Booking Shore Tours Online with HAL

[Chelly]

I booked my upcoming cruise through a TA. Can I book my shore excursions online through HAL or must I book though the TA? (For several unpleasant reasons, I won't use this TA again.)

[Lurker1]

I booked my upcoming cruise through a TA. Can I book my shore excursions online through HAL or must I book though the TA? (For several unpleasant reasons, I won't use this TA again.)

 

You can go through HAL on-line. I don't know if the TA receives credit for those bookings, but you don't need the TA for the excursions.

[CowPrincess]

You just need your booking # to book shore ex thru the HAL site. We did that on our last Alaska trip (booked trip thru a TA), and booked all our excursions on the HAL site. Be aware that when you book an excursion thru HAL, it will be charged to your credit card immediately.

[hammybee]

Travel agencies do not recieve compensation for booking ship sponsored shore excurions and therefore do not do so.

 

Some travel agencies arrange and sponsor their own " group" shore excursions, independent of the cruise line, especially on escorted cruises.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Once you have booked your excursions through HAL, you will get a receipt from them.

Print out this receipt and take it along with you in the event that there could be problems.

[Spanish eyes]

You just need your booking # to book shore ex thru the HAL site. We did that on our last Alaska trip (booked trip thru a TA), and booked all our excursions on the HAL site. Be aware that when you book an excursion thru HAL, it will be charged to your credit card immediately.

 

Does that mean that when you book the shore excursion you must pay for it at the time? Can't you book the shore excursion online & then have the amount debited to you onboard account when you get on the ship?

Thanks

[c-cruise]

Yup, when you purchase excursions online they charge your card right then and there. If you cancel before the cruise they refund your card. If your excursion is cancelled for some reason once on the ship they credit it to your shipboard account.

[Big Al B.]

Remember there is a 5-day time factor involved:

 

"You can easily book shore excursions online up to 5 days before departure using your booking number; changes or cancellations may be made online without penalty until 5 days prior to departure date. All cancellations that are made less than 5 days prior to cruise departure are subject to a 10% cancellation fee. In addition, if you cancel your tour reservation after the booking deadline stated in the Shore Excursions Order Form on board, or if you cancel a Signature Collection private tour, a 100% cancellation fee will apply since transportation and services will have already been arranged." - from the website

[cmdchiefthom]

Chelly,

 

Make sure you use the HAL booking number, a series of cap letters and number, not the TA's booking number. There is a difference.;)

[Chelly]

Good information. My travel agent did a "hard sell" trying to convince me to have her book my HAL tours in advance of cruise. So, I sensed she'd receive a commission from HAL.

[Stevesan]

I like HAL's pay when you book Shorex a good system for two reasons:

1) Pax don't usually book a tour just because they "might" want to go when there's an immediate financial commitment.

That seems effective even though HAL is prompt crediting your CC if you decide to cancel before the 5 day close out.

Another cruise line, which will remain nameless :p, delays charging until you're on board.

I find their shorex tours seem to book up at a much more rapid rate, causing many primo tours to sell out early undoubtly because of the noncommitment.

2) I like prepaying simply because one more $fee$ is over and done with.

[c-cruise]

Personally I would prefer it if they allowed you to pre-book the excursions online and then charge them to your account once onboard. I would think it would be sufficient to give them a card number to hold your spot on the excursion similar to a hotel or rental car reservation. If someone cancels once onboard that is just a slot that opens up for somebody else. No card to refund, no ship credit to deal with.

[pms4104]

Personally I would prefer it if they allowed you to pre-book the excursions online and then charge them to your account once onboard. I would think it would be sufficient to give them a card number to hold your spot on the excursion similar to a hotel or rental car reservation. If someone cancels once onboard that is just a slot that opens up for somebody else. No card to refund, no ship credit to deal with.

For the reasons described by Stevesan in the post previous to yours, I believe paying in advance is fair to all passengers. If the cruiseliine were to merely put a hold on one's card when booking, there is no skin in the game ... and others willing to pay up front may be disappointed in not being able to book an excursion filled up by those who "might" want that excursion and who don't mind a cc hold and who may be likely to cancel once onboard.

[kryos]

Good information. My travel agent did a "hard sell" trying to convince me to have her book my HAL tours in advance of cruise. So, I sensed she'd receive a commission from HAL.

I'm not sure about that one, but I think she can get commissions on them.

 

Nothing wrong with that, though. As long as you have confidence in her ability to book them properly, why not? Let her make a couple of extra bucks and then maybe she'll have a bottle of wine or something waiting for you in your stateroom upon boarding.

 

Believe me, though, even if she does get commissions on the HAL tours, it ain't much ... just a few dollars.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

Good information. My travel agent did a "hard sell" trying to convince me to have her book my HAL tours in advance of cruise. So, I sensed she'd receive a commission from HAL.

There are other vendors ... some that provide far superior shore excursions than what HAL offers ... who many TA's do business with as well. ShoreTrips is one that comes to mind. They work very closely with the cruise lines to make sure to schedule your tour within the ship's port schedule and they make sure to have you back in plenty of time to reboard the ship.

 

ShoreTrips can actually be a lot cheaper ... especially if you are doing a private tour for just your group. You pay less, and get a far more customized tour with fewer people along for the ride.

 

I remember one example that was shown during a Webinar I attended. The tour was somewhere in Europe ... maybe Rome ... and the price was about the same as HAL's tour. However, the difference was that the private vehicle only held four people plus the driver, plus an English speaking guide. Since those four people were the only ones on the tour, there was lots of flexibility worked into the tour ... guests could eliminate some parts of it in order to either proceed slower and focus on only those things they really wanted to see and do, or to slow down the entire tour if there were guests with special needs onboard who simply couldn't keep up with a fast-paced cruise line tour. On one of HAL's big bus tours, you really can't have any sort of customization. The tour is what it is and if certain guests can't keep up, then the entire tour bus-load of people miss stops. Of course, that doesn't endear the mobility challenged guests with their fellow passengers who maybe didn't get to see the Spanish Steps because of those two ladies on the walkers. :( With the cruise line tours, too ... you're always gonna have some folks who are late getting back to the bus at various stops, and the bus will have to wait while one of the tour leaders go out in search of the stragglers. By the time those stragglers are found, the tour is another half hour behind schedule. Plus, again, you will always have the mobility-impaired people who simply cannot keep up with the tour and will always fall behind. Short of someone volunteering to carry them back to the bus, the bus and everyone in it will have to wait until they can get there ... and that too will mean delays. The end result is that by the second half of the day (on a full-day tour), the guide often can readily see that he is hopelessly behind schedule and that's when he will start chopping stuff out of the tour. No choice. He has to get you back to the ship by a certain time. You wind up paying a high price and then didn't even get to see everything you wanted to see.

 

But with the private vendors, even if the price is the same, you often wind up actually seeing more than what is advertised in the cruise line excursion tour ... simply because the tour doesn't have as many people, and therefore schedules can be adhered to much easier. If all the people are healthy and don't have walking issues, often there could be extra time at the end of the tour, allowing for an extra stop or two ... or perhaps a more leisurely exploration of some site that everyone is interested in.

 

So a lot of the travel agencies have relationships established with these private tour vendors ... especially in cases where they have a whole family traveling together in multiple cabins ... or a group where these private tours are especially cost-effective.

 

Maybe that's what the agent is trying to do here? Set up some type of private tours with an outside vendor? If so, that might not be an entirely bad thing. Heck, I only take HAL tours on my cruises because I tend to travel mostly on my own. The private tours would be prohibitively expensive for me. But if I had a group, I'd much prefer a private tour over a HAL one simply because it is much more intimate and much more personalized.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Chelly]

Great info. I'm traveling solo, so for trips to Alhambra in Granada and sightseeing in Magiera, I feel more confident booking through HAL. However, I have no problem making my way on my own around Barcelona, Lisbon, Cadiz. I think I may walk from the port to Hassan Mosque in Casa as well. At least that's my plan so far.

[mrskmirolla]

I guess we have been really lucky in booking our excursions through HAL. We have never used a private company. Over the years and the many excursions we have been on we haven't had any problems at all. I know that sounds unusual as Rita has mention plenty of them, but thank goodness we haven't encounter any. We have booked and paid for all of our excursions so far for our May 13th sailing now I hope I haven't jinx us:eek:

Kathy

[Stevesan]

Great info. I'm traveling solo, so for trips to Alhambra in Granada and sightseeing in Magiera, I feel more confident booking through HAL. However, I have no problem making my way on my own around Barcelona, Lisbon, Cadiz. I think I may walk from the port to Hassan Mosque in Casa as well. At least that's my plan so far.

 

The Alhambra, with its 14th century palaces and gardens is magnificent. After the Alhambra visit, our tour went to a marvelous ballroom (think big band 1930s and 1940s:) ) in Granada. Lunch was preceded by an outstanding Flamenco performance.

 

If your cruise stops at Vigo, be sure to visit Santiago de la Compostela (St James Cathedral). That was another great experience. The cathedral is a classic of Gothic architecture. Our tour visited the cathedral in the morning, then had lunch at The adjacent Parador. Because of the services, the cathedral was extremely crowded in the morning. Fortunately, we had time after lunch to revisit when it was nearly empty.

 

Both tours were booked thru the ship, Rotterdam VI in 1999, our first and best HAL cruise.

[cle1]

Great info. I'm traveling solo, so for trips to Alhambra in Granada and sightseeing in Magiera, I feel more confident booking through HAL. However, I have no problem making my way on my own around Barcelona, Lisbon, Cadiz. I think I may walk from the port to Hassan Mosque in Casa as well. At least that's my plan so far.

 

We were in Casablanca in Nov., and I would NOT (IMHO as an American woman) feel comfortable walking around town on my own....especially from the port to the Hassan Mosque. The other ports NO problem.........Carol

[Susie51]

I have booked shore ex online. I like the convenience and knowing I have a seat on the shore ex I want. I add the printed receipt to my blue packet (I use an old one until the new docs arrive) I keep my e-ticket airline receipt in there, prepaid hotel receipt ect.

[Spanish eyes]

I like HAL's pay when you book Shorex a good system for two reasons:

 

1) Pax don't usually book a tour just because they "might" want to go when there's an immediate financial commitment.

That seems effective even though HAL is prompt crediting your CC if you decide to cancel before the 5 day close out.

Another cruise line, which will remain nameless :p, delays charging until you're on board.

I find their shorex tours seem to book up at a much more rapid rate, causing many primo tours to sell out early undoubtly because of the noncommitment.

 

2) I like prepaying simply because one more $fee$ is over and done with.

 

I never thought about that way. I guess pax wouldn't book so quickly unless they were sure they we definately going on that excursion. Don't you worry about putting your credit card number on the net though? I never put any financial info on the net.

[Mary Ellen]

Travel agencies do not recieve compensation for booking ship sponsored shore excurions and therefore do not do so.

Your TA may not do so, but there are some that provide this service to their clients. On my last cruise a number of CCers used the same TA. She booked HMC cabanas, as soon as they opened, for those who wanted them. You'll notice on the HAL site for booking shore ex, when paying, there is a box to mark if one is a TA booking for clients.

[c-cruise]

For the reasons described by Stevesan in the post previous to yours, I believe paying in advance is fair to all passengers. If the cruiseliine were to merely put a hold on one's card when booking, there is no skin in the game ... and others willing to pay up front may be disappointed in not being able to book an excursion filled up by those who "might" want that excursion and who don't mind a cc hold and who may be likely to cancel once onboard.

 

Fairness is not the issue here. Everybody has the same opportunity to pre-book online whether it be a hold or an actual charge to your card or whatever. What's wrong with pre-booking online and then changing your mind once onboard and canceling or changing tours? That tour slot doesn't go away, somebody else still has the opportunity to book it. HAL takes wait lists for full tours for just this reason. Plus they charge a 10% penalty for canceling onboard and then only refund you with ship credit to deter people from abusing this. I love HAL, but I really like how Princess allows you to pre-reserve excursions in advance and then pay for them onboard. Just seems like a cleaner and simpler way to handle it.

[RuthC]

It's one of those "When in Rome ..." things, I guess. Princess does it one way, HAL another.

I, for one, prefer the HAL method as I do deem it more fair. If one does not have to pay up front, they can book two or three tours for one time-frame, then decide later, and cancel out. In the meantime, others have tried to book those same excursions, and failed. Perhaps they put themselves on a waiting list; perhaps not. They could just as easily have committed to something else, and when the time comes they don't know their first choice is available. Or perhaps they can't get out of the committment they made.

 

HAL could also have added departures, in expectation of a certain number of bookings, only to find openings which can't be filled when the time comes for the tour.

[kryos]

Personally, I prefer to get the payment for my shore tours out of the way. That's why I don't mind one iota booking them in advance and paying.

 

When I take a cruise, it's generally a long, exotic one. I've often spent in excess of two grand on shore excursions. I'd much prefer to book these over the course of time and pay for them. I don't want an onboard bill at the end of my cruise with that two grand sitting on it.

 

My feeling is that disembarkation after a 30/35 day cruise is depressing enough. I don't want to deal with a huge disembarkation statement too.

 

So I'm happy as a clam that HAL does it just the way they do.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita