An additional excursion option?

[Pettifogger]

Some passengers consider only the cruise line excursions for what are to them abundant reasons; the security of knowing they won't miss the sailing, the companionship of others like themselves from the ship, booking with a cruise line they know and trust rather than with a stranger, not having to search for alternatives, and so on.

Others never book a cruise line excursion because they think its too expensive, they don't like exploring foreign places in large groups almost entirely of their own nationality, they have little input into deciding the details of the excursions, and so on.

But perhaps there are some of us between those two groups to whom Holland America could cater a little more for both its benefit and ours.

Many contributors to this board say that they prefer excursions in smaller vans to ones in bigger buses. If a van option were offered by Holland America along with the buses, the vans would have to be as profitable as the buses to avoid too much cannibalization of bus passengers by the vans. Obviously one driver of a bus is cheaper than three or four of vans, even after the offset for elimination of the tour guide, so the price of the van excursions might have to be slightly higher.

Would a worthwhile number of passengers pay slightly more for a van excursion than a bus one? If cruise passengers, even on competitively priced cruise lines, are less price sensitive than the general population and cruise line excursion passengers are even less price sensitive than other cruise passengers, it would follow that some of them would pay it. I'm price sensitive and, if I'd pay $100 for a bus excursion, I'd probably go $110 for a van. (I'm not going to limit my return on an investment of thousands in a cruise for ten bucks.)

When the economy drooped two or three years ago, Holland America demonstrated great flexibility in reducing it's pricing, rather than just carrying fewer passengers and defending it's cachet, which enabled some of us who were occasional cruisers to become regular ones. Even if it gets a little of our savings back on excursions, overall I and many others are still way ahead, so we can afford it.

And it would be especially nice to keep in the family some of the money that's being spent on private vans.

Perhaps someone can advise me that the cruise line has already done the calculations and decided that a van option wouldn't work, in which case I apologize for wasting everyone's time. On the other hand, if it was just a triumph of last year's belief that "bigger is always better" maybe it's worth another look.

[catl331]

In most ports (maybe all) HAL offers "Signature Collection", "Medallion Collection", "Encore Collection" (etc) excursions, which I've always understood to be private or semi-private tours of smaller groups for a higher price. Click on one of the stamp-like emblems on the left of this page:
[url]http://www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-destinations/ShoreExcursions!viewExcursions.action?destCode=E&portCode=LI1[/url]
I think this is what you are looking for - a small-group ship's excursion that is customizable to at least some degree.

[CruiserBruce]

I agree with catl331. HAL already provides small group customizable excursions. We did one on Athens a couple of years ago. Excellent tour, perfect small group, doing what we wanted to focus on. We will use this again on our Eurodam Baltic next summer.

[tangerinebunny]

But they don't offer many on some cruises.

I'd like more offerings too.

[CaveDiving]

[quote name='Pettifogger']

...Would a worthwhile number of passengers pay slightly more for a van excursion than a bus one? If cruise passengers, even on competitively priced cruise lines, are less price sensitive than the general population and cruise line excursion passengers are even less price sensitive than other cruise passengers, it would follow that some of them would pay it. I'm price sensitive and, if I'd pay $100 for a bus excursion, I'd probably go $110 for a van. (I'm not going to limit my return on an investment of thousands in a cruise for ten bucks.)....[/QUOTE]

I kind of think that going from a 40 passenger bus to a six or eight passenger van would change a $100 tour to closer to $200 than to $110.

Check out the price for a guide and van in most cities for a day.

Scott & Karen

[itzmered]

[quote name='CaveDiving']I kind of think that going from a 40 passenger bus to a six or eight passenger van would change a $100 tour to closer to $200 than to $110.

Check out the price for a guide and van in most cities for a day.

Scott & Karen[/QUOTE]

Have you ever hired a guide an van in any of the ports? We have several times and have never paid close to that. In Antigua we hired a guide and van and did a 5 1/2 hour tour of the island for 6 people and it cost us each $30 and was one of the best excursions I have been on. In Aruba we did the same thing but it was only the two of us and it cost us $45 each. In Cartagena it cost us $50 per person for 8 people. Many other ports we have done this in also. Now this wasnt through the cruise line so if you add there cut in there it still wouldnt even be that expensive

[Sea42]

[quote name='itzmered']Have you ever hired a guide an van in any of the ports? We have several times and have never paid close to that. In Antigua we hired a guide and van and did a 5 1/2 hour tour of the island for 6 people and it cost us each $30 and was one of the best excursions I have been on. In Aruba we did the same thing but it was only the two of us and it cost us $45 each. In Cartagena it cost us $50 per person for 8 people. Many other ports we have done this in also. Now this wasn't through the cruise line so if you add there cut in there it still wouldn't even be that expensive[/quote]

That may be the case for Caribbean cruises but when you look at Mediterranean the costs are usually higher.

We chose to take a HAL excursion in Tunisia because the prices were actually lower than we could find with a private tour operator. We picked a tour that goes to a national park rather than a city tour. HAL lists the tour as limited. I'm not sure what that means but I'm hoping it means it's not a large bus. We'll see, but HAL was offering what we wanted for a good price.

All of the other tours we're taking on this cruise are privately arranged but you can't automatically discount what the cruise line offers, they may have the better option.

[CruiserBruce]

[quote name='itzmered']Have you ever hired a guide an van in any of the ports? We have several times and have never paid close to that. In Antigua we hired a guide and van and did a 5 1/2 hour tour of the island for 6 people and it cost us each $30 and was one of the best excursions I have been on. In Aruba we did the same thing but it was only the two of us and it cost us $45 each. In Cartagena it cost us $50 per person for 8 people. Many other ports we have done this in also. Now this wasnt through the cruise line so if you add there cut in there it still wouldnt even be that expensive[/quote]

Antiqua isn't the "high rent" district, as far as tours are concerned. In fact, I don't see HAL doing many of the "Signature" personal tours in the Caribbean at all. Just not the right place. Athens, Rome, St Petersburg, other European cities, definitely yes; Austrailian cities maybe, Asian cities more likely, Middle Eastern cities probably. But other than a couple of complex Caribbean locations like San Juan or the Panama Canal, don't see the Caribbean as the best venue for the "Signature" excursions.

Plus the scale isn't consistant on these posts. $100 [B]per person[/B] (maybe), [I]in what location,[/I]or are we talking $180 for 6 in Antiqua. 4 hours? 8 hours? Lets make sure we are talking apples to apples. I know our 8 hour Signature tour in Athens for 4 people, which was worth every dollar, was a lot more than $100pp. But would do it again in a heartbeat.

[localady]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="Blue"]For our upcoming cruise, I noticed tonight that HAL is offering something new to me. They are offering in addition to the regular car and minivan private transportation, a minibus option for a party of 15 in Catania, Italy. The cost for a party of 15 would have been about $140 pp. Italy can be very expensive for private trasnportation services. It was the first time I have seen this offered by HAL, so perhaps they are listening!:D[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[CruiserBruce]

[quote name='localady'][FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=blue]For our upcoming cruise, I noticed tonight that HAL is offering something new to me. They are offering in addition to the regular car and minivan private transportation, a minibus option for a party of 15 in Catania, Italy. The cost for a party of 15 would have been about $140 pp. Italy can be very expensive for private trasnportation services. It was the first time I have seen this offered by HAL, so perhaps they are listening!:D[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/quote]

That sounds like the Signature tours. They were there in 2010 when we did our Med cruise.

[Pettifogger]

localady:

I've checked a number of other ports and many of them have the minibus option.

While that is a wonderful development and does cheer me considerably, it only goes part way towards what I conceive of as the goal, which is an option that would compete economically, as much as possible, with private vans partly by eliminating the tour guide and, at the same time, enable those among us who wish to try to immerse themselves in the sights and sounds and maybe smells of the country they came so far to visit to do so without the distraction of a tour guide's lecture.

However, having done what they have, I can't imagine that they would entertain my alternate suggestion, so I'll not pursue it.

[itzmered]

We did a 4 1/2 hour private tour in rome with a guide and myself, my mother and my sister for $225 total. This was of vatican city the vatican museums, sistine chapel, and St Peters basilica. So much better than the large groups that were trying to keep up with their guides and couldnt hear them. I highly recommend Angel Tours in Rome, Florence and Dublin excellent guides and very reasonably priced. We were not on a cruise but I have seen on their website that they also cater to cruise ship passengers