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Who designs itinerary for HAL private van tour?

pschweig

By pschweig,
in Holland America Line

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pschweig

pschweig

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When you book a HAL private van shore excursion which includes a guide and driver for a day, are you responsible for putting the itinerary together? Or, does the guide do it? If so, does anyone contact you in advance telling you the itinerary and entrance fees required? 
 

Thank you in advance for your answers. I’ve never done this before - just tagged along on private tours put together by CC members. 

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iceman93

iceman93

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The one and only time we did this, there was no contact in advance so we showed up at the van and the driver said, "Okay, where would you like to go?"  We were like, "Uh, we've never been here before.  Where SHOULD we go?"  And after that the driver took us on an absolutely incredible tour including the big sights and other lesser-known places we would never have gotten to on our own.

 

I suspect (hope?) this is the case for all such private tours.  They are ready to follow your instructions if you know what you want, or ready to give you a personalized experience on the spot if you don't.

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CruiserBruce

CruiserBruce

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We have done it a couple of times. They usually give you a document to fill out in advance, where you state your priorities or goals for touring. This is sent to the company providing the guide and driver, who develops an itinerary.

 

Are you "responsible" to do it? No, you could just say "take us to all the sites".

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CruisinS

CruisinS

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2 hours ago, pschweig said:

When you book a HAL private van shore excursion which includes a guide and driver for a day, are you responsible for putting the itinerary together? Or, does the guide do it? If so, does anyone contact you in advance telling you the itinerary and entrance fees required? 
 

Thank you in advance for your answers. I’ve never done this before - just tagged along on private tours put together by CC members. 

I did this in Bali and it worked out great because you can design your own tour, but you are on a HAL tour so if something happens and you are delayed getting back to the ship, they'll wait.  I researched where I wanted go in advance.  I plotted out directions from the pier to each of the places and back to the pier on google maps so I would have some idea if my "itinerary" was doable in the timeframe we had the vehicle.  I think about a week or so before we got to Bali I had to fill out an itinerary form and I think the names of the people sharing the vehicle.  I also researched entrance fees on my own.

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CruiserBruce

CruiserBruce

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13 minutes ago, Ninebark North said:

Never heard of HAL private van tours. Where do I sign up or create a tour? Can this be done prior to boarding? Or is this done on ship?  

They show up as excursions in each port you are scheduled to visit. It's just like booking any other excursions.

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jeh10641

jeh10641

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To find out about a place I have never been to, I use TripAdvisor's website. If I am on a cruise, I also use the shore excursions to see where they go. I try to use local guides/tours booked independently using TripAdvisor's referrals. I have never been disappointed by the independents. On rare occasions, I use the cruise line's shore excursions. They are generally more expensive and I am not sure how much the locals get from the fee.

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pschweig

pschweig

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Wow - so much good advice! Thanks to all. 
 

We are a family of six, including 2 younger teenagers. IF we finally get to take our Eastern Mediterranean cruise in July, we have a HAL van booked for all-day in Istanbul. I read that the ship docks far from the historical area and traffic is bad. A HAL shore excursion seemed like the safest option. For 6, it was slightly more per person than the HAL all-day bus tour.  
 

Per all your wonderful directions, I just need to do my research. 

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Hlitner "Live from...." Rare

Hlitner

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1 hour ago, pschweig said:

Wow - so much good advice! Thanks to all. 
 

We are a family of six, including 2 younger teenagers. IF we finally get to take our Eastern Mediterranean cruise in July, we have a HAL van booked for all-day in Istanbul. I read that the ship docks far from the historical area and traffic is bad. A HAL shore excursion seemed like the safest option. For 6, it was slightly more per person than the HAL all-day bus tour.  
 

Per all your wonderful directions, I just need to do my research. 

Ahhh, we love Istanbul (or at least did before Erdogan took over).  We have actually walked between the cruise port and the downtown popular tourist area (about an hour stroll) and loved the exercise.  There is also a tram line that runs from the main street in front of the port to the historical part of downtown.  One nice thing about the tram is that it does not get caught up in the traffic.

 

But Istanbul has so many wonderful places to see (and things to do) that it does cry out for the visitor to do some research and make choices on what is more important to their own wants.  So, for example, it was on our 3rd or 4th visit when DW and I decided to visit the Basilica Cistern which we found amazing!  We had to shake our heads at the thought that we had somehow not visited that place on earlier trips (the entrance was in a part of town we had visited on every trip).  

 

You should have an amazing time but go do that homework (research). 🙂

 

Hank

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  • 1 year later...
mfanderso

mfanderso

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On 2/10/2022 at 3:38 PM, CruiserBruce said:

We have done it a couple of times. They usually give you a document to fill out in advance, where you state your priorities or goals for touring. This is sent to the company providing the guide and driver, who develops an itinerary.

 

Are you "responsible" to do it? No, you could just say "take us to all the sites".

Did you get this document to fill out while on the ship or prior to the cruise?

 

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mfanderso

mfanderso

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12 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

When we boarded the ship.

Thank you.  We are thinking of doing this in Buenos Aires.  However, we board the ship one day and overnight and the tour would be the next day.  There are several things that we want to do and may require pre-purchase of tickets which we would be glad to do but would like to be sure they could do everything we are interested in seeing before we commit.

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CruiserBruce

CruiserBruce

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43 minutes ago, mfanderso said:

Thank you.  We are thinking of doing this in Buenos Aires.  However, we board the ship one day and overnight and the tour would be the next day.  There are several things that we want to do and may require pre-purchase of tickets which we would be glad to do but would like to be sure they could do everything we are interested in seeing before we commit.

Ours have been further out in our cruises...not sure how it would work in your case, but they still might have you do it the day you board and submit immediately so your guide can have it for the next day.

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mfanderso

mfanderso

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2 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

An overlooked, lazy tour, on maybe a second trip to BsAs, is the Tigre Waterways boat tour - a maze of little islands, waterways and homes for those who want to live only by canals,  and not cars and streets. 

We are also considering this tour as well.  Thank you!

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