Komodo Island -HAL tours vs Local Tours

[elmac40]

Hi

 

As part of my cruise in December, I have a stop at Komodo. Can’t wait. 
 

For anyone who has recently done this stop, can you confirm if you are able to use local companies rather than HAL? The HAL excursions are basic but local companies offer a better variety. 
 

There has been speculation on the roll call that only HAL excursions can be used. I understand that you have to be pre booked on a tour in order to come ashore there. 
 

Any info appreciated 

[richwmn]

I am currently on Volendam and we visited Komodo Island a few days ago. All announcements about going ashore specifically mentioned both HAL and Private excursions and both were allowed to get off the ship.

I believe @Cruising-along did a private excursion and may answer you with more specifics.

 

[lyndarra]

See Post #8

.

I did this tour and it was excellent.

 

You can visit Komodo private or ship's tour. Private tours can only be done with Indonesian government tour operators. You cannot go ashore if you have not booked a tour.

 

[elmac40]

2 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

See Post #8

.

I did this tour and it was excellent.

 

You can visit Komodo private or ship's tour. Private tours can only be done with Indonesian government tour operators. You cannot go ashore if you have not booked a tour.

 

Thanks so much for the info. It’s TopKomodo tours that I’ve contacted and they’ve been great to deal with. 

[lyndarra]

There is also Visa info in the quoted thread, somewhere about Dec 2022.

[Cruising-along]

Yes we were at Komodo Island recently. We ended up taking the ship tour. It’s a tender port and extremely hot and humid. Our 1.5 hour tour turned into 2.5 because several in our group had problems doing the walk in those conditions. One poor woman had to be carried back on a stretcher. 
 

That said, we’re so glad we did it! Bring lots of water (they will supply more too). The battery-operated fans we had were life savers for us. 
 

The ship will get your visas for $60 p/p or you can get your own. We did it the easy way and let the ship do it after hearing about problems folks had on our roll call. 
 

Tendering isn’t the easiest in this port. Some people on our tender decided not to try. 

[elmac40]

@Cruising-along thanks so much for the info! Much appreciated! I was actually reading up on the visa process-there seems to be a lot of conflicting info. We’re flying into Singapore and then sailing into Indonesia so wasn’t sure. Think I’ll contact the Indonesian Embassy in London and get their advice. Will probably just end up going online and buying the Visa in advance just to be on the safe side. 

[Will_Dieterich]

Was on an indonesia cruise a few months ago.
 

When you get on they will collect your passport and give it back when you leave indonesia.  For the visa, first check what is needed and accepted.  What I am describing is for the USA.

 

You can do nothing and you will get a visa on board, the cruise line will also charge you.  For HAL the cost was $60, I don't know if that was what Indonesia charged them.

The more work version and cheaper is to go to the Indonesia on-line site https://molina.imigrasi.go.id/ and for around $35 get your visa there, the site can be a pain to get working.  If you go this way make sure you print out find the final version with all the bar codes.  Then include a printed copy of that visa with your passport.  Tell the cruise people when they are collecting your passports and they flagged it.

I did the on-line version and was not charged the money for the visa.

Also Singapore require you to do a pre-arrival approval.

[Will_Dieterich]

I was on the cruise in November and with our stop to Komodo the people doing locally purchased tours were suppose to get off in the early groups.  Unfortunately for issues with the dock and the time it took to unload all self tours were canceled.

 

The souvenir stands will accept major currency, US dollars was used for price displays.  Bargain down the prices.

[richwmn]

32 minutes ago, Will_Dieterich said:

You can do nothing and you will get a visa on board, the cruise line will also charge you.  For HAL the cost was $60, I don't know if that was what Indonesia charged them.

We were told the visa was $35 and there was a $25 fee from HAL