Is HAL Overpricing Excursions

[cruisemom42]

I have to agree with you, and will add that once when we were on a HAL tour in Istanbul, we preferred not to go to the shop, and arranged with the guide to meet later at an agreed time. We instead browsed around and I had my first cup of Turkish coffee in a little coffee/pastry shop. :) The guide had no problem with our request.

 

Will also add that the only time we have ever been delayed significantly by a passenger was on a private tour.

 

I had a similar scenario in Istanbul, but unfortunately the place I wanted to go was to Haghia Sophia and the guide didn't want us to strike out on our own (dire warnings of crowds and traffic and missing the bus back to the ship). Knowing Istanbul as well as I do now, I should have done it anyway. But that was my first visit there.

 

As I've already posted numerous times, by the time we got to Haghia Sophia there was no time left and no light left in which to see it. :eek:

Edited November 20, 2014 by cruisemom42

[dadroy]

We do mostly independent tours now, but can understand why people may want the ship excursions. Many many CC members are well traveled and are comfortable in foreign lands. But many cruise passengers would not feel comfortable with trying to deal with an out of country tour company.

 

As an example, Rome is a port you could do on your own. Find your way to the train station, buy the ticket, get to the right platform, get on the right train, get off at the right stop, find your way to the museum you are looking for, find the right line, then enjoy the time. But with many hours of research here on CC you could learn to buy your ticket in advance and eliminate the standing in line, get step by step instructions etc.

 

Or just pay more and the HAL tour will do it all for you. What is your time and worry worth to you? To many people the extra cost is worth the less hassle. I feel comfortable in most of Europe, but would never try an independent tour in Japan, China Thailand or Vietnam.

[kazu]

I must pick better ship-sponsored tours than you. I have never been on any with lengthy shopping stops. I have only ever had 10-15 minutes dedicated to shopping on my tours. And more often than not, the shopping is merely dropping passengers who wish to shop off in the main shopping area of the port and returning everyone else to the ship. Additionally, on several tours, we took longer at a particular non-shopping attraction and the minimal shopping component was dropped from the tour entirely.

 

The only truly bad tour guide I've had was treated a nature walk as a competitive walk and took no notice of reasonably fit adults having trouble and tripping over the roots and leaf litter along the paths. Three people fell on that tour and the guide took no notice at all. In fact, even after we yelled at her to stop for a moment, she complained about breaking her pace. That was a bad tour, and I complained to HAL and actually got my money refunded AND a shipboard credit. One bad tour guide out of all the tours I have taken over 11 cruises is not enough to make me stop taking ship-based tours.

 

With that one exception, and I blame that solely on the the guide, not the tour itself, I have been completely satisfied with my ship-sponsored tours.

 

I don't see what the big deal is. If people want to do the research and arrange their own tours, fine. If people want to pay the cruise line for making all the arrangements, fine. Overcharging is in the eye of the dissatisfied payer. I have been completely satisfied, and never felt I was overcharged or given a substandard product.

 

I agree - there is no big deal.

 

And congratulations. You seem to have picked better ships excursions than we have as well.

 

Each to their own :)

[Hlitner]

We would add our cruise ship excursion experience that happened about twenty-five years ago on a Princess Cruise that docked in Kusadasi. We did the typical ship's tour to Ephesus, found ourselves rushed through the ruins with an awful guide who then herded us back on our bus. They then took us to a Jewelry "factory" which opened just for our bus and we were literally held hostage in the huge facility for nearly 1 1/2 hours. Nobody on the bus would buy anything, but they would not allow us to leave. Princess later issued our group an apology and a total refund of the tour cost. This excursion had a profound impact on our future since we became very independent travelers and have seldom to ever taken any type of organized excursion. Now, after more then a quarter century of cruising and independent travel, we feel comfortable going off on our own throughout much of the world. So in a sense, that awful Princess experience turned us into very happy and adventurous world travelers. Despite cruising 70-100 days a year all over the world, we now only book cruise line excursions when it offers something we cannot possibly (and reasonably) do on our own.

 

We should add that after more then 3 1/2 years on cruises, and having done hundreds of ports on our own, we have never missed the ship (came close on two occasions). We have also never personally met any other cruiser who has missed the ship (although it certainly does happen to some folks). We always have a "Plan B" when we go off a ship on our own, and that is what we would do if we did miss the ship :).

 

Hank

Edited November 20, 2014 by Hlitner

[Lizzie68]

I agree - there is no big deal.

 

And congratulations. You seem to have picked better ships excursions than we have as well.

 

Each to their own :)

 

 

Me too! I avoid ship excursions wherever possible - too much time wasted getting on and off the bus. And yes, shopping time is not my thing. The only excursion I heard that was left behind was a HAL excursion in Alaska, which was held up due to weather. We left 60 people behind as the captain put out to sea regardless.

[fishin' musician]

It sounds like the ship's excursions appeal to less experienced cruisers and those that may have a lesser sense of adventure. :confused:

[LindaM]

It sounds like the ship's excursions appeal to less experienced cruisers and those that may have a lesser sense of adventure. :confused:

 

What????? Did you read the posts???? Cruising experience has nothing to do with it. I've been on 26 cruises, mostly in Europe and many, many land tours in Europe. I don't want the bother. Much of the time, we do like to explore cities on our own---that is adventurous. If the ports are difficult, we will go with HAL. I do NOT want to hang out with CC members for 8 hours or more (which is what they like to do). To each his own. Sometimes, hanging out with CC people can be as tiring as a busload.

 

We had a fabulous HAL tour in Istanbul. We had plenty of time to see everything and spent minimal time in the Spice Market.

 

I'm not saying people who do HAL tours are superior to those who do it on their own. I think it's great people have the opportunity to do what they want, and there are alternative tour companies for you. But, please, don't act so superior to us who don't choose to do it your way. That's what it sounds like to me!! To say we are less traveled or old is so wrong and condescending!!

[Lizzie68]

It sounds like the ship's excursions appeal to less experienced cruisers and those that may have a lesser sense of adventure. :confused:

 

No - that is totally NOT what this thread is saying. It's simply a matter of choice. Perhaps you have just skimmed this thread and jumped to the wrong conclusion. It's been known.

[RuthC]

It sounds like the ship's excursions appeal to less experienced cruisers and those that may have a lesser sense of adventure. :confused:

That may be two of the reasons' date=' and true for some people, but it is hardly the be all and end all of it. :rolleyes:

There are many, and valid, reasons for a person to prefer taking a HAL tour than choosing another option.[/color']

[CowPrincess]

We do both independent and HAL shorex.

 

When we do a HAL shorex we read the description and reviews very carefully. When we do independent we research the tour operators.

 

IMHO, whether or not a HAL shorex is "overpriced" depends on what each person values in a particular set of circumstances.

[jaguarstyper]

In all my cruises, I have only booked HAL shore excursions on one of them. It was an Alaska cruise and we were very busy during the weeks leading up to the cruise. So, we opted to book three excursions, in advance, through HAL. Were they more expensive? Yes, but I don't think they were anywhere near double what we would have paid an independent operator. However, 2 of the 3 shore excursions we booked ended up being cancelled on the pier when we arrived at the meeting place. One of them was a whale watching tour. We were told the weather was too rough for the tour. We booked another whale watching tour with an independent provider at the pier and had a good experience for about $50 less cost. We are still wondering why HAL cancelled the tour. The other tour that was cancelled was an ATV adventure in Sitka. We found out it was cancelled after a 40 minute van ride when we were told the boat to Kruzof Island had mechanical issues and had to spend another 40 minutes going back to the pier. We were offered an alternative tour at a reduced price. It was not good at all and we ended up leaving the tour at some point and walking through Sitka back to the tenders. So, my limited experience with HAL's tours was not very good.

 

From now on, we will make the time to research and book independent tours if we want to go on a tour. However, we generally just like to do exploring on our own when we go to a port. And we have seen some wonderful things in many different ports that I don't think we would have ever seen on a HAL tour.

 

I guess its really up to the individual and their comfort level. Pay the premium for a HAL tour and leave everything to them, or go it on your own, maybe save some money and possibly see and do things you may not get to do on a HAL tour. The choice is yours.

[Cruising-along]

It sounds like the ship's excursions appeal to less experienced cruisers and those that may have a lesser sense of adventure. :confused:

 

Not at all! For us it depends on the port. Our first choice is always to go out on our own, public transportation, rental car, whatever. I consider us to be pretty experienced and adventurous travelers. We have traveled around Europe via train and rental cars with no problem or stress. If for some reason that wouldn't be practical, then and only then do we look at ship tours and then private tours.

 

We just have had some not so good experiences with private tours, and no bad experiences with ship tours. Each to their own. :)

[bert425]

as I noted on two of our ports, we did both a HAL excursion, AND we did some exploring / touring on our own.

 

there was plenty of time for that in most ports we stopped at.

 

and I will add that in the 3 cases where "shopping" was listed at the end of the tour?. . My Partner and I, and maybe 2 other couples were the only ones that got off the bus in the market areas, while others chose to remain on the bus to return to the ship (for lunches maybe?).

 

we had quite the additional adventures as we browsed, shopped, and ate our way back to the ship :)

[sammiedawg]

This debate is worthwhile, particularly for newbies who do not know the private tour and independent touring options. The port of call and roll call boards are must reads, chocked full of great ideas.

For what it's worth fewer and fewer cruisers are taking ship excursions for all the reasons previously listed. People are doing DIY exploring, many people are renting cars, taking trains and of course the private options. We were in The port of Rome recently on Oceania. We counted 25 plus tour operators ship side looking for their clients. We were taking the train independently into Rome and rode the shuttle to get out of the gate. At the shuttle parking lot there were at least twenty more tour and shuttle operators looking for clients. The train itself was packed with independents, everyone chatting back and forth about where to go and what to do.

Rick Steve's has written two new marvelous books specifically for DIY , one for the Baltics and one for the Med. We've been to the Med multiple times but I still bought the book for new ideas and tips. His port information even drills down to which train track different routes use.

[Cruising-along]

Another thumbs up for Rick Steves. And for those of us lucky enough to be in this area, the Rick Steves Center in Edmonds, WA twice/week travel classes and especially his 2-day European Travel Festivals are invaluable. Not to mention his extensive library. I've spent many an afternoon relaxing, reading and planning in that library. :)

[estebofarr]

HAL Nagasaki excursion to peace park and atomic museum $129.

Taking tram both ways, entrance fee plus ground zero, $4.00

[fuzzywuzzy]

My DH and I usually book one HAL tour but for the rest of the ports we do our own thing. We have had wonderful private tours and sometimes organized with other passengers through the Roll Call thread. We do find HAL's excursions to be overpriced and you are only as fast as the slowest person on the excursion with you.

 

Rick Steves' books as others have said are invaluable. While walking through historic Rome, we had his book in hand all the time and would read the information as we stopped at each site. The maps and advice are wonderful. We researched before going for a number of weeks and read and highlighted things of importance to know in his tour book for Rome.

[summersigh]

Another thumbs up for Rick Steves. And for those of us lucky enough to be in this area, the Rick Steves Center in Edmonds, WA twice/week travel classes and especially his 2-day European Travel Festivals are invaluable. Not to mention his extensive library. I've spent many an afternoon relaxing, reading and planning in that library. :)

 

We LOVE Rick Steves. The year we did the TA on the QM2 it was preceded by 3 weeks touring England, Scotland, Amsterdam :rolleyes: and Paris on the wonderful European train systems with a 22" rolling suitcase each. We used Rick's books and videos as our key source of information. Never once did he lead us astray. Of course, I used a ton of other sites (especially TripAdvisor's reviews) but each search started with Rick's information. I believe he now even has a guide book with Mediterranean cruise ports.

 

His books are huge, so right before we left I cut the sections out of the books for the areas we were planning on touring and left the rest behind. I tossed each of those sections after it's use leaving room for small souvenirs.

 

Two of his best tips were Laundromats in Inverness Scotland and Southampton England.:D They're full of locals and being as we were there for a couple of hours we really got to talk in depth with locals. I think that the lady that ran the Scottish Laundromat would have taken us home with her if we hadn't already had a reservation at a darling B&B. We took a taxi straight from the station to the laundries having packed all the dirties together in one of our suitcases. As we folded the clean stuff we just repacked it into the suitcases. :)

[summersigh]

Our rules of thumb are:

1. It the area we want to see it out of reach for grabbing a cab if we need to get back to the ship without getting left ... we book with the ship. (ie the Belize Rain Forest and Ruins) If the cruise line excursion is late getting back the ship WILL wait for you.

 

2. If cabs are going to be readily available we've started doing it ourselves.

 

3. Alaska - a 7 day land tour followed by a 7 day cruise. (I tried but couldn't book arrangements for the land part much cheaper than HAL charged)

 

The reason for "Rules 1 & 2" ? ..... In Belize we went on a rainforest boat trip followed by Mayan ruins - booked through the cruise line. There was a hang-up during the trip (a temporarily lost passenger I believe) The ship was scheduled to sail at 5pm. At 5pm our tour bus was stuck in Belize City "rush hour". It was so relieving to hear the guide say she was in direct contact with the Cruise line representative and the tender boat was awaiting our arrival at the pier. At that point every penny we might have paid extra became totally worth it!! :D

[Cruising-along]

We LOVE Rick Steves. The year we did the TA on the QM2 it was preceded by 3 weeks touring England, Scotland, Amsterdam :rolleyes: and Paris on the wonderful European train systems with a 22" rolling suitcase each. We used Rick's books and videos as our key source of information. Never once did he lead us astray. Of course, I used a ton of other sites (especially TripAdvisor's reviews) but each search started with Rick's information. I believe he now even has a guide book with Mediterranean cruise ports.

 

His books are huge, so right before we left I cut the sections out of the books for the areas we were planning on touring and left the rest behind. I tossed each of those sections after it's use leaving room for small souvenirs.

 

Two of his best tips were Laundromats in Inverness Scotland and Southampton England.:D They're full of locals and being as we were there for a couple of hours we really got to talk in depth with locals. I think that the lady that ran the Scottish Laundromat would have taken us home with her if we hadn't already had a reservation at a darling B&B. We took a taxi straight from the station to the laundries having packed all the dirties together in one of our suitcases. As we folded the clean stuff we just repacked it into the suitcases. :)

 

What a great story, thank you for sharing it! Yes, even Rick recommends that people "tear up his books" :D We did the same thing this summer when we had a 30-day trip to the British Isles and the Baltics. We brought pages from his "Northern European Cruise Ports" book and his "Great Britain" book. Like you, we use a lot of other travel sources as well, and we've never been led astray. And I never book a hotel without checking the reviews on Trip Advisor. :)

[Globaliser]

We have a favorite (scuba) dive shop on Curacao. We'll spend a couple of weeks diving with them on land based vacations. Curacao is a diver's paradise!

 

He explained that HAL has no scuba excursions on Curacao because the dive ops have just said no as a collective group. The pricing was insulting and the size of the group and # of divers to leaders was beyond what they felt was safe for people & the environment.

 

I can only imagine what they are paying the dive shops. The shorex dives are only about $25-30 more than what I book independently.

In addition to looking at it from the tour operator's point of view, sometimes you get a little bit of an insight into the cruise line's point of view.

 

For a number of years, I did jazz cruises organised by NCL. These were at a lowish point in the year (the middle of hurricane season), and the music programme was produced by NCL and there was no additional cost - this was all a marketing exercise to get people to sail on cruises that might otherwise be difficult to shift.

 

Over the years, as ancillary revenue started to become increasingly important, NCL began to notice that jazz cruise passengers were not part of this trend. The big moneyspinners on board are bars, casino and shorex. Jazz audiences drank relatively little (because the drinks were just something to have on the side during the music), didn't go into the casino (where there was no music), and didn't buy shorex (because the regulars had been to these places a dozen times before).

 

The result was that NCL ultimately abandoned running the jazz cruises (and other theme cruises too). The cruises simply didn't make the necessary profits, and much of the profits had to come from those sources.

 

So when thinking about the question "Is HAL overpricing shorex?", I like to think about the question "Just how much is HAL keeping for itself from each shorex dollar it takes?"

[Shiraz49]

Haven't looked at all the posts but 1 thing came through very clearly on our last cruse ...... passenger was on an organised HAL shore tour, tripped and broke his ankle ........ HAL covered all expenses :o :o :o

Not saying that their travel insurance would not have covered (most of) it but they would have been out of pocket in paying all associated expenses until their insurance claim was settled.

May be one of thE reasons for higher tour costs ???

I've done it both ways depending on the destination.

Cheers Tom

[Vict0riann]

On our last cruise - 21 ports in 42 days, we actually did a third private tours (I organized 2), a third HAL shore excursions (actually the expensive ones, like $295 each to Marrakech from Casablanca), and a third on our own, if there was a HOHO bus in the port, or we were docked right in the historical area.

 

A lot had to do with the amount of walking involved. In 2013 we did a last-minute cruise, and did all the (Med) ports on our own, and I ended up with a stress fracture in one leg. All those cobblestones! When I researched what we were going to do on this one, I was careful to figure out how much walking would be involved, as I didn't want to aggravate my leg or re-injure it. The HAL tour descriptions give you an idea of how much walking is involved, although they're not always completely accurate.

 

Of course another factor to consider is safety, and getting back to the ship on time! If I have any doubts at all, we take a HAL shorex. I can't say that money has anything to do with our choices, although it would be nice if the HAL tours were less expensive We might take more of them then! I don't enjoy having too full a bus, especially when people hog two seats for one person, or the overly long "pit stops".

[esimon]

Just booked an excursion in Samara - Booked thru our TA and it was the same price as HAL's - so no real mark up there

[cruisemom42]

Just booked an excursion in Samara - Booked thru our TA and it was the same price as HAL's - so no real mark up there

 

Likely because your TA is serving the same middle-man function as HAL does.

 

Did you try to find out the price of booking it direct with the agent offering the tour?