Booking Shore Excursions

[Rosieo]

I looked but I couldn't find the answer on the HAL site. If I book a shore excursion now and I charged for it now or when I get on the ship. Also can you cancel if you change your mind?

[mushroom]

Your credit card is charged with you book the excursion. You can change your selection up to five days prior. The vouchers for your excursion are issued onboard and are delivered to your stateroom. It's wise to print out your confirmation when you book the excursions online. Hope this helps.

[Ilandguy]

About pricing, refunds & cancellations:

 

Rates and descriptions are current as of the printing date. Prices are subject to change without notice and descriptions may vary from the actual tour provided. All cancellations that are made less than 5 days prior to cruise departure are subject to a 10% cancellation fee. There will be no exceptions. In addition, if you cancel your tour reservation after the booking deadline stated in the Shore Excursion Planning Form on board, or if you cancel a Signature Collection private vehicle tour, a 100% cancellation fee will

apply since transportation and services will have already been arranged.

[Rosieo]

Thanks for the quick replies!

[Iris5383]

About pricing, refunds & cancellations:

 

Rates and descriptions are current as of the printing date. Prices are subject to change without notice and descriptions may vary from the actual tour provided. All cancellations that are made less than 5 days prior to cruise departure are subject to a 10% cancellation fee. There will be no exceptions. In addition, if you cancel your tour reservation after the booking deadline stated in the Shore Excursion Planning Form on board, or if you cancel a Signature Collection private vehicle tour, a 100% cancellation fee will

apply since transportation and services will have already been arranged.

 

We have been in this situation, my DH booked a shore excursion as a surprise - in fact the whole cruise was a surprise, but that's another story. Anyway, I wanted to go on a different excursion. We went to the excursion office when we were on board and changed excursions. We were not charged a cancellation fee. We figured it was because there was a waiting list for the excursion we canceled. So when it says "subject to a 10% cancellation fee", I guess that means each cancellation can be charged a fee to cancel, but each situation is looked at individually.

[tjcox9]

And we have been charged the cancellation fee on board when there was a waiting list.

 

We cruise on both HAL and Princess and although we take few ship's tours, so much prefer Princess' policies on shore excursion bookings. Just my two cents!

[Jade13]

I prefer HAL's policy because the costs of the excursions have always increased (at least $5.00-$20.00 pp) and we have been locked in at the lower rate.

[Jade13]

double post

[wander]

Cancellation policy seems most fair to me.

 

On a long 2008 cruise I booked a number of shore exs very early. I then made several changes, getting my Credit Card refund credits for the cx. on my next month's bill, along with the new charges. I had about 6 of these, not all at once, and all went smoothly.

 

In terms of cx. on the ship, I found that IF I cx. a shore ex. while on the ship but booked another one for the same port at the same time I cx. the 1st one, no cx. fee. But, if I did not book another shore ex. for the same port at the same time I was charged the 10% cx. fee.

[RuthC]

In terms of cx. on the ship, I found that IF I cx. a shore ex. while on the ship but booked another one for the same port at the same time I cx. the 1st one, no cx. fee. But, if I did not book another shore ex. for the same port at the same time I was charged the 10% cx. fee.

I've had the same experience when canceling aboard, and booking a replacement tour. I've also had to cancel, and not book another, as I decided the tour was too strenuous for me. In that case I wasn't charged a cancellation fee either. (It was done on the first day, though).

 

I've never canceled and not booked another tour when the reason for cancellation was for other than inability to do the tour, so I don't know if there would have been a fee in that case.

[TrolleyGirl]

How many days out from a cruise do they open the excursion bookings. Right now there are non available for Mar 2010. Just wanted to know what month I should start checking.

[pms4104]

How many days out from a cruise do they open the excursion bookings. Right now there are non available for Mar 2010. Just wanted to know what month I should start checking.

I don't believe there is a set schedule for release ... they come online as HAL finalizes contracts with onshore tour operators. If there is something you absolutely want to do in a port, I would suggest you check weekly at this point. We are sailing in November and nothing is posted yet ... last year for our December trip, the first excursions to open up were HMC cabanas mid-June then clamshells a week or two later, and tours for the other ports dribbled in after that, tho some ports showed nothing til about 6 weeks out.

[carosave]

We were charged, too, this last cruise, even though they filled our "spots". I don't recall what has happened on other cruises...!

 

Just a note, too, though: the five days really means 5 BUSINESS days prior to your cruise, per my experience and talking with a phone person at HAL. Somehow I had missed that fine print....:rolleyes: