$1000 for a Beach Villa on HMC? YIKES!!!!

[Mary229]

11 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

 

We almost exclusively take HAL shore excursions and have been very satisfied with them all. Could we do it "cheaper"? Of course, but we pay for  the convenience of them and have been uniformly pleased with their variety and quality. 

 

Shore excursions are not for everyone. No quibble with that, but I cannot let a blanket statement  condemning them all go unanswered. We like them, we know what we are getting and what we are paying for. We remain satisfied customers. We are also unhappy they have gotten much more expensive, but what hasn't? "Covid" was a huge economic re-set and we will be in its sway for many more years to come. Market forces will settle this out on its own. 

HAL does honor its guarantee.  I always check and have rarely found a comparable experience to take advantage of the guarantee.   I do like select tours not all.  One does have to be selective.  I research by reading the in house reviews and reviews posted elsewhere.
 

  I am not a beach person and would never pay for a cabana much less at the old cost much less the new.  For me the beach is a two to three hour very early morning walk and swim and be happily home by lunch or immediately after the BBQ. 

[Florida_gal_50]

18 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

I have been cruising HAL for quite a few years and bben to HMC several times. To be honest I do not like it. It was nice the first couple of times early 2000s I guess as I have gotten older I enjoy the view but hate the beach. I need it a bit more civilized, nice walking paths, bathrooms and showers very close by someone serving me lol basically being at a nice resort. iI am at the age I just want to be pampered. lol

Me too.

[Florida_gal_50]

23 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

 

We almost exclusively take HAL shore excursions and have been very satisfied with them all. Could we do it "cheaper"? Of course, but we pay for  the convenience of them and have been uniformly pleased with their variety and quality. 

 

Shore excursions are not for everyone. No quibble with that, but I cannot let a blanket statement  condemning them all go unanswered. We like them, we know what we are getting and what we are paying for. We remain satisfied customers. We are also unhappy they have gotten much more expensive, but what hasn't? "Covid" was a huge economic re-set and we will be in its sway for many more years to come. Market forces will settle this out on its own. 

I’ve actually found Hal’s shorex to be more reasonable the last few years.  Not talking about hmc though.

[JeffElizabeth]

Next time we take the extended family on a cruise there we will definitely look into one of those. They are big beach people while we are fine just sitting in the shade sipping drinks. 

[Mike07]

2 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

 

We almost exclusively take HAL shore excursions and have been very satisfied with them all. Could we do it "cheaper"? Of course, but we pay for  the convenience of them and have been uniformly pleased with their variety and quality. 

 

Shore excursions are not for everyone. No quibble with that, but I cannot let a blanket statement  condemning them all go unanswered. We like them, we know what we are getting and what we are paying for. We remain satisfied customers. We are also unhappy they have gotten much more expensive, but what hasn't? "Covid" was a huge economic re-set and we will be in its sway for many more years to come. Market forces will settle this out on its own. 

 

 

That's completely fine that you feel that way. Whether I had financed this trip or my net worth was $10 million dollars, I would have arrived at the same conclusion wrt the shore excursion value proposition.

 

I understand how HAL receives a cut on the shore excursion package, but the shore excursions in Norway were priced such that somebody within HAL is on the take. I know "Norway is expensive" and "Europe is expensive" as the Shore excursion team tried to point out... but Hawaii shore excursions are freakin' bargains compared to Norway at HAL's sister company, Princess. You're telling me Oahu is cheaper has a lower COL than Norway? If there wasn't a friendly relationship between these two, why did our ship play the Love Boat theme as the Sky Princess sailed from Alesund to Iceland for the ill-fated, "Road to Nowhere" a few weeks ago?

 

Also, I do realize I take a very different, but fair, approach to many on here. People give cruise lines or ships glowing reviews, yet research has been done that show people give 5/5 stars out like candy online.

[Mary229]

8 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

That's completely fine that you feel that way. Whether I had financed this trip or my net worth was $10 million dollars, I would have arrived at the same conclusion wrt the shore excursion value proposition.

 

I understand how HAL receives a cut on the shore excursion package, but the shore excursions in Norway were priced such that somebody within HAL is on the take. I know "Norway is expensive" and "Europe is expensive" as the Shore excursion team tried to point out... but Hawaii shore excursions are freakin' bargains compared to Norway at HAL's sister company, Princess. You're telling me Oahu is cheaper has a lower COL than Norway? If there wasn't a friendly relationship between these two, why did our ship play the Love Boat theme as the Sky Princess sailed from Alesund to Iceland for the ill-fated, "Road to Nowhere" a few weeks ago?

 

Also, I do realize I take a very different, but fair, approach to many on here. People give cruise lines or ships glowing reviews, yet research has been done that show people give 5/5 stars out like candy online.

I think to know the truth you should compare the same excursion offered by other vendors.  We are not allowed to mention them by name here but there are many websites that offer excursions, often the exact same excursion as offered by the cruise line.  

[Haljo1935]

May be trying to recoup some of the revenue lost to port cancellations. There have been a lot of cancellations last year/this year it seems.

Increases are to be expected as we've seen w/everything cruise related, but these are astronomical leaps!!

[lissie]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

I think to know the truth you should compare the same excursion offered by other vendors.  We are not allowed to mention them by name here but there are many websites that offer excursions, often the exact same excursion as offered by the cruise line.  

Here's an example Silfra Fissure Snorkeling Tour At Thingvellir | Arctic Adventures paid for the option which includes pick up at the wharf 24,990 ISK  US$180 on today's rate. 

 

The advertised tour on HAL is $379.95 - its not comparable because they claim it takes 4.5 hours compared to the 3.5 hours of the one I've booked. The reality is that the site is heavily regulated and everyone has the same time in the water snorkelling - so any extra time on the bus is just wasted with a shopping opportunity somewhere. 

 

Note I've seen this before with HAL we've hired a car from Corner Brook to go to Gros Morne NP and do a specific walk .  I read the tour description and it said that it was a 2.5 hour drive to the walk. This was a concern as I'd checked on google maps and with locals on travel forums it's a 1.5 hour drive.  So again, HAL is padding the travel times a lot. I get that a rental car with 2 people is faster than a bus - but not that much.  Obviously in this case what we are doing is not comparable to a tour -but its given me no faith in HAL excursion timings. 

[Mary229]

46 minutes ago, lissie said:

Here's an example Silfra Fissure Snorkeling Tour At Thingvellir | Arctic Adventures paid for the option which includes pick up at the wharf 24,990 ISK  US$180 on today's rate. 

 

The advertised tour on HAL is $379.95 - its not comparable because they claim it takes 4.5 hours compared to the 3.5 hours of the one I've booked. The reality is that the site is heavily regulated and everyone has the same time in the water snorkelling - so any extra time on the bus is just wasted with a shopping opportunity somewhere. 

 

Note I've seen this before with HAL we've hired a car from Corner Brook to go to Gros Morne NP and do a specific walk .  I read the tour description and it said that it was a 2.5 hour drive to the walk. This was a concern as I'd checked on google maps and with locals on travel forums it's a 1.5 hour drive.  So again, HAL is padding the travel times a lot. I get that a rental car with 2 people is faster than a bus - but not that much.  Obviously in this case what we are doing is not comparable to a tour -but it’s given me no faith in HAL excursion timings. 

For me personally i have had mixed results and have rules of thumb.  If it is easy to do on my own , I do.  If the small group excursion from the competition is the same price or cheaper I take the small group. HAL does some types of tours well.  I seek those out and compare. One given is if it is a far drive or in a region with poor roads or vehicles tending to break down - I take HAL for their guarantee to get me back to the ship, sooner or later.   
 

I have also been on HAL tours with exclusive entry.  
 

Bottomline is I don’t consider price first.  

[Mike07]

1 hour ago, lissie said:

Here's an example Silfra Fissure Snorkeling Tour At Thingvellir | Arctic Adventures paid for the option which includes pick up at the wharf 24,990 ISK  US$180 on today's rate. 

 

The advertised tour on HAL is $379.95 - its not comparable because they claim it takes 4.5 hours compared to the 3.5 hours of the one I've booked. The reality is that the site is heavily regulated and everyone has the same time in the water snorkelling - so any extra time on the bus is just wasted with a shopping opportunity somewhere. 

 

Note I've seen this before with HAL we've hired a car from Corner Brook to go to Gros Morne NP and do a specific walk .  I read the tour description and it said that it was a 2.5 hour drive to the walk. This was a concern as I'd checked on google maps and with locals on travel forums it's a 1.5 hour drive.  So again, HAL is padding the travel times a lot. I get that a rental car with 2 people is faster than a bus - but not that much.  Obviously in this case what we are doing is not comparable to a tour -but its given me no faith in HAL excursion timings. 

 

 

The following is from my most recent experience....

 

Hammerfest --- HAL wanted like $110 pp for "The Royal Polar Bear tour" that included a local tour of Hammerfest (a town with like 10,000 people...) and stopping by the Royal Polar Bear Museum that was FREE and the size of a shoebox. If you've been there, you know exactly what I am talking about.

 

The other option was $20 pp for a shuttle bus from the cruise port to the Polar Bear museum that was in a more happening part of a 10,000 person city if such a "happening" part exists. Or, be like me and walk the 1 km.

 

Sandnes -- HAL wanted $20 pp to take us to Stavenger where the actual point of the port call was. The other option was to walk 2 km to the train station and take a $4 train ride into Stavenger. Walking around right outside of the Sandnes cruise port was a total joke.

 

I had a crash course in shore excursion value and to do much better research on itinerary ports and where they dock versus assuming the cruise company is going to do the right thing. While I will go back to Norway, and I'd like to think I'll be back on HAL, for the first time in like 5 years, I have zero cruises planned.... and that's not even technically true b/c I have a river cruise and expedition cruise, but that's different from these resort style cruises that comprise 90%+ of this site's traffic.

[SweetsugarNL]

On 6/12/2023 at 1:37 AM, Mike07 said:

 

 

The following is from my most recent experience....

 

Hammerfest --- HAL wanted like $110 pp for "The Royal Polar Bear tour" that included a local tour of Hammerfest (a town with like 10,000 people...) and stopping by the Royal Polar Bear Museum that was FREE and the size of a shoebox. If you've been there, you know exactly what I am talking about.

 

The other option was $20 pp for a shuttle bus from the cruise port to the Polar Bear museum that was in a more happening part of a 10,000 person city if such a "happening" part exists. Or, be like me and walk the 1 km.

 

Sandnes -- HAL wanted $20 pp to take us to Stavenger where the actual point of the port call was. The other option was to walk 2 km to the train station and take a $4 train ride into Stavenger. Walking around right outside of the Sandnes cruise port was a total joke.

 

I had a crash course in shore excursion value and to do much better research on itinerary ports and where they dock versus assuming the cruise company is going to do the right thing. While I will go back to Norway, and I'd like to think I'll be back on HAL, for the first time in like 5 years, I have zero cruises planned.... and that's not even technically true b/c I have a river cruise and expedition cruise, but that's different from these resort style cruises that comprise 90%+ of this site's traffic.

Strange that they charge now for it. Stavanger shuttle was free last year. I live in Europe but Norway is very expensive. In my country if you go to a public toilet it costs 0,70 euro cent. In Norway it was 2,50!

[Mike07]

3 minutes ago, SweetsugarNL said:

Strange that they charge now for it. Stavanger shuttle was free last year. I live in Europe but Norway is very expensive. In my country if you go to a public toilet it costs 0,70 euro cent. In Norway it was 2,50!

 

 

Bathroom wise, my experience was shops wanted 10 krona.... Of course, that's a weird concept since I'm from America

[AFNavigator]

On 6/10/2023 at 12:07 PM, Florida_gal_50 said:

Yup the playhouses are ridiculous.  I guess if they don't sell they may be cheaper on subsequent cruises. 

Yes, $700 for a regular HMC cabana is absolutely ridiculous.  They are small and quite weather worn (much more so than the HMC villas).  Compare the HMC cabanas to those at Amber Cove (another CCL-developed port that HAL frequents) and you'll find the Amber Cove cabanas are in much better condition, offer more features (wifi, cable TV, some have hot tubs, use of kayaks, etc.), and are priced $200+ lower than HMC's basic cabanas.

 

It all comes down to supply and demand.  If the demand is consistently high, then HAL and CCL will continue to charge these ridiculously high prices for HMC's small weather-worn cabanas...perhaps a realtor would term them "quaint" or "rustic".

[Florida_gal_50]

5 hours ago, AFNavigator said:

Yes, $700 for a regular HMC cabana is absolutely ridiculous.  They are small and quite weather worn (much more so than the HMC villas).  Compare the HMC cabanas to those at Amber Cove (another CCL-developed port that HAL frequents) and you'll find the Amber Cove cabanas are in much better condition, offer more features (wifi, cable TV, some have hot tubs, use of kayaks, etc.), and are priced $200+ lower than HMC's basic cabanas.

 

It all comes down to supply and demand.  If the demand is consistently high, then HAL and CCL will continue to charge these ridiculously high prices for HMC's small weather-worn cabanas...perhaps a realtor would term them "quaint" or "rustic".

I was trying to remember where those cabanas were. Are those the ones that are over the water?  They look pretty nice if so.

[AFNavigator]

2 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I was trying to remember where those cabanas were. Are those the ones that are over the water?  They look pretty nice if so.

There are actually three different cabana locations at Amber Cove.  There is the ones over the water that you mentioned, ones overlooking the large pool, and ones up the hillside.  The ones on the hillside have their own small hot tubs.

[VermeulT]

A friend treated us to one two times.  I think they were $400 or maybe $500.  Now they're $699 for Dec.  I didn't think they were worth $400 and certainly not for $700. No way.