? Price difference HAL shore tours and independents

Hi there,

Wanting to do lots of shore tours for our Alaska hal cruise next year.

I know the RCi ones for NZ sometimes triple the price of doing it independently, but we got stuck in Akaroa to join our tour due to tender preferencing last cruise.

In particular wanting to do the Dog sledding and Glacier trip.

Does anyone one know if there is a huge difference in price booking with cruise? I cant log in yet to see prices.

Have found that these often book iut and dont want to miss out!

Thanks in advance

Cruise lines always charge more.

There are several reasons for this. Yes, they need to make money and they still have to contract with a tour operator and there are other issues such as their costs (home office and on the ship) and other factors such as insurance. How much more you pay will vary by what the excursion is and whether or not you are sharing a private one with anyone else.

Keith

In particular wanting to do the Dog sledding and Glacier trip.

Sled Dog Discovery & Musher's Camp runs $149.95 from the cruise line. Alaska Shore Excursions charges $135.45. Perhaps that gives you some idea of the markup they charge for the "the ship will wait for you" protection?

I did not find as much price difference between the ships price vs independents in Alaska as I usually find on Caribbean cruises. This is primarily due to the short season, high demand and higher costs in Alaska. The primary advantage I found for independents was smaller groups and potentially longer time on the tour. This is especially true on many of the whale watching excursions.

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We did the Skagway Glacier Safari independently and saved $20 pp. We were on the same excursion as the people who booked on the ship. Based on the info from cc and trip advisor, I would usually opt for the independent excursion in most cases unless in a dangerous port or if the excursion was several hours away from the ship. Usually cheaper and smaller groups.

Most of the time in Alaska, the ships are docked rather than tendered. You can find the port schedules here to see if you will be docked.

http://claalaska.com/?page_id=665

The 2018 schedule wasn't up yet when I checked.

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You do know that HAL does not operate just about all the port tours, they are contracted with the local vendors.

With a glacier dog sledding- on the inside passage, there are 3 vendors who offer this. 2 of which are ship contracted. Simple to book either way, via the ship or direct, independently.

This tour is also available out of Seward for cruise ship passengers.

Which port? What is the cruise line's name of the excursion? I don't see one that matches your spec.

 

Sled Dog Discovery & Musher's Camp runs $149.95 from the cruise line. Alaska Shore Excursions charges $135.45. Perhaps that gives you some idea of the markup they charge for the "the ship will wait for you" protection?

Their description indicates to me, the glacier dog sledding helicopter tour, not what you have listed.

On the inside passage- available out of Skagway and Juneau. For one way cruisers also Seward.

Thanks everyone.

Yes the Helicopter tour of glacier and dog sledding was what I was thinking from Juneau, or Skagway if the first cancelled.

Good to know the mark up is not huge. In NZ RCI charged at least twice, sometimes x3 for the same tour, but had you by the neck if it was a tender, so also good to know mostly docked ports for the Inside Passage cruises.