Alaska Shore Excursion booking

[garythetourist]

My family and I are planning our first Alaskan cruise.  We are debating booking our shore excursions through the cruise line (Holland America) or booking them ourselves through established providers such as "Alaska Shore Excursions".  We question the quality of excursions through outside providers and we have the fear of "missing the boat."  Would you please share your insights concerning booking through the cruise live vs. booking directly with excursion providers?  Thank you

[paul929207]

We have taken private tours all over the world. Most are for a group or 6 to 15 people. Most were planned thru the Cruise Critic Roll Call. Smaller groups allow us to get in and out of places before the big buses from the cruise line arrive.  We have never even come close to missing the ship.

[Glaciers]

It’s best to book through the cruise line or direct with a vendor/operator. Alaska Shore Excursions is a booking agent, not the actual vendor.  We rarely book through the ship unless it’s necessary. Some operators now require you to book through the ship due to agreements between the line and vendor.

 

It’s probably happened at some point but I’ve never heard of a vendor not getting folks back to the ship on time in Alaska. It would kill their business if they did.  If you contact a vendor directly and tell them which ship you’re on and the date, they will let you know if it will work with your ship’s schedule.

 

You’ll get a lot of advice regarding this on the Alaska forum.

[CruiserBruce]

I agree with Glaciers. We recommend avoiding the brokers, as they take your money, and see a low bid sub contractor. There are many threads here on Cruise Critic discussing this issue. Yes, the price might be great, but customer service issues, such as we had, are difficult to resolve. We now only book direct with vendors.

 

The chances of missing the ship are extremely slim. That would ruin a company's rep. You will struggle to find anyone who has missed a ship using a private vendor. You are more likely to hear about people who miss ships due to consumption of adult beverages.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

We have done it both ways in Alaska.  

 

You should join your Roll Call and see what excursions others are doing.  Maybe you can even join some of them.

 

Vendors will make certain that you get back to the ship in time.  They want to stay in business as that is how they earn their living and they don;t want a bad reputation.

[Nic6318]

2 hours ago, garythetourist said:

My family and I are planning our first Alaskan cruise.  We are debating booking our shore excursions through the cruise line (Holland America) or booking them ourselves through established providers such as "Alaska Shore Excursions".  We question the quality of excursions through outside providers and we have the fear of "missing the boat."  Would you please share your insights concerning booking through the cruise live vs. booking directly with excursion providers?  Thank you

 

Hi

 

Welcome to cruise critic.

 

An excellent question. Of course the answer is, it depends on how great your fear of "missing the boat" is. As mentioned, the tour providers in ports around the world, make their living, getting you back on time. There always can be a mechanical failure that could be a problem. But, this wouldn't be any greater a likelihood, of a flight delay not getting you to the ship on time initially, or even an accident on the road. For all these unexpected and unfortunate reasons, you need to have insurance so it won't totally ruin your vacation.

 

This site has an excellent "port of calls" thread, as well as "North American" homeport threads. If you look down the "main forum" page you will find links to both of these. You will be able to get many more ideas about things that might appeal to you at each of your stops, as well as other people's recent experiences with the tour operators involved.

 

The homeports threads will give you information on the departure city and return city (if different), such as hotels, transportation, airport info., as well as things to do and restaurants.

 

Consider making your excursion decisions as soon as possible, since in Alaska the operators are limited, and as you realize, they are also catering to the cruise ships. 

 

hope this helps you get started on this site

have a great cruise

[garythetourist]

On 12/8/2018 at 12:12 PM, Glaciers said:

It’s best to book through the cruise line or direct with a vendor/operator. Alaska Shore Excursions is a booking agent, not the actual vendor.  We rarely book through the ship unless it’s necessary.

Thank you for your replay.  I didn't realize that A.S.E is a booking agent but after reading your replay and re-viewing their websit, that seems quite apparent.  Unfortunately, your answer raises another question.  How does one know who the vendor/operator is?  How can one bypass the vendor and find out who is actually providing the excursion.  Thanks again for your help!!!

[CruiserBruce]

You can't always tell. The broker may, or may not tell you. Some people dig deep and try to find the actual provider, but frequently it is a "no-name" local low bid provider.

[Glaciers]

1 hour ago, garythetourist said:

Thank you for your replay.  I didn't realize that A.S.E is a booking agent but after reading your replay and re-viewing their websit, that seems quite apparent.  Unfortunately, your answer raises another question.  How does one know who the vendor/operator is?  How can one bypass the vendor and find out who is actually providing the excursion.  Thanks again for your help!!!

Someone else may be able to provide an answer.   I find it easier to search vendors for the particular port for the excursions I'm interested in and then look everywhere I can for reviews.  "whale watch Juneau" for example.The Alaska boards on CC are a good resource and you can use the search function. Trip Advisor as well can give recommendations by searching. Try to get past the fluff on the vendor's website. They're all going to say they're the best. 

 

[Heidi13]

I also use Trip Advisor and most times can figure out the tour provider for an interesting option provided by a booking agent. You can also check the Cruise Critic ports of call Boards, as many posts will name the tour company they used.