Disembarkation for Shore Excursions

[CruisinGrams]

I have only cruised on HAL one and it was a 21 day Panama Canal repositioning cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Vancouver, BC. I found the whole process for disemberking for shore excursions exasperating. As soon as one group is called the stair wells and elevators are jammed and no one can get through because no one will wait for their call. Last year on Royal Caribbean we got of the ship without incident and met our group for shore excursions on the dock. Please someone tell me HAL now does this, or can I again expect to have to wait cheek to cheek in the stairwells even though I waited for my turn.

[ore-ee-gun]

We've cruised twice so far, and never had a problem getting ashore when we wanted to. At ports where we docked, we just walked off the ship. For tender ports, we went to the Queen's lounge to collect a ticket, and they called each ticket group in turn. After a while, they stop requiring tickets, so you can just walk down to the tender platform with no waiting. We met our shore excursion group on the pier, but I would imagine that early excursion groups have tendering priority. Have a great cruise!:)

[Spender Nui]

Bring a book to pass the time while you're waiting.

[LHC]

It was the same experience with our excursions. Most people are so anxious to get a jump on time (yes, only the same amount of time in port as for everyone else but go figure)that they think they can bully there way off the ship.
I do always have a book to read and after attending University of Tennessee football games in the Fall and being in a wave and mass of fans in a variety of states, I people watch and try and relax and pray my way through the experience knowing I am about to see something new and unique along with meeting new people in foreign lands.
Happy Sailing Granny.
Linda

[Krazy Kruizers]

Tours - the rules seem to differe from ship-to-ship and the various ports. There have been times when we met in one of the lounges for all of our tours and it was a zoo trying to get off the ship when our tour was called. This happened on a Canada/New England cruise in 2004.

But most recently on our November 2005 Sea of Cortez and Mexcian Riviera cruises, 98% of our tours met ashore. Much imrpoved in my opinion.

[cruiserfromohio]

Yes, there can be problem when tours meet on the ship. A bunch of people surge for the stairs at one time and clog everything up. When tours meet on the dock -- not always an option -- things always seem to go much easier. Look at it from the perspective of the shore excusion staff, you have from 12 - 200 people to herd onto awaiting transportation and you want to make sure everyone who purcahsed a ticket shows up and gets on the correct bus. Having people meet in a lounge is a good way to go -- yes it can cause a temporary jam on the stairs, but it makes "control" of those going on the tours much easier. With HAL this MO can cause problems, as all tours seem to departure at about the same time and most are early in the morning, so the stairs are jammed. If you're not going on a tour wait until 9:00 AM to go ashore -- the tours will have departed and you still have the entire day in the port.