HAL excursion Tutorial wanted

[travelbug615]

I have not cruised on HAL in years. I am used to Princess, where I reserve excursions early and then cancel the excursion if something better comes along or if there is a price drop. HAL's excursion policy of actually buying the excursion early instead of making a reservation without payment is quite different than Princess.

 

My cruise is 3 months away and it goes to Japan and South Korea. Will more excursions be added as it gets closer to the sail away date? Once you take out HAL's "private touring" excursions, there are limited choices.

 

When do experienced HAL cruisers reserve HAL excursions? Are you stuck with what you reserved if something better comes along? Anyone have some tips?

 

I would love to have a tutorial on how to approach HAL excursion bookings.

 

 

Thank you,

[Caribbean Chris]

I had a friend who liked the Princess system (although I thought I read that they now require payment, too?) but I think HAL's system works well.

 

Maybe it helps keep some people from booking up a lot of tour space without much thought while other people are shut out.

 

I would reserve early for exotic cruises that have limited tour facilities in small ports, or for things with obvious space limitations like flight-seeing (versus abundant city tours on buses). Do keep checking back for tours that may be added within a few months of sailing.

 

Book what you probably will plan to do to lock it in, pay for it, and if you cancel because you've changed your mind or like something else better, you'll receive a refund on your credit card very quickly. You can still cancel most excursions even aboard ship up to a designated time.

Edited January 8, 2017 by Caribbean Chris

[kazu]

There may be some more tours added - at this stage of the game, hard to say.

 

Best to check now and then to see if anything has been added.

 

I have never found HAL shore excursions pricing to go down - even on board.

 

You can certainly book now and if something shows up that appeals more, you can cancel. As long as you do it at least 4 days before the cruise (I believe 3 days is the cut off - but do check on the shore excursion site as things can change), HAL will refund your entire tour cost - so you are out nothing (other than exchange rate if you are from outside the U.S.)

 

Of course, you can also book onboard if there is availability. You can also cancel on board as long as you do it withint the prescribed time but I believe there is a small penalty of 10% if you booked on line. (Do check me on that).

 

I've never seen reduced pricing on board, either. I have seen people upset that they couldn't get a tour.

 

I actually prefer HAL's system since it is 1) already paid for and no bill on board and 2) it means people booking are serious and they can't tie up a bunch of tours for the same day.

[mame42]

Since I cruise solo, I probably book more HAL excursions than most. I book my "must do/sees" online as soon as they become available, as others have said, some limited participation excursions and even popular mass bus tours may fill up quickly. Then I work myself through the "would be nices", the "I might enjoy these," all the way through to the "mehs (nothing better to do).

 

If a more attractive private excursion pops up, I easily cancel the HAL excursion online (However, I NEVER, for any reason, cancel a private excursion to which I have committed. If I cannot go because of illness, etc., I notify the organizer and pay in full). If an exciting alternative to a previously booked HAL excursion is published onboard, I figure the experience is worth the 10% penalty.

 

The goal is to have all booked and paid for before embarkation.

[Krazy Kruizers]

The price you see on line for a HAL excursion is the same price if wait to book once on the ship. HAL does not reduce excursion prices.

HAL may or may not add more excursion between now and when you cruise. A couple of times when we got on the ship a couple of new excursions were added -- very rare for this to happen.

If when you get on the ship and you decide you don't want to do a certain excursion, on embarkation day you can cancel without any penalties. After that -- should you change your mind you will have a 10% penalty if you cancel by the deadline listed in the shore excursion booklet in your cabin. If you miss the dead line -- no refund. Refunds are issued in the form of shipboard credit.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I have never seen prices go down. I don't recall seeing new tours added, but I have seen additional departure times added if a tour is selling out.

 

I agree with Kazu, requiring payment when tours are selected keeps people from grabbing a bunch of tours "just in case" and locking other people out.

[cb at sea]

You can cancel and get a refund, if something better comes along...within the 24-48 hour window...

[OlsSalt]

We take a lot of HAL shore excursions and browse carefully ahead of time to see which ones might book up fast, which ones are really ship's departure timing dependent, or have limited space availability. Those we grab before we go.

 

But one can always cancel within 24 hours, if you later change your mind. Those heavily impacted ones often have waiting lists, so your space is happily picked up by someone else.

 

No, we have never seen a price drop. But on occasion we were able to book right at the bus before departure, when other plans fell through..like a metro strike in Athens that morning which he had expected to do on our own. We have been happy with both quality and choices of HAL shore excursions, even though they are "group tours" and pricier than what others can often arrange on their own.

 

We like their hassle free nature and have found fellow HAL cruisers to are very good group of organized tour participants. No complainers, no habitually late people, no demands for extra-curricular shopping unless that is part of the package and pretty good about getting in and out of the restroom stops with good cheer and polite lines.

Edited January 9, 2017 by OlsSalt

[travelbug615]

Thanks for the replies. Some of the excursions are discounted now for some reason unknown to me. I decided to book a few of those and a couple of full price tours that I was excited about.

Princess is not requiring prepayment of tours now. I think they must have gotten complaints. The issue for me is using up onboard credit that can not be refunded (this cruise I have a lot of OBC to spend). I like to use it on excursions, but I can't do that unless I wait to order once I board ship. So I picked a few ports, that I don't have strong opinions about and will wait till I board ship.

Just wanted to let you know you can not double book excursions that would happen during the same time period on Princess, so no one can hog all the bookings. Also on Princess, I have had excursions go down as well as up in price before a cruise.

I do appreciate all the comments. I am working on learning the ropes for HAL.

[SusieKIslandGirl]

Another nice feature on the Princess site is that it shows how many spots are still available. They also do a good job in the description of how far you walk, stairs involved and various time periods of the tour.