Osterdam ship excursions

[bubbles 1944]

We have sailed a lot on Princess including a world cruise. Also on Celebrity 

We are looking at the Ostetdam Mediterranean cruise 21 days but the excursion prices seem high. Any thought?

[CruiserBruce]

First of all, this will be moved to the Holland America board, here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/103-holland-america-line/

 

The prices of excursions are ALWAYS a hot topic of discussion, but they are what they are. HAL choses to make excursions a major money maker for the cruise line. You can pretty easily arrange your own private tours in most ports, or simply DIY many ports.

[Essiesmom]

Get a copy of Rick Steves’ Mediterranean Cruise Ports and learn how to do the tours on your own.  Or create even better excursions.  EM

[dawnvip]

DH and I have done 3 med cruises - Princess, HAL and Celebrity. We tend to do a mix of personal/cruiseline excursions based on length of stay in port, distance to attraction, availability of private tours through roll call, etc. We usually find the personally arranged tours are better and cheaper, but convenience of cruise-arranged tours does have its advantages. 

 

We almost got stuck in Pisa when the train back to port was cancelled!! Luckily we recognised several other passengers from our same cruise also looking frantic, so we shared a taxi with them back to the cruise ship.

 

Also note the dock at some ports is a LONG way from the cruiseport entrance, so leave yourself plenty of time to get back aboard!

[bubbles 1944]

Holland America Mediterranean 21 day cruise  - the excurions seem a little pricey.  Any advice on excurions and Holland America Insurance.

Thanks

[shipgeeks]

I would suggest posting this on the HAL section, under Cruise Lines A-O, closer to the top of the menu. You might also find a Roll Call for the ship and date you are sailing, to get some helpful information from others who will be on your cruise.

Happy sailing!

[mom says]

The place to ask these questions is on the HAL forum or the Ports of Call forum

[CruiserBruce]

The OP posted this a couple days ago, and it was moved to the HAL board.

 

Same answer from then. Excursion prices are a hot topic. HAL has decided to make excursions a profit center, like most cruise lines. Plus, Europe is not cheap.

 

The prices are what they are. You have the option to book private excursions. 

[edinburgher]

41 minutes ago, bubbles 1944 said:

Any advice on excurions

And in Europe it can be very easy to DIY your own excursions as most towns and cities have very good or excellent public transport in addition to taxis. Public transport options can be by bus, metro, trams, ferries or  even trains  depending on the size of the city. There is always much info to be found online about how to use public transport in ? or ?, plus ticketing info and timetables.

 

As for port information, there is a wealth of information and images to be found online, also the European Ports forums here on CC.  Town or city tourist info websites can be a good starting point, guide books, Tripadvisor, YouTube, and Rick Steves publications are popular with Americans. There are a huge number of tourist info websites if you search "(city/town name) Tourist information" Also read the shorex available even if you have no interest in booking any as they give you an idea of highlights you might want to consider should they appeal to you.  You can look to see how you could visit them without paying $$$s for shorex.

 

And join the Roll Call for your ship and date as that is where you and fellow pax can exchange ideas and tips and possibly arrange small group private tours.  Google really is your best friend.

[lyndarra]

HAL is no different to other lines re excursion pricing. If you think they are too expensive join your roll call where you may be able to join others organising private tours.

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, bubbles 1944 said:

Holland America Mediterranean 21 day cruise  - the excurions seem a little pricey.  Any advice on excurions and Holland America Insurance.

Thanks

 

And as for insurance, you could browse and also post on the CC sub-forum about that:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/

 

Also note that many of us (not all) strongly recommend not getting insurance from the travel vendor.  Third party travel insurance is much better for *most* people (not for all, and perhaps not all the time).

Also consider asking questions by *calling* the folks at

www.TripInsuranceStore.com

 

They can help by asking questions about different insurance features that one may not know to ask about - or even to think about - when first looking into this.

We called quite a few times before our first time, and they were very patient.

And good thing.... we had a last minute medical emergency and cancelled what was then to us a $$$$ cruise, business air, and hotel.  The hotel was still cancellable.  Not so for the other parts.

In about 2 weeks from the time we submitted all the documentation, we had a check for the full amount claimed.

[Unfortunately, we've had several other claims, all paid without nonsense.  We won't go overseas without it!]

 

GC

[crystalspin]

On 9/29/2023 at 10:01 AM, bubbles 1944 said:

We are looking at the Ostetdam Mediterranean cruise 21 days but the excursion prices seem high. Any thought?

I didn't know you could see the Shore Exes without booking.

 

What are the ports?

 

We sailed the northern Mediterranean from FLL to Venice on the N.Amsterdam and did about equal numbers of ship's tours, independent tours, and DYI. We ended up pleasantly surprised on each of the 'types', but I will say -- stay away from Hop-on, Hop-off buses leaving from the cruise ports -- you will spend easily half your time just waiting for a seat on a bus!

[Host Kat]

On 9/29/2023 at 11:01 AM, bubbles 1944 said:

We have sailed a lot on Princess including a world cruise. Also on Celebrity 

We are looking at the Ostetdam Mediterranean cruise 21 days but the excursion prices seem high. Any thought?

 

7 hours ago, bubbles 1944 said:

Holland America Mediterranean 21 day cruise  - the excurions seem a little pricey.  Any advice on excurions and Holland America Insurance.

Thanks

 

@bubbles 1944

 

Your two threads regarding the same topic have been moved to the correct forum where they will be on topic. They have also been merged into this one thread. Per the Cruise Critic software, all posts now appear in post date/time order on this newly merged thread. 

 

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Hope this will be helpful and glad to have you aboard Cruise Critic!!

 

Happy sails,

 

Host Kat