Harmony of the Seas TOUR COST

[jetfan0330]

Hi all.   I have read some posts about tours being discounted onboard.  We booked all our tours online.   IE Best of Rome cost us $413 pp.  it was the most expensive tour.  Should we cancel and just wait until we get onboard.  Thanks. 

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

16 minutes ago, jetfan0330 said:

Hi all.   I have read some posts about tours being discounted onboard.  We booked all our tours online.   IE Best of Rome cost us $413 pp.  it was the most expensive tour.  Should we cancel and just wait until we get onboard.  Thanks. 

 

 

I can't answer your question.  I know these are unusual times, but, that price seems outrageous, even for a private full day tour to me.  Why don't you try to join your roll call to see what others there might have to say? 

Edited September 21, 2021 by Steeler Nation At Sea

[Jimbo]

10 minutes ago, Heymarco said:

You should be able to find independent tours for less than 1/2 that price. Personally, we’ve had a lot better experiences not doing ship sponsored excursions. Generally better tours with smaller groups allowing you to see more and cost is way better. Royal has about 100% markup on all tours.

But aren't you only allowed ship tours or has that changed?

[gumshoe958]

39 minutes ago, Heymarco said:

You should be able to find independent tours for less than 1/2 that price. Personally, we’ve had a lot better experiences not doing ship sponsored excursions. Generally better tours with smaller groups allowing you to see more and cost is way better. Royal has about 100% markup on all tours.

At Italian ports, only ship sponsored excursions are currently allowed.

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

16 minutes ago, gumshoe958 said:

At Italian ports, only ship sponsored excursions are currently allowed.

 

Yes, and it seems like $438 pp for Rome is price gouging, though, OP didn't say what was included 🤔 

[Merion_Mom]

Sounds like one of those "journeys", private car tours.

 

[Bfsroyal]

7 hours ago, jetfan0330 said:

Hi all.   I have read some posts about tours being discounted onboard.  We booked all our tours online.   IE Best of Rome cost us $413 pp.  it was the most expensive tour.  Should we cancel and just wait until we get onboard.  Thanks. 

 

I was on Harmony last week. We had also been told on the phone by Royal about 50% off on shore excursions on board.

 

When onboard we asked about it and they said it applied to one excursion at each port stop which were specifically the panoramic tours.

 

We had already booked a tour for Pisa with RC online for about £36 and were not that bothered about tours for the other stops - we would much rather self-explore and the rigidity of tours aren’t really our thing.

It was our first shore excursion and were reasonably impressed - if we had done it ourselves with train transport etc would have been a similar cost - so we saw it as excellent value.

 

The prices online seemed to move around regularly.

[FionaMG]

Currently, you can only get off Harmony at her Italian ports of call if you book one of Royal's "bubble" excursions.

 

This was announced not long before her first sailing on 15 August and within a couple of days (i.e. when the cruise planner "sale" that was ongoing at the time ended) Royal hiked the price of all their excursions massively. 

 

While there will inevitably be some extra costs involved by operating excursions as bubbles (extra hours for the guides/chaperones, meals having to be included on full day excursions where previously they weren't), there is no doubt in my mind that this is price gouging by Royal.

 

Examples, since I was tracking several prices: Pisa and Lucca from La Spezia, full day excursion previously without an included lunch $64, now with an included lunch $164; Cinque Terre coastal sail, also from La Spezia, full day, previously $103, now $196 (I think this one had an included snack previously, now it's an included lunch); Island of Capri from Naples, full day without lunch $130, now full day with lunch $207.

 

I was very disappointed that Royal took this approach. MSC, for example, are offering lots of bubble excursions at much more reasonable prices. My personal belief is that Royal's decision may be related, at least in part, to the demographic of the cruise.

 

On Royal, a significant number of the passengers can be expected to be from the US. For them, it is a long way to travel just to stay on the ship and may be the only chance they get to experience Europe, so I think Royal are betting on those captive passengers buying the excursions regardless of cost.

 

MSC, on the other hand, cater mainly to European passengers who, by and large, will simply refuse to pay stupidly expensive prices for excursions and just stay on the ship, the way many US cruisers do in the Caribbean. For the price the OP is paying for a day trip to Rome, Europeans can get a cheap flight to Rome and stay there for several days.

 

@jetfan0330 I recommend you DO NOT cancel your tour until you get on board and can see what prices are being offered. You will have time to cancel and re-book at that point if you see it would be beneficial. Note that many of the cheaper excursions involve long periods of time sitting on a bus, so if you are thinking of changing to a different excursion make sure you read the descriptions carefully.

 

 

[jetfan0330]

Thank you  all so much for such thorough help.  Really appreciated.   I will keep what we have and just check on board to see if there are price changes.   Will post once I get back for others taking this journey.  

[FTLCruiseGal]

Depending on when you are going, you might get a good deal on Black Friday.  You can always buy now and cancel if you get a better deal on Black Friday.

[Twolittleboys]

11 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Currently, you can only get off Harmony at her Italian ports of call if you book one of Royal's "bubble" excursions.

 

This was announced not long before her first sailing on 15 August and within a couple of days (i.e. when the cruise planner "sale" that was ongoing at the time ended) Royal hiked the price of all their excursions massively. 

 

While there will inevitably be some extra costs involved by operating excursions as bubbles (extra hours for the guides/chaperones, meals having to be included on full day excursions where previously they weren't), there is no doubt in my mind that this is price gouging by Royal.

 

Examples, since I was tracking several prices: Pisa and Lucca from La Spezia, full day excursion previously without an included lunch $64, now with an included lunch $164; Cinque Terre coastal sail, also from La Spezia, full day, previously $103, now $196 (I think this one had an included snack previously, now it's an included lunch); Island of Capri from Naples, full day without lunch $130, now full day with lunch $207.

 

I was very disappointed that Royal took this approach. MSC, for example, are offering lots of bubble excursions at much more reasonable prices. My personal belief is that Royal's decision may be related, at least in part, to the demographic of the cruise.

 

On Royal, a significant number of the passengers can be expected to be from the US. For them, it is a long way to travel just to stay on the ship and may be the only chance they get to experience Europe, so I think Royal are betting on those captive passengers buying the excursions regardless of cost.

 

MSC, on the other hand, cater mainly to European passengers who, by and large, will simply refuse to pay stupidly expensive prices for excursions and just stay on the ship, the way many US cruisers do in the Caribbean. For the price the OP is paying for a day trip to Rome, Europeans can get a cheap flight to Rome and stay there for several days.

 

@jetfan0330 I recommend you DO NOT cancel your tour until you get on board and can see what prices are being offered. You will have time to cancel and re-book at that point if you see it would be beneficial. Note that many of the cheaper excursions involve long periods of time sitting on a bus, so if you are thinking of changing to a different excursion make sure you read the descriptions carefully.

 

 

 

Yes, it is so frustrating. I do NOT like the idea of staying on the ship, especially if I can't get off without a tour even if I wanted to but the prices are SO high. I had resigned myself to paying around 140 euro per tour but didn't realize that was sales prices so waited too long. They are now around 170 each and I really can't justify that amount, especially as the tours don't even sound unique/special.

 

Some other cruise lines have significantly cheaper excursion and/or offer a greater variety (e.g. hikes, bike tours, catamaran tours etc.). The selection to me is quite lackluster so at the moment I will hold off buying anything. I might still book a tour if either the offer something I am more excited about or the prices go down. But to be honest, I really, really am hoping the Italian government will losen the restrictions and let us off on our own.