spending the night off the ship between ports

[Mary Ellen]

If so, do you recall the name of the tour company?

Given time, I remember. ;) We used Enchanting India. http://www.enchanting-india.com/

[doublebzz]

Thanks.

[USN59-79]

Here is how it worked for us last year leaving the ship on one port and getting back on a couple of days later in another country. This was on the Sapphire Princess but shouldn't be different on HAL. The ship stopped in Keelung and the DW wanted to stay with relatives a couple of days and rejoin the cruise in Hong Kong. A couple of days before Keelung we notified the front office of our intentions, mainly because they were holding our passports and she needed to retrieve hers. The morning of the port stop we went to the front office to retrieve the passport. They then told us to take our handbag to get it screened by Taiwan Customs and Immigration before we left the ship. Whole process took about an hour. The ship was staying two days in Hong Kong. The second day there I went to the airport to meet her to bring her back to the ship as we were using a new terminal at the old Kai Tak airport. Had a little hassle coming aboard as her room card had been cancelled so security had to get her a new one before she could come back aboard. When we checked our statement a few days later we noticed that they had not charged her for gratuities for the three days she was off the ship. We never thought it was necessary to ask permission from the cruise line before we did this. Apparently it wasn't, as there was no mention of it when we notified the front desk of our intentions.

[take us away]

But apparently it's different when you get off in one port & get back on in another. Not sure why, if it's the same country.

 

Some countries have different immigration rules for cruise ship stopping for 1 day vs. someone staying in the country for more than that 1 day, which may be why HAL has the requirement that you get written permission. It is probably easier for HAL if this is required regardless of which country so they are always 'covered' and they will have fewer possible mistakes, plus immigration rules tend to change on a frequent basis. They may also need to notify the agent who will clear the ship.

[hawkeye3d]

My experience, a few months ago, is that this is anything but a quick process. I notified HAL of our intentions to leave the ship for an overnight. HAL informed me that I had to request this through our TA. I e-mailed our TA and he e-mailed HAL. HAL’s “policy” is to answer within 72 “business hours”. We waited and once that period passed called the TA, he called HAL and they had lost the first request. The TA repeated the details to HAL over the phone, and the 72 business hour clock started again. At the end we finally did get a letter from HAL via the TA.

 

Bob

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We always call up reservation and get a Itinerary Deviation request filled out over the phone .and bring it on the cruise.

[Hlitner]

As an experienced cruiser, would you advise private arrangements for the Taj itinerary I described above? The ship's tour is $4,800 a couple which seems a bit extravagant for a 2 night tour.

 

We cannot offer any advise when it comes to India as its way our of our area of expertise :). As to "extravagant" pricing for ship's tours, we think that nearly all ship tours (and not just with HAL) are now ridiculously overpriced and overcrowded. But we also recognize that some cruisers only feel comfortable when on a cruise line sponsored excursion. DW tells me that if we live into our 90s we might finally have to relent and take a ship's tour :)

 

Hank