Booking Shore Excursions

[ghisl]

The Alaskan cruise is booked and the deposit is down but my TA tells me that I cannot book excursions until full payment is received for the cruise which will be less than 2 months before sailing. Is this normal procedure? Also, I'd really like a copy of the excursions available so that I can read and research more but again, TA tells me that I cannot get a copy until full payment is received. Surely, I should be able to get a copy of this brochure somewhere before then. Any suggestions?

[Atomica]

Hmmm...your TA may not be telling you everything... To the best of my knowledge, all you need is your HAL booking number, which you should have now, and take a trip on over to the Shore Excursion portion of their website:

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/shorex/shorex.do

 

There is also a link to the shore excursion e-brochures there, in pdf format. As well, when you do go to book an excursion, it will give you departure times and prices, and will even waitlist you if a particular excursion is full.

 

You will recieve a printed shore excursion booklet when your tickets arrive, anywhere from 1-2 months from your sail date.

 

Hope that helps!

[Old As Dirt Mom]

The Alaskan cruise is booked and the deposit is down but my TA tells me that I cannot book excursions until full payment is received for the cruise which will be less than 2 months before sailing. Is this normal procedure? Also, I'd really like a copy of the excursions available so that I can read and research more but again, TA tells me that I cannot get a copy until full payment is received. Surely, I should be able to get a copy of this brochure somewhere before then. Any suggestions?

 

Ghisl, I am working with a travel agent. We are booked and have made our first deposit for our Alaska cruise this summer. We have received our booking numbers from HAL (we have two cabins booked), and have been able to purchase our shore excursions at HAL's online site. (Go to www.hollandamerica.com and click on "shore excursions" to view what's available). We have not yet made our final payment. Your TA's statement puzzles me. As far as I know, you should be able to purchase your Alaska excursions before final payment.

[ghisl]

Thanks for the information. I did not receive a booking number so obviously something is wrong. I did question the TA on this as it didn't sound right but she insisted that this is the way things were done. I will get on this right away even if I have to speak to the manager of the agency. Thanks for the assurance.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Thanks for the information. I did not receive a booking number so obviously something is wrong. I did question the TA on this as it didn't sound right but she insisted that this is the way things were done. I will get on this right away even if I have to speak to the manager of the agency. Thanks for the assurance.

 

Good luck to you, Ghisl; please let us know how things turn out.

[kryos]

Just as a side note, though ... I don't think any sailing opens the shore excursions for booking until about three months out ... even if you've paid in full. Perhaps they don't have the offerings for a particular sailing finalized before that time?

 

But, yes ... you should have a booking number ... even if you've only placed your deposit. Your TA should be able to provide you with this number with no problem.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Krazy Kruizers]

Near the end of December, while we were booking our March Hawaiian tours, an e-mail came in from HAL strongly suggesting that we book our June Alaskan excursions soon as some may sell out quickly.

 

After completing the Hawaiian excursions, we did our Alaskan ones - and that was in December.

[LHC]

After reading some of the items on the board, I would call today to your TA and ask for my booking number. With that number you can book your shore excursions...also if you have that number you can pre-purchase stuff from the wine order form and gift order form, so you can do some major purchases before you go. Get that number today...your TA should have it since your deposit has been made...If she says she does not have it speak to her supervisor or the owner of the firm immediately.

LHC

[Stevesan]

The Alaskan cruise is booked and the deposit is down but my TA tells me that I cannot book excursions until full payment is received for the cruise which will be less than 2 months before sailing. Is this normal procedure? Also, I'd really like a copy of the excursions available so that I can read and research more but again, TA tells me that I cannot get a copy until full payment is received. Surely, I should be able to get a copy of this brochure somewhere before then. Any suggestions?

 

You apparently have a TA who's never booked a cruise before.

 

Alaska shore excursions are open for booking well in advance of departure. You can order a shorex brochure or download one from HAL's web site. A half decent TA would have offered to order it for you.

 

If you don't have it, get your Holland America booking number from the TA (it should appear on the agency's invoice). If she/he refuses, cancel all dealings with this agency and immediately transfer your booking elsewhere.

 

Your booking (not invoice) number confirms that Holland America actually has your reservation, and you'll need it to conduct business on HAL's web site.

[krewzin]

Just as a side note, though ... I don't think any sailing opens the shore excursions for booking until about three months out ... even if you've paid in full. Perhaps they don't have the offerings for a particular sailing finalized before that time?

 

But, yes ... you should have a booking number ... even if you've only placed your deposit. Your TA should be able to provide you with this number with no problem.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

 

My experience...Alaska shore excursions on/through HAL are available for booking at least 6 months in advance.

[ghisl]

Well, thanks to all for your sound advice. I called my TA's office pronto today. My TA wasn't in so I just spoke with someone else who was more than helpful. She gave me my booking number and even checked for me to make sure it worked on the website. Why my own TA didn't do this (especially after I questioned her on it), I have no idea.

 

Someone above mentioned being able to order a shorex brochure. I would love to order two - one for us and one for my folks who are also coming along. Can I do this on the HAL website? My folks do not use the Internet so it would be great if they had a book to look through.

[cruisequeen10]

Your TA should give you a printout of all the charges, including the dining options etc. We had booked our Alaska cruise one day then the next day, booked the shore excursions on line. The Whitepass and Yukon RR I was told sells out fairly quickly (cruise line $99, with RR directly $95, so you should think about any excusions now. You wouldn't want to be disappointed.

[Stevesan]

Someone above mentioned being able to order a shorex brochure. I would love to order two - one for us and one for my folks who are also coming along. Can I do this on the HAL website? My folks do not use the Internet so it would be great if they had a book to look through.

 

I just searched HAL's web site and didn't find a link for ordering shore excursion brochures. Call the shorex office at 1-888-425-9376 and ask them if they'll send a couple. Have your booking number at hand.

 

You can download the 2006 Alaska shore excursion brochure. It's in Adobe Acrobat format and rather large, 3MB, so you'll want a high speed connection:

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/HALWShorex/pdf/06AlaskaCruises.pdf

[refman]

if that`s the service you`re getting now from your ta imagine what it`s going to be like after you pay the entire amount. why not cancel and book with HAL cruise consultant. they won`t mislead you.

[Bucky3]

We made our shore excursion reservations in January for our May Alaska sailing. You can print out information on each excursion in which you are interested. Just go to the shore excursion site on HA and when you find a tour you are interested in just click on "more information." Then you can print it out. One thing I like about Princess is that they send the shore excursion booklet ahead of time with their PRE-cruise document packet. I agree, it's much more convenient to have that booklet, but I don't think most lines send them out ahead of time. Enjoy!

[Boriiiing]

We just returned from a cruise on the Amsterdam to Hawaii. Our experience when it came to shore excursions was not good. If you are not interested in taking the time to research your own excursions, then go ahead and use their service. However, we found that in every single case, we could have done our own scheduling and saved from 50 - 100 % in costs! And for the excursions that we waited to do on-board---they were all filled, so we ended up purchasing tickets on our own when we docked. For example, whale watch cruise- Holland America price 69.00. Our tickets, for the same cruise that left right at the dock--$35.00 (and we had 5 choices of times). Transportation to the airport post cruise--$18.00 by HAL--$5.00 by a van that was waiting at the dock and did not require prior arrangements. Hawaiian Luau--129.00 (this included bussing to the event) our own arrangements would have been 82.00 plus a 7.50 cab fare. The luau, which we did book thru them, was the poorest seat in the house in the furthest back seating, behind a tree. Couldn't see the stage. Our group was the last of over 300 people in attendance to go thru the food line. -- Did not get to see any of the promised native island crafts as advertised. The show ended 30 minutes sooner than it was supposed to. --and for all that we paid 49.50 more than anyone else attending the show!! When we complained to Lyndsey in excursions, we were told to contact headquarters with our dissatisfaction. If we cruise again, we will do all of our own scheduling.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I have been on the phone several times with HAL's Alaska Excursion office. When I put in my booking number I have no problesm to book what excursions are there but there were absolutely NO Whale Watch type excursions showing. Finally this this morning I spoke with a supervisor it seems they are still trying to set up a contract with the people they use for this excursion and hope to have everthing available the first part of March. They may have some Whale Excursions in the system for later in the season but for the first weeks out May 7th they did not have anything as of yet. The rep. I spoke with assured me they were working on it and should have more excursions available after March 1st.:)

BTW, we made Final payment yesterday, but that would not make a difference as to when you can book excursions. For our cruise last October I booked the Swim with the Dolphins in May prior.

[kryos]

My experience...Alaska shore excursions on/through HAL are available for booking at least 6 months in advance.

Oh, okay. I've never sailed Alaska so I didn't realize that. I know the Hawaii ones were not totally finalized until about two months before sailing, and on other cruises I've taken, I couldn't book any of them until about 90 days out. Guess Alaska must be a different animal altogether.

 

Thanks for the info ...

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

I have been on the phone several times with HAL's Alaska Excursion office. When I put in my booking number I have no problesm to book what excursions are there but there were absolutely NO Whale Watch type excursions showing. Finally this this morning I spoke with a supervisor it seems they are still trying to set up a contract with the people they use for this excursion and hope to have everthing available the first part of March.

I had the same exact problem when trying to book my excursions for the 30-day Amsterdam cruise. There were very few options showing, especially for Honolulu. I knew they had to have more available than what was there. Finally, about six to eight weeks out, I happened to check HAL's website one night and found a whole slew of new ones there. Apparently, they must have been waiting for contracts from the vendors who would be providing them.

 

I must say, though, that I wasn't entirely happy with the options presented for my cruise. The excursions all seemed a little "lame." No SCUBA, no really active things (other than hiking) ...

 

I asked about this when we had a get-together with the cruise director onboard and he said that it probably had something to do with liability insurance. He said that HAL requires any excursion provider to carry a certain amount of liability insurance before the cruiseline will use them. The woman at the shoreex office confirmed this explanation later.

 

Seems strange, though. Why would a SCUBA provider in the Caribbean have enough insurance to qualify as a HAL provider, but none of them in Hawaii would?

 

So ... I just set up my own SCUBA excursion in Bora Bora instead.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[berniemom]

Hi,

U May Want To Look Into Booking On Your Own, It Will (in Most Cases) Be Cheaper And Less Like A Cattle Car.

 

If 1 Of Your Stops Is Juneau, Capt. Larry Has An Awsome Whale Watching Tour, They Drive You Too(if Memory Serves) Me And Sometimes It Does Not, To Mendenhall Glacier To His Boat Which Had A Naturalist On And Only About 15-20 People, He Even Put The Microphone In The Water And Turned Off The Engines So We Could Float And Listen To The Whales Talking To Eachother, And With The Engines Off The Whales Come Too U!!!!!!(they Are Not Allowed To Aproach The Whales)

We Saw About 50 Whales And A Group Of Stellar Seals And Countless Eagles.

It's Hard To Believe, But The Locals Think The Eagles And Seals Are A Nuisance, They Steal Their Bate Or Takes Bites Out Of It, Sorry, I Could Go On.

 

Sufice Too Say It Was The Most Unforgetable Experience Of My Life.!!!

 

And I Can't Wait Too Some Day Have Enough $ Too Go Back.

I Just Sent Away For Some Brochures For Glacier Bay, I May Fly In And Stay There Next Time.