Booking shore excursions with HIA

[Kate45]

I'm trying to book 2 shore excursions using my HIA credit. I can see the excursion I want but when I look at it to book, it says that the time is sold out. Why is it even there then?  There are no other times listed. Will I be able to book this on-board? Will there be other options either beforehand or on-board? We are 5 months out of out 9f our Canada New England cruise and there is not much left to use our credit for. Are these prices I see on the HaL shore excursion in US $ or Cdn$. 

 I'm also interested in booking the 2 specialty dining nites we get with the HIA pkg. It wont let me do that either. Yet it says we can. What the heck is Holland America doing? What are the chances of us getting our preferred time and dates if we wait until on-board. I'm getting so frustrated with all the hiccups we've had with booking this cruise. Is HAL having problems? Seems like their customer service is not what I remember from our past experiences. And their website definitely isn't..  please someone, help me thru this!,,l

[CruiserBruce]

The dinner reservations should come available any time now.

 

I can't answer your question about USD or Canadian, but I suspect it is in USD.

 

You can book excursions and dinner reservations on board if there are any slots left.

[FOPMan]

HAL usually posts pricing in US dollars unless denoted otherwise, especially if you are on the core US site. Onboard, pricing is in US dollars. The front desk can convert reasonable amounts to the major currencies on the route it is currently sailing.

 

When using the web site to make dining reservations, you can indicate use of a HIA credit through a check box. If you subsequently cancel the reservation, the credit will restore, but it may take a couple of hours to refresh.

 

Depending on the itinerary, there may be additional excursions, either duplicates of existing excursions or new destinations.

 

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

32 minutes ago, FOPMan said:

HAL usually posts pricing in US dollars unless denoted otherwise, especially if you are on the core US site. Onboard, pricing is in US dollars. The front desk can convert reasonable amounts to the major currencies on the route it is currently sailing.

 

When using the web site to make dining reservations, you can indicate use of a HIA credit through a check box. If you subsequently cancel the reservation, the credit will restore, but it may take a couple of hours to refresh.

 

Depending on the itinerary, there may be additional excursions, either duplicates of existing excursions or new destinations.

 

 

 

I've more often seen extra times for existing excursions added rather than entirely new excursions. 

[oaktreerb]

If it gives you the option to “waitlist’ and you accept that option HAL will notify you when the excursion becomes available, assuming someone cancels or new times open up.  

[Kate45]

Thanks for the replies. I'm looking at an excursion for $65. Assuming that is in US$ it will cost us a little over $100 Cdn$. Since the HIA pkg is for $100 per excursion, is that in US$ or will they charge me the few extra dollars for the exchange difference? Will this go on my account or will I have to pay the  extra couple of bucks on a cc? Does HAL have a shore excursion line I can call? I'm booking for 4 people in two separate cabins. Might be easier that way. Thanks

[FOPMan]

HALs transactions are almost always in US dollars, unless explicitly noted.

 

I don’t believe there is currently a way for a private passenger to use credits from more than one cruise reservation in securing an excursion or dining reservation. If you had the credentials for the a passenger in the other cabin and were authorized, you could log in a second time and make  your purchase separately.

 

It would be convenient, at least, to be able to email an invitation for the activity making it easier to identify the “right” one (and to email the appointment outside of the HAL world), but, sadly, that does not exist, as such, though you could forward the receipt.

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, Kate45 said:

Since the HIA pkg is for $100 per excursion, is that in US$ or will they charge me the few extra dollars for the exchange difference?

Excursions are price in USD.  The $100 credit in HIA is also USD. 

[ski ww]

I've had this problem when trying to book shore excursions and called HAL and we booked it over the phone, if there are any spaces left, good luck. 

[Banditswife]

I have had issues booking online as well, ended up calling the telephone number listed as shore excursions reservations.  The rep will know exactly what is left & can waitlist you on those that are sold out.

[golfnut64]

18 hours ago, FOPMan said:

HAL usually posts pricing in US dollars unless denoted otherwise, especially if you are on the core US site. Onboard, pricing is in US dollars. The front desk can convert reasonable amounts to the major currencies on the route it is currently sailing.

 

When using the web site to make dining reservations, you can indicate use of a HIA credit through a check box. If you subsequently cancel the reservation, the credit will restore, but it may take a couple of hours to refresh.

 

Depending on the itinerary, there may be additional excursions, either duplicates of existing excursions or new destinations.

 

 

Where is the credit box when booking?  I tried to book and they want me to pay.

 

[Kate45]

Thanks everyone. I ended up phoning the shore excursion number and a very nice person booked the shore excursion we wanted using our HIA credit for both cabins. I had the other couples booking number and birthdays to confirm who they were and all went well. A confirmation email for both bookings was immediately sent to me. Now if I could only book the 2 dinners we get with the HIA, I could put everything away and eagerly await our first cruise since covid! Thanks again

[Cruise Junky]

12 hours ago, Kate45 said:

Thanks for the replies. I'm looking at an excursion for $65. Assuming that is in US$ it will cost us a little over $100 Cdn$. Since the HIA pkg is for $100 per excursion, is that in US$ or will they charge me the few extra dollars for the exchange difference? Will this go on my account or will I have to pay the  extra couple of bucks on a cc? Does HAL have a shore excursion line I can call? I'm booking for 4 people in two separate cabins. Might be easier that way. Thanks

$64 US is $87 Canadian. Not over $100.  

[Kate45]

You are right. I did do the math. Didn't type the right number. Ooopps