Shore excursions

[dee2673]

Hello, all,

 

We are going to Alaska on the Westerdam August 29th, with 2 other couples. One of the couples has been to Alaska before and said they waited until they got into port to get shore excursions. They said it was considerably less expensive. True?

I want to whale watch..maybe zipline or something a little adventerous. Are the excursions you book through off site vendors much less expensive and do have all the offerings available that the cruise line does?

[xlxo]

In general the answer is YES there is savings...

• You also have the option to barter.
  
• You can decide to go last minute if the weather is dry or stay on the ship if the weather is bad.
  
• Juneau's Mt. Roberts tram is one I strongly suggest getting at the docks because you can check the cloud cover before spending the money to go up at the last minute.
  
• if an excursion is sold out on the cruise.... you might find the port excursion has space.
  

However...

• you might have high expenses if your self arranged tours is late forcing you to miss the ship. Not often, but it happens (eg flight tours have you trapped in sudden fog in a glacier, hiccup on the Klondike highway, train derailment). In general, port booked tours will return a few hours before your boat departs as a contingency.
  
• the further the excursion takes you from the dock... the higher the risk of missing the boat
  
• some popular tours mentioned here in this forum can be sold out by the time your arrive at the port
  
• your cruise goes to Glacier Bay.... would you like to check out Tracy Arm/Sawyer too? The mid-ocean transfer is only available with the cruise line and can save you 2 hours in not needing to retrace 2 hours (50 miles) from Juneau. This tour is often sold out before the cruise departs.
  http://www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-destinations/ExcursionDetails.action?excursionCode=100030935
  

Personally, I do a combination of cruise and port booked excursions.

Edited April 13, 2015 by xlxo

[take us away]

Also check local transportation options, e.g. the dedicated public bus to the Mendenhall glacier (think it is called the Glacier Blue Express) and runs on a frequent schedule. You may have to pay admission to the glacier area but both combined are way cheaper than the HAL cruise.

MGT’s “BLUE GLACIER EXPRESS” $20 per person roundtrip

This is our no frills experience offering direct transportation 14 miles from downtown to the Mendenhall Glacier. Transportation run every 30 minutes beginning at 9:00am till 6:00pm on most days. Let our Bright Blue Bus take you out to the “Blue Ice Cube.”

 

Alaska is a place where a little preplanning can make a huge savings. We have had great luck in local tours found on the pier. We do not do full day tours that get us back to the ship at last call for boarding - way too much stress - so we always make sure we get cak at least an hour before last call.

[TraelorMex]

If you seriously WANT a specific tour...book early thru the cruise company.

 

If the tour your want is a 'so-so' type, no biggie one way or the other, book when you get into port. Big savings that way.

[Susie51]

I like to do ship shore excursions. The peace of mind is worth the extra money for me.

[DaveOKC]

As others have already mentioned, Alaska is one place where you can save a ton of money (on SOME excursions) if you do your homework. The bus to the glacier in Juneau is a great example, and you can do another city bus in Ketchican.

 

Now again, some excursions do not save you much doing on your own.

 

Go over to the Alaska board and check it out your options - lots of good ideas/information there.

 

DaveOKC

[DeeniEncinitas]

I like to do ship shore excursions. The peace of mind is worth the extra money for me.

 

I also agree with you!!! Seen too many times HAL trying to wait for people/couples who have missed the ship due to booking land shore excursions with the locals.

Too expensive for me with worry!

We always poke with the ship and have peace offing. Good example in 2011 we did a 11 hr. Excursion to Chitchaneza! On that cruise our bus broke down and when we finally arrived in Cozumel it was past mid nite and we were suppose to leave at 11:00pm. Because it was a tour through HAL they waited! It was close to 1am when we finally left the Port!

We will always do excursions with HAL.

[lazey1]

I like to do ship shore excursions. The peace of mind is worth the extra money for me.

 

Totally agree, and in Alaska frequently there is very little difference in price.

[summersigh]

Our rule of thumb is that ....

 

if a tour takes us away from an area where we could reasonably get a taxi back to the ship if there's a problem - we book through the ship.

 

.... otherwise we look at booking on our own. In Juneau we booked our own whale watching trip with Captain Larry - we were never out of sight of land :). In Haines (our cruise stopped there instead of Skagway) we booked our raft trip through the Eagle Preserve with HAL.

 

Once on a port stop in Belize DH wasn't feeling too peppy so I went on our ship booked excursion through the rain forest and to the Mayan ruins alone (with a bus full of other passengers :):) ) The ship was set to sail at 5pm BUT ,... at 5pm we were stuck in traffic in downtown Belize. It was a huge relief when our tour guide got off her cell to inform us that a ship representative and a tender were waiting for us at the dock. DH said he'd have been really worried he was going to be sailing away alone if I hadn't been on a ship excursion.

[sherryf]

Totally agree, and in Alaska frequently there is very little difference in price.

 

True, but there can often be a huge difference in group size and overall experience. For example, a bus/train combo trip to the Yukon out of Skagway booked through an independent vendor such as Chilkoot Charters uses mini-buses with only about 15 people, instead of a huge tour bus. This means they can stop for photos in places where the big buses cannot stop, and it takes a lot less time to unload/load passengers when they do stop. Whale watching is another excursion where booking independently will allow for smaller group sizes.

 

Also, in Alaska it is very rare to miss the ship when using independent vendors.

 

Personally, I only book tours through the ship if I can't book the same/better tour independently.

[cruisemom42]

It is rare that a ship tour would be my first choice. There would have to be a combination of a) a lot of risk of missing the ship or b) something I simply could not find a private tour option for and could not do on my own.

 

I also agree with you!!! Seen too many times HAL trying to wait for people/couples who have missed the ship due to booking land shore excursions with the locals.

Too expensive for me with worry!

We always poke with the ship and have peace offing. Good example in 2011 we did a 11 hr. Excursion to Chitchaneza! On that cruise our bus broke down and when we finally arrived in Cozumel it was past mid nite and we were suppose to leave at 11:00pm. Because it was a tour through HAL they waited! It was close to 1am when we finally left the Port!

We will always do excursions with HAL.

 

Really? Most of the people I've seen missing the ship are those that have lost track of time either drinking or shopping locally, not the ones on tours....

 

I agree though that it would not be good to take a private tour that lasts almost until the all-aboard time. Most private tour operators will try to have you back at the ship a couple of hours before sailaway. In doing this, they build in some time to deal with most potential issues that might cause a delay.

Edited April 14, 2015 by cruisemom42

[dee2673]

Gosh, thanks, everybody. I think I'm going to buckle down and figure what I REALLY want to do. I'll likely end up doing a combination. And I will go over to the Alaska board, that I didn't know was there!!

[krazy4kruisin]

I like to do ship shore excursions. The peace of mind is worth the extra money for me.

 

Ditto. I read about a helicoptor tour that got stranded on a glacier and the people

missed the ship and had to spend the night on the glacier. yikes:eek:

[Crew News]

Ditto. I read about a helicoptor tour that got stranded on a glacier and the people

missed the ship and had to spend the night on the glacier. yikes:eek:

 

That happened on the Westerdam and Zuiderdam in July, 2014, in Juneau for 44 passengers going by air to Taku Lodge, dogsledding, and glacier walking. The fog rolled in and grounded all aircraft expected to pick up those on the excursions.

 

 

Those on HAL tours were put into hotels for the evening (once they got down through the fog) and delivered to their ship the next day. A plane was chartered for Zuiderdam passengers to take them to Skagway. A HAL-charted Allen Marine excursion boat delivered 28 passengers from Juneau to our Westerdam just as we were leaving Glacier Bay.

 

When those on private tours returned from the fog, they were left to find their own way back to their ships.

 

FWIW those who spent the night in an emergency tent on Mendenhall Glacier LOVED It. They had much more time on the glacier than the one hour for which they paid.

 

I consider the extra cost of a ship's excursion as just insurance that I will make it back to the ship.

Edited April 16, 2015 by Crew News

[Crew News]

deleted

Edited April 16, 2015 by Crew News

[PathfinderEss]

That happened on the Westerdam and Zuiderdam in July, 2014, in Juneau for 44 passengers going by air to Taku Lodge, dogsledding, and glacier walking. The fog rolled in and grounded all aircraft expected to pick up those on the excursions.

 

 

Those on HAL tours were put into hotels for the evening (once they got down through the fog) and delivered to their ship the next day. A plane was chartered for Zuiderdam passengers to take them to Skagway. A HAL-charted Allen Marine excursion boat delivered 28 passengers from Juneau to our Westerdam just as we were leaving Glacier Bay.

 

When those on private tours returned from the fog, they were left to find their own way back to their ships.

 

FWIW those who spent the night in an emergency tent on Mendenhall Glacier LOVED It. They had much more time on the glacier than the one hour for which they paid.

 

I consider the extra cost of a ship's excursion as just insurance that I will make it back to the ship.

 

Beautiful picture of a Hal ship.

[CowPrincess]

That happened on the Westerdam and Zuiderdam in July, 2014, in Juneau for 44 passengers going by air to Taku Lodge, dogsledding, and glacier walking. The fog rolled in and grounded all aircraft expected to pick up those on the excursions.

 

 

 

Those on HAL tours were put into hotels for the evening (once they got down through the fog) and delivered to their ship the next day. A plane was chartered for Zuiderdam passengers to take them to Skagway. A HAL-charted Allen Marine excursion boat delivered 28 passengers from Juneau to our Westerdam just as we were leaving Glacier Bay.

 

When those on private tours returned from the fog, they were left to find their own way back to their ships.

 

>SNIP<

 

(bolding mine)

 

I have frequently wondered about the people who were on the private tours that couldn't get off the glacier. Could you provide a link to where that was finally determined, that they were left to find their own way back please? Where one of the people on the private tour relates how the private operator treated them. Thanks in advance.

[Ky Colonel]

... for additional Alaska shore excursion insights, go the post at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showp...2&postcount=14 in the "Shore excursion" thread ...

 

Rod

[rjrpar]

We are going to Alaska for the first time in August. We want to do the Bering Sea crab fishing tour in Ketchikan. I priced the tour both from HAL and directly through the tour operator and the price is identical. We booked through HAL to make sure it didn't sell out but if it had been cheaper going direct, I probably would have opted to book privately.

[Crew News]

We are going to Alaska for the first time in August. We want to do the Bering Sea crab fishing tour in Ketchikan. I priced the tour both from HAL and directly through the tour operator and the price is identical. We booked through HAL to make sure it didn't sell out but if it had been cheaper going direct, I probably would have opted to book privately.

 

The Crab Fishing Excursion is one of my favorites and especially the chance to shoot nearly 1000 eagle pictures each time I am on board:

 

[joanna111]

I rely on Trip Advisor a lot. I choose the port I'm interested in and look for the list of attractions. Click on some of them and you will find people reviewing many excursion and guide outfits. It gives a much wider choice of options with much better descriptions than HAL has. You probably know this -- you can read reviews of the HAL excursions on the same page where you book them

[jt58203]

We are going to Alaska for the first time in August. We want to do the Bering Sea crab fishing tour in Ketchikan. I priced the tour both from HAL and directly through the tour operator and the price is identical. We booked through HAL to make sure it didn't sell out but if it had been cheaper going direct, I probably would have opted to book privately.

 

Being the tour price is identical, the HAL excursion includes transportation so is a better deal!

[dee2673]

I am thinking we are going to book our tours onboard...or ahead but through Hl. I'd rather have peace of mind rather than save 20.00. I don't want to do town tours, most of what Inwant involves getting out there! Tripadvisor is a great resource, huh?

[Moriah]

Ditto. I read about a helicoptor tour that got stranded on a glacier and the people

missed the ship and had to spend the night on the glacier. yikes:eek:

 

Wow, sounds like an adventure! Do the independent tour operators offer any kind of guarantee that they will get you back to your ship?

[QARandy]

some operators do guarantee to get you back to the ship. You have to read their website. I too use trip advisor to help with research.

Randy