Booking shore excursions

[Kate45]

Getting ready to book shore excursions for fall repo cruise Quebec City to Ft Lauderdale. Only really need to book Boston and NYC thru HAL so do I book thru my TA or thru HAL? I've been told that if you use a TA, HAL prefers you to have them do it all. I won't do it thru website since we don't have reliable internet (live in rural Ontario).

[catl331]

8 minutes ago, Kate45 said:

I've been told that if you use a TA, HAL prefers you to have them do it all.

We've never been told that, and we always book our excursions ourselves on-line. If you have unreliable internet it's perfectly acceptable to call. What HAL doesn't want you to do directly is try to change the terms of the basic booking, like changing rooms or asking for a price adjustment.

Edited May 13, 2019 by catl331

[Fouremco]

Will your TA even book shore excursions for you? The two major TA's that we have used don't, referring you instead to Shore Excursions Group, along with a discount code. Remember too that you will need to do your online checkin on HAL's website at some point prior to the cruise, so access to reliable internet is something you might want to seek out. Is there a not-too-distant town with a library or other community facility offering better internet? As @catl331 points out, you can book your shore excursions over the phone, but I don't think you can do your checkin that way. 

 

I'm curious as to why you are only looking at Boston and NYC for HAL shore excursions. There are so many other excellent options in these two cities that I'd never pay the exorbitant rates that HAL charges.

Edited May 13, 2019 by Fouremco

[Kate45]

Today is a somewhat good day for internet (I've only been booted out once so far typing this). Problem is not just with Internet, we will NOT do anything with credit card online-another story. I will, because I have to, do online checkin but as far as ordering anything online.....no (booted out again, so I'll have to be quick)

 we are Canadian and have been to east coast and seen ports there many times so not doing excursions there. I've read here on CC that other ports are easily done either by walking or arranging onshore. Boston and NYC are places we want to specifically make sure we see as much as possible. And since we don't book online, we have no choice but to use HAL or try and arrange something once in port. I know it will cost more but as Cdn, we are already paying so... more anyway. 

 Any suggestions for Boston and NYC would be great!

BTW.....we live on a lake with a beautiful view and that out ways our crappy Internet!

 

[catl331]

27 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Will your TA even book shore excursions for you?

Ours will - or at least would when we first started cruising HAL 17 years ago!  Haven't done that in a long time though.

Edited May 13, 2019 by catl331