Shore Excursion Conundrum

[blackfly]

Have a 12 day British Isles Cruise scheduled for August 6, 2021 on Sky Princess which was a re-booking for an August 20, 2020 cruise that was cancelled.  In anticipation of our 2020 cruise we booked shore excursions at each port with private tour companies to include a trip to the Edinburg Military Tattoo from Glasgow.  After the cancelation we re-booked the same cruise for 2021 and went to each of the private tour operators and rescheduled each of them for 2021 rather then seeking a refund.  Now I am hearing that once cruise lines re-start that the only way passengers can leave the ship while in Port is to take a cruise line sponsored excursion.  What to do?  Should I just sit on my private excursions and hope cruise lines relax this policy or double up and book ships excursion for each port and then cancel one or the other once I learn what the policy will be just before final payment is do.  If I wait too long to book the ships excursion there is a chance the ones I want may not be available.  As a note, Princess is not offering their Excursion to the Edinburg Tattoo

 

 

[franktown]

Doesn't hurt to have them double booked as long as they are cancellable. 

[Ombud]

I booked ship excursions and notified Spain in a Day Tours that I want their trip to Cordoba just in case we can do private excursions in May. So [obviously] if it was me [and I had OBC] I'd double book. I really don't want to be left with slim pickings onboard and excursions did sell out on my last 2 cruises

[nini]

As cruisers, I think we need to actively encourage our "private"

tour companies to become "certified" by the powers that be

to be able to conduct "private" excursions. I am not sure how

this can be accomplished but I am putting it out there and contacting

the companies that we are considering using.

Edited November 3, 2020 by nini
punctuation issue

[LACruiser88]

For our May/June Med cruises on the Enchanted, we are double booking our excursions.  We also are hoping that they relax the excursion requirements as we rarely book excursions thru Princess.

[skynight]

I also would double book. Feel virus protocols probably will still be in place August 2021, and the protocols may indeed include ship tour only disembarkation at ports, with all others remaining on the ship. The ship will be dealing with U.K. protocol requirements, unknown at this time, which makes it difficult to make a decision one way or another right now. 

Edited November 3, 2020 by skynight

[El_Snocat]

I'm not sure how you are securing Tattoo tickets, but if you buy direct they are non-refundable unless the event sells out and they can be resold. I ran in to that in 2019.

Hope this helps

[blackfly]

This cruise is port intensive with 8 ports of call.  I went through all of the shore excursion Princess has listed and picked out one for each day in port.  The total for 2 people is $3700.  I booked a private excursion from Portland to Stonehenge and Salisbury.  Cost was $122 for both of us.  The same excursion through Princess is $340.  

[Ombud]

3 hours ago, nini said:

As cruisers, I think we need to actively encourage our "private"

tour companies to become "certified" by the powers that be

to be able to conduct "private" excursions. I am not sure how

this can be accomplished but I am putting it out there and contacting

the companies that we are considering using.

GREAT idea, nini!! Either doing 'private excursions' or their excursion through Princess. I'm fine with paying a surcharge (that's what happens with ziplines and climbing in Alaska)

[Tak8]

Are you concerned about your cruise being longer than 7 days?  I 'm wondering if Princess and other lines  will get cut down to shorter cruises.  

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, Tak8 said:

Are you concerned about your cruise being longer than 7 days?  I 'm wondering if Princess and other lines  will get cut down to shorter cruises.  

The CDC rule for maximizing cruise length at 7 days applies to cruises with US ports. Of course that does not mean that cruises in Europe will not end up with the same or similar rules.

[caribill]

If a "bubble" is still required for shore excursions when you cruise, then there would not be a Tattoo excursion as there is no way to maintain the bubble there.

[Loki S]

19 hours ago, Ombud said:

I booked ship excursions and notified Spain in a Day Tours that I want their trip to Cordoba just in case we can do private excursions in May. So [obviously] if it was me [and I had OBC] I'd double book. I really don't want to be left with slim pickings onboard and excursions did sell out on my last 2 cruises

We’ve done the same for our Alaska Cruise in August 2021, in case we’re only able to do ship excursions. We don’t want to be stuck doing something we’re not that interested in. A long way to go from Australia to just settle, considering we can still cancel and get our money back.

[Princess Cruises Fann]

I'm on the August 6th Sky Princess cruise and they do offer a military tattoo excursion on the first day we are in Glasglow. I booked it just in case we do have to do the ship excursions and didn't want to have it be filled up. If I know we are able to book a private tour then I may explore that option instead. 

[casofilia]

All the comments about booking Princess excursions.   I presume you still have to pay for them in advance.  If so make sure you will get a refund back to your credit card and not OBC if you cancel.

[Loki S]

4 hours ago, casofilia said:

All the comments about booking Princess excursions.   I presume you still have to pay for them in advance.  If so make sure you will get a refund back to your credit card and not OBC if you cancel.

You’re correct that to secure our Princess excursions, I’ve had to pay in advance. I’ve never had an issue in receiving a refund to my credit card when cancelling a Princess Shore Excursion.

[leck57]

22 hours ago, Loki S said:

We’ve done the same for our Alaska Cruise in August 2021, in case we’re only able to do ship excursions. We don’t want to be stuck doing something we’re not that interested in. A long way to go from Australia to just settle, considering we can still cancel and get our money back.

 

I really hope you are able to do your cruise but did you hear the Qantas boss say he did not expect flights to the US or Europe to resume until very late 2021 at least. I appreciate that you may not be flying Qantas (I hope it's not Air Canada) but I expect if Qantas are not flying from here, then other airlines will not be either.

As I said, I really hope you can travel because I would be right behind you, but it doesn't look good. I pray everyday for a vaccine.

[Loki S]

2 hours ago, leck57 said:

 

I really hope you are able to do your cruise but did you hear the Qantas boss say he did not expect flights to the US or Europe to resume until very late 2021 at least. I appreciate that you may not be flying Qantas (I hope it's not Air Canada) but I expect if Qantas are not flying from here, then other airlines will not be either.

As I said, I really hope you can travel because I would be right behind you, but it doesn't look good. I pray everyday for a vaccine.

 

Thanks leck57, we really do doubt that we'll be going. We can cancel in early February 2021 without paying out anything further. If I'm being realistic I think we'll be moving our booking to sometime in 2022, got to plan when I'm able to have leave from work. I original jumped at re-booking as getting my husband to fly can can be a mission at times, he was so excited that we were going originally in September 2020 ..... so I ran with it.

 

I did see what the Qantas CEO was saying and agree with you and his expectations. I also can't see that we'll be travelling to Europe or the US anytime soon.

 

You commented 'I hope it's not Air Canada', do you have some experience with Air Canada?

[blackfly]

PRINCESS CRUISE FAN

 

i did see the Tattoo Excursion listed earlier but more recently it seems to have been removed.  I looked under Glasgow in my Shore Excursion Cruise Planner and it’s not there.  If you still see it can you send me the link <pgrupe@verizon.net>.  I bought tickets for the 2020 Tattoo with a group of 8 taking a private excursion to the Tattoo and since it was cancelled they let me re-book for 2021 which I did last month.  When I entered their Ticket Portal there was a diagram of the stadium indicating what seats were available.  More then  half were blacked out as not available so that they could maintain social distancing.  Perhaps Princess discovered that there were not enough seats available  to offer the excursion.  Why don’t you sign in on our Cruise Critic Roll Call for the August 6 cruise?

 

[leck57]

11 hours ago, Loki S said:

 

Thanks leck57, we really do doubt that we'll be going. We can cancel in early February 2021 without paying out anything further. If I'm being realistic I think we'll be moving our booking to sometime in 2022, got to plan when I'm able to have leave from work. I original jumped at re-booking as getting my husband to fly can can be a mission at times, he was so excited that we were going originally in September 2020 ..... so I ran with it.

 

I did see what the Qantas CEO was saying and agree with you and his expectations. I also can't see that we'll be travelling to Europe or the US anytime soon.

 

You commented 'I hope it's not Air Canada', do you have some experience with Air Canada?

 

If you haven't done Alaska you will love it. We did a Princess cruise there last August and hope to do it again someday. 

Re Air Canada, as you would know they are the most convenient way to get to Vancouver from Brisbane. We flew with them for our Alaska trip and they are the worst airline we have flown in terms of service. No idea of service although the plane itself was almost new and very good. Would I use them again or fly to LA/San Fran with another airline and fly up to Vancouver? Due to the convenience of the direct flight I would probably use them again as waiting for a connection in LA after a long flight is not great.

We have had three cruises cancelled and we really can't wait to get to Brissy International again and get moving. One day...

[Princess Cruises Fann]

16 hours ago, blackfly said:

PRINCESS CRUISE FAN

 

i did see the Tattoo Excursion listed earlier but more recently it seems to have been removed.  I looked under Glasgow in my Shore Excursion Cruise Planner and it’s not there.  If you still see it can you send me the link <pgrupe@verizon.net>.  I bought tickets for the 2020 Tattoo with a group of 8 taking a private excursion to the Tattoo and since it was cancelled they let me re-book for 2021 which I did last month.  When I entered their Ticket Portal there was a diagram of the stadium indicating what seats were available.  More then  half were blacked out as not available so that they could maintain social distancing.  Perhaps Princess discovered that there were not enough seats available  to offer the excursion.  Why don’t you sign in on our Cruise Critic Roll Call for the August 6 cruise?

 

Interesting. You're right, the Tattoo excursions are no longer showing up as an excursion option. However, it is showing up in my booked excursions. Yes, I will go an sign in to the Roll Call. 

[Steelers36]

On 11/4/2020 at 2:25 AM, caribill said:

If a "bubble" is still required for shore excursions when you cruise, then there would not be a Tattoo excursion as there is no way to maintain the bubble there.

But if they cancel the Tattoo due to extended COVID-19 concerns, they would refund ticket reservations.

 

[Steelers36]

I agree with the idea to speak to your fave private excursion companies and see if they are getting signed up with Princess.  At this point, it isn't necessarily a force into ship tours, but rather with approved operators.  We don't know what it takes to be an approved operator, but Princess uses local providers anyway, so whatever standards they ask of them would likely be the same for the privates.  Hopefully this can get done because I doubt Princess alone can satisfy everyone on board.

 

[Loki S]

9 hours ago, leck57 said:

 

If you haven't done Alaska you will love it. We did a Princess cruise there last August and hope to do it again someday. 

Re Air Canada, as you would know they are the most convenient way to get to Vancouver from Brisbane. We flew with them for our Alaska trip and they are the worst airline we have flown in terms of service. No idea of service although the plane itself was almost new and very good. Would I use them again or fly to LA/San Fran with another airline and fly up to Vancouver? Due to the convenience of the direct flight I would probably use them again as waiting for a connection in LA after a long flight is not great.

We have had three cruises cancelled and we really can't wait to get to Brissy International again and get moving. One day...

Thanks for the info., we also have had 3 cruises cancelled. Good to be prepared as we were meant to fly with Air Canada but now have a credit to use.

[ontheweb]

7 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

I agree with the idea to speak to your fave private excursion companies and see if they are getting signed up with Princess.  At this point, it isn't necessarily a force into ship tours, but rather with approved operators.  We don't know what it takes to be an approved operator, but Princess uses local providers anyway, so whatever standards they ask of them would likely be the same for the privates.  Hopefully this can get done because I doubt Princess alone can satisfy everyone on board.

 

I know in St. Petersburg, Russia, Princess does everything they can to discourage you from using private tours. They "provide" the information that you need a Russian visa to disembark unless you use their tours with the visa exemption, conveniently leaving out the fact that the approved Russian tour agencies also provide that visa waiver. Call me cynical, but I do not see them letting go the new ability to say use our tours or stay on the ship during the port call. Excursions provide a nice profit margin for cruise lines.