All Boston excursions cancelled for our cruise

[dcdisney]

We are going on the Rotterdam for the Canada/NE cruise departing on October 15th. Last week suddenly I was given a refund for our booked excursion in Boston (mid-morning Duck tour) with a generic email saying it was cancelled. Every excursion is now gone for that day in Boston except 1. I don't think they are booked up because there were many available just days before. I know the ship will still be in port in Boston because some will be embarking/disembarking. I really wanted a ship sponsored excursion to stay out of the fray. I looked to see if there were any big events in the city that would make traffic an issue but I don't see anything. I can book something privately but am wondering if this had happened to anyone else and if I should just wait a few weeks to see if they add excursions back.

[sammiedawg]

Boston is fairly compact and easy to DIY. If duck tours are running you can do it independently.

[shrimp56]

My bet is that there will be excursions re-posted well before your cruise.

Edited May 19, 2016 by shrimp56

[Fouremco]

Personally, I'd book it directly even if HAL was still offering it. If you are still interested, here's the website:

 

http://www.bostonducktours.com

[Tarpeian Rock]

There was a fatal accident involving a Boston duck boat at the end of April. My guess would be that HAL wants to sever ties to duck tours to reduce its possible exposure to future liability.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I did a cursory search for the duck tours that leaves from the Boston Aquarium and it appears that you can only book it 30 days in advance- so make sure to reserve by September 15th. The best one is the one from the Aquarium, which is a short taxi ride from the ship. You can walk it- but it's a good 1.5 mile walk from Black Falcon terminal. You can easily do the duck tour on your own. I'd book one around 12 noon at the latest.

 

There is also a hop on trolley I believe that picks up at the port.

http://www.trolleytours.com/boston/trolley-tours-for-cruise-guests.asp

Edited May 19, 2016 by rebeccalouiseagain

[TheEmerson]

Boston has the hop on/hop off bus. That covers a good area with colour commentary.

 

Also Boston Duck Tours had a fatal crash 4/30/2016. I would gather HAL is pulling the booking as they cannot guarantee that the company would be allowed to operate in the near future.

[dcdisney]

I do understand if they are just ending Duck Tours but that doesn't explain why the other probably almost 50 excursions are all gone too. We really were just doing to the Duck Tour to get a brief overview as we've been to Boston a few times, get off the ship easily when there are lots of people embarking/disembarking, and it would leave you at Fanueil Hall which made sense for us to be somewhere central mid-day and decide from there what we wanted to do with the rest of our day. Hmmm. Hopefully there will be some options coming back soon.

[Cruising-along]

Boston has the hop on/hop off bus. That covers a good area with colour commentary.

 

Also Boston Duck Tours had a fatal crash 4/30/2016. I would gather HAL is pulling the booking as they cannot guarantee that the company would be allowed to operate in the near future.

 

Yikes. We took the Duck Tour (loved it) on April 28.

We did both that and the hop on/hop off, it was a great day.

Agree they are both easily done on your own.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I can understand the Duck tours being cancelled.

HAL may just be updating what vendors they will be working with.

Keep checking HAL's site -- you may see excursions pop up in about a month or so.

[Bowie MeMe]

I have seen this happen with other cruise lines about this time. They finalize the shore excursion list for the season. I do think that probably DUCK tours have been cancelled because of the fatal accident and according to Washington Post the safety record of the company was not good. That company also owned several other tour companies/tourist offerings. Really hard to check out excursions -- May be much more risky than you think.

[Hlitner]

Boston is really an easy place to do on one's own. You can even use public transportation (bus to the "T" (subway) from near the port. And taxis are not hard to find for those not wanting to use the inexpensive public transit. HAL excursions have become very expensive in the past few years (the tour provider, tour company that handles the tour desk for HAL, and HAL...all must make a hefty profit from those excursions). Many experienced travelers have finally realized they can do much better on their own be it just doing their own thing or booking a private excursion. But it is a long time until October (we often do not even book cruises until 4-6 weeks prior to the cruise) and they will likely add back some excursions (at even higher prices).

 

By the way, if you want some of the best lobster (or lobster roll) in the world...and enjoy taking a long walk (about a mile)...you can walk from the Black Falcon Pier to James Hook & Company where they always have a few hundred live lobsters from which you can choose. Kind of romantic eating a large fresh whole Maine lobster at a picnic table in their parking lot :)

 

Hank

Edited May 20, 2016 by Hlitner

[dcdisney]

Thanks everyone! Lots of good ideas if nothing shows up that we want at the right price ;)

[ellieanne]

For the past two weeks all the shore excursions for my October 7 Canada/New England cruise have been coming and going. Some days they are there, some days they are not. I had booked my excursions over a month ago, but I keep checking just inc are something new is offered in the ports where I have nothing planned.

 

I just checked and all the tours in Boston are there.

 

It may be just a glitch in the system as they transition to the Journeys Ashore program. Keep checking.

 

If they do not come back, you can check once you're on board. I've had it happen for one cruise that there were no shore excursions offered in one port for online pre-sail booking, but when we got on board, there were close to 25 choices in the booklet in our cabins. We checked out what was offered and booked them before lifeboat drill on embarkation day.

 

I seriously doubt HAL would not offer any shore excursions in Boston. Keep checking or look onboard.

[ikesyd]

When I was checking excursions etc for my Canada/New England cruise departing 1 October a message was on the website that they were doing maintenance/updates to this area of their website. So this may be the reason they disappeared etc.