they are up and accepting bookings so keep trying. If necessary have yout TA call CCL himself and get the tours booked.
Jim
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