Another HAL ripoff

[jtl513]

Kinda reminds me of the $.75 per minute for internet on HAL ships, when one may get the same service ashore in most ports for about 10% of that price.

That's different, because you aren't paying for satellite time ashore. But, other lines do charge less by-the-minute. On my one RCL cruise it was $0.50/min.

[Chemmy]

Padraic:

 

Sounds like you are going to be onboard the Asia, Australia and Polynesia Explorer cruise. We have a great Roll Call going with passengers exchanging information and travel tidbits. Please come join us there--http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=347771.

 

Also, if you check www.embassyofindonesia.org website you will probably see under Visa on Arrival a listing of Seaports that includes Tanjung Mas which is the port for Semarang where the ship will dock.

Chemmy

[Boatdrill]

Why all the fuss ?

 

Just contact Zierer Visa Service, listen to what they say, and handle it.

http://www.zvs.com/

[onthegogirl]

Zierer all in cost $101 plus cost of photos and postage to them.:eek:

[Boatdrill]

Zierer all in cost $101 plus cost of photos and postage to them.:eek:

 

So HAL's not such a thief after all. They're asking $83.

[WillieF]

Check this out - Canadian TA's use the service regularly.

 

 

http://www.usvisaconnection.com/Indonesia/index.htm

[amusea]

So HAL's not such a thief after all. They're asking $83.

 

 

No, no. The fact is that we can just disembark the ship in Indonesia and pay our $10. or $15. at the dock for the three day VOA visa. Why should we be held captive by HAL for a much higher price? The VOA is a very simple procedure and we should have that option rather than the $93. hostage amount.

[Jade13]

My 2 cents worth, for what it is worth! a The New Zealand and Australian governments have a travel warning in place re visiting Indonesia. They are advising their citizens not to travel there unless it is absolutely necessary! Believing that more terriorist plots are in advance stages. I guess therefore there is a chance that the ship will not visit, as has happened in the past or else you might not even wish to go ashore.

 

For quite some time I have in my opinion thought that this is a place old old fools would visit, and personally I for one would give a lot of thought to giving this country a pretty wide berth.

 

I think that American cruise liners are downright rip off merchants at the best of time, but people just let them keep getting away with it! :confused:

 

We almost canceled our honeymoon in Bali after 911 (and keeping the New Zealand And Australia Great Barrier Reef portion of our trip) after the US government advised not to go there (and US Airways would have rerouted us to Fiji with no change fees). In any event we listened to our friend whose company has a resort there (and unbeknowst to US picked up our entire tab as a wedding gift) and were soo glad we went to Bali. It is was the most wonderful vacation ever. The people were wonderful and we decided it was more dangerous in many US States. The majority of people are verty peaceful. The National Dance Troup came to our Villa and gave us a private performance with the full troup while we had dinner under a tent. Btw, we did not need a Visa but perhaps Bali is different than Java.

[agabbymama]

At least you know this ahead of time, and haven't already paid it before you knew it.

 

I booked a HAL cruisetour to Alaska (because HAL has been my favorite line up until now). I saw nothing in the brochures, nor did my TA state that the hotels would be NON-SMOKING. I know in general buses, trains, etc. are non-smoking, but I was amazed to receive my cruse documents and everyday for the hotel entry in BIG BOLD LETTERS "WESTMARK HOTELS ARE SMOKE FREE ENVIRONMENTS". Now final payment was due June 3rd, so that's been paid. I received my documents 7/12 for my cruise on 8/18, so now there would be huge penalties if I were to cancel, and I don't think SMOKING or NON-SMOKING hotels would be cause for trip insurance to cancel.

 

Yup, you guessed it, I'm a smoker, and I can just see how great a trip I'm going to have with 3 days on the ship (where I can smoke) and 8 days on the land tour where there will be no smoking allowed on most venues. I emailed HAL just to see what their response would be, and thus far, I've received the automated response that they received my email, but nothing else in over a week.

 

So everyone has gripes and complaints, but we keep sailing! What the heck does that tell you? Are we dumbed down or what?

[jtl513]

Zierer all in cost $101 plus cost of photos and postage to them.:eek:

 

So HAL's not such a thief after all. They're asking $83.

Or does the $101 include ALL visas needed for the entire cruise?

[2bout2c]

Or does the $101 include ALL visas needed for the entire cruise?

No the 101 is for the indonesia visa only.

[onthegogirl]

Did not understand that HAL was holding you captive unless you got your visa in advance (preferably from them). If visa's are available on the dock, you certainly SHOULD be allowed to use that service instead of paying HAL. :mad:

 

The visa I was investigating was for Papua New Guinea and is not available on the dock.:( So, unless I want to send my passport ot a strange company (NOT) I'll use HAL's service if they offer it.

[dvdfreakmc]

I wholeheartedly agree with Brian. Charge an extra amount and make visas included.