Cruiser Andi Posted December 16, 2013 #1 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Does anyone know the general "rule of thumb" for when HAL releases the deatailed booklet of shore excursions? I'm sailing Veendam for a Canada/New England cruise in August of 2014. I'm doing the round trip Boston itinerary. Also, any input on must see places or places to avoid would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted December 16, 2013 #2 Share Posted December 16, 2013 (edited) I don't know that they release a shore excursion book anymore. It is all on line. At least for us over the last 3-4 years. The excursions will be available to book on line 6-8 months in advance of sailing. There will be info on the HAL website of previous years tours. No promise they will be available on next years cruise. Without knowing your interests, limitations, budget or anything else about you, hard to make any recommendations. Edited December 16, 2013 by CruiserBruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruiser Andi Posted December 16, 2013 Author #3 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Thanks CruiserBruce. I see the link online for the booklet and it comes up with a message that the booklet isn't available and to check back later. Hoping someone might know a generic timeframe of when the book is made available online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted December 16, 2013 #4 Share Posted December 16, 2013 (edited) Thanks CruiserBruce. I see the link online for the booklet and it comes up with a message that the booklet isn't available and to check back later. Hoping someone might know a generic timeframe of when the book is made available online. To my knowledge there isn't a true book for each area's cruises. One thing HAL does is, once you start buying excursions, they create a customized book just for your cruise. That may be the "booklet" you are seeing. As your excursions aren't available to book, the "booklet" isn't active yet. Once you start booking excursions, that "booklet" will populate, and you can see it. It loads VERY slowly. The excursions will be available 6-8 months in advance. You will be able to see full descriptions of each excursion by signing in to your reservation on the HAL site.. On the HAL website you can look up each port and get an idea of what will be offered, based on previous year's excursions. This is a pretty good way to see what is going to be offered, although price info may be hard to calculate. Edited December 16, 2013 by CruiserBruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruiser Andi Posted December 16, 2013 Author #5 Share Posted December 16, 2013 6 to 8 months gives me plenty of time to plan. The last couple of cruises I've purchased excursions onboard so didn't pay much attention ahead of time. As far as interests, budget and limitations: We are interested in exploring new places. It's why we travel. I'd love to hear what people enjoyed and why or what they didn't enjoy and why. If I know the why, I can make a determination if it's something I might want to try. Budget is still up in the air. It all depends on the must see places and I'll work my way backwards from there. I'll make it to the must sees and then see what else might fit with the budget. Limitations are few and far between. My DH and I are in our late 30's and in pretty good physical shape. We live in a Oregon and are looking forward to visiting the east coast and cramming as much as we can into the little time we have at our disposal. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherilyn70 Posted December 16, 2013 #6 Share Posted December 16, 2013 They still haven't made excursions for the June 7th cruise available. Hopefully it will be soon. We're less than 6 months out at this point. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sail7seas Posted December 16, 2013 #7 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Does anyone know the general "rule of thumb" for when HAL releases the deatailed booklet of shore excursions? I'm sailing Veendam for a Canada/New England cruise in August of 2014. I'm doing the round trip Boston itinerary. Also, any input on must see places or places to avoid would be appreciated. We did this cruise (again) last August and thought it still a great cruise. We have done it several times in the past on Maasdam. Wonderful itinerary IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruiser Andi Posted December 16, 2013 Author #8 Share Posted December 16, 2013 We did this cruise (again) last August and thought it still a great cruise. We have done it several times in the past on Maasdam. Wonderful itinerary IMO That's wonderful news. I'm eagerly anticipating this cruise. We've scheduled two days in Boston pre-cruise to tour town and are excited to see new places. We've never been to the East coast so it's all new to us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruiser Andi Posted December 16, 2013 Author #9 Share Posted December 16, 2013 They still haven't made excursions for the June 7th cruise available. Hopefully it will be soon. We're less than 6 months out at this point. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4 Hopefully soon! I bet your anxiously waiting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherilyn70 Posted December 16, 2013 #10 Share Posted December 16, 2013 Hopefully soon! I bet your anxiously waiting. Yes I am. This is the first time I really need to pre-plan carefully since I have mobility issues. So I'd like to see what our options are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruiser Andi Posted December 24, 2013 Author #11 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Yes I am. This is the first time I really need to pre-plan carefully since I have mobility issues. So I'd like to see what our options are. Sherilyn My shore excursion options are now showing up. Have fun planning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherilyn70 Posted December 24, 2013 #12 Share Posted December 24, 2013 (edited) Thanks, it looks like they just posted them today. I called about them yesterday and was told they would be up by the end of the month and they were correct. :) Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4 Edited December 24, 2013 by sherilyn70 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Typhoon1 Posted December 24, 2013 #13 Share Posted December 24, 2013 Look for an electronic version most likely, in the next few months, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Ellen Posted December 25, 2013 #14 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Yes I am. This is the first time I really need to pre-plan carefully since I have mobility issues. So I'd like to see what our options are. If you find some shore ex that appeal to you but you have concerns about if they will work for you, call the 800 number for the HAL Shore Ex dept. The info they have will depend upon how well the tour operator has filled out the forms, but I've had good luck finding out the distances that one must walk and the number of steps/stairs to navigate. DH has problems walking but stairs aren't a problem. Calling allows us to take tours that we might have otherwise ruled out because of the rating HAL had given them. We're also finding that private tours often fit our needs better. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaofami Posted December 25, 2013 #15 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Does anyone know the general "rule of thumb" for when HAL releases the deatailed booklet of shore excursions? I'm sailing Veendam for a Canada/New England cruise in August of 2014. I'm doing the round trip Boston itinerary. Also, any input on must see places or places to avoid would be appreciated. Be sure to eat lobster in Bar Harbor and Halifax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruiser Andi Posted December 25, 2013 Author #16 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Be sure to eat lobster in Bar Harbor and Halifax. Most certainly! If you know of a must dine place in either port, please feel free to share. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newlaxfan Posted December 25, 2013 #17 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Most certainly! If you know of a must dine place in either port, please feel free to share. :-) You NEED to have a beavertail while in Halifax -- it's a Canadian delicacy!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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