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It's no coincidence that they do not normally mention the prices in the brochure. The cost of shore tours is THE big down side of cruising, for me!
I spent a couple of weeks touring India, a few years back. It was wonderful and the whole trip cost a hell of a lot less than HAL's package!
I must say that the Taj Mahal is very impressive!
Having said that ship shore excursion are valuable where time is short and what you want to see is unique and basically offered only to organized tours.
However on various cruises, when we asked our diner tablemates how they enjoyed their tours, most are usually quite contended with what they got(always exceptions however). They must be popolar otherwise the various ships would not offer them.
Whether they're over priced is subjective (everything in Europe is extremely expensive), but the comparisons seem reasonable. Santiago is less. I'm sure Premier's prices were lower. However, there can be a significant difference in quality/service among land tour companies. We were extremely happy with our European tours with HAL. ALL of the guides were walking encyclopedias and very well educated. Some pax rented cars and toured on their own. However, they are seasoned travelers, familiar with the region and usually multi-lingual. BTW, the Rome from Civitecchia full day (10 hour) tour is listed as $142.
[ 08-10-2001: Message edited by: Stevesan ]
Rome on your own - HAL - $56Rome on your own - Celebrity - $70
Rome Highlights Tour - HAL - $142Rome highlights tour - Celebrity - $168
The $182 tour includes the private visit to the Vatican - which Celebrity does not offer - and the $40 premium buys you the trip into the Museum either before or after hours to avoid the crowds and see more within.
Princess won't let you into the excursions without a booking number but on my last cruise with them, excursions cost the same as other lines did in St. Thomas and Barbados.
Like others here, we all know there is a heavy markup. I only use the ship excursions if they are adventure or very special and I can't do it on my own.
Like Tikal. $399 per person on HAL. I researched this trip from Cancun to compare it to the one offered by HAL. It would have cost me $385 to do it on my own while in Mexico, and not on a 737 and on small tour buses with luncheon included.
HAL is comparable in price to others. Definitely for the low end bus tours, you pay a premium to take a ship's tour. We usually rent a guide/driver and do it alone.
I have seen a few reviews of the private Vatican tour, with raves about it.
I downloaded the HAL brochure and looked at the Celebrity web site. Celebrity was more expensive than HAL in almost every comparable tour.
If you go back to Celebrity, you will just pay more.
quote:Originally posted by Barryboat:I have noticed that Celebrity tends to overcharge their shore excursions.
When I purchased Celebrity excursions in Alaska, I was disappointed to find that a plot of land and a cabin was not included in the cost!
Anyway, how else will they ever pay for all of those brand new mega-ships?
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