Hello Fellow Cruisers,

My name is Chris. My family and I are from Merritt Island, Florida. We live 5 minutes from Port Canaveral and this is our first cruise, go figure.. We depart on Sunday, October 8 on the Mariner of the Seas. Thanks in advance for answering the following question. When is the best time to schedule shore excursions? What is the best way to schedule?

Hi, welcome to cruise-chat and congratulations on your first (but not last) cruise! I always do a google search for the ports of call. Booking on line is alway cheaper than going through the cruise lines. Otherwise, book at the excursion desk on deck 4 as soon as you can. Some of the popular excursions fill up fast. They have a lot of information at the desk.
I wish I lived as close to a port as you do. I live in Wisconsin and have to paid half the cost of a cruise in airfare. I've been on 29 Royal Caribbean cruises and know you're going to love the Mariner of the Seas. The "Voyager" class ships are the most awesome ships on the seas. This being your first cruise you have no way to compare any of the ships. There is a big difference going from any other class ship to a "Voyager" class ship. Have a great cruise!

Sonny

Chris,

If I lived 5 minutes from Port Canaveral I'd probably be broke by now from taking cruises all the time! How convenient is that?? And you get to see the shuttle launches too.

You will love the Mariner. We sailed on her in 2004 and it was a great cruise. There is so much to do on the ship.

Have you browsed the tours offered by RCCL online? That is one option - to book online with RCCL now and then you won't have to worry about something selling out. Or if you are comfortable with it, doing as Sonny suggests and booking tours on-line with one of the several tour operators for your ports-of-call. I haven't used the tour desk on a ship in years.

I went on the RCCL website and the excursions are very easy to reserve. Another question, are there longer lines going on excursions booked through RCCL?