Exhorbitant Tour Charges

[howndder]

Hi,

 

Am I the only one here that thinks Holland Americas' shore excursions are being priced so high it makes you want to go it alone? This November we're traveling on the Prinsendam from Capetown to Ft. Lauderdale and I am blown away by the shore excursion price list. Some all day tours are almost $200.00 per person!!! Since we are 4 people traveling that come to almost $800.00 for a day trip. Holy catfish, Robin!! I no have made my own tour reservations for several stops on this trip for less than 1/4 of what Holland is charging. I have no problem with Holland making a profit, but do they have to be so PIGGY?????

 

What do you all think of this policy of Holland America.

 

BTW, when we sailed on Regent Cruises "Navigator", we were extremely surprised to find out that they charge their "guests", whatever the tour companies charge them, period. They also are the same per diem as this trip on the Prinsendam. They also throw in free shuttles to the center of whatever town they're in.

 

I think we have to start complaining more and send Holland a message, "We're not going to take this anymore"

 

Thanks for letting me sound off.

 

 

hiwndder

[kryos]

I no have made my own tour reservations for several stops on this trip for less than 1/4 of what Holland is charging. I have no problem with Holland making a profit, but do they have to be so PIGGY?????

I wholeheartedly agree with you. You could very well pay more for taking a tour with the cruise line than you would pay making your own arrangements. But ... that's not necessarily true.

 

A word to the wise ... Carefully review the tour description and see what HAL is including in the price, and then compare that with what you are getting. In some cases, private tours will not include admissions to various things, nor will they include a meal (if it is an all-day tour). By the time you pay admissions to maybe three different tourist attractions, plus stop somewhere for a meal, you're almost up to what the cruise line was charging for the same tour.

 

I have actually seen and heard of cases where the independent tour came out costing more money ... however, since it was a customized tour for a small group, it was a much better experience than the cruise line's "cattle car" tour on a bus. The problem with the cruise line's tours ... especially those that involve a lot of sightseeing stops ... is that it is very easy for the tour operator to fall behind schedule. If a couple of passengers are not back at the bus when they are supposed to be, the tour operator has to go looking for them. He can't just take off and leave them. Add that sort of thing happening at three or four different stops ... ten to twenty minutes lost at each stop ... and now the tour operator is gonna be major rushed. He will often have no choice but to eliminate a stop at the end, maybe something everyone really wanted to see, or he will have to cut down the amount of time spent at the last few stops. Either way, participants in those large group tours frequently get screwed over, while the smaller group privately arranging a tour may pay more, but they have more say in what they see and how much time they can spend there.

 

Depending on the nature of the port and the tour, frequently you're better off making your own arrangements even if those arrangements come out costing more than the ship's tour. Sometimes value does take priority over price ... especially in the case of a port you may not visit again anytime soon.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[jcrandle]

Hi,

 

Am I the only one here that thinks Holland Americas' shore excursions are being priced so high it makes you want to go it alone? This November we're traveling on the Prinsendam from Capetown to Ft. Lauderdale and I am blown away by the shore excursion price list. Some all day tours are almost $200.00 per person!!! Since we are 4 people traveling that come to almost $800.00 for a day trip. Holy catfish, Robin!! I no have made my own tour reservations for several stops on this trip for less than 1/4 of what Holland is charging. I have no problem with Holland making a profit, but do they have to be so PIGGY?????

 

hiwndder

Wait till they change their policies on "tour smuggling" a la their policy against bringing booze on board. The'll include in their terms and conditions that no outside tour agencies are to be used during the cruise. The'll use the same "concern for the safety of our guests" logic that they say drives the alcohol policy. Worst of all, the same folks on cruise critic that defend the company's policy against booze smuggling will use the same logic to defend this, like "you agreed to the terms when you bought the ticket", and "they're just trying to limit their legal liability", and "it's for your own good".

 

Actually, I'm only halfway kidding, and I sure hope I don't give any ideas to the green eyeshade folks at HAL.

[kryos]

Actually, I'm only halfway kidding, and I sure hope I don't give any ideas to the green eyeshade folks at HAL.

Hate to tell you this ... but in effect, HAL (and I am sure other cruise lines as well) do this now. You ever try to book a tour in a port and find out that the tour is entirely sold out for the day you will be there? Ever wonder why that is? Simple! The cruise line "charters" the tour for the day. You want to take that tour, you have no choice but to book it through the cruise line ... at their going price! Gotcha!

 

This happened to us in Maui. Some people wanted to take a combination whale watching and snorkling tour with the Pacific Whale Foundation. They felt the cruise line was charging way too much for it, so they tried to book it on their own. They found that they could only book a whale watch tour that did not include any snorkling. Why? Because the Pacific Whale Foundation only had two boats that were equipped for snorkling and both of those boats had been chartered out to HAL for the day. Guess what? Those folks wound up SOL. By the time they found out they couldn't book it on their own, all the HAL slots were sold. There were other ports where similar things happened.

 

The cruise lines are big bucks to many of these tour operators. In many cases, as part of their agreement to provide services to the cruise lines, they have to agree not to accept any independent bookings from cruise ship passengers on the days that a ship is in port. This guarantees the cruise lines healthy bookings through their shore excursion desks ... at the price they deem fair to charge.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[wander]

When I read your post, I had to go back and look at the tour prices on this cruise. I knew that with a few exceptions, most of which are in Namibia, the tours were far less than you mentioned. I understand your "rant", but I do not think the numbers you quote represent what is really available on this cruise.

 

There are a few costly all day excursions on this cruise. However, there are many, many choices in the $40 - $75 range on this cruise as well. Granted, they are not all day trips, but half day ones and interesting sounding. If you are truly paying 1/4 of what HAL is charging for what you think is the same tour, I would question what was actually included. 25% less maybe, or even 50% if food is not included, , but 75% less?

 

Regardless of the cost, looking at the bill for shore ex. for 4 people must be "scary". Going on your own is certainly one way to cut the costs, and probably a necessary option for you. I just wanted to point out to others that there are many, less expensive HAL tour options on this cruise.

[Atomica]

Sometimes destination can play a part in how much excursions cost.

 

I was amazed at how many affordable excursions there were in Mexico. Lots of choices in the under $50 range. I took two excursions that were both 4-6 hours, and only spent $60. Now, compare that to Alaska, where you're lucky if you can find a city tour for under $50. Sure, I'd love to fly in a helicopter and spend 30 minutes on top of a glacier, but not for what they charge you.

 

To be fair though, NCL was just as bad in terms of excursion pricing. I don't think it's unique to HAL.

[lougee1043]

of course you pay more if you book thru hal --- the tour gets maked up 2 times --once by the tour operator so he can make a profit and once by hal for doing all the paperwork

 

its like the car business --people think they get a better deal from an auto broker = but the reality is they dont because its being marked up twice--- having worked in the business i can tell you that at my dealership we would sell the car to the walk in for the same price as to a broker --

 

i usually book my tours on line and well in advance of my cruise --i have found that my tours are cheaper and have a lot less pax on them -- also in reading threads i have found that -for example - pax that have gone on 2 different zip lines in maui write that they like the independant one better then the one hal uses -- just do a llittle reading and a little more homework and you will save a couple of bucks and have a better time

[gizmo]

Hate to tell you this ... but in effect, HAL (and I am sure other cruise lines as well) do this now. You ever try to book a tour in a port and find out that the tour is entirely sold out for the day you will be there? Ever wonder why that is? Simple! The cruise line "charters" the tour for the day. You want to take that tour, you have no choice but to book it through the cruise line ... at their going price! Gotcha!

 

-rita

 

Another example is the dolphin swims/encounters at the Seaquarium in Curcao. RCL's AOS had it booked solid. NO ONE, including people not on cruise ships or for that matter other pax on other cruise ships could book it on days that AOS was in port. They had it published on their web site.

 

There are a lot of cases where you try to book yourself and the response is they have a contract with the cruise line and cannot except your booking.

[lougee1043]

There are a lot of cases where you try to book yourself and the response is they have a contract with the cruise line and cannot except your booking.

 

so true but its a rare port where there is only one operator doing a tour and you wither book thru the cruiseline or you are out of luck

[Tinknock50]

so true but its a rare port where there is only one operator doing a tour and you wither book thru the cruiseline or you are out of luck

 

I agree...... search online and contact many operators.

 

A good example is helicopter flights in Alaska. I went twice with non-HAL providers and I feel I got a better experience at a lower price.

[dakrewser]

Yes, it costs more to book thru HAL. It also costs more to book through Grey Line or Apple Vacations or American Airlines or any other travel/tour consolidator.

 

Can you save money doing it yourself? Sure, but you also need to invest the time to thoroughly research the port and the tours and the operators. You also need to consider how to insure yourself in case:

1) the ship is prevented from docking

2) the ship is late docking or early leaving

3) the tour is late returning and you miss the sailaway

 

I do encourage people to see these places on their own as much as possible (on our recent 9-port, 16-day Baltic cruise we only booked 1 ship excursion), but be sure you know what you're getting in to...

[herb]

unfortunately when you go on any vacation you always end up spending alot of money... ;)

[gizmo]

so true but its a rare port where there is only one operator doing a tour and you wither book thru the cruiseline or you are out of luck

 

I agree there are lots of places you can book an excursion on your own.

 

I don't think it is as rare as it used to be. I keep running into this more often than I did in the past. I guess it depends on what you are trying to book.

[howndder]

Well I can see this is an active board. Excellent feedback from you. Wander, nice to see you on this thread. Of course I meant Namibia as there really isnt any other stop worth touring until you get into the amazon and then the prices go way back up. We are renting a car for the four of us, as Yes, you guessed it, Holland had contracted every tour company in both Luderitz and Walvis Bay. Yes every one! But I found a car on Auto Europe and they can rent it for $125.00 for the day inclusive. I have printed out all the tour options available thru both Holland and Namibweb and written down all the top spots and with lunch the whole day should run about 200 ish. Quite a savings and no waiting for the always late couple who are very sorry.

 

I have found thru booking myself that if the ship isn't able to dock, then they usually give refunds as we are not the only people that do this.

 

Since most tour operators also do a lot of business with the ships they are very flexible. In a small town or city this may not be the case.

 

In any case I most wanted to point out that Holland charges much more than 2 times cost. If that were so then, thru my investigations they wouldn't cause so many people to book their own tours.

 

Oh, byw, there are at least 3 web based shore excursion operators that I know of.

 

 

howndder:)

[blue whale]

Hi Howndder, We are taking the same cruise in October/November and agree that some of the tours are a bit expensive. We board in Lisbon and have been considering the cultural tour in the substitute Ghana port. (We originally were scheduled to go into Accra.) For the half-day tour in this substitute Ghana port, HAL is charging 135 dollars per person. There is no meal, perhaps a couple of entrance fees, but considering the average yearly income in Ghana, 135 dollars is a steep price—270 for two people. Yet, this is an industrial port, not much in the city except a cloth market, so we are pretty much having to take that tour. We don't like to rely on a cab to take us about, having had a bad experience with that in Tunis. So we will bite the bullet and probably book the tour when we get on the ship using some ship board credit we will have to use up. If the money were all going to the people who need the money in Ghana, that would be different.