Shore excursions only by ship

[TMLAalum]

My first thought is to avoid speculation until cruising resumes, our booked cruises sail and then decide if it's worth sailing depending on mandates for visiting ports of call. 

 

There is so much uncertainty about so many things in 2020, I prefer to not increase my state of "Tizziness" at least until next year!

[cc cruiser]

We prefer private excursions because the groups are smaller and more personable.  Our next scheduled cruise is for Thanksgiving 2021....with 22 family members. We are celebrating our 50th anniversary.  The outings we have planned will be nixed now.  We may have to rethink our anniversary plans! 

[cc cruiser]

Do you think this will be the policy for all cruise lines?  I know I heard this about Disney a couple of months ago.

[jalves]

We're not thrilled with shore excursions being only offered by the ship.  We normally cruise the Caribbean and have stopped at most of the ports multiple times, often in the same year.  We tend to just get off the ship at favorite shopping ports and stay on board for other ports.  So, with a port like Falmouth Jamaica we really enjoy shopping the enclosed area.  Can't see why you would need a ship booked excursion just to do that.  

[traveltilidrop]

I am fine with the idea of using the cruise line's sponsored tours. It is an easy way for the cruise line to control where the passengers are going and to lessen the chances of picking up COVID while ashore. Prices might be higher, and choices limited, however, you also don't have to worry about the ship sailing away without you should your tour return late, and hopefully, the tour companies follow the same protocols as the cruise line so you will remain as safe as possible. 

 

As mentioned by others, this is a temporary requirement put in place by the cruise lines to help keep everyone safe. In future, we will be able to return to normal programming. 

[Rocket3D]

8 hours ago, lynncarol said:

Am I the only one who is bothered by the decision to force all land excursions to be only those sponsored by the ship? I understand the rationale, but that is my line in the sand. Guess I won't be cruising anytime in the near future.

 

Yup, we have gone from wanting to cruise soon...

to having zero interest in cruising with all the restrictions. 

 

Hope to set sail when back to normal, if that ever happens.

 

Cheers!

[karena1]

Not happy about it.  We get off the ship and go to the beach.  We want to be at the beach all day, not 2-3 hours on a ship excursion.  Hopefully, it won't last too long.  I hate to have to pay triple to go to a beach just because I have to book it through the ship and then get 1/3 of the time at the beach vs what I normally get.

 

[Shipof6Fools]

Although I usually take ship sponsored excursion (for many of the reasons listed on this thread), my plans only consist of taking shorter cruises that visit the private islands. At least for 2021. My understanding is that since the whole private island is a "bubble" then I should be able to roam about freely as I have done on past cruises.

[Biker19]

6 hours ago, twangster said:

So I'm cancelling my two 2021 Alaska cruises because of the shore excursion policy and inability to self explore.

Not sure one can be so sure the situation for say an August 2021 sailing can be known now.

 

Biker, who would certainly wait till much closer to final payment to decide.

[twangster]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

Not sure one can be so sure the situation for say an August 2021 sailing can be known now.

 

Biker, who would certainly wait till much closer to final payment to decide.

 

I thought Biker wasn't booking anything right now. 🙂

 

While you are correct that no one can predict the situation in August we can learn from experts like individuals at NIH who claim to be hopeful the vaccine will be available to the masses by the summer.

 

The vaccine will (hopefully) be available to the masses by the summer but that milestone doesn't equate to minimum community spread at the same time just because the vaccine is only then available to the masses.  That will follow months later.  I think they'll milk the ship excursion rule as long as they can, well into the fall.  It's about money.

 

The CDC isn't going to be proactive and adjust the CSO until they wait for results as evidence months later.  The November date they picked for the CSO wasn't pulled from a hat.  They know how long it will take for the data to show what is occurring.  

 

I'll wait to do Alaska in 2022.

[Biker19]

3 minutes ago, twangster said:

The November date they picked for the CSO wasn't pulled from a hat.

It may have been - not sure how anyone can know what will happen by next Nov. - they just picked some "safe" date. The 7 day sailing limit is just one part of the CSO and parts of it may be severable.

 

Biker, who does NOT have anything booked and is sticking to his pledge to not book anything till cruises have sailed for a bit from the US.

[George C]

I definitely would not cruise Europe with that rule in place, I would do Caribbean but would just stay on the ship which we do for many ports anyhow. Rccl shore excursions are overcrowded and overpriced.

[subvet76]

I know there are RCCL people viewing these boards, so here is the consensus, you really need to make the excursions in a bubble drastically less costly if you want people to cruise with you. I have a B2B booked for late next summer in the Med and really don't want to sit on the ship and see the sights OR pay more than the whole cruise for halfway excursions. Make it reasonable to book excursions and we may decide the bubble is worth the cost. We all want to be safe and avoid disease, but don't make us go broke to have a little adventure.

[spunks]

On 11/11/2020 at 3:21 PM, jalves said:

We're not thrilled with shore excursions being only offered by the ship.  We normally cruise the Caribbean and have stopped at most of the ports multiple times, often in the same year.  We tend to just get off the ship at favorite shopping ports and stay on board for other ports.  So, with a port like Falmouth Jamaica we really enjoy shopping the enclosed area.  Can't see why you would need a ship booked excursion just to do that.  

 

 

I fear that the idea of being able to "shop" like was done in the past will be not allowed at all ship tour or no. The same thing for Cozumel and Costa Maya...No way to have all the vendors checked out. I doubt you can guarantee a "bubble " anywhere in the Carribbean.

[lynncarol]

Thanks for all the replies: valid points made by everyone and Brillohead, your comments made me laugh out loud so hard my husband came downstairs to see what was so funny. I do worry that even when the Covid crisis is over, cruiselines may continue to forbid private shore excursions which are obviously a loss of revenue to the ship. We have taken ship excursions on occasion, but the ones that we remember most fondly are inevitably those we have done on our own.