? about excursions booked through HAL

[mightycruisequeen]

If you've booked HAL excursions for your cruise, do you still receive a physical ticket, or do they only offer electronic tickets?

 

[Tradestock]

I have not received physical tickets to excursions.  The Etickets are located in the Holland Navigator App. Since I typically do not take my phone, the staff are able to verify the excursion with the ship's stateroom card. 

[CruiserBruce]

Haven't seen a printed ticket in about 2 years, although I have heard you can request them.

 

They can also scan your ship card, that also gets you on the tour.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

58 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Haven't seen a printed ticket in about 2 years, although I have heard you can request them.

 

They can also scan your ship card, that also gets you on the tour.

The system works Pretty good.

[OlsSalt]

One unintended problem with the new electronic excursion system is the inability to notify anyone that we intended not to show up for a pre-paid shore excursion.  Nothing on the Navigator allowed this.

 

We understood we would not get refunds due to our late cancellation. That was not the problem. Those were the terms we knew when we signed up. 

 

Their office was closed the night before, and since we were under the weather,  we were not getting out of bed that morning to go track them down port side.  There was not even a mail slot at their desk, like in the past, to drop off any notifications. 

 

So without any possible way to send our last minute no-show notification, either (1) they had to delay the entire group while they waited for us to show up ( a nuisance for other passengers); and/or  (2) they were also not able to re-sell our reservations to someone on a waiting list (missing a financial windfall for them)

[mightycruisequeen]

The reason I ask is because we won't be using the Navigator app, and our phones will be "OFF" and in the safe, not teathered to us.

Can someone verify that they've gone on a ship tour with only their ship card being scanned, or that the ship has printed out tickets for them?

Edited December 31, 2023 by mightycruisequeen

[Cruise Suzy]

7 minutes ago, mightycruisequeen said:

Can someone verify that they've gone on a ship tour with only their ship card being scanned,

 

We have done that on all our cruises since the restart. About 10 excursions in all. If you need to verify when/where to meet, you can visit the Shore Excursion desk or, if you have a laptop/tablet, check it using the PC version of Navigator.

[Cruise Suzy]

26 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

One unintended problem with the new electronic excursion system is the inability to notify anyone that we intended not to show up for a pre-paid shore excursion.  Nothing on the Navigator allowed this.

 

Did you try the "Let us know" option?

[VMax1700]

23 minutes ago, mightycruisequeen said:

Can someone verify that they've gone on a ship tour with only their ship card being scanned,

Yes 

 

[CruiserBruce]

28 minutes ago, mightycruisequeen said:

The reason I ask is because we won't be using the Navigator app, and our phones will be "OFF" and in the safe, not teathered to us.

Can someone verify that they've gone on a ship tour with only their ship card being scanned, or that the ship has printed out tickets for them?

Yes,  we have done that. We have also done screen shots of the digital ticket on our phone and used that as well...so my phone is along as a clock.

[OlsSalt]

39 minutes ago, Cruise Suzy said:

 

Did you try the "Let us know" option?

 

Did not think of this at the time. Should have, since that was the only possible option.  

 

Not sure what the communication is between front desk and the shore excursions franchise. 

[Dutchman48]

5 hours ago, mightycruisequeen said:

The reason I ask is because we won't be using the Navigator app, and our phones will be "OFF" and in the safe, not teathered to us.

Can someone verify that they've gone on a ship tour with only their ship card being scanned, or that the ship has printed out tickets for them?

Have done it both ways. Key card is fine.

[Haljo1935]

10 hours ago, Dutchman48 said:

Have done it both ways. Key card is fine.

+1

[puppycanducruise]

13 hours ago, Dutchman48 said:

Have done it both ways. Key card is fine.

+2

[REOVA]

We ran into some problems - One time the vendor off the ship said he couldn't scan my cabin card and needed the code on the digital ticket (?l) so we always screenshot the ticket and save to phone. One time we tried to embark the ship with a screenshot of the boarding pass and it didn't work and the attendant said sometimes the scanner needs the actual pass from Navigator for initial boarding. You may be able to have ship print out tickets (or your copies) if you need to.  Rarely clitches happen but having multiple options can prepare for tech issues. Also our phones are always in airplane mode on ship but Navigator allows for communicating amongst our party when separated and check times of events we want to do (you can create a specific schedule of selected events you want). In port our phone plan works like at home for internet, email and texting so we can communicate with tour guides or others on land if we need to change or plan meet ups before going back to ship. 

[Tradestock]

My phone stays in the room, too.  I can verify that I have used the stateroom card for excursions on our last four cruises on four different ships.  I requested paper tickets on our cruise in Dec 2022.  I was informed by the excursion desk the tickets are no longer printed, electronic only.  I'm not sure if the "no paper" policy is ship to ship or fleetwide, since I only asked one time for paper tickets.  The keycard has worked well and no issues have been encountered from Dec 2022 to our last cruise in Dec 2023.

[DaveOKC]

They use either the phone app or your cabin key to verify when you board the excursion - quick and easy.  Just be sure you know where and when you are meeting up with the tour.

 

 

Edited January 1 by DaveOKC