Mabe Holland will do the same with shore Excursions

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Carnival Launches New Shore Excursion Best Price Guarantee

 

Guests sailing on a Carnival cruise who book a shore excursion through the cruise line can be completely confident they are getting the best price and best value with the introduction of a new shore excursion best price guarantee. The only guarantee of its kind in the cruise industry, the program is now available fleetwide for all Carnival Cruise Lines shore tours on ships sailing from North America.

 

Under the best price guarantee, guests who find the same tour offered by another operator at a lower price than their booked excursion either before or during their cruise can complete a claim form to receive 110 percent of the difference in the form of a shipboard credit.

 

The guarantee is available for excursions booked prior to or during a cruise. If guests pre-book an excursion, then find a comparable tour advertised online at a lower price, they can complete an online form up to seven days prior to the cruise to invoke the guarantee. Guests can also complete a form during the cruise either before or after their excursion has taken place. Claims are typically processed within 24-48 hours.

[DaveOKC]

It will be interesting to see how this works out for Carnival. Might be hard to match up excursions exactly. On the other hand, tours on the pier are often cheaper as vendors try to fill empty seats.

 

DaveOKC

Edited May 23, 2014 by DaveOKC

[Krazy Kruizers]

Interesting.

Doubt if HAL will do anything like that.

[sunsetbeachgal]

I would just prefer that HAL let you book shore excursions in advance the way you do on Princess...reserve on line beforehand, then pay for it on board!

Edited May 23, 2014 by sunsetbeachgal

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I would just prefer that HAL let you book shore excursions in advance the way you do on Princess...reserve on line beforehand, then pay for it on board!

I agree....:)

[CGYCruisingFamily]

I have to admit I am floored by the prices HAL is charging in Europe for tours. For instance in some of the ports it we wanted to get a private minivan for the 6 of us we are looking at $1999 USD for full day (9 hrs) and $1299 USD for a half day (4 hrs). But for a private vehicle with driver and the stops we want to go to at our own pace (if we decide we want to head back early), we just booked with a private company for a 9 hr tour in 2 different ports and it comes to about $680 USD each day. HAL want almost $100 per adult to take us into Rome and drop us off. Now granted the kids are cheaper but it's still almost $500 for the 6 of us on that day if we went with HAL.

 

I do hope they make some changes in the future including paying on board and maybe re-evaluating the price of their tours. However given their charges I can't see them doing this policy because they would lose out big time unless they brought their prices in the first place.

Edited May 23, 2014 by CGYCruisingFamily

[KirkNC]

Note this is for sailing from North American ports only. If they did this in Europe, they would bankrupt the company. One that comes to mind is the bus to Florence for something like $119 versus taking the train on your own for I believe around $16.

[cruz chic]

I would just prefer that HAL let you book shore excursions in advance the way you do on Princess...reserve on line beforehand, then pay for it on board!

 

I'd like that too but I think a few ruin it for many. I remember one poster saying they like to "load up" on shore excursions because they don't have to pay ahead then cancelling close to the cruise when they decide which ones they will take. That is not fair to the cruiseline or other pax who might not be able to get the shorex they want.

 

Would love to see HAL adopt this practice (best pricing). I feel pretty uncomfortable booking privately. I know people say the private shorex people want to make sure they get you back to the ship but they can't control stuff like closed roads or flat tires. At least for HAL shorex they will wait for you.

[runnergirl71]

I'd like that too but I think a few ruin it for many. I remember one poster saying they like to "load up" on shore excursions because they don't have to pay ahead then cancelling close to the cruise when they decide which ones they will take. That is not fair to the cruiseline or other pax who might not be able to get the shorex they want.

 

Would love to see HAL adopt this practice (best pricing). I feel pretty uncomfortable booking privately. I know people say the private shorex people want to make sure they get you back to the ship but they can't control stuff like closed roads or flat tires. At least for HAL shorex they will wait for you.

 

Disney does the "book ahead, pay on board" thing, BUT their system doesn't allow the stacking of experiences of any type (excursion, spa, adult dining). If you go to reserve something that has a time conflict, a pop-up will alert you and give you the option to keep what you have or cancel that and reserve the new experience.

[G&G]

Will not work for HAL. We just completed a South Pacific cruise and in Moorea HAL offered a Motu and snorkel tour plus picnic for $174.95. On shore the same tour was $40 to $60 depending if you wish lunch.

[cruz chic]

Disney does the "book ahead, pay on board" thing, BUT their system doesn't allow the stacking of experiences of any type (excursion, spa, adult dining). If you go to reserve something that has a time conflict, a pop-up will alert you and give you the option to keep what you have or cancel that and reserve the new experience.

 

Good info. I wish the Princess site would do that.

[cruz chic]

Will not work for HAL. We just completed a South Pacific cruise and in Moorea HAL offered a Motu and snorkel tour plus picnic for $174.95. On shore the same tour was $40 to $60 depending if you wish lunch.

 

Wow:eek: that is just crazy! They must think we are all rich:rolleyes:.

[boards]

Note this is for sailing from North American ports only. If they did this in Europe, they would bankrupt the company. One that comes to mind is the bus to Florence for something like $119 versus taking the train on your own for I believe around $16.

 

How can you compare these two? 40 passengers on a bus verus a hundreds more. The price cannot be comparable.

[VermeulT]

...

Under the best price guarantee' date=' guests who find the same tour offered by another operator at a lower price than their booked excursion either before or during their cruise can complete a claim form to receive 110 percent of the difference in the form of a shipboard credit.

[/quote']

Do the math.

 

IF the tour is $50 more on HAL, then you would get $55 (110%) refund in OBC... so you are really "saving" only $5...

[Cruising-along]

It will be interesting to see how this works out for Carnival. Might be hard to match up excursions exactly. On the other hand, tours on the pier are often cheaper as vendors try to fill empty seats.

 

DaveOKC

 

It will be very hard to match up excursions exactly. Often the private tours don't include things like entry fees and meals, besides some of the more obvious differences.

[summersigh]

I feel pretty uncomfortable booking privately. I know people say the private shorex people want to make sure they get you back to the ship but they can't control stuff like closed roads or flat tires. At least for HAL shorex they will wait for you.

 

Absolutely!! We always book with the ship if going out of town any distance.

 

We were on an excursion into the rain forest and Mayan ruins in Beliez. We got delayed with the ship scheduled to leave at 5pm (include a 20 minute tender ride out to the ship before you can even think about leaving).:(

 

At 5pm we were sitting in "rush hour traffic", on the tour bus, not even creeping along. :o What a wonderful feeling when our tour guide announced that she was in direct communication with the ship's representative who was standing on the dock waiting for us - with our very own tender :)

[iancal]

We usually select private tours but price is only one of the considerations. The larger consideration is quality and the size of the group.

 

Last time we were in Ephesus the cost of a private tour for 4 (we had a van, a guide, and a driver) was less that it would have been had we selected the ship sponsored excursion. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and knew when to go where in order to avoid the crowds from the ship. Same thing when we did a Stingray City excursion. We saw the ship tour..it was awful compared to what we had.

 

This sounds to me more like a marketing scheme. It would be very easy for any cruise line to offer this guarantee simply by insisting that in order to do business with cruise line, the specific tour operator cannot sell that specific for less. But that does not preclude someone from getting what amounts to an identical tour at a lower price from a private operator.

 

No doubt there are lots of if, ands, and buts in the program. It is designed to increase revenue, not shell out refunds.

Edited May 23, 2014 by iancal

[boards]

Absolutely!! We always book with the ship if going out of town any distance.

 

We were on an excursion into the rain forest and Mayan ruins in Beliez. We got delayed with the ship scheduled to leave at 5pm (include a 20 minute tender ride out to the ship before you can even think about leaving).:(

 

At 5pm we were sitting in "rush hour traffic", on the tour bus, not even creeping along. :o What a wonderful feeling when our tour guide announced that she was in direct communication with the ship's representative who was standing on the dock waiting for us - with our very own tender :)

 

A port stop in France could have been trouble for bus load of tourists who were two hours late, but for the fact it was a Hal tour the ship waited for them.

[Typhoon1]

Don't look for that to happen. HAL is well known to lag when it comes to innovation.

[iancal]

I think that it will be a pretty safe bet that based on the T's and C's of the program, refunds will be few and far between.

 

Great sales and marketing ploy though.

[kazu]

We usually select private tours but price is only one of the considerations. The larger consideration is quality and the size of the group.

 

Last time we were in Ephesus the cost of a private tour for 4 (we had a van, a guide, and a driver) was less that it would have been had we selected the ship sponsored excursion. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and knew when to go where in order to avoid the crowds from the ship. Same thing when we did a Stingray City excursion. We saw the ship tour..it was awful compared to what we had.

 

This sounds to me more like a marketing scheme. It would be very easy for any cruise line to offer this guarantee simply by insisting that in order to do business with cruise line, the specific tour operator cannot sell that specific for less. But that does not preclude someone from getting what amounts to an identical tour at a lower price from a private operator.

 

No doubt there are lots of if, ands, and buts in the program. It is designed to increase revenue, not shell out refunds.

 

agree - our private tours are not just about price - it's about flexibility, quality and much more intimate, smaller groups.

 

We still book the odd HAL tour but normally do private. Have never missed the ship nor even come close.

 

Now, grant you, getting good private guides takes a bit of time and research but very worth while IMO.

[RuthC]

It's the definition of "same tour" that could be interpreted so widely.

Does the private tour have to have the exact same specifications, such as time in total, at each site, or also time of departure? Does the food/snack have to be identical, or will full meal vs. snack be enough? How about insurance coverage if there's a problem during the tour? Would the lack of identical insurance coverage on the vendor's part be the difference in the "same tour" criterion?

 

This offer sounds so good until you start picking it apart.

[DaveOKC]

On our last AK cruise HAL had a better deal on the Mt Roberts Tram. It was a buck cheaper than at the tram (no big deal I know), but the nice thing was that if you did not use the tram ticket you could bring it back to the shore excursion office that evening (before a set time) and get a full refund - never heard of that before.

 

Worked out well for us, as we could use some of our OBC by using HAL shore excursion office and then get a refund if we did not end up using it for some reason.

 

DaveOKC

[cruisemom42]

After having read the ports of call boards for many years, I strongly suspect that ship tours are "sometimes" late getting back to the ship because they know that they can be...

 

I've personally seen it happen several times. I will be leaving a major site with a private tour to head back to the ship, and as we are departing the ship tours are just arriving. It happened in Jerusalem, which is not a place one can get into, tour, and get out of quickly. The guides obviously knew there was no time pressure to get back to the ship.

 

Sure enough, I had returned to the Westerdam, showered, dressed for dinner and was in the Pinnacle Bar with a martini in hand when it was announced we would be departing two hours late due to late-arriving tours.

 

Slightly less than two hours later, on cue, some 13 buses came rumbling up to the pier. No accident, no traffic, just inefficient planning and no incentive to be back on time -- confirmed later by talking with various tour participants.

 

(As a sidebar, the cost of that particular overnight tour offered by HAL in Israel would have cost me more, as a solo, than the entire cruise cost. My private tour for those two days was about a fifth of the cost.)

 

 

Regarding other concerns: I have no idea about some of these smaller Caribbean islands, but in major European ports, there is almost always more than one road back to the ship. And private tour operators are nearly always in touch with each other regarding traffic, etc. I'm quite sure I've read of people getting a replacement car in very little time when something happened to their tour vehicle.

 

For the most part, the majority of folks that one reads about who've ever missed the ship have done so through their own time management issues (often aided by consumption of alcohol).

[igraf]

Any passenger that is present on the tender dock at the designated time will be transported to the ship. You do not have to consider the time it takes to tender back to the ship.

 

We do private tours or rent our own car all the time. The trick is to go early and arrive back with a couple of hours to spare, and then use the last hours to explore areas near the ship.

 

igraf

 

 

 

 

 

Absolutely!! We always book with the ship if going out of town any distance.

 

We were on an excursion into the rain forest and Mayan ruins in Beliez. We got delayed with the ship scheduled to leave at 5pm (include a 20 minute tender ride out to the ship before you can even think about leaving).:(

 

At 5pm we were sitting in "rush hour traffic", on the tour bus, not even creeping along. :o What a wonderful feeling when our tour guide announced that she was in direct communication with the ship's representative who was standing on the dock waiting for us - with our very own tender :)