Cruise transfer charges

lesleystrawson

Help please!

In-laws wanting to book a Norwegian Cruise for my FIL's 70th birthday.
Been to see their local travel agent, and are happy with the price.
However, they are not prepared to book.

They wanted to know the charges for transferring to shore (not full-blown excursion prices) during the cruise. For some reason, the travel agent refused to give them the prices until they booked.

Is this normal? Surely even if the cannot physically see the prices until after booking, they would have some idea? Does anyone else out there know?

Thanks in advance

Lesley

TOMCAT_3

Not really sure what you mean Lesley. If you mean how much is to get from the ship to the shore (if you are anchored at sea) then it is free.
If you mean how much is it to get from the ship where it is docked to the entrance of the port then usually you walk or sometimes the ship puts on a courtesy bus for a couple of pounds each way if it is too long to walk.
Sometimes the port itself puts on a bus which is normally free to use.
Hope this helps but if not then please explain in more detail what you mean and I will try and help.

getmore4less

Is this a norway cruise or a Norwegian Cruile line cruise(NCL) it will also help us tell you what additional costs there may be.

Which ship and cruise let's see if we can get them a better deal than their current TA

With NCL it is often better to book through the US, for the Jade the UK is better.

Some ports there will be shuttle buses to town and there may be charges, most ports it is walking distance and some provide free shuttles.

need the itinerary to give guidance.

lesleystrawson

Thanks for all of this.

Just given the in-laws a ring. The company was Newmarket Holidays, and the boat was the MS Marco Polo. They are looking to travel at the end of May next year (something to do with longer days??), and are actually looking for the price of the excursions laid on by the ship/tour operator, not just getting to land as I initially thought.

I haven't asked them what price they have been offered, as I think they were different depending on what sort of cabin. I think they were hoping for a price inclusive of the excursions, but from what I can see, many of these are optional.

HTH

Lesley

Mands

lesleystrawson wrote: »

Thanks for all of this.

The company was Newmarket Holidays, and the boat was the MS Marco Polo. They are looking to travel at the end of May next year (something to do with longer days??), and are actually looking for the price of the excursions laid on by the ship/tour operator, not just getting to land as I initially thought.

Ok, I had a mooch online. MS Marco Polo is operated by Transocean Tours. In May next year they are sailing the Norwegian fjords. *Lots* of the mainstream UK newspapers seem to have offers on this so it would be worthwhile them checking more than one for prices.

Their website isn't hugely helpful regarding shore excursions for next year. It says;
http://www.transoceancruises.co.uk/before-you-sail/index.aspx
Shore Excursions during your cruise

An attractive programme of tours is offered at each of our ports of call. At the time of going to print, the exact content and pricing of the programme has not been finalised, but you will be sent full details and a booking form with your pre-sailing information around two months prior to sailing. We shall operate a pre-reservation service and, availability permitting; you will also be able to book on board with our Shore Excursion staff who will be pleased to assist you in selecting the tours most suitable for your requirements. On our winter cruise programme, some of the optional overland excursions will not be available for sale on board and must be pre-booked. Full details will be advised with the pre-sailing information.

It is possible to view the excursions for last year's Norwegian trips, but whilst they have plenty of detail, there are no prices. It still makes interesting reading though they'd need to cross-reference all of the 2008 trips against the ports on their itinerary.

http://www.transoceancruises.co.uk/files/pdf/shore-excursions/norway.pdf

The upshot of all of this is, I think they need to phone the company and ask for indicative pricing for a tour. The website does at least provide a semi-dedicated number for that.

Accounts, Marketing, Operations & Shore Excursions
Tel: 01322 860770

Hope this helps a little!
Mands

bcl999

Perhaps if you post a question on www.cruise.co.uk someone who was on this years cruises will see it and answer. Transocean only bought Marco Polo recently. I was on it last year in the Med when it was still Orient Lines - the excursions then were expensive.

colmil

We have been on four cruises and we have always made our own way to where we wanted to go, saved a fortune!

Obviously, there are sometimes excursions that can only be arranged as a special tour but we have never felt the need.

Why not go to wwwcruisecritic.com, scroll down to your ship and then ask previous cruisers if there are local coach firms operating from the quayside, I'm sure there will be as they rely a lot on tourism.


Good Luck