Cruiseline only excursions? No wandering off in port by yourself

[emmas gran]

I am happy to be in the bubble onboard, YC on MSC is like a bubble anyway. We have done a lot of ports in our cruising life and perhaps the only one missing from my other half's bucket list is Alaska. I can do cruises without getting off the ship.

Edited October 10, 2020 by emmas gran
addition

[zitsky]

6 hours ago, mikkelhansen said:

You can see any scheduled tours for any specific sailing on this link: https://www.celebritycruises.com/excursion-brochure/celebrity/.

However, do bear in mind that more tours can of course be added later, especially if the cruise you're looking at is more than ~10 months out. At ~10 months out, only very few new tours will be added.

 

That is perfect.  Exactly what I was looking for.

[WonderMan3]

9 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

Bye, we'll miss you.  In order to restart cruising they need to develop a bubble for the cruise ship, so you won't be able to go off and wonder around by yourself.  The need to protect the ship from the port and the port from the ship.

Perhaps we'll meet in 2022.

 

 

But we have already seen from the TUI cruise that was being blogged on here that you are allowed to go off and do a little wandering by yourself to some shops and things as long as your tour guide approves. That means you will encounter locals or other tourists and totally defeats the idea of the "bubble" concept.

[WonderMan3]

8 hours ago, emmas gran said:

I am happy to be in the bubble onboard, YC on MSC is like a bubble anyway. We have done a lot of ports in our cruising life and perhaps the only one missing from my other half's bucket list is Alaska. I can do cruises without getting off the ship.

 

It's not a bubble though. Only in the case of a cruise that has no port stops would it truly be a bubble. Once you add in local tour guides and bus drivers and allowing cruisers to go in and visit local shops where they may encounter locals or other tourists you have undercut the bubble concept. When you look at the bubble the NBA is doing, nobody goes in or out without going through strict testing and quarantining guidelines. These cruise line proposals are not the same thing at all.

[ipeeinthepool]

2 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

 

But we have already seen from the TUI cruise that was being blogged on here that you are allowed to go off and do a little wandering by yourself to some shops and things as long as your tour guide approves. That means you will encounter locals or other tourists and totally defeats the idea of the "bubble" concept.

 

I saw that and also wondered what rules the tour guide used to preserve the "bubble".   I guess it's up to the tour guide to decide if your conduct is dangerous.  Perhaps walking around in a uncrowded shop isn't viewed as being dangerous, but sitting down for a drink may be more dangerous.  Your point is well taken but I wouldn't categorize it as totally defeating the bubble concept, perhaps it's better described as managed risk.  Screening people a couple of days before you board doesn't really develop a tight bubble as a starting point.  

[Arizona Wildcat]

12 hours ago, mikkelhansen said:

You can see any scheduled tours for any specific sailing on this link: https://www.celebritycruises.com/excursion-brochure/celebrity/.

However, do bear in mind that more tours can of course be added later, especially if the cruise you're looking at is more than ~10 months out. At ~10 months out, only very few new tours will be added.

Do you really think that those excursions will actually happen?  Do you think in the coming several months that cruises will happen without many port changes?

 

As the weeks steadily slip away as cruising has no clear plan to resume; my plan to book my replacement post cruise trip to Europe feels like I need to wait till March.  My August TA becomes less and less likely to happen as scheduled.

 

CLIA and the Royal/NCL guidelines both suggest short cruises to private islands first.  Give Celebrity 6 weeks to get a crew in place and trained, 4 more weeks to for the short cruises and who knows how much longer to get a plan approved?

 

Cruising should begin in earnest early 2021, but forget the existing itineraries.

[zitsky]

Forget existing itineraries...... I bet cruusing starts in late 2021 or early 2022 when there is a covid vaccine.

[zap99]

47 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Forget existing itineraries...... I bet cruusing starts in late 2021 or early 2022 when there is a covid vaccine.

My bet is all aboard, early , or mid 2021. Wouldn't fall off my chair if earlier.

 

[mikkelhansen]

1 hour ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Do you really think that those excursions will actually happen?  Do you think in the coming several months that cruises will happen without many port changes?

I didn't comment on that at any point in my post. I simply linked to Celebrity's own excursion "catalog". If the asker is looking at a cruise late-2021 or even in 2022, I don't see why not. 

We're currently booked on Apex for April 2021, and we're still positive that the cruise -and (most of) our booked excursions, booked with Celebrity- will take place. However, we're also very glad that Celebrity extended the Cruise With Confidence program until end-November, as there could be a huge difference on the situation today and in 1½ month. If things haven't improved by then, we'll probably L&S to a sailings in April 2022.

[diamondintn]

So we lifted and shifted and are now are booked on a slightly different itinerary. The first port of call is Amber Cove in Puerto Plata. Any chance that we will be able to leave the ship without an escort? From what I can tell, it's enclosed and/or private. I know any input would be speculative, but any ideas?

[Fouremco]

14 minutes ago, diamondintn said:

So we lifted and shifted and are now are booked on a slightly different itinerary. The first port of call is Amber Cove in Puerto Plata. Any chance that we will be able to leave the ship without an escort? From what I can tell, it's enclosed and/or private. I know any input would be speculative, but any ideas?

Are you talking about a Celebrity cruise? AFAIK, Amber Cove still belongs to Carnival Corporation and is not open to Royal Caribbean Group lines. The setup is similar to the private islands, with no escort required as long as you remain on the property. Amber Cove isn't in Puerto Plata, but about 12 km away. When we visited on a HAL cruise in 2016, we took a "Deluxe Catamaran Sail & Snorkel" 5-hour excursion. The snorkeling wasn't very good, but the sailing was enjoyable and the food very good. That's an excursion that could be run in the early restart days.

[diamondintn]

That's what I thought but when I looked at the itinerary while I was doing the lift and shift, lo and behold there it was. Definitely Celebrity, 3/21/22 aboard Millennium. Thanks for the tip on the catamaran. I had one booked in Barbados but we're we're not going there post lift and shift.

[TeeRick]

If I need to be in a bubble on a cruise ship then I might as well save my money and stay home.

[Fouremco]

11 hours ago, diamondintn said:

That's what I thought but when I looked at the itinerary while I was doing the lift and shift, lo and behold there it was. Definitely Celebrity, 3/21/22 aboard Millennium. Thanks for the tip on the catamaran. I had one booked in Barbados but we're we're not going there post lift and shift.

I think you'll find that you'll be stopping at Puerto Plata itself and not at the nearby Amber Cove.

 

[zitsky]

42 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

If I need to be in a bubble on a cruise ship then I might as well save my money and stay home.

 

But it's a bubble on a CRUISE SHIP!!!  😆 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

16 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

I think you'll find that you'll be stopping at Puerto Plata itself and not at the nearby Amber Cove.

 

 

I'd agree as Amber Cove (ugh - HATED it...so fake) is owned by Carnival Corp, I believe. At least that's what we were led to believe on fathom (which was under the Carnival umbrella but so different from their typical image I was ok on the ship).

[hcat]

17 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Are you talking about a Celebrity cruise? AFAIK, Amber Cove still belongs to Carnival Corporation and is not open to Royal Caribbean Group lines. The setup is similar to the private islands, with no escort required as long as you remain on the property. Amber Cove isn't in Puerto Plata, but about 12 km away. When we visited on a HAL cruise in 2016, we took a "Deluxe Catamaran Sail & Snorkel" 5-hour excursion. The snorkeling wasn't very good, but the sailing was enjoyable and the food very good. That's an excursion that could be run in the early restart days.

 

Amber Cove was where one of  our cancelled X cruises was set to port for Puerta Plata.  It is owned by Carnival but used by others..seems it's original missiin did not pan out.   It was not that appealing when we looked into it.  Would have preferred a more natural area.,We decided we would make that a  stay on ship day,,

 

But now it's a non issue as cruises are going no place for awhile!

[fstuff1]

On 10/10/2020 at 2:50 PM, WonderMan3 said:

 

It's not a bubble though. Only in the case of a cruise that has no port stops would it truly be a bubble. 

 

the only US cruises that i can think of to do that are panama (partial or full crossing), alaska (glaciers) and  private islands.

the ships will have to stop at at least 1 foreign port but noone gets off.

 

Edited October 11, 2020 by fstuff1

[Fouremco]

1 minute ago, fstuff1 said:

 

the only US cruises that i can think of to do that are panama (partial or full crossing) and alaska (glaciers).

the ships will have to stop at at least 1 foreign port but noone gets off.

 

Under the current provisions of the PVSA, passengers must have the opportunity to disembark if they so choose. The days of a ship entering port in the middle of the night and departing soon after without giving passengers any opportunity to go ashore are over. 

[fstuff1]

1 minute ago, Fouremco said:

Under the current provisions of the PVSA, passengers must have the opportunity to disembark if they so choose. The days of a ship entering port in the middle of the night and departing soon after without giving passengers any opportunity to go ashore are over. 

 

oh.. did not know that. thx!

 

so it looks like bubble cruise= private islands only

[Fouremco]

1 minute ago, fstuff1 said:

 

oh.. did not know that. thx!

 

so it looks like bubble cruise= private islands only

So it would seem, although even that is questionable as most of the private islands employ local staff who commute daily. It appears that there are no easy solutions...

[Arizona Wildcat]

2 hours ago, Fouremco said:

So it would seem, although even that is questionable as most of the private islands employ local staff who commute daily. It appears that there are no easy solutions...

The only easy solution today is the cruise to nowhere.

Had forgotten that on Alaska cruises passengers must be given the opportunity to actually disembark for I think 4 hours.  That will be difficult until there is a vaccine with good numbers vaccinated as British Columbia has stated repeatedly it will not open its ports until that happens.

[Doubt It]

9 hours ago, TeeRick said:

If I need to be in a bubble on a cruise ship then I might as well save my money and stay home.

 

TeeRick, rather agree.

My thought is this - I am rather more happy to not be confined to a "bin of steel" floating on the sea. Yeh waves, yeh a ok restaurant or 2, but really...

 

Rather be in Savannah in a nice restaurant over the bayou after 18 holes of golf and having had a lovely drive for 2 hours.

Meaning I have freedom and can have a low density experience all day after picking up my reasonably priced bottles of wine and enjoying my balcony overlooking the ocean in my very large suite room.

 

If I am going to have to bubble, it will be on land.

 

 

[fstuff1]

On 10/11/2020 at 9:43 AM, TeeRick said:

If I need to be in a bubble on a cruise ship then I might as well save my money and stay home.

 

well, even tho im elite on Celebrity, i dont think ive ever been on their private island.

i assume it's the same island RCL uses (coco kay)?

 

so i'll do 1 bubble cruise because it'll be a new port for me

[TeeRick]

On 10/14/2020 at 12:48 AM, fstuff1 said:

 

well, even tho im elite on Celebrity, i dont think ive ever been on their private island.

i assume it's the same island RCL uses (coco kay)?

 

so i'll do 1 bubble cruise because it'll be a new port for me

A private island like Labadee or Cococay might be a big bubble for a cruise ship.  I truly hope so but until the concept is put to practice who really knows?