Shore Excursions

[Ferndale Girl]

Will be able to book independent shore excursions or only the ones that Princess offers?  What about just getting off the ship and walking around the ports?  Any info on this?

 

[fluffybunny22]

1 minute ago, Ferndale Girl said:

Will be able to book independent shore excursions or only the ones that Princess offers?  What about just getting off the ship and walking around the ports?  Any info on this?

 

Do you mean in general or because of covid restrictions? 

[skynight]

Probably totally dependent on when and where you are going to cruise. It's really way too early to determine if Covid will be under control at all the different ports of call. 

[Ferndale Girl]

20 minutes ago, fluffybunny22 said:

Do you mean in general or because of covid restrictions? 

I meant because of the Covid restrictions.

[fluffybunny22]

8 minutes ago, Ferndale Girl said:

I meant because of the Covid restrictions.

It's probably going to be port dependent. I can't imagine they'll start sailing again and ports won't allow people to come and go freely and spend money where and when they want. I'm sure the cruise lines will try and spin it in a way that makes you think you can only book their excursions. They already do this in St Petersburg Russia.

[Aulanis]

21 minutes ago, fluffybunny22 said:

I can't imagine they'll start sailing again and ports won't allow people to come and go freely and spend money where and when they want.

Well that is exactly what they did on the few "test" europe cruises.

People wandering away from the official tour were denied reboarding!! 

We  booked before any of this was discussed so will be VERY

annoyed if we are not allowed to DIY , Cruise is not until Aug 21

but I feel they should be at least telling us what might happen

and if we can cancel without penalty   ( Uk Rules)

Cruise doesnt touch US so CDC rules do not fully apply and

no-one seems to know what will apply - looks like they are

waiting until FCDO here lifts cruising ban .

Edited November 30, 2020 by Aulanis

[Steelers36]

Has anyone called and asked a Princess Rep what the official company line is now?  I realize that may not be reliable until the same answer is obtained three different times.  

 

I also realize things can change as time goes by, but it would be nice to know what the policy is for April 2021 (presumed next resumption from USA).  That said, up to the point they planned to operate a Winter 2021 season out of FL beginning in January, they MUST have had some sort of preliminary policy position on this matter. 

 

No way we will sail on a cruise unless/until we can do our own thing at ports of call.

[nini]

As I understand the most recent guidelines; only shore excursions

booked through the ship will be permitted IF you want to get back

on the ship.

On another thread, it was clarified that correct, you will be denied

boarding if you wandered around the port when not on a ship conducted

shore excursion. Apparently, this virus is very selective and only bothers

private shore excursion tours even when the tour guides have followed

the same safety standards as the ones sponsored through the ship.

[Steelers36]

2 minutes ago, nini said:

As I understand the most recent guidelines; only shore excursions

booked through the ship will be permitted IF you want to get back

on the ship.

On another thread, it was clarified that correct, you will be denied

boarding if you wandered around the port when not on a ship conducted

shore excursion. Apparently, this virus is very selective and only bothers

private shore excursion tours even when the tour guides have followed

the same safety standards as the ones sponsored through the ship.

I have seen those guidelines, but not directly associated with Princess.

[joepeka]

56 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Has anyone called and asked a Princess Rep what the official company line is now?  I realize that may not be reliable until the same answer is obtained three different times.  

 

I also realize things can change as time goes by, but it would be nice to know what the policy is for April 2021 (presumed next resumption from USA).  That said, up to the point they planned to operate a Winter 2021 season out of FL beginning in January, they MUST have had some sort of preliminary policy position on this matter. 

 

No way we will sail on a cruise unless/until we can do our own thing at ports of call.

Same with us. We're on a California Coastal/Alaska repo cruise in early May on Royal and this is one of the items that will be a show stopper for us.

[Ferndale Girl]

Our last Future Cruise Deposits expire on October 12, 2021.  (We had used two of them for cruises that were canceled.)  I thought we could take a little California Coastal cruise before then and then buy more to use later. We could drive from Tucson to LA easily.   I'm originally from California and have been to the areas many times before so wouldn't want to get a ship's tour in any them.  I haven't had to pay a deposit for a cruise since 2010 and don't even know how much of a deposit it required.  

 

[Ombud]

Because of what I'd do in Alaska + the excursion company ONLY offers ziplining through Princess when it's in port, Alaskan cruises are the only cruises where 'ship only' would not be a deterrent. Unfortunately our cruise was cancelled 

[nini]

19 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I have seen those guidelines, but not directly associated with Princess.

As I understand it, these are orders via CDC. I am really hoping that in non

USA itineraries, Princess will "vet" private tour companies and not make this

requirement.

[memoak]

I really think this issues are tied to distribution of vaccines. If we get a decent percentage of people vaccinated then I would believe that vaccination would be required to sail and the excursion field would open up as well as longer cruises and back to backs

[Steelers36]

23 minutes ago, nini said:

As I understand it, these are orders via CDC. I am really hoping that in non

USA itineraries, Princess will "vet" private tour companies and not make this

requirement.

I cannot find the exact wording with Google just now.  I do know it has been posted in one or more threads here.  The wording is such that the excursion provider is to be "approved".  Doesn't mean has to be a ship-arranged tour.

[Aulanis]

I dont recall seeing anything concrete from Princess

CC have a running thread on the subject, last entry 27 Nov

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5369/

 

Only MSC appear to be going down ship tours only (at the moment)

Though I am sure others have said this  maybe aida or costa ( Both are Carnival Corp Cos).

 

NCL say they will only go to ports where touriists can be accomodated

otherwise they will change the port!!

 

EDIT Yes Aida left someone behind  after wandering away from group.

and  Costa have it in their  covid Health & Safety 

https://www.costacruises.com/cruising-soon-again/safety-above-all.html

 

Section 7.

 

Edited November 30, 2020 by Aulanis
add info

[Aus Traveller]

7 hours ago, fluffybunny22 said:

It's probably going to be port dependent. I can't imagine they'll start sailing again and ports won't allow people to come and go freely and spend money where and when they want. I'm sure the cruise lines will try and spin it in a way that makes you think you can only book their excursions. They already do this in St Petersburg Russia.

Not exactly. It isn't the cruiseline that imposes restrictions for visits to St Petersburg, it is the Russian government. If a visitor does not book an excursion with a recognised tour operator (either through Princess or an independent operator), they can apply for a visa and wander around independently.

[mevs904]

We sailed on the Regal to St. Petersburg in August 2019 and had an excellent 2 day tour with Alla Tours.  There were other highly recommended non-Princess tours that many of the other passengers took.  The quality of the tour and guide was first rate and the cost was half of what Princess charged for their tour.  

[Oulton Jim]

This is what we did 4 years ago [used the excellent TJ Tours] - in September next year we sail in to St Petersburg and hope that by then we can book with the independent tour operator once again [approved by St Petersburg authorities] 

[mcrcruiser]

We are not concerned  ; because ,we have a April 7 .2022 Cruise aboard Emerald Princess from Auckland to LA  . By that time most people will have been vaccinated * covid a thing of the past  . 

 

 I purposely booked that far  out to be sure of no covid  .Who would want ships tours in the South  Pacific Islands 

 

  

Edited December 1, 2020 by mcrcruiser

[mcrcruiser]

In fact we have 2 cruises booked  the above April 7 ,2022 on Emerald Princess & a Oct 15 ,2022 on Carnival Miracle  ,15 night Hawaii from San diego R/T 

 

  We figured that since the CDC restricted cruises to only 7 nights until Nov 1st ,2021  that they already knew that the vaccines would be well distributed by then  . booking after nov 1st should be pretty safe for no ship only tours 

[caribill]

14 hours ago, fluffybunny22 said:

 I'm sure the cruise lines will try and spin it in a way that makes you think you can only book their excursions. They already do this in St Petersburg Russia.

 

7 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

Not exactly. It isn't the cruiseline that imposes restrictions for visits to St Petersburg, it is the Russian government. If a visitor does not book an excursion with a recognised tour operator (either through Princess or an independent operator), they can apply for a visa and wander around independently.

 

fluffybunny22 did not say only ship excursions were permitted in St. Petersburg. What was said is that the cruise line implies that is the case even though it is not.

 

When we did St. Petersburg on a Princess cruise, the wording in a number of pre-cruise E-mails and onboard Patters really worded it so that the casual reader would get the impression a visa would be required if a Princess excursion was not used. No mention was ever made that other tour operators also did not require a visa.

[caribill]

15 hours ago, Ferndale Girl said:

Will be able to book independent shore excursions or only the ones that Princess offers?  What about just getting off the ship and walking around the ports?  Any info on this?

 

 

14 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Has anyone called and asked a Princess Rep what the official company line is now?  I realize that may not be reliable until the same answer is obtained three different times.  

 

 

 

Nobody at Princess can give you the answer to this question because Princess has not announced what the policy will be when cruises finally resume.

 

No need to call a Princess rep as the rep will have not been informed of any policy about this.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, caribill said:

 

 

fluffybunny22 did not say only ship excursions were permitted in St. Petersburg. What was said is that the cruise line implies that is the case even though it is not.

 

When we did St. Petersburg on a Princess cruise, the wording in a number of pre-cruise E-mails and onboard Patters really worded it so that the casual reader would get the impression a visa would be required if a Princess excursion was not used. No mention was ever made that other tour operators also did not require a visa.

We had the same experience. Even though I knew that you could use the private tours, I remember firing off an e-mail to Alla asking about what I had read from Princess and being assured by her that all was ok with using her tour.

 

I set up a tour with her agency through our roll call. I remember that as once I got to 8 members it would be less expensive than the ship's tour. We ended up with 10. And we also had and used the flexibility to make some changes due to the interests of the tour members.

[fluffybunny22]

11 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

Not exactly. It isn't the cruiseline that imposes restrictions for visits to St Petersburg, it is the Russian government. If a visitor does not book an excursion with a recognised tour operator (either through Princess or an independent operator), they can apply for a visa and wander around independently.

I'm aware of that but the cruise lines like to make it seem like you can only get off if you do their excursions. I had a very hard time convincing my father in law otherwise. Hopefully he will end up believing me before we finally get there in 2022.