HAVE IT ALL TOURS

[Guest ldtr]

4 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

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

Not really most roads in the US have alternate routes. The main roads on some of the islands are the only routes. No through back streets.

[Florida_gal_50]

6 hours ago, terrydtx said:

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.

I really loved the wine portion of this tours but they had to tag on a stop to downtown Sonoma.  They dumped us off in "park" in the pitch black and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.  This was so you could get something to eat or shop.  The restaurants were packed to the nuts and there was one Christmas store open.  It was a complete waste of time.  I did the night tour, there was an option to do the day tour which was the next day because we had an overnight.  I imagine the day tour was much better.  Take that info for whatever little it's worth.

[mcrcruiser]

1 minute ago, ldtr said:

Not really most roads in the US have alternate routes. The main roads on some of the islands are the only routes. No through back streets.

If we are talking Honolulu there are alternate roads not just the frwy  .If we are talking Kauai then there is  one 2 lane road with wild chickens crossing lol   .Maui is pretty good except rcdept the road to Hana  

[mcrcruiser]

4 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I really loved the wine portion of this tours but they had to tag on a stop to downtown Sonoma.  They dumped us off in "park" in the pitch black and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.  This was so you could get something to eat or shop.  The restaurants were packed to the nuts and there was one Christmas store open.  It was a complete waste of time.  I did the night tour, there was an option to do the day tour which was the next day because we had an overnight.  I imagine the day tour was much better.  Take that info for whatever little it's worth.

Yes & the cruise line will not refund is another problem with a sip tour that goes awry 

[Guest ldtr]

13 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

If we are talking Honolulu there are alternate roads not just the frwy  .If we are talking Kauai then there is  one 2 lane road with wild chickens crossing lol   .Maui is pretty good except rcdept the road to Hana  

or the road back from Lahaina which is also the only way back from that entire area,  Except for the 4 hour loop  single lane route. 

[mcrcruiser]

14 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

If we are talking Honolulu there are alternate roads not just the frwy  .If we are talking Kauai then there is  one 2 lane road with wild chickens crossing lol   .Maui is pretty good except rcdept the road to Hana  

The big island is also pretty good toads except when the volcano roars 

[mcrcruiser]

1 minute ago, ldtr said:

or the road back from Lahaina which is also the only way back from that entire area,  Except for the 4 hour loop  single lane route. 

Yeah but ,we never seen lahaina have a problem when we were there for 2 weeks on Maui . Truly ,we have not seem heavy traffic on any islands but in the Honolulu area & we have rented cars  & driven all over Oahu  .At times we hit snags but over all it was nothing like  the freeways in the los Angeles area which can be  many miles of bumper to bumper  .My job years ago was marketing  & I drove all over 3 states Calif cities are the worst  

[Guest ldtr]

4 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

The big island is also pretty good toads except when the volcano roars 

only 3 routes from the kona side to hilo. get any problem on the center highway. and it add about 3 hours via the shortest of the alternates.

[Guest ldtr]

1 minute ago, mcrcruiser said:

Yeah but ,we never seen lahaina have a problem when we were there for 2 weeks on Maui . Truly ,we have not seem heavy traffic on any islands but in the Honolulu area & we have rented cars  & driven all over Oahu  .At times we hit snags but over all it was nothing like  the freeways in the los Angeles area which can be  many miles of bumper to bumper  .My job years ago was marketing  & I drove all over 3 states Calif cities are the worst  

You weren't there when the had a rock fall around the point, closed the road for 6 hours. Or during any of the times when a traffic accident stopped it entirely for a couple of hours. Or when they were doing construction and traffic backed up all of the way back around Lahaina.

 

Certainly low probability events but when it happens, a few times each year, it happens.

[highscar]

What percentage $ of the tour goes to the organizer, private or cruise line ?

[Guest ldtr]

32 minutes ago, highscar said:

What percentage $ of the tour goes to the organizer, private or cruise line ?

Depends upon the tour. I booked one in Alaska directly with the boat tour company just a short walk from the ship so no bus involved. Precruise Princess price 149. Directly with the tour company 134 after taxes. Difference would be greater for those booking on board when prices are usually higher. In that case assuming a hefty discount to the cruise line they probably paid around 90 to 100 per passenger. Pretax our direct rate was 120

 

In many cases the cruise lines take all of the capacity so you are not booking the same tour, but a competing similar tour. 

 

In Hollyhead Wales we booked a 7 hour tour with busybus that went to 3 attractions, that was half of the price of the cruise line tours that were 4 hours and went to 1 place.

 

One of the issues these days is companies like Viator that sell the tours of individual companies take their own cut and tend to make it more difficult to find the individual companies directly.

Edited July 6, 2023 by ldtr

[Mary229]

17 minutes ago, ldtr said:

In many cases the cruise lines take all of the capacity so you are not booking the same tour, but a competing similar tour. 

In many cases especially Alaska and remote locations the cruise lines do indeed buy up all the capacity of the tour companies.   Plus traveling in remote areas can be delayed and the remoteness of ports may make it tremendously difficult to catch up with the ship.  I consider all of this when researching.  I have been in areas where to extract yourself  solo may cost over $15000 and/or many days of rigorous travel. 

[Guest ldtr]

2 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

In many cases especially Alaska and remote locations the cruise lines do indeed buy up all the capacity of the tour companies.   Plus traveling in remote areas can be delayed and the remoteness of ports may make it tremendously difficult to catch up with the ship.  I consider all of this when researching.  I have been in areas where to extract yourself  solo may cost over $15000 and/or many days of rigorous travel. 

yep in many ways it is kind of like buying travel insurance. The risk tolerance of saving a few dollars vs the potential of a much larger loss if a low probability event happens. A matter of convenience and risk matter vs the savings or a more flexible tour experience.

[mcrcruiser]

imo private tours get more than   most cruise line booked tours .This HIA promotion is to trap people into thinking  that they are getting a lot for the money it cost .  however ,when  a person sits down to   go over each item  how does it truly add up for the .The cruise line bets that you are not going to drink 15 drinks id even close to that number a day & they are 1000% right   ,Then they mark up the tours  give you  a $100  toward the tour of your own money   . So the way the cruise line markets the package is to get people to believe it is a  great deal when  they even now include the tips    .What did Barnum tell   the people   .. You know the answer 

[mcrcruiser]

5 minutes ago, ldtr said:

yep in many ways it is kind of like buying travel insurance. The risk tolerance of saving a few dollars vs the potential of a much larger loss if a low probability event happens. A matter of convenience and risk matter vs the savings or a more flexible tour experience.

Yes there are few exceptions to when you should only use a ships tour , The issue is it takes research to gain that knowledge . Some people love to do that & some despise doing it .We are all different 

Edited July 6, 2023 by mcrcruiser

[3rdGenCunarder]

38 minutes ago, ldtr said:

One of the issues these days is companies like Viator that sell the tours of individual companies take their own cut and tend to make it more difficult to find the individual companies directly.

 

I agree. And since Trip Advisor started selling tours, the companies that don't book through them get pushed way down the search list. 

 

I google the exact title of the ship's tour and if I find it or something close, I compare the descriptions. Often, the cruise line just picks up the text from the tour operator's website. 

[Mary229]

54 minutes ago, highscar said:

What percentage $ of the tour goes to the organizer, private or cruise line ?

Many of then independent operators work for the cruise lines too.  So I guess they are doing alright.  They get a guaranteed income and lots of traffic.  Win-win. 

[CruiserBruce]

58 minutes ago, highscar said:

What percentage $ of the tour goes to the organizer, private or cruise line ?

I suspect that varies tour to tour, port to port, perhaps cruise line to cruise line, and also due to other variables.

 

I also suspect it is proprietary information.

[terrydtx]

2 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I really loved the wine portion of this tours but they had to tag on a stop to downtown Sonoma.  They dumped us off in "park" in the pitch black and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.  This was so you could get something to eat or shop.  The restaurants were packed to the nuts and there was one Christmas store open.  It was a complete waste of time.  I did the night tour, there was an option to do the day tour which was the next day because we had an overnight.  I imagine the day tour was much better.  Take that info for whatever little it's worth.

We are doing the day tour so we can do lunch in Sonoma.

[kazu]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

Many of then independent operators work for the cruise lines too.  So I guess they are doing alright.  They get a guaranteed income and lots of traffic.  Win-win. 

 

Yes and no.

 

If HAL cancels the tour because there aren’t enough to suit them the tour guide is out of luck.  I know several that will not book with the cruise lines (some of my favourites)

 

It’s a guaranteed tour for them IF the tour goes.  An example - my favourite Flamenco tablao now does HAL and cruise line tours (not the same but pretty good).  I book them privately with a group.

A few years ago she said to me (in Spanish) thank heavens you booked.  You saved me.  HAL & another cruise line had cancelled their excursions (not enough to suit them I guess) and she had hired & pulled in the entertainers for the show.  She has to pay them whether they perform or not.  We had a fantastic performance and she didn’t end up being out money.

So, there are good points and bad for the tour operators to deal with the cruise lines.

[albingirl]

2 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

imo private tours get more than   most cruise line booked tours .This HIA promotion is to trap people into thinking  that they are getting a lot for the money it cost .  however ,when  a person sits down to   go over each item  how does it truly add up for the .The cruise line bets that you are not going to drink 15 drinks id even close to that number a day & they are 1000% right   ,Then they mark up the tours  give you  a $100  toward the tour of your own money   . So the way the cruise line markets the package is to get people to believe it is a  great deal when  they even now include the tips    .What did Barnum tell   the people   .. You know the answer 

You know, I seriously wonder how you can trust anyone enough to travel. If you think HAL is trapping you, that is strange.

[Mary229]

28 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Yes and no.

 

If HAL cancels the tour because there aren’t enough to suit them the tour guide is out of luck.  I know several that will not book with the cruise lines (some of my favourites)

 

It’s a guaranteed tour for them IF the tour goes.  An example - my favourite Flamenco tablao now does HAL and cruise line tours (not the same but pretty good).  I book them privately with a group.

A few years ago she said to me (in Spanish) thank heavens you booked.  You saved me.  HAL & another cruise line had cancelled their excursions (not enough to suit them I guess) and she had hired & pulled in the entertainers for the show.  She has to pay them whether they perform or not.  We had a fantastic performance and she didn’t end up being out money.

So, there are good points and bad for the tour operators to deal with the cruise lines.

This is likely true but if it didn’t suit them they are under no obligation to continue to do business.  I have met operators who say they only book through the cruise lines, it provides efficiencies they could not achieve on their own.  It is this way in business, I always used a promoter, it served me well and yes I had to pay for that service but it was generally win-win

[kazu]

17 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

This is likely true but if it didn’t suit them they are under no obligation to continue to do business.  I have met operators who say they only book through the cruise lines, it provides efficiencies they could not achieve on their own.  It is this way in business, I always used a promoter, it served me well and yes I had to pay for that service but it was generally win-win

 

And I prefer dealing directly when I can.  Different strokes 🙂. It’s all good - whatever works for each person.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

We are doing the day tour so we can do lunch in Sonoma.

Good to hear.  I would possibly do that tour again because the wineries were fun.  Hopefully you won’t have a problem getting into a place for lunch.

[Mary229]

4 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

And I prefer dealing directly when I can.  Different strokes 🙂. It’s all good - whatever works for each person.

I buy the tour not the person.  I swing all over when it comes to tours from HAl, to independent, to small group roll call, to private drivers.