HAVE IT ALL TOURS

[mcrcruiser]

Do you feel that the cash that Holland America allows per tour on the Have It All is a good deal in light of their rather high tour prices ? What is your opinion ?

[Mary229]

HAL has a best price guarantee and honor it.  I have not seen that HAL’s tour are more expensive than any other tour.  Mostly I will use private tours for the small group experience.   Shop and compare is the best course of action. 

[crystalspin]

It's a savings if there is an excursion you want to take. We had $100 each for each leg of our Mexican Riviera B2B last winter and did three excursions total (IOW we paid for one). Two of the ShoreXes were VERY GOOD, and one -- which had been modified rather extensively from the description -- was a disappointing. 

 

We have $300 each for upcoming Hawaii-Tahiti cruise. Only ship's tours for Hawaii have been released, but I have already "spent" the credits and $800 more on three excursions. Two are small-group, and the third is to the Polynesian Cultural Center, since the rest of the cruise will be visiting Polynesia that seemed appropriate.

[dchip]

If the Shore Excursion is over $100 are you able to pay the difference or must you choose one under $100?

Thanks for any help!

Denise

[0106]

2 minutes ago, dchip said:

 

If the Shore Excursion is over $100 are you able to pay the difference or must you choose one under $100?

 

You just pay the difference.  If you have a $100 credit and the tour is less, you can apply the difference to the second tour.

[dchip]

Just now, 0106 said:

You just pay the difference.  If you have a $100 credit and the tour is less, you can apply the difference to the second tour.

Great!!!!! Thanks so much!

Denise

[mcrcruiser]

7 hours ago, Mary229 said:

HAL has a best price guarantee and honor it.  I have not seen that HAL’s tour are more expensive than any other tour.  Mostly I will use private tours for the small group experience.   Shop and compare is the best course of action. 

We are doing a small  private  tour on Kauai by renting a SUV from AVis who picksup at the pier ,We split costs of rental $176 plus gas cost ,We are going to  Wiameia Vanyon  & Popui Beach ,a top 10 beach for snorkel mswim ,restaurants ,showers ie ,  Holland America just for Waimea Canton shares$129 each    .We are doing a 7yo 10 hour lunch includes & all entry costs for a Circle Oahu tour at $140 each in touring Vans with a/c large windows  ,small group of 10  pax  ,  

  I have done  private tours all over the world  by creating a great tour with 5 star operators only , We always  do bettrer than the ships tours ,Not only that but small groups we can alter the tour in progress if it works better for us 

[mcrcruiser]

7 hours ago, crystalspin said:

It's a savings if there is an excursion you want to take. We had $100 each for each leg of our Mexican Riviera B2B last winter and did three excursions total (IOW we paid for one). Two of the ShoreXes were VERY GOOD, and one -- which had been modified rather extensively from the description -- was a disappointing. 

 

We have $300 each for upcoming Hawaii-Tahiti cruise. Only ship's tours for Hawaii have been released, but I have already "spent" the credits and $800 more on three excursions. Two are small-group, and the third is to the Polynesian Cultural Center, since the rest of the cruise will be visiting Polynesia that seemed appropriate.

We have been to the PCC rwice .You can rents a vehicle from Thrifty at the port they have shuttles to the airport , &when you come back they will drop you off at the pier .If you have 2 days on Oahu that is a better way ,Reason is HAL will have certain times .when you book yourselves you control the time you want to spend there .Believe me you want to do this one yourself .We will go back there in 2025 hopefully & then only Super Ambassador  .although pricy it is so worth the money .You can even rent electric scooters there fir any one who needs assistance in walking ,Great place to  visit 

 

 Another wonderful to see on Oahu is the Bishop Museum ,pretty close to the cruise pier ,uber or taxi & Iolani Palace close by the poer

 

 Been to all the islands many many times by plane & ships .Let me know if you need other recommendations ,We seen 95 % of it all   on the  islands

Cliff

 

 

 

[Mary229]

This is the second thread this week bemoaning the tour rates.   Of course independent touring is going to be cheaper.  It is not really the transportation costs that the tour companies/HAL is charging for - it is the insurances and employee cost, independent or contractor.   Having an employee is expensive.  The other thing that increased mightily with inflation are entry fees. Museums and site fees are off the charts, ditto concerts and theater. (We do at least one local outing/event a month and what used to be $20-$30 per person is now closer to $50)

[terrydtx]

14 hours ago, 0106 said:

You just pay the difference.  If you have a $100 credit and the tour is less, you can apply the difference to the second tour.

Yes, we booked a Sonoma County wine tasing tour on our upcoming Koingsdam cruise and it cost $179pp, we used our $100 HIA credit and paid the $79 overage by CC. If you are booking excursions under $100 add them to you shopping cart along with other excursions and when you check out the $100 credits will be deducted from the total cost of all excursions.

[Sea42]

9 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

We are doing a small  private  tour on Kauai by renting a SUV from AVis who picksup at the pier ,We split costs of rental $176 plus gas cost ,We are going to  Wiameia Vanyon  & Popui Beach ,a top 10 beach for snorkel mswim ,restaurants ,showers ie ,  Holland America just for Waimea Canton shares$129 each 

So in this case, if you used your excursion credit, it would be $29 for the HAL tour. I'd still choose the private option for a visit to the canyon but if I were looking at a similar situation in Honolulu I would take the HAL option to avoid the horrible traffic! 

[mcrcruiser]

2 hours ago, Sea42 said:

So in this case, if you used your excursion credit, it would be $29 for the HAL tour. I'd still choose the private option for a visit to the canyon but if I were looking at a similar situation in Honolulu I would take the HAL option to avoid the horrible traffic! 

 The traffic is not all that bad &once you are away from the Honolulu area it is easy 

[mcrcruiser]

5 hours ago, Mary229 said:

This is the second thread this week bemoaning the tour rates.   Of course independent touring is going to be cheaper.  It is not really the transportation costs that the tour companies/HAL is charging for - it is the insurances and employee cost, independent or contractor.   Having an employee is expensive.  The other thing that increased mightily with inflation are entry fees. Museums and site fees are off the charts, ditto concerts and theater. (We do at least one local outing/event a month and what used to be $20-$30 per person is now closer to $50)

Mary we can pit together a better & lower cost tour than  any cruise line day in & day out , /We have never ever come close to missing the ship , The cruise lines tout that but ,there was once a ships tour that actually did not make the ship & the ship had to leave .It was a HAL cruise in the Pamama Canal ,some thing about floods ie .So there is no fool proof tours imo . Another great feature doing a small group tour is changes can be made while on the tour .Can't do that with a ships tour 

[CruiserBruce]

33 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

Mary we can pit together a better & lower cost tour than  any cruise line day in & day out , /We have never ever come close to missing the ship , The cruise lines tout that but ,there was once a ships tour that actually did not make the ship & the ship had to leave .It was a HAL cruise in the Pamama Canal ,some thing about floods ie .So there is no fool proof tours imo . Another great feature doing a small group tour is changes can be made while on the tour .Can't do that with a ships tour 

So you post many threads about whether or not HAL and CCL are going to make it, have enough revenue, etc. Then you propose to reduce one of their main profit centers?

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

 The traffic is not all that bad &once you are away from the Honolulu area it is easy 

You have spent much time on Kauai lately. Traffic can be quit bad, especially between the port area and Princeville. Due to only a single route between those areas Similarly Maui has its own traffic issues. 

 

Many of the parks now have fairly high parking fees, parking restrictions, and or reservations.

 

The islands found that they liked the lower level of tourism during covid, compared to the crush of tourists afterward. As a result they are putting in place a number of fees and restrictions with a goal of reducing visitors to a more sustainable level.

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

Mary we can pit together a better & lower cost tour than  any cruise line day in & day out , /We have never ever come close to missing the ship , The cruise lines tout that but ,there was once a ships tour that actually did not make the ship & the ship had to leave .It was a HAL cruise in the Pamama Canal ,some thing about floods ie .So there is no fool proof tours imo . Another great feature doing a small group tour is changes can be made while on the tour .Can't do that with a ships tour 

Of course you neglected to mention that the cruise line took care of all or the arrangements and expenses to get them back to the ship.

 

On a South American cruise I was on a plane coming back from Cusco to Lima had a bird strike on takeoff, Slid off the runway. Closed Cusco airport. No one was injured.

 

On that plan was about 100 people that had taken the ships excursion to Machu Pichu. Along with around 20 people that put together an excursion on their own (cruise critic) and 2 couples that booked an excursion via American Express.  Because the airport was closed the ship could not stay in Lima. The cruise line (in this case Princess) took care of all travel and hotel arrangements. Put them up on very nice hotels. Paid all expenses. The ship made a special stop in Manta Ecuador to pick them up. The 4 with American express also made that stop with Amex taking care of the arrangements. The CC group were totally on their own. Had to make their own travel arrangements, at their own expense. They did not rejoin the ship until a few days later at the scheduled port stop in Costa Rica.

 

One of the  comments I remember from the group when they were organizing the tour was "what can go wrong we are on the same plane as the Princess excursion.

 

Also keep in mind on a close loop tour out of the US mainland if you miss the ship at a Hawaiian port it is a violation of PVSA. If the ship allows to to record at another Hawaiian Island it is another violation.

 

While missing the ship while doing your own this is a low probability event for most people that plan well. Things can happen, road blocked, accident, rental care breakdown, traffic, etc. When that happens one needs to be prepared to deal with the cost of such an event.

Edited July 6, 2023 by ldtr

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

Mary we can pit together a better & lower cost tour than  any cruise line day in & day out , /We have never ever come close to missing the ship , The cruise lines tout that but ,there was once a ships tour that actually did not make the ship & the ship had to leave .It was a HAL cruise in the Pamama Canal ,some thing about floods ie .So there is no fool proof tours imo . Another great feature doing a small group tour is changes can be made while on the tour .Can't do that with a ships tour 

Then why complain about ship tours?  Not everyone wants to travel independently 

[mcrcruiser]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

So you post many threads about whether or not HAL and CCL are going to make it, have enough revenue, etc. Then you propose to reduce one of their main profit centers?

I own over 1000 share of CCL stock .so what does that imply ?   when we tour we like to be able to tell the driver lets see that over there & the driver does that  .In cruise line tours you can not defer 

[mcrcruiser]

12 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Then why complain about ship tours?  Not everyone wants to travel independently 

The majority of  people will take a ships tour because they are not savvy enough  nor care to investigate options .This is why there are choices .We choose to do our own because we get more out of our own designed tours .

[dchip]

23 minutes ago, ldtr said:

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

Of course you neglected to mention that the cruise line took care of all or the arrangements and expenses to get them back to the ship.

 

On a South American cruise I was on a plane coming back from Cusco to Lima had a bird strike on takeoff, Slid off the runway. Closed Cusco airport. No one was injured.

My sister was on that cruise. Princess also treated them like royalty when they finally got back to the ship. 

[Sea42]

2 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

 The traffic is not all that bad &once you are away from the Honolulu area it is easy 

Yes, it can be bad. We have been in some horrible back ups driving into and out of Honolulu. Now that my brother no longer lives there I'm fine with never seeing Oahu again!

[mcrcruiser]

2 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

Yes, it can be bad. We have been in some horrible back ups driving into and out of Honolulu. Now that my brother no longer lives there I'm fine with never seeing Oahu again!

Yes if you do during rush hours any city can back up  traffic but once out of Honolulu traffic it is easy sailing been our experience 

[Guest ldtr]

7 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

Yes, it can be bad. We have been in some horrible back ups driving into and out of Honolulu. Now that my brother no longer lives there I'm fine with never seeing Oahu again!

With the limited number routes, even on Oahu, any traffic incident can result in traffic problems for hours. I remember a few years ago when a bridge construction project made a total mess of traffic from the north shore

[mcrcruiser]

2 minutes ago, ldtr said:

With the limited number routes, even on Oahu, any traffic incident can result in traffic problems for hours. I remember a few years ago when a bridge construction project made a total mess of traffic from the north shore

Well isn;t that true of any roads USA ?  Seems to me that is the exception & not the rule

[Florida_gal_50]

18 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

The majority of  people will take a ships tour because they are not savvy enough  nor care to investigate options .This is why there are choices .We choose to do our own because we get more out of our own designed tours .

Yeah, that would be it.  It's a wonder we can walk without says left, right, left, right.