Excursions pdf

[Cruise4food]

I am the OP. Wanted to wait until after the holidays to call HAL EXC. I got the same response as a previous poster: they can't email that information (the list of excursions) anymore but they are working to bring it back. The agent agreed that it was a great option and that it is not as convenient to go back and forth on the website.

 

It sounded like there are plenty of complaints about this.

 

 

 

I sent a comment through the website feedback form and received an email reply from the Tour Reservations Group. Key phrase in the reply is this ...”as our shore excursion eBrochures (the PDF downloads) are not ADA-compliant, we were forced to remove them”...

[violet stillwater]

I am really surprised by the ADA compliant comment by the tour company. Like many industries who cater to humans, they really ought to be compliant. Yes, I know this costs money. I worked in a field where we had to spend a lot to be compliant. That's what you do to serve the client.

[bUU]

I am really surprised by the ADA compliant comment by the tour company. Like many industries who cater to humans, they really ought to be compliant. Yes, I know this costs money. I worked in a field where we had to spend a lot to be compliant. That's what you do to serve the client.

Again, the information is all there, accessible by all, including those who rely on ADA protection. It just isn't in the form that some people prefer it.

 

If given a choice between doing two different things for clients, or doing the same thing for clients two different ways, how would you determine which to do?

[3rdGenCunarder]

That is still available just not in the form that you liked it.

 

 

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

 

No, it isn't. I understand exactly what PSR is saying because I've done the same thing. When I was looking into a Prinsendam crusie more than a year out, I downloaded the PDF for the current year's version. Not all the ports were the same, but it gave me a sense of what they were likely to offer for the ports that were the same. I could research possibilities sooner than if I waited until after I booked. And yes, I know I couldn't be sure the tours were the same. But it turned out that they were, and I'd had a heads-up on what to expect with times and prices.

 

You can see tours HAL offers, but you can't find out which ones are offered for a specific cruise until after you have booked it. If you're trying to decide between two similar but not identical itineraries, tour options could be a deciding factor. With the downloadable PDF, you can see what's available for each cruise. As it is now, you can only get a generic list of tours for a particular destination.

 

And don't get me started on letting the website choose based on how I push the little slider around. That's just a marketing gimmick. I can READ and make choices for myself. And it's easier to read and choose using the PDF (on my computer, not printed) rather than poking around the website.

[bUU]

No, it isn't.

All the excursions information is there, online. It's accurate per cruise, when accessed through the correct links, once you are booked.

 

So again it boils down to if given a choice between doing two different things for clients, or doing the same thing for clients two different ways, how would you determine which to do?

Edited January 4, 2018 by bUU

[3rdGenCunarder]

All the excursions information is there, online. It's accurate per cruise, when accessed through the correct links, once you are booked.

 

So again it boils down to if given a choice between doing two different things for clients, or doing the same thing for clients two different ways, how would you determine which to do?

 

Is it accurate per cruise? I have poked around at it just a little, but it appears to bring up every cruise that includes the PORT, not the EXCURSION. Not all excursions run on every itinerary. For example, searching a daytime tour in Victoria pulled up a list of cruises that included cruises that arrive in Victoria at 6 PM. And the only way to see prices is in the PDF or after you have booked a cruise. All I saw using the search was varying numbers of dollar signs.

[bUU]

Is it accurate per cruise?

It shows the excursions available for that voyage. It even shows the departure time.

 

[Cruise4food]

I am really surprised by the ADA compliant comment by the tour company. Like many industries who cater to humans, they really ought to be compliant. Yes, I know this costs money. I worked in a field where we had to spend a lot to be compliant. That's what you do to serve the client.

 

 

 

I want to clarify the statement was from Holland America as per “Holland America Line EXC Tour Reservations Department”.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[PSR]

It shows the excursions available for that voyage. It even shows the departure time.

 

[/

quote]

 

We know how get the one you're showing if we're booked. What we can't do without the excursion.pdf that used to be available and we're talking about, is to look at the excursions for say, 2018, to find out what they cost and possible availability for 2019.

[Alphen]

All the excursions information is there, online. It's accurate per cruise, when accessed through the correct links, once you are booked.

 

So again it boils down to if given a choice between doing two different things for clients, or doing the same thing for clients two different ways, how would you determine which to do?

 

It is correct what you mention above, but manny people want to acces this information, BEFORE they book. If you have not booked a particular cruise, as the website is set up at this moment, THERE IS NO WAY TO LOOK INTO SPECIFICS ABOUT EXCURSIONS IF YOU ARE NOT BOOKED ON THAT SPECIFIC CRUISE.

 

Excursions that are available in a port can be accessed through the general menu, but there is no way of knowing if this excursion will be availble on a specific cruise and no way of an easy overview of all of the information per excursion, you have to click every excursion, to access extra information!

[bUU]

It is correct what you mention above, but manny people want to acces this information, BEFORE they book.

For every product and service I have ever worked on, there are invariably some people who will have wanted practically everything one could possibly express as a requirement. With regard to excursions on cruises, I would want each excursion description to come with a full video of the entire excursion. The cruise line didn't provide that information though. I had to seek it out myself and only found it for some of the excursions. Being able to see what the actual experience was helped us feel confident in my spouse's ability to navigate the terrain for excursions on our recent cruise.

 

With regard to my desire for full videos, you may be thinking exactly what the cruise line was thinking: This isn't the kind of information that the cruise line is to be expected to provide. The intention is to support selecting cruises based on general parameters, because everything else is subject to change.

 

I want more specifics - so do you. Neither of our expectations has primacy. If we can satisfy our personal and specific needs regardless, more power to us, but to think that one's personal preference should trump all the other considerations that go into maintaining a business is unreasonable.

 

All the excursions information is there, online. It's accurate per cruise, when accessed through the correct links, once you are booked. And here's where Cruise Critic comes in, cruisers helping cruisers get more out of their cruises: If you have a personal priority that goes beyond the norm, go to that Roll Call and ask about it. Interact. Ask for help just like you would (presumably) offer help.

[bUU]

One other thought about this: If you're really concerned about this, perhaps the best thing you can do is contact the corporate office providing a link to a cruise line website that offers you exactly what you want (no - not referring to what the Holland America website used to do - referring to what a competitor's website currently does). That will provide some substantive reason to question the decision made to make the changes recently made, more than just one customer expressing a pet peeve, whether it be yours or mine.

 

And if other cruise line websites in the same price range don't offer that, that is also useful information.

[bcummin]

". . .All the excursions information is there, online. It's accurate per cruise, when accessed through the correct links, once you are booked. . ."

 

 

We are booked, but the information is not there - even after bouncing from one place to another.

Why do we have less information available than before?

Barbara

[bUU]

Why do we have less information available than before?

I cannot answer that question because, with respect, as I indicated earlier in the thread, my view is that we don't have less information; we have the same information available in a different way. Things changed. The change was apparently, at least in part, caused by the fact that the way the information was available previously was not accessible for those with disabilities. Sometimes accommodations for the disabled requires changes that affect all of us. The changes also may have come about as part of cost containment efforts, a change in promotional strategy, and/or a routine change within which some aspects, which were never intended features of the service offered, were not retained. And as I said before...

Our choice isn't whether time passes or whether things will change, but rather how/whether we will adapt to those changes; i.e., whether things will be easier and better for us because we have adapted or whether things will be harder and worse for us because we have not.

[joekerstef]

All the excursions information is there, online. It's accurate per cruise, when accessed through the correct links, once you are booked.

 

And I am telling you that at least for my next cruise, this is not true. I'm about as exasperated with this thread as I am with HAL's current excursions system.

[whogo]

I have downloaded an excursion brochure pdf or two, never printed one. The beautiful thing about a pdf is that it does not change, is easy to scroll through, is available offline, is easily searched, offers the whole description and you don't have to click yet again to read the details.

 

I see the day coming where HAL will offer the same tour at different prices. Only three seats left? Raise the price. Frequent passenger who has never risked an independent excursion? Charge him more. He's a suite guest? Charge him even more.

[bUU]

I see the day coming where HAL will offer the same tour at different prices. Only three seats left? Raise the price. .

This actually makes sense, and as a stockholder I would wonder why it is not the case already.

[avian777]

This actually makes sense, and as a stockholder I would wonder why it is not the case already.

 

I agree. (y)

[Overhead Fred]

I sent a comment through the website feedback form and received an email reply from the Tour Reservations Group. Key phrase in the reply is this ...”as our shore excursion eBrochures (the PDF downloads) are not ADA-compliant, we were forced to remove them”...

 

I must say that I am completely mystified as to how ADA compliance applies to a downloadable PDF file.

[bUU]

I must say that I am completely mystified as to how ADA compliance applies to a downloadable PDF file.

In order for PDF files to be screen readable by screen readers for the vision impaired they have to comply with the ISO 14289-1 standard.

 

This post may have been entered by voice recognition. Please excuse any typographical errors.

[3rdGenCunarder]

One other thought about this: If you're really concerned about this, perhaps the best thing you can do is contact the corporate office providing a link to a cruise line website that offers you exactly what you want (no - not referring to what the Holland America website used to do - referring to what a competitor's website currently does). That will provide some substantive reason to question the decision made to make the changes recently made, more than just one customer expressing a pet peeve, whether it be yours or mine.

 

And if other cruise line websites in the same price range don't offer that, that is also useful information.

 

(bold is mine) I disagree. Why can't I ask for something HAL used to do? Changes need not be irrevocable, nor are they all good for the customer. Perhaps HAL dropped the PDFs because they didn't think enough people would care if it was gone. Or their staff didn't want to bother preparing the additional resource. If enough people ask to have the PDFs brought back, perhaps HAL will listen.

 

Remember the New Coke?

[bUU]

Why can't I ask for something HAL used to do?

 

No one said you couldn't ask. What I said was that would not be a sufficient answer. I said so because "you used to do it that way" is not a sufficient reason for a business to do something in the future.

 

Changes need not be irrevocable

Nor must the status quo continue indefinitely. That's the point.

 

If enough people ask to have the PDFs brought back, perhaps HAL will listen.

And if too few people ask to have the PDFs brought back what message do YOU think the cruise line should take from that?

 

 

 

 

This post may have been entered by voice recognition. Please excuse any typographical errors.

[bcummin]

I cannot answer that question because, with respect, as I indicated earlier in the thread, my view is that we don't have less information; we have the same information available in a different way. Things changed. The change was apparently, at least in part, caused by the fact that the way the information was available previously was not accessible for those with disabilities. Sometimes accommodations for the disabled requires changes that affect all of us. The changes also may have come about as part of cost containment efforts, a change in promotional strategy, and/or a routine change within which some aspects, which were never intended features of the service offered, were not retained. And as I said before...

 

You seem to be the only one trying to defend this mess.

Change should be for improvement.

Whatever the excuse, Holland America's goal should be a user friendly website to highlight all available shore excursions.

The current sorry website is not doing that.

 

Barbara

[avian777]

I must say that I am completely mystified as to how ADA compliance applies to a downloadable PDF file.

 

Any reasonably good attorney could explain how the ADA applies to downloadable .pdf files.

[PSR]

". . .All the excursions information is there, online. It's accurate per cruise, when accessed through the correct links, once you are booked. . ."

 

 

We are booked, but the information is not there - even after bouncing from one place to another.

Why do we have less information available than before?

Barbara

 

And I am telling you that at least for my next cruise, this is not true. I'm about as exasperated with this thread as I am with HAL's current excursions system.

 

Hi to you both; I assume you both signed in to HAL? Then the next step would be to go to your account, then to "reservation". Then to see shorex, you choose the "purchase" link. You don't really have to purchase anything to look at the available excursions. You can also get there by choosing "itinerary" after you get to your reservation. Hope this helps....:)