Crystal's Outrageous Excursion Prices

[Keith1010]

6 hours ago, BoilerBill said:

It is indeed good to go back to the OP, which is what I redid in replying.  That is why I provided the detailed information that this Crystal overnight tour to Luxor appears to be almost triple the cost of a factually comparable overnight to Luxor purchased from Seabourn and taken 4 months ago.  Seabourn had a cruise rep on the tour who stayed overnight with us, and Seabourn provided armed security (an absolute must in this location, imho) that accompanied us at all times. 

 

Of course it is no revelation that everything is more expensive now than pre-Covid.  The comparison I gave is apples-to-apples.  Of course it is no revelation that booking independently is cheaper than booking through the cruise line.  But the direct comparison I provided was between two cruise line overnight excursions at essentially the same point in time and with nearly identical same attributes.

 

Although I have never cruised on Crystal, I fully appreciate it's long time reputation as a wonderful luxury cruise line.  I am not intending to denigrate it in any way.  I merely thought that giving facts to respond directly to the OP would be helpful in quantifying what the OP felt was an outrageous price.  Factually, and inarguably, it IS an outrageous price when compared to the same product from another luxury cruise company.

 

I have only been reading this Crystal CC board about the enhanced Crystal to determine whether we may like to try Crystal in the future.  And we most likely will.  But goodness gracious, it is regrettable that a simple factual comparison in response to an OP feeling evokes this kind of defensive reaction to one single thing that is not particularly praiseworthy.  

 

I don't believe I had responded to your post but maybe I did.

 

My response was to the OP but also to all of the other posts.

 

In the end, I look at shore excursions through the cruise line as tools in ones tool chest. These days in most ports people have choices when it comes to tours. Book the cruise line. Go it alone (not for Luxor), rent a car, book a private tour, have your TA book a private tour for you, etc., etc.

 

I don't believe one tool fits all ports nor do I think one tool fits all people.

 

I have always heard that ship tours are more expensive than doing it on your own. Usually they are. And this to me is no revelation.

 

I looked at the summary of all tours on this current voyage.  I looked at the pricing.  It looks very similar to what I would expect to shore excursions.  It's not like I look at it and it is any different than before.

 

Choice is good. People can decide whether doing a Crystal tour works for them and if not do it on their own IMHO.

 

Keith

[sondi 14]

12 hours ago, Leejnd4 said:

SONDRA! So wonderful to hear from you! Thank you for the kind words about my Mom. We're having her Memorial service on September 9. And yes, that Mothers Day in Les Beaux was one of the highlights of that cruise. I was going through photos the other day and came across one of Mom accepting those flowers I had delivered to her at that gorgeous restaurant in Les Beaux during our lunch together, and the look on her face...oh boy. I fell apart just seeing the joy. She was SO surprised, and thrilled! 

 

Our private tours on that cruise were truly some of the best tours I've ever taken on any cruise. I feel like I've been chasing that whole experience ever since, and have never quite matched it. 🙂 

 

Hmm...have you thought about booking a cruise on Symphony next year? Like maybe...Rome to Venice on Nov. 4 2024? 😁😁😁

It was a great cruise LeeAnn and you did a great job of arranging the tours. As I said, that day was a highlight for us too. 
 

We hadn’t looked at cruising in November, but will check out that cruise. 

[sondi 14]

12 hours ago, Leejnd4 said:

SONDRA! So wonderful to hear from you! Thank you for the kind words about my Mom. We're having her Memorial service on September 9. And yes, that Mothers Day in Les Beaux was one of the highlights of that cruise. I was going through photos the other day and came across one of Mom accepting those flowers I had delivered to her at that gorgeous restaurant in Les Beaux during our lunch together, and the look on her face...oh boy. I fell apart just seeing the joy. She was SO surprised, and thrilled! 

 

Our private tours on that cruise were truly some of the best tours I've ever taken on any cruise. I feel like I've been chasing that whole experience ever since, and have never quite matched it. 🙂 

 

Hmm...have you thought about booking a cruise on Symphony next year? Like maybe...Rome to Venice on Nov. 4 2024? 😁😁😁

It was a great cruise LeeAnn and you did a great job of arranging the tours. As I said, that day was a highlight for us too. 
 

We hadn’t looked at cruising in November, but will check out that cruise. 

2 hours ago, AtA said:

We used to like Regent before they added tours and we tried Regent again this past March while waiting for Crystal to return. Regent is good. We were on the inaugural Crystal cruise and are booked on 2 more and have an open booking for a third. In fact we are also waiting to see the 2025 schedule because we booked an area of the world with Regent for this coming year. If Crystal does that same area in 2025, we are cancelling  the 2024 Regent cruise to book Crystal. Crystal just is better. 

 

Thanks for the advice. The Regent cruise we took was many years ago and all of the tours we did were private. It sounds like the new Crystal is a line we’d really consider and will look into what cruises might work for us. 

[Leejnd4]

15 hours ago, sondi 14 said:

It was a great cruise LeeAnn and you did a great job of arranging the tours. As I said, that day was a highlight for us too. 
 

We hadn’t looked at cruising in November, but will check out that cruise. 

How fun would that be? 😀 Hey, I can reach out to Paul & Kim...maybe they'd consider doing it too. They still go on cruises. It would be like getting the old band back together! ❤️

[Big Vin]

On 8/17/2023 at 4:51 PM, Leejnd4 said:

On my very first Regent cruise (Med) we had a group of 12 people, and we did nearly all our private tours together in some combination too! And I still keep in touch with several of them, all these years later.

 

LeeAnne, Shayna Punim, I'm so sorry I haven't kept in touch with you and Charlie! I'm going to write you a long email right now ... but you know how that goes ... I might still be writing tomorrow. In the mean time, Mrs Vin says to send you her regards too. 😀

[babydrum]

On 8/14/2023 at 5:43 AM, BoilerBill said:

Just for comparison, my wife and I booked an overnight Luxor excursion on our Seabourn cruise in April of this year (2023).  We stayed overnight at the Hilton Luxor Resort and Spa.  The excursion included bus transport to/from Luxor, hotel, an excellent private dinner and entertainment/show, guided entrance to Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple (both day and evening), Valley of the Kings with admission to two tombs, and photo stops at a number of other sites.  It was an excellent excursion, and cost $799 per person. You could book the dawn balloon ride separately via the guide for less than $100 per person.  We did not book the balloon, as we feared that it would be too tiring for us in the midst of two rather busy and strenuous days.  If we were a bit younger, we probably would have done so.

 

All in all, if Crystal is charging something like $2500 pp for this excursion --- it IS truly outrageous, although it is a wonderful experience. 

How was your Luxor tour?  I'm looking at booking the same tour now $1600 total for both of us.  I thought that pricey since there are private companies who will do the same tour with a 5* hotel for half the price.  With the current situation in Israel, I'm not willing to take the chance but I'd like to know if you thought the tour was worth it and if the bus ride to and from Luxor was comfortable.  Thanks.  Also, I'm looking at Petra for $430 pp with SB versus about $145 to $240 pp with private tour operators.  Once again, safety is a concern so I'm likely to go with SB but it irks me that there is such a disparity in prices even though I understand the nature of the markup

[BoilerBill]

5 hours ago, babydrum said:

How was your Luxor tour?  I'm looking at booking the same tour now $1600 total for both of us.  I thought that pricey since there are private companies who will do the same tour with a 5* hotel for half the price.  With the current situation in Israel, I'm not willing to take the chance but I'd like to know if you thought the tour was worth it and if the bus ride to and from Luxor was comfortable.  Thanks.  Also, I'm looking at Petra for $430 pp with SB versus about $145 to $240 pp with private tour operators.  Once again, safety is a concern so I'm likely to go with SB but it irks me that there is such a disparity in prices even though I understand the nature of the markup

It was excellent.  The bus ride (full size 60 pax bus with about 35 people on it was very comfortable.  We had an escort from Seabourn and an armed guard in our bus and with us at all times.  This is worth its weight in gold in a place like Egypt, in our opinion.  Our 5* hotel/resort was right on the Nile, and the tour included lunch upon arrival in Luxor, all admissions to Karnak and Luxor Temples, as well as Valley of the Kings, and an outstanding dinner with drinks included along with an entertaining show along the banks of the Nile at our resort.  Breakfast the next day was also included.  In our opinion, it was WELL worth cost and hit all the marks.  I would be reluctant to tour with an independent guide in Egypt unless I knew a LOT about them.

 

Same thing with Petra.  Included a lovely lunch at the best hotel in Petra after visiting the archaeological site.  The countries involved here have significant unrest, and regularly experience issues.  IMHO, these are not the ideal places to travel with someone independent, but everyone has to make their own choice on this.  For us, the Seabourn trips were good value and we would choose the same thing if we were ever to do it again.  

[Txcotn]

8 hours ago, babydrum said:

How was your Luxor tour?  I'm looking at booking the same tour now $1600 total for both of us.  I thought that pricey since there are private companies who will do the same tour with a 5* hotel for half the price.  With the current situation in Israel, I'm not willing to take the chance but I'd like to know if you thought the tour was worth it and if the bus ride to and from Luxor was comfortable.  Thanks.  Also, I'm looking at Petra for $430 pp with SB versus about $145 to $240 pp with private tour operators.  Once again, safety is a concern so I'm likely to go with SB but it irks me that there is such a disparity in prices even though I understand the nature of the markup

We did the Crystal overnight Luxor trip, can't remember the cost but it was worth every penny and then some!

[babydrum]

4 hours ago, BoilerBill said:

It was excellent.  The bus ride (full size 60 pax bus with about 35 people on it was very comfortable.  We had an escort from Seabourn and an armed guard in our bus and with us at all times.  This is worth its weight in gold in a place like Egypt, in our opinion.  Our 5* hotel/resort was right on the Nile, and the tour included lunch upon arrival in Luxor, all admissions to Karnak and Luxor Temples, as well as Valley of the Kings, and an outstanding dinner with drinks included along with an entertaining show along the banks of the Nile at our resort.  Breakfast the next day was also included.  In our opinion, it was WELL worth cost and hit all the marks.  I would be reluctant to tour with an independent guide in Egypt unless I knew a LOT about them.

 

Same thing with Petra.  Included a lovely lunch at the best hotel in Petra after visiting the archaeological site.  The countries involved here have significant unrest, and regularly experience issues.  IMHO, these are not the ideal places to travel with someone independent, but everyone has to make their own choice on this.  For us, the Seabourn trips were good value and we would choose the same thing if we were ever to do it again.  

Thank you for the information.  I was having such a hard time finding information from someone who had actually done the tour.  I'll be purchasing the tours today!

Edited November 10, 2023 by babydrum

[babydrum]

1 hour ago, Txcotn said:

We did the Crystal overnight Luxor trip, can't remember the cost but it was worth every penny and then some!

Thanks Txcotn.  I love a good deal but sometimes its just not worth it and the ship's excursion make the most sense.

[travelberlin]

I have booked some excursions for my next cruise. There were not a lot of options, and a couple of them I have done before with other cruise line, but I have decided to book the excursions anyhow. Looking forward to experience A&K organized excursions. 
 

Ivi

[PaulMCO]

5 hours ago, travelberlin said:

I have booked some excursions for my next cruise. There were not a lot of options, and a couple of them I have done before with other cruise line, but I have decided to book the excursions anyhow. Looking forward to experience A&K organized excursions. 
 

Ivi

Unless they are unique special excursions, all of the cruise lines use many of the same guides and tour companies.  We are on Silversea now and our guide in Halifax had recently handled the Seabourn and Crystal ships, same in Quebec.

[Keith1010]

Let me add the majority of the excursions are done by Crystal like old Crystal.  Added to them are A&K which you will be able to  tell as these are very unique with a higher price.

 

Keith

[travelberlin]

Thanks Paul MCO and Keith for clarifying about the excursions. It is good to know what to expect and not to go with too high expectations then.
 

If the excursions are conducted the way old Crystal did, that will be fine for me.  In all the excursions I have taken with them, I do not remember having had a bad experience. 
 

Ivi

[BWIVince]

On 11/14/2023 at 2:36 AM, travelberlin said:

Thanks Paul MCO and Keith for clarifying about the excursions. It is good to know what to expect and not to go with too high expectations then.
 

If the excursions are conducted the way old Crystal did, that will be fine for me.  In all the excursions I have taken with them, I do not remember having had a bad experience. 
 

Ivi

I echo Paul’s comments…. Cruise lines generally hire a company called a DMC (Destination Management Company) to act as a broker to contract most things ashore…. You can hire different DMCs to manage different services based on your needs, but overall your DMC would negotiate hotel contracts for pre-post cruise transfers, negotiate transportation services for transfers, broker excursion offerings, and in the case in Intercruises, even contract temps and manage hospitality desks and terminal check-in.

 

I mention all that because A&K isn’t just a retail tour company, they’re better known in the industry as a DMC to other companies.  For many of my past cruises, especially in the Pacific, Crystal used A&K as the DMC for the tours and land packages.  In a couple of cases A&K had to step in and resolve routine challenges that came up with the tour operator (or other situations out of anyone’s control), and I felt like their support was as good as anyone’s.  Generally speaking though, I think the average customer would have a hard time discerning a tour brokered by A&K from a tour brokered by Intercruises or another DMC.  (I mention Intercruises because they served most of my Crystal cruises over the years).  
 

As claimed, they DO bring a lot of expertise and a high level of quality and service, but at the price point that Crystal has always contracted, so did the other DMC’s Crystal has used (and I assume continues to in many/most cases).  I expect pretty much status quo here.

 

Vince