HAL Shore Excursions Reviews

[BlackJack2]

Looking for reviews of HAL shore excursions. Does the HAL website have reviews, written by past cruisers, of their shore excursions?

[tcook052]

Not that I've seen. I usually ask or search for opinions on the ports of call forums as lots of other CCers have probably taken them and I'd rather trust their opinions seeing as their smart enough to also inhabit this place over some complete stranger. ;)

[FunForUs]

I have found a few reviews by going into HAL's Shore Excursions and selecting the port: http://www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-destinations/ShoreExcursions.action

[tangerinebunny]

Some of the HAL excursion reviews on their site have critical comments - it's helped us steer clear of a few. They're worth a look.

[mmr923]

Yes, they do! And, as tangerinebunny pointed out, some are VERY informative, IMHO.

[KirkNC]

I think HAL started the comments about a year ago.

 

Kirk

[BlackJack2]

I have found a few reviews by going into HAL's Shore Excursions and selecting the port: http://www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-destinations/ShoreExcursions.action

 

Thanks so much for the HAL website link. This is exactly what I was looking for. There are a few HAL excursions that we are looking at. I did notice that not all of the ports are listed. Can't find St. Maarten/St. Martin.

[Windsailer]

Look for Phillipsburg.

[BlackJack2]

Look for Phillipsburg.

 

Thank you - found it and the shore excursion that I was looking to book!

[tcook052]

After returning home from Ryndam I took a few minutes to add my reviews to HAL's shore excursion website reviews but am curious how many other CCers do the same.

 

I hadn't seen or perhaps remembered these reviews but have now made them a point to browse before I buy my shore excursion so find them helpful. Do others? Just curious. :)

[Alberta Quilter]

I hadn't seen or perhaps remembered these reviews but have now made them a point to browse before I buy my shore excursion so find them helpful. Do others? Just curious. :)[/quote

 

I posted a review, of a disappointing shore excursion, on the HAL website after returning home from a South American cruise. In fact, I checked it recently and found that someone else posted a similar review and both reviews appeared to have been appreciated, judging by the number of "likes".

 

I did it because, unfortunately, not everyone knows about CC and I wanted to warn people that, I believe, the excursion was not worth the money.

[kazu]

I hadn't seen or perhaps remembered these reviews but have now made them a point to browse before I buy my shore excursion so find them helpful. Do others? Just curious. :)[/quote

 

I posted a review, of a disappointing shore excursion, on the HAL website after returning home from a South American cruise. In fact, I checked it recently and found that someone else posted a similar review and both reviews appeared to have been appreciated, judging by the number of "likes".

 

I did it because, unfortunately, not everyone knows about CC and I wanted to warn people that, I believe, the excursion was not worth the money.

 

I don't do many of the ship's tours, but I have done some. The ones I did recently - I did post reviews - especially the one that was deplorable. Interesting to see I am not the only reviewer with that opinion :rolleyes:

 

These reviews can be helpful to someone trying to decide and hopefully, HAL takes a look and either eliminates or improves the shore excursions with the 'bad' marks:)

[dar68]

I hadn't seen or perhaps remembered these reviews but have now made them a point to browse before I buy my shore excursion so find them helpful. Do others? Just curious. :)[/quote

 

I posted a review, of a disappointing shore excursion, on the HAL website after returning home from a South American cruise. In fact, I checked it recently and found that someone else posted a similar review and both reviews appeared to have been appreciated, judging by the number of "likes".

 

I did it because, unfortunately, not everyone knows about CC and I wanted to warn people that, I believe, the excursion was not worth the money.

 

We are going to SA on Veendam in March. Just looking into excursions now. Would love to know where I can read your review mentioned above. Thanks.

[rosegrower]

Thanks so much for posting the site. I did not know that it existed. I checked all three excursions that I have booked and they all had good reviews so that makes me happy with our choices!

[tcook052]

I don't do many of the ship's tours, but I have done some. The ones I did recently - I did post reviews - especially the one that was deplorable. Interesting to see I am not the only reviewer with that opinion :rolleyes:

 

These reviews can be helpful to someone trying to decide and hopefully, HAL takes a look and either eliminates or improves the shore excursions with the 'bad' marks:)

 

That's another curiousity of mine; do reviewers only go to "report" what they feel are the bad ones and not praise the good ones?

 

And dar638, my review was of a Belize excursion called "The Lost World Canopy & Rappelling Tour" and I really liked it and gave it high marks and thought it very professionally done and IMHO worth the dolalrs.

[kazu]

That's another curiousity of mine; do reviewers only go to "report" what they feel are the bad ones and not praise the good ones?

 

And dar638, my review was of a Belize excursion called "The Lost World Canopy & Rappelling Tour" and I really liked it and gave it high marks and thought it very professionally done and IMHO worth the dolalrs.

 

no, I reported the good and bad - I think it's important - it can really help someone determine if it's a tour they want to do. :)

[airlink diva]

When I took my last HAL cruise and was looking at excursions, I noticed that HAL had this option.

I booked two of my shore excursions with HAL (I primary book local guides, but one was on HMC and the other one sound like it was going to be a great one).

When I returned from the cruise, I posted a review on the HAL site on both.

One tour was really outstanding. The guide was outgoing,knowledgeable and made it a great tour.

The other tour was a major disappointment. It was one that I really wanted to take. But it was too long and we didn't do everything stated in the info.

I also read other reviews because you can gain insight on what the tour is like.

[RMLincoln]

Thanks for this thread. I didn't know about these reviews and now will have much more reserarch to do. Plus I will post after our cruise because I do depend a lot on reading other peoples reviews and appreciate the time they take to help me out in my planning. m--

[Pete Jackson]

I think that shore excursions are like cruises. Some people seem to be very unhappy with a cruise even though there were more good things than bad things that happened.

 

Same with shore excursions. We've never had a shore excursion that we considered a total waste of time. Certainly we've had some excursions that disappointed in some respect, or didn't fully live up to the brochure descriptions. Yet, overall, we've enjoyed every excursion.

 

A recurring problem is rushing through very scenic spots only to spend excessive time in a boring shopping place or dining venue. But even then, it's nice to be out and experiencing a different country/culture.

[TiogaCruiser]

After our last cruise I posted a review for each of the HAL excursions we took. All were positive and one pointed out some factual concerns about facilities, potential safety issues and facilities offered not being what was described. ( overall it was a positive review). Interestingly, all the reviews I submitted were posted except the one that pointed out the concerns. And when I resubmitted, it never went up. Guess the sensors did not like it.

[Alberta Quilter]

 

We are going to SA on Veendam in March. Just looking into excursions now. Would love to know where I can read your review mentioned above. Thanks.

 

It was in Ushuaia and it was the Train to the End of the World. I admitted that I had imagined something greater than what it turned out to be. That fault is mine alone. But even with what it was, it cost far too much.

 

Do go and see the penguins in the Falkland Islands (and maybe in another place like Punta Arenas) just in case you can't tender into the FI. We went to Bluff Cove and can highly recommend that. Oh, and get GBP before you go, just for incidentals, the exchange rates in the shops is awful (not that I blame them but I, personally, would rather not pay it).

[nrbrandt]

I'm looking at potential shore excursions and the PDF I downloaded from the cruisetour itinerary page doesn't list all the excursions listed for each port on the webpage. Does that mean they likely conflict with other things scheduled on the cruisetour, or was this an oversight?

 

To be specific, I'm looking at Alaska 11-day Cruistour 6YT on June 20th. At Denali, the website lists Denali by helicopter, glacier landing by helicopter, and heli-hiking, but the PDF only has the glacier landing.

 

Any ideas why they aren't all listed?