Shore excursion sale

[cormike1]

Sometimes it is better to book HAL's ahead of time as they do fill up and you might be disappointed in not being able to take the tour you want.  I have seen the price go up about $5.00 from booking online to booking once you are onboard.

 

[luv2travel06]

On 11/27/2018 at 12:13 AM, Kruzer Zuker said:

Carnival also has some shorex promo on Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend.  

We saved +/- $125 on our shore excursions with Carnival's 15% discount code for Black Friday, + another 10% statement credit by using our Carnival Mastercard to pay for them-- +/- $200 overall !

 

I came to the HAL board to see if there might be discount code available for excursions on our upcoming Alaska cruise.

[avian777]

On 12/7/2018 at 3:32 AM, utahtea said:

 

Yes,  Holland America does have Shore Excursion sales.  Usually they are "up" to 10% off but all the ones I've seen and booked were only 5% off and not all of their excursions will have a discount.  Last year at this time is when the shore excursions went on sale and it went though mid-March ... 

Utahtea

 

We have had the same experience with some of our more recent (i.e., within the last 3 years) HAL cruises.  Discounts of 5% - 10% may not be great but they are better than no discount at all.

[Kruzer Zuker]

12 hours ago, luv2travel06 said:

We saved +/- $125 on our shore excursions with Carnival's 15% discount code for Black Friday, + another 10% statement credit by using our Carnival Mastercard to pay for them-- +/- $200 overall !

 

I came to the HAL board to see if there might be discount code available for excursions on our upcoming Alaska cruise.

 

Hal doesn’t have discounts for excursions often.  In addition Hal doesn’t show you excursion prices until you book the cruise first, and I can now tell you the excursion prices are on the high side compared to other cruise lines.  

 

I’d plan private excursions whenever possible when using Hal.  

[OlsSalt]

21 minutes ago, Kruzer Zuker said:

 

Hal doesn’t have discounts for excursions often.  In addition Hal doesn’t show you excursion prices until you book the cruise first, and I can now tell you the excursion prices are on the high side compared to other cruise lines.  

 

I’d plan private excursions whenever possible when using Hal.  

 

Give us some examples on what you found to be on the "high side" for the exact same excursions on various cruise lines. HAL goes to so many different ports compared to other cruise lines, this would not be an easy comparison to make.  

 

Comparing HAL tours to what can be found in the same port as a private tour makes sense as the private arrangements can be cheaper but maybe without the intangibles like insurance coverage. But I would like to see your data on various competing cruise line shore excursions for the same excursions in the same ports.

Edited December 16, 2018 by OlsSalt

[Kruzer Zuker]

1 minute ago, OlsSalt said:

 

Give us some examples on what you found to be on the "high side" for the exact same excursions on various cruise lines. HAL goes to so many different ports compared to other cruise lines, this would not be an easy comparison to make. 

 

It would be made easier if Hal publish prices before hand.  

[OlsSalt]

1 minute ago, Kruzer Zuker said:

 

It would be made easier if Hal publish prices before hand.  

 

Can you give examples of your comparisons? Agree, they should make this information available up front because it can be a factor when even choosing an itinerary -what will HAL be offering in those ports for those of us who do like HAL shore excursions and don't quibble that much about the prices and choose them for their convenience value alone.

[Kruzer Zuker]

Just now, OlsSalt said:

 

Can you give examples of your comparisons? Agree, they should make this information available up front because it can be a factor when even choosing an itinerary -what will HAL be offering in those ports for those of us who do like HAL shore excursions and don't quibble that much about the prices and choose them for their convenience value alone.

 

And then there are those of us who are good at pricing all aspects of a cruise and know to avoid unknown. 

[ChinaShrek]

24 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

 

Give us some examples on what you found to be on the "high side" for the exact same excursions on various cruise lines. HAL goes to so many different ports compared to other cruise lines, this would not be an easy comparison to make.  

 

 

Can you give us some examples of tours where HAL is cheaper than other cruise lines for the same tour? If not, both of you are simply stating opinions.  No need for the attack.

[OlsSalt]

24 minutes ago, ChinaShrek said:

 

Can you give us some examples of tours where HAL is cheaper than other cruise lines for the same tour? If not, both of you are simply stating opinions.  No need for the attack.

 

I did not raise the point about other cruise lines offering the exact same shore excursions at a cheaper price. Let's see what that looks like from the poster who did do this research. Who is remaining silent about this claim.

 

Not sure why, we could all learn something from his research. HAL would need to explain why their shore excursions are so much more expensive for the same things under the same company policies. 

Edited December 16, 2018 by OlsSalt

[AdventureCommuter]

Kruzer Z, I too love to price all cost aspects to get a true cost of the cruise; otherwise it is like comparing apples to oranges before you book. I agree with you on avoiding the "unknown"; I consider the higher cost of HAL excursions to be PEACE OF MIND insurance and I have had two incidents where that extra HAL excursion cost paid off for me personally.

 

As far as HAL excursion sales, I took a South Pacific cruise where they offered a small discount and/or one or more of the following: a T-Shirt, thumb drive with excursion photos on it taken by the ships photographer that day, reusable water bottle, etc. The excursion had to be booked on board, as the sale is announced during the excursion presentation for each port. It seemed like they did this in almost every port on this particular sailing. Unfortunately, I had all my excursions pre-booked, so I didn't receive amenities on the sale excursions I had pre-booked. If the port excursion is a MUST DO for me, I wouldn't play the lottery and hope to win a deal on it. 

[Mary229]

I just booked a southern Caribbean cruise on HAL and spent a weekend reviewing my options.  First let me say I am not doing many shore excursions on this one but I did look at every single port.  For this itinerary HAL was the same or even slightly cheaper than the private tours available.   My only complaint with my last two HAL cruises was there weren't that many active options and many of the tours are huge bus tours.  I would be willing to pay more for the van version of the same tour.  

[avian777]

2 hours ago, AdventureCommuter said:

Kruzer Z, I too love to price all cost aspects to get a true cost of the cruise; otherwise it is like comparing apples to oranges before you book. I agree with you on avoiding the "unknown"; I consider the higher cost of HAL excursions to be PEACE OF MIND insurance and I have had two incidents where that extra HAL excursion cost paid off for me personally...

 

👍👍👍  Spot on, AC!!!

[utahtea]

Holland America now has a promotion going on right now called "Why Not Now? " that includes discounts on some excursions.  You will have to check to see if calling Holland America about your cruise will result in lower costs or not but you might want to check it out.  We just took advantage of the free gratuities promotion they had over Thanksgiving and this new promotion wouldn't benefit us, but we do take advantage of any savings by calling them getting in on any promotions we like.  

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/deals/why-not-now-cruises.html

Edited December 22, 2018 by utahtea