ShrinkinTexas Posted September 26, 2020 #1 Share Posted September 26, 2020 Is it true that as of now, for future cruises, you won't be able to get off the boat and do your own thing? You can only get off the ship on a cruise line sponsored tour? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT1962 Posted September 26, 2020 #2 Share Posted September 26, 2020 That is what has been listed in some of the proposed changes and I believe what MSC is requiring on their cruises that resumed sailing in Europe. Nothing has been finalized for cruises from the US at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly333 Posted September 26, 2020 #3 Share Posted September 26, 2020 My guess is rcl waits until no sail order expires end of sept and then makes their announcement. It does sound like it to start off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogbay Posted September 26, 2020 #4 Share Posted September 26, 2020 25 minutes ago, ShrinkinTexas said: Is it true that as of now, for future cruises, you won't be able to get off the boat and do your own thing? You can only get off the ship on a cruise line sponsored tour? RCI has not made any announcement to that at all, MSC in European sailings had that policy . For us sailing to South Pacific there are multiple ports that do not have infrastructure for ship sponsored tour at all e.g.. il Depins , Mistry island, Lifou and of course Hog Bay ,AKA Champagne Bay 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwokpot Posted September 26, 2020 #5 Share Posted September 26, 2020 2 hours ago, JT1962 said: That is what has been listed in some of the proposed changes and I believe what MSC is requiring on their cruises that resumed sailing in Europe. Nothing has been finalized for cruises from the US at this point. Crystal Cruises has published their new protocols and only ship sponsored shore excursions are allowed. No mention of an approved list if independent tour companies and it is expressly prohibited to disembark at any port of call independent of a ship tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ipeeinthepool Posted September 26, 2020 #6 Share Posted September 26, 2020 I suspect that many ports may also require this approach to minimize spreading Covid from the ship to the islands. I suspect that you will have minimal contact with anyone living on the islands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjudis Posted September 26, 2020 #7 Share Posted September 26, 2020 I don’t see this as a forever rule. PatienceSent from my iPad using Forums 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare jean87510 Posted September 26, 2020 #8 Share Posted September 26, 2020 (edited) Im seeing quite a few afternoon excursions popping up on my cruise planner which I interpret as they are trying to keep the numbers lower for each excursion so they are offering alternative times. It may not be that bad IF 1. They limit the number of participants, 2. Make the price more realistic and 3. Eliminate the 1 hour shopping and bathroom break part. I despise ship excursions but will do them if needed. Edited September 26, 2020 by jean87510 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZoeyVictoria Posted September 26, 2020 #9 Share Posted September 26, 2020 4 minutes ago, jean87510 said: 3. Eliminate the 1 hour shopping and bathroom break part. I despise ship excursions but will do them if needed. This is the number one reason we don’t book ship excursions. We will when it is required to get off the ship, but only as long as that is a requirement. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banzaii Posted September 26, 2020 #10 Share Posted September 26, 2020 IMHO there is not enough capacity in ships tours for this to be strictly enforced. Sure RC may set some standards for tour operators and require declarations from passengers that these were adhered to, but I can't see how they can deny some passengers who can't get into a tour. RC would likely face backlash from some ports on the basis of discrimination against smaller tour operators. These small private tours are by far my preference but are not worthwhile from RC perspective. Don't blame them, just fact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jalves Posted September 26, 2020 #11 Share Posted September 26, 2020 Since we've done frequent 7-nigh eastern/western Caribbean sailings I'm not at all interested in a ship excursion. We do like to get off the ship and shop though. I wonder if there will be a (no-cost) ship excursion to a designated shopping area. Falmouth Jamaica style. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevea36 Posted September 26, 2020 #12 Share Posted September 26, 2020 22 minutes ago, jalves said: Since we've done frequent 7-nigh eastern/western Caribbean sailings I'm not at all interested in a ship excursion. We do like to get off the ship and shop though. I wonder if there will be a (no-cost) ship excursion to a designated shopping area. Falmouth Jamaica style. I cannot see this happening at first as RCI (and all other cruise lines) want their passengers and crews to remain "in the bubble" where they have full control over who they interact with. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LXA350 Posted September 26, 2020 #13 Share Posted September 26, 2020 (edited) At the begining we will only see ship based excursions, this is in my view actually the largest restriction / the only one that will bother me, hence everyone needs to be aware of this and if it's a no go they should not cruise as long as this is in place. At least the cruislines that started sailing are nforcing this policy very stricktly and even if during such excursions people don't stay within the group they will need to leave the cruise imediately. It happened already several times, I would say propbably on every cruise that sailed at least once. Edited September 26, 2020 by LXA350 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danv3 Posted September 26, 2020 #14 Share Posted September 26, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, stevea36 said: I cannot see this happening at first as RCI (and all other cruise lines) want their passengers and crews to remain "in the bubble" where they have full control over who they interact with. No ship tour guarantees that level of control if it visits any public place. Edited September 26, 2020 by danv3 Typo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jalves Posted September 26, 2020 #15 Share Posted September 26, 2020 2 hours ago, stevea36 said: I cannot see this happening at first as RCI (and all other cruise lines) want their passengers and crews to remain "in the bubble" where they have full control over who they interact with. A port like Falmouth is about as close to that as you can get. Its fenced off so only the passengers and the vendors (who I'd assume would also be screened) will have any interaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT1962 Posted September 26, 2020 #16 Share Posted September 26, 2020 I cannot see this happening at first as RCI (and all other cruise lines) want their passengers and crews to remain "in the bubble" where they have full control over who they interact with. I can see the cruise lines limiting the ports for a while when cruises resume to their private islands and their private ports. They could let passengers off without an excursion to shop and eat at Falmouth for RCI lines; Amber Cove, Mahogany Bay and possibly Grand Turk for Carnival Corp lines, etc. Costa Maya could be a possibility since they could prevent leaving the port area without an excursion fairly easily (many don’t even seem to know how to leave the port area there). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisegus Posted September 26, 2020 #17 Share Posted September 26, 2020 6 hours ago, JT1962 said: I can see the cruise lines limiting the ports for a while when cruises resume to their private islands and their private ports. They could let passengers off without an excursion to shop and eat at Falmouth for RCI lines; Amber Cove, Mahogany Bay and possibly Grand Turk for Carnival Corp lines, etc. Costa Maya could be a possibility since they could prevent leaving the port area without an excursion fairly easily (many don’t even seem to know how to leave the port area there). those are my thoughts exactly, and what other ports you might stop at will be strictly controlled to ships excursions only Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lenquixote66 Posted September 26, 2020 #18 Share Posted September 26, 2020 22 hours ago, ShrinkinTexas said: Is it true that as of now, for future cruises, you won't be able to get off the boat and do your own thing? You can only get off the ship on a cruise line sponsored tour? Is that the way you want to cruise ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine3601 Posted September 26, 2020 #19 Share Posted September 26, 2020 21 hours ago, Hogbay said: RCI has not made any announcement to that at all, MSC in European sailings had that policy . For us sailing to South Pacific there are multiple ports that do not have infrastructure for ship sponsored tour at all e.g.. il Depins , Mistry island, Lifou and of course Hog Bay ,AKA Champagne Bay 🙂 The health plan rcl submitted to the Cdc earlier week said ship approved/sponsored excursions only for unspecified amount of time. Just like the cruiselines in europe have been doing since end of July. There is another post all about the health plan and a link to read the 50+/- pages of proposed protocols when cruising restarts out of us ports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine3601 Posted September 26, 2020 #20 Share Posted September 26, 2020 18 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said: Is that the way you want to cruise ? I'm just fine with it. Sure I'll miss being able to do my own thing but if it's my only option for now to get off a ship and go to a caribbean beach or ??? I'm fine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lenquixote66 Posted September 27, 2020 #21 Share Posted September 27, 2020 38 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said: I'm just fine with it. Sure I'll miss being able to do my own thing but if it's my only option for now to get off a ship and go to a caribbean beach or ??? I'm fine. You will have to deal with all the other restrictions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare John&LaLa Posted September 27, 2020 #22 Share Posted September 27, 2020 2 hours ago, lenquixote66 said: You will have to deal with all the other restrictions. I'm fine with the published restrictions 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missusdubbya Posted September 27, 2020 #23 Share Posted September 27, 2020 On 9/26/2020 at 12:11 PM, Hogbay said: RCI has not made any announcement to that at all, MSC in European sailings had that policy . For us sailing to South Pacific there are multiple ports that do not have infrastructure for ship sponsored tour at all e.g.. il Depins , Mistry island, Lifou and of course Hog Bay ,AKA Champagne Bay 🙂 Last time I cruised to Mystery Island and Lifou there were definitely ship-sponsored tours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogbay Posted September 27, 2020 #24 Share Posted September 27, 2020 4 hours ago, Missusdubbya said: Last time I cruised to Mystery Island and Lifou there were definitely ship-sponsored tours. Mystery island is a uninhabited island that has a landing strip for the near by island Aneityum ,what tour did you do ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missusdubbya Posted September 27, 2020 #25 Share Posted September 27, 2020 10 minutes ago, Hogbay said: Mystery island is a uninhabited island that has a landing strip for the near by island Aneityum ,what tour did you do ? this one:https://www.carnival.com.au/shore-excursions/mystery-island/advanced-snorkel-adventure-937007 Also could choose glass-bottom boat, a fishing trip with locals etc etc. Royal has similar options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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