Booking Shore Excursions

[dulcetto]

Hi There

 

 

I have booked thru a TA for a Land/Ship Tour on the Statendam next Aug I know its a while away but can you please help with the following, because I booked thru a TA does this mean that I cannot book the shore excursions direct with Holland when they are released,as we wish to prebook and pay before we leave and hopefully get the excursions we would like:)

[Jewel99]

You can book your shore excursions direct through Holland America via their website or through their shore excursions desk.

 

We booked our upcoming trip through a TA and while she did say she's book anything else we'd like, I felt comfortable doing this on my own and didn't want to take up more of her time than necessary.

[canadarocks]

I also used a TA as well, but just so I could use the $25 coupon from a tour book I bought and to save $100 using Air Miles Coupons (it's a Canadian thing!;))!

 

I've booked all of our shore excursions, Pinnacle Grill reservation, and drink cards myself though!! That's half the fun! :D

[cantw8togo]

canadarocks; I also used a TA as well, but just so I could use the $25 coupon from a tour book I bought and to save $100 using Air Miles Coupons (it's a Canadian thing!;))!

 

 

What Air Miles coupon did you use? I have a whole bunch of Air Miles that I have never redeemed, and it never occured to me that I could use them on an upcoming trip to Alaska.

 

Thanks,

 

N.

[dulcetto]

You can book your shore excursions direct through Holland America via their website or through their shore excursions desk.

 

We booked our upcoming trip through a TA and while she did say she's book anything else we'd like, I felt comfortable doing this on my own and didn't want to take up more of her time than necessary.

Thanks very much Jewel99 and Canadrocks for the info ,will do my own bookings

[canadarocks]

canadarocks; I also used a TA as well, but just so I could use the $25 coupon from a tour book I bought and to save $100 using Air Miles Coupons (it's a Canadian thing!;))!

 

 

What Air Miles coupon did you use? I have a whole bunch of Air Miles that I have never redeemed, and it never occured to me that I could use them on an upcoming trip to Alaska.

 

Thanks,

 

N.

 

Marlin Travel has $50 coupons that are 385 Air Miles each. You can use a maximum of 8 coupons per person, for a potential savings of $400 apiece!:)

Just go to the Air Miles site and put in Marlin Travel to get all the info!:cool:

[Jewel99]

canadarocks; I also used a TA as well, but just so I could use the $25 coupon from a tour book I bought and to save $100 using Air Miles Coupons (it's a Canadian thing!;))!

 

 

What Air Miles coupon did you use? I have a whole bunch of Air Miles that I have never redeemed, and it never occured to me that I could use them on an upcoming trip to Alaska.

 

Thanks,

 

N.

 

Our TA doesn't take Air Miles, but they do take Aeroplan points. We don't have a lot of those but we will be able to save about $100 using points. We're also using our Air Miles to rent a car in Fort Lauderdale and also pay for a hotel (you can use them at most every Starwood hotel, like Westin, etc.).

 

Whenever I use Air Miles, I figure out the per point value using an Excel spreadsheet... I find that some things give you more "bang for your airmiles" than other things. The car rental is actually a very good value for the air miles, especially as it's in US funds. The hotel is also a very good value, except we're now staying at a nicer hotel than I probably would have paid for if paying cash... but at least it's once less thing we'll be out of pocket for right before the trip.

 

One of the best values for Air Miles is to convert them to gift certificates for either Rona or A&P/Metrol stores, but only if you actually shop there. We bought our BBQ a few years ago at Rona using Air Miles converted to gift certificates, plus saved extra money as Rona was having one of their scratch and save sales that weekend.

 

In my experience, using Air Miles for actual air travel is NOT worth it as you still have to pay taxes and fees, and we've been able to get flights that cost less than the taxes and fees by flying out of Buffalo (might be a different story if we were flying somewhere other than within North America).

[Krazy Kruizers]

We use a personal TA as well.

And we book all our excursions (and everything else) ourselves.

You will need your confirmation number to book excursions and anything else on HAL's website.

[sapper1]

Our TA doesn't take Air Miles, but they do take Aeroplan points. We don't have a lot of those but we will be able to save about $100 using points. We're also using our Air Miles to rent a car in Fort Lauderdale and also pay for a hotel (you can use them at most every Starwood hotel, like Westin, etc.).

 

Whenever I use Air Miles, I figure out the per point value using an Excel spreadsheet... I find that some things give you more "bang for your airmiles" than other things. The car rental is actually a very good value for the air miles, especially as it's in US funds. The hotel is also a very good value, except we're now staying at a nicer hotel than I probably would have paid for if paying cash... but at least it's once less thing we'll be out of pocket for right before the trip.

 

One of the best values for Air Miles is to convert them to gift certificates for either Rona or A&P/Metrol stores, but only if you actually shop there. We bought our BBQ a few years ago at Rona using Air Miles converted to gift certificates, plus saved extra money as Rona was having one of their scratch and save sales that weekend.

 

In my experience, using Air Miles for actual air travel is NOT worth it as you still have to pay taxes and fees, and we've been able to get flights that cost less than the taxes and fees by flying out of Buffalo (might be a different story if we were flying somewhere other than within North America).

You are so right about the gift certificates being a great value. I was trying to decide how to turn my Air Miles into shore excursion money and ended up redeeming them for $400 dollars worth of Sobey's grocery certificates. I then took the grocery money and bought shore excursions.

 

Apart from the taxes we have to pay on redeeming for air travel, the flights you have to book are at the top price so you are not getting the best value for your Air Miles if you do that.

The last time I booked a flight using Air Miles they made a mistake and booked me from St. John's, Newfoundland to Edmonton instead of from Saint John, New Brunswick to Edmonton. They then tried to tell me that they couldn't change a ticket once it had been issued and it was my problem. I quite firmly told them that it was "their" problem and they would have to fix it for me. When they saw I wasn't going away quietly they adjusted it for me. I don't know what the hassle was for as they would have errors and omission insurance to cover such things.

I then had to fight a similar battle to have the difference in the cost of cancellation insurance refunded to me. They said an insurance policy can't be amended once it has been issued. Again---it was their error, not mine.

[canadarocks]

I agree about the Air Miles. We've had cards since 1992 when it first started and only once have we used the points for air travel!:p