Anyone else feel this way?

[Hflors]

I finally went to the HAL website and printed out my boarding paperwork and luggage tags. So then I look to buy a bottle of gin for our room so we can have mixed drinks as we dress for dinner. And here is what I can't wrap my head around. HAL is trying to sell me excursions, spa treatments, and dining at speciality resturaunts. Honestly unless its a very special occasion why would I want to buy one of these? Why would I want to set a schedule while I am on vacation? How do I know today what I will feel like doing a month from now?

 

What I usually do is when we board and we get all the paperwork in our cabin I usually browse thru and keep the shore excursion booklet. Usually a day or two before we arrive to where ever the tour is offered is when we decide if we are going to take the tour. The same with speciality dining. If we wake up in the morning and feel like going to the Pinnicle grill I will call and see if they have any reservations. (for our 40th ann. we made reservations for the 6 of us the day we boarded the ship because it was something very special) IF I want to be on a schedule I might as well stay home.

 

I will say I have called and not been able to get into Pinnicle, but hay we didn't starve we ate somewhere else. And yes sometimes we couldn't book a tour because it was sold out, but several times it really worked out better and we found something else to do.

 

Does anyone else feel this way?

[visagrunt]

I think it's very much a case of "diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks."

 

Some people like to take things as they come, and decide what they want to do as the muse comes upon them. Others want to have everything sorted out ahead of time.

 

Personally, I don't tend to book shore excusions in advance. I might make an exception for something that I am very keen to try, or which experience has shown will sell out fast. Otherwise, I tend to wait and see what people I am travelling with or friends that we have made on board are interested in doing.

[ellieanne]

No.

 

I like to know what I'm planning on doing when. I like to have a schedule.

 

Even if I pre-book my shore excursions, spa treatments, or premium restaurant dinners, I have the option of changing or canceling once on board. And by pre-booking I know I have gotten exactly what I want. My 5th Anniversary falls during my upcoming cruise. My husband wants to celebrate with a dinner at the Pinnacle Grille. I pre-booked that. I knew I wanted to get a mani-pedi on one of the sea days, and my husband wanted a massage at the same time. Sea days usually book out early, so by pre-booking I knew we got exactly what we wanted when we wanted it.

 

I do not like every minute of my time scheduled, but if there are things I want to do, I want to know when I'm going to do them.

[Krazy Kruizers]

If there is an excursion that we want to do, I book it so that we are not disappointed when we get on the ship and find out that it is sold out.

I also like to make some specialty restaurant reservations ahead of time so we aren't disappointed there as well.

[trixiee]

Nope. Don't feel like that! After having been disappointed far too many times by not being able to get a spa appt on a sea day, by not being able to get a table in the Pinnacke, and by not being able to get on a particular excursion, I now pre-book these things! Particularly on a 7 day cruise!

[meldreth]

On looking at the spa offerings on the website, I can't see any prices. How can you pre-book if you don't know how much its going to cost. I certainly won't be pre-booking the treatments i'm interested in without knowing prices. Or am I missing them, looking in the wrong place?

[Hflors]

On looking at the spa offerings on the website, I can't see any prices. How can you pre-book if you don't know how much its going to cost. I certainly won't be pre-booking the treatments i'm interested in without knowing prices. Or am I missing them, looking in the wrong place?

 

I don't think you are wrong. I didn't see prices either.

[kazu]

Guess I am half way in between. For key shore excursions, whether they be private or HAL's, I plan and book in advance.

 

Key PG dinners, I plan and book in advance.

 

After that we wing it. We'll look at the shore excursion book and if something appeals on board, we book. (The most important ones are booked, so if it's not available it's not the end of the world.

 

If we find formal nights are not the nights we guessed pre cruise, we can change our PG reservations.

 

And if we don't feel like the MDR's menu one night, we will see if there's availability in the Cannaletto or the PG.

 

We're flexible on board, but for things that are important we want to make sure that they are secured so, we do plan

[Mr. Boston]

We're about half way between as well.

 

What I can't wrap my head around is that Holland America has ceased offering Beefeater gin. We're Beefeater extra-dry martini drinkers. I hope we won't have to switch lines! [emoji47]

[KirkNC]

No.

 

I like to know what I'm planning on doing when. I like to have a schedule.

 

Even if I pre-book my shore excursions, spa treatments, or premium restaurant dinners, I have the option of changing or canceling once on board. And by pre-booking I know I have gotten exactly what I want. My 5th Anniversary falls during my upcoming cruise. My husband wants to celebrate with a dinner at the Pinnacle Grille. I pre-booked that. I knew I wanted to get a mani-pedi on one of the sea days, and my husband wanted a massage at the same time. Sea days usually book out early, so by pre-booking I knew we got exactly what we wanted when we wanted it.

 

I do not like every minute of my time scheduled, but if there are things I want to do, I want to know when I'm going to do them.

 

I am the same, I may be OCD but to me part of the fun of the journey is the planning stage. It is also a time I learn a lot about any new places we are going. Not saying one way is right and one is wrong, it's what works for you.

[trixiee]

I don't think you are wrong. I didn't see prices either.

 

They were there a few weeks ago. Checked yesterday, and didn't see any prices listed. Perhaps they are"adjusting" the pricing?

[dfish]

We are part way in between as well. We've established a tradition of going to the Pinnacle Grill on the last night of the cruise, so I always book that in advance. As for shore excursions, it depends on the port. In some, we know exactly what we want to do and in others, we just wing it depending on our mood.

 

For example, in Bar Harbor we know we want to go to Acadia and hike, so we get ourselves to the shuttle bus as quickly as possible and head out to the park. Next September we know we want to go to Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau and plan to take the bus out and perhaps a taxi back. We want time to do some hiking if possible and excursions don't offer the time we want. In other ports if there is an excursion that interests us we will book on the ship. If there's no room on the excursion, we can always entertain ourselves in town.

 

For my South America cruise there were several ports where I did pre-book excursions because I was on my own and didn't feel comfortable walking around by myself. Those were the excursions that interested me and I wanted to make sure there was room for me.

 

Debbie

[cayman09]

No, I enjoy the planning. It occupies the time and builds the anticipation while we wait to sail. Then, when we board we just enjoy.

[Riversedge]

Well, no. We're not anywhere close to the same page. I am the consummate planner. I rarely do Holland America tours so that involves planning and booking independently ahead. I like the fact that I know what I'm going to be doing on any given day. I'm o.k. with doing some things last minute too but, like Kirk, I like to research the ports we're going to. I've always loved being a travel planner and it gives me something to do, especially when it's cold and nasty in the north. We have our tours booked and our dinner reservations made. It gives me a good feeling.

[HokiePoq]

I think it's very much a case of "diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks."

 

Some people like to take things as they come, and decide what they want to do as the muse comes upon them. Others want to have everything sorted out ahead of time.

 

Personally, I don't tend to book shore excusions in advance. I might make an exception for something that I am very keen to try, or which experience has shown will sell out fast. Otherwise, I tend to wait and see what people I am travelling with or friends that we have made on board are interested in doing.

 

Yes, it is. I am one of the sort it out ahead of time people. I have spent a lot of time planning excursions both with HAL and our CC group for next summer's cruise...as well as a cruise that comes in January. It might not be "half the fun" but seeing the places we're going, looking forward to them, and enjoying some of the areas more because I know the history appeals to me. On some lines (HAL not so much), if you wait until you get onboard, most excursions will be full. We shared a table on Celebrity with a German couple when we were cruising Australia/NZ. They didn't book ahead and were able to get NO excursions. One can always change excursions if something is offered onboard that wasn't offered online. We did this in April on NCL when the opportunity to go to Capri was offered.

Whatever floats one's boat....relaxing and going with the flow or seeing lots of preplanned sights....we all love cruising.

Edited December 13, 2014 by HokiePoq

[PatsyAnne]

I feel strongly both ways. Book the "must dos" and take the rest as they come.

 

 

Trish

[taxmantoo]

I think it's nice for the cruise line to offer people options. No need to take them if they are not for you.

[aa7yy]

I think that the "constant selling" portion of HAL is easy to ignore before the cruise. I do get tired of the constant layer of sales pitches while on board. I don't want to buy art, I don't want to pay for the spa, I know how to book a future cruise. Fold it up and put it in the trash.

[DaveOKC]

If there is an excursion that we want to do, I book it so that we are not disappointed when we get on the ship and find out that it is sold out.

I also like to make some specialty restaurant reservations ahead of time so we aren't disappointed there as well.

 

Further - your excursion's best times may be booked up before you get onboard. On our last cruise we wanted an early booking due to heat concerns. By the time we got onboard, the early times were already taken.

[MOcruiserman]

Count me among those who book shore excursions in advance, though not more than a couple of months. But for other things, like specialty restaurants and spa treatments, we'll wait until we get on the ship.

[frankc98376]

We don't ten to plan our trip out hour by hour but we do pre book Pinnacle dinners. We are not big fans of the MDR with it's noise and rushed feeling. We book PG for all nights of our cruise (except Le Cirque- not fans). Le Cirque night we do Cannaletto or Tamarind.

 

We book in for 7:30 every night. When we board we head down to the PG to meet the Manager. So far when they see we have booked every night they ask if we have a specific table or server we'd like and it's ours for the cruise. We do have our favorite table so it's very nice.

Edited December 13, 2014 by frankc98376

[esimon]

Obviously we are all deferent and want to plan or nor plan our Vacation how ever we want. To each his own. I'm not changing line because they don't offer the right alcohol or complaining because they offer things to do. Love the spa and Pinnacle.

 

 

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[RuthC]

No, not at all. I not only want, I need some structure to my day, or I end a cruise never doing some of the things I had wanted to do.

 

I book my shore excursions in advance, and have an idea what I want to do on the port days I don't have an excursion planned. That plan can change if something better (or worse, like a downpour) come along, but at least there was some structure to start with.

I do sail more exotic itineraries than the basic Caribbean, so I don't want to miss the important sites/sights.

 

I book my Pinnacle reservations in advance. I confirm them when I board, and determine that I did guess the right night for the International Dinner; if not, I change that reservation. If I want to go on another night I can always try to add, or switch, a reservation.

 

Any Salon or Spa appointments are made early in the cruise. Again, it adds structure.

[summersigh]

We do our online booking of excursions once final payment has been made.

 

We book ahead if an excursion we want looks like there'll be a limited number of slots or if it's a very popular excursion to be sure we have a ticket. If that's not the case we book on board a couple of days ahead of that port.

 

We always book through the ship if the tour goes to areas where we couldn't get a cab back to the ship if there was some sort of problem. It's perhaps more expensive thru the ship but the peace of mind for me is worth it.:D

[pv girl]

I also look at pre-sales as a good business practice for the tour provider and HAL and not as a negative sales pitch. They need to know how many buses to order etc. If a particular tour sells out well in advance, they have the lead time to order more. Same goes for private tour operators. If everyone waited until on board to book, how sad if they had pre-ordered 3 buses and find they have demand for 6 and it is too late to order more. Sad for the folks who wanted to take the tour and sad for the bottom line of HAL and the tour provider. Also, those with mobility issues can pre-book and know they will be taken care of.

 

As for spa stuff - if getting hair and nails done is important to someone on formal night, best to book ahead. And a specific time at PG for an anniversary dinner etc. should be done in advance. We have never had problem getting PG at last minute on board, but not always available at preferred time - we have sometimes had to settle for a time earlier or later.