On line booking shore excursion denied due age 70

[upwarduk]

12 hours ago, DomerCruisers said:

This tour indicates no one under 4 and no one over 70. I can completely understand the under 4 restriction.  Has anyone else encountered this age restriction issue?  How did your resolve it.?  

Celebrity are shooting themselves in the foot. This sort of treatment is encouraging passengers to book private tours.

[Denny01]

Agree w the tenor of this thread, but I bet most of us have been on excursions where they listed it being strenuous and people w obvious restrictions sign up and it adversely impacts the tour. 

 

On more than a few tours we’ve had people return cutting the tour and one where the guide had to take us all back early because a few couldn’t continue. 

 

We we are currently in Munich on our own and took the Dachau Concentration Camp Tour. It’s listed as strenuous and it was. Lots of walking and tons of standing w no seating. Two couples went back early who were not fit for it. And we weren’t 1/3 through. 

 

By the way, this was where huge numbers were murdered and tortured and one woman wore her bright colorful Mickey Mouse jacket. Ouch. No, beyond that. She didn’t think through what ‘strenuous’ meant and what this memorial to a killing ground was about and what would be appropriate. 

 

So so we are all adversely impacted by arbitrary restrictions put up by some company due to others who don’t think through what they can and especially cannot do. . 

 

Den 

 

[gold1953]

3 hours ago, upwarduk said:

Celebrity are shooting themselves in the foot. This sort of treatment is encouraging passengers to book private tours.

This is not regulated by Celebrity. It is the individual tour operators who set these limits and likely due to their insurance

[ginak1112]

But not to worry, they will not deny the alcohol package to anyone over 21 lol!

[WatchHill]

2 hours ago, gold1953 said:

This is not regulated by Celebrity. It is the individual tour operators who set these limits and likely due to their insurance

The private vendor with whom we booked a snorkel trip used to connect with Celebrity/RCI and stopped. Why? The cruise line imposed age limit. 

 

Darcy

[DomerCruisers]

Thanks to everyone who weighed in on this topic. This was our first encounter with being denied the ability to take a Celebrity tour due to age.  Apparently this is not an unusual occurrence.

  I heard back from the Shorex Excursion team via e-mail today.  Quoting the e-mail " Age restrictions are set by the tour operator and are determined by a number of factors including, but not limited to, the equipment used during the excursion, the exertion level of the tour activities, and the requirements of the operator’s insurance provider. Accordingly, our cruise line cannot override the restrictions put in place by any of our third-party tour vendors."

Of interest to us, this excursion is listed as "moderate" on the shore excursion website. As suggested by many CC members, we will search out a similar tour via a private vendor. We tend not to use Celebrity Tours and prefer smaller private tours anyway. 

  Many thanks for the varied opinions and thoughts.

 

 

[phoenix_dream]

As others have stated, it is the tour company and not Celebrity that has the restrictions.  They also are not subject to our US age discrimination laws.  Having worked for an insurance company for more than 30 years before retiring, I feel compelled to put my two cents in there as well.  I'm sure I will get a number of anti-insurance rants out of this but I'll have my say and suck it up.

 

It is absolutely true that each individual is different and has different abilities.  At the same time, when setting policy (as well as insurance pricing and so on) one has to look at particular groups as a whole and evaluate the risk.  It is unreasonable to expect them to physically evaluate every person who wants to take a particular tour, or for that matter to take your word for it.  It is all about risk evaluation.  As we increase in age (and I am no spring chicken myself), as a group we become a higher risk for the company than people younger than us.  Statistics.  It's all about statistics and averages, not about individuals.  That is why 20 year olds pay ALOT more for auto insurance than a 60 year old.  Statistically they are much more likely to have accidents which cost the companies money.  Your son/daughter/grandchild may be an excellent driver, but statistically they are in a high risk group.  Statistically, 65 year olds suffer more injuries from physically challenging tasks than younger people.  Is this fair?  I guess one could ask - how would you make it more fair?  You can't give everyone a physical before a tour.  I guess you could ask someone to sign a hold harmless agreement, but again, this is usually not the US we are talking about and not subject to our (generally) more reasonable laws.

 

I would recommend first, looking for a private tour.  And second, try to book it at the Shore Ex desk - they generally do not enforce the age restrictions.

[WestLakeGirl]

???? Do you have any evidence that the shire excursions staff on the ship do not enforce the requirements or are you just guessing?

[phoenix_dream]

22 minutes ago, WestLakeGirl said:

???? Do you have any evidence that the shire excursions staff on the ship do not enforce the requirements or are you just guessing?

We have had them not enforce age or weight requirements.  I could never promise they do it on all the ships all the time

[Lastdance]

Thank goodness you have an alternative, which is to do your own excursion.  In all honesty, I believe you will have a much better time.  The more people involved, the more variety of things that can happen to cause an issue with the tour.  Yes, Celebrity will make sure that you do not miss the boat, but that is about it.  My worst nightmare is riding on a big bus for a tour...unfortunately, age and level of fitness do not always correlate and so many live vibrant lives  in to their upper 80’s...but these people are the exception!  Unfortunately, rules are rules, but you will have a better tour with a small group or by yourselves ...

[varoo]

3 hours ago, WestLakeGirl said:

???? Do you have any evidence that the shire excursions staff on the ship do not enforce the requirements or are you just guessing?

 

In our case, the shore excursion staff contacted the vendor and got permission for a member of our party who was over the listed age limit of 80 to take the excursion.

 

Although we usually prefer private tours, in that particular situation we wanted the ship's excursion because they chartered a boat that goes directly from the ship's dock at St. Thomas to St. John.

 

Putting the age limit on that particular excursion was absurd.

The most strenuous thing about it, as we found out, was that you needed to walk up 3 steps!

 

 

Edited May 24, 2019 by varoo

[Germancruiser]

@Denny 01- what cruise was that- if they offered a shore excursion to munich- was it a River Cruise? Very very depressing to visist those horror places- which show how cruel humans can be! Depressing- but interessting- lest we forget!