Holland America Excursion Best Price Guarantee
I will be taking a Holland America cruise this summer to the fjords of Norway. I am pretty new to cruising, and on my recent trip on Virgin Voyages I booked just one shore excursion. I don’t like the idea of tour groups. I prefer to explore on my own. However, I realized sometimes you need to book a tour.
As an example, one of the stops on my cruise is in the tiny town of Eidfjord. Population of about 250 residents. If you want to see much you would need to book an excursion.
One of the excursions offered by Holland America involves a bus ride to various scenic points around the town for 3.5 hours at a cost of $139.95.
Doing some research on CruiseCritic I found a travel company that others recommended called Geiranger Fjordservice. They offered a tour of the same length, leaving at the same time, for 595 NOK, or roughly $55.
In some cases, there might be some benefits to booking an excursion directly with the cruise company. Namely, if there is a delay on the excursion, the ship will wait for you. If you book through another source, the ship will not wait if there is an issue.
For this trip, it didn’t seem like it would be an issue. Clearly most everyone on the bus tour would be from my boat, so if something happened, there would be 30-40 people in the same boat, literally.
However, I saw that Holland America offers a Price Guarantee for their excursions. If you book an excursion with Holland American and then find the same excursion for cheaper than through the ship, they will offer an onboard credit of 110% of the price difference.
Step 1: Purchase the Excursion through Holland America
I purchased the cruise excursion for $139.95. I had a $100 excursion credit through my booking. My credit card was charged $39.95 after the $100 credit.
Step 2: Complete the Price Guarantee Form
You can find the form by logging into your cruise reservation on Holland America’s website. On my reservation page, I found the “Best Price Guarantee” on the left hand side. You must fill in the competitor’s tour name, website, price, etc.
Step 3: Wait 2 Business Days
I submitted my claim on a Saturday and by Monday morning I got an email saying my submission had been approved.
I would receive an on board credit of $93.45.
That on board credit isn’t as good as cash, as you have to spend it on the ship. So it might still be worth considering just booking direct with the competitor. However, since I already had a $100 credit, this was a great deal for me.
Have you had luck using the Holland America excursion Price Guarantee?