Will ship excursion be required?

[shipsealand]

We want no covid brought back on ships which will hurt all of us to be able to sail. To mitigate this when sailings from USA ports resume in this summer that taking only ship sponsored shorex will be a requirement to keep all of the PAX's going ashore in a bubble?  What about even leaving the ship to walk around might not be permitted?  Since it has been a long time since last went on a cruise, am thinking that these inconveniences, hopefully temporary, will be worth the trade off in being able to cruise again.  Every day not sailing is another day of missed opportunity.

[dog]

No one knows yet. If Celebrity & RCL sail this summer & Princess from UK, we will see how it goes. My concern is crew just being tested and not required to be vaccinated. Excursions will have to be limited and the ports may determine what will be allowed. Hard to wait, but no answers yet. 

[memoak]

Nobody really knows the answer to this question yet. We will not want to take our cruise to Hawaii if we can’t get off and visit our favorite restaurants 

[donaldsc]

46 minutes ago, shipsealand said:

We want no covid brought back on ships which will hurt all of us to be able to sail. To mitigate this when sailings from USA ports resume in this summer that taking only ship sponsored shorex will be a requirement to keep all of the PAX's going ashore in a bubble?  What about even leaving the ship to walk around might not be permitted?  Since it has been a long time since last went on a cruise, am thinking that these inconveniences, hopefully temporary, will be worth the trade off in being able to cruise again.  Every day not sailing is another day of missed opportunity.

 

Totally disagree.  If cruising does not give me the experience that I want, there are lots of other ways for me to spend my travel money.  So long as my ability to do independent tours and/or wander around unrestrained, I am not getting on a ship.  There will be lots of really good land experiences that I can take.  Just my opinion.

 

DON

[shipsealand]

I was considering and did book a land tour but the air portion had to be booked separately.  With the risk of the land could be cancelled with little notice, I would be stuck with air that I would have to use sometime in the future but I may not want to travel to the destined location for future vacations for who knows when.  I had inquired and the land portion folks say they don't know and to check again in a few months but the air has only 24 hours to cancel or you a stuck with it with possible change fees.  With cruising and cruise air you are protected and all money back if the cruise is cancelled.  I should note that I have already done a lot of cruising and visited many ports so if had to stay on ship with cruise to nowhere that would still work for me.  But I understand we all have different priorities and that is good to keep all possible forms of travel being booked and be viable as future choices.

[dog]

14 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

 

Totally disagree.  If cruising does not give me the experience that I want, there are lots of other ways for me to spend my travel money.  So long as my ability to do independent tours and/or wander around unrestrained, I am not getting on a ship.  There will be lots of really good land experiences that I can take.  Just my opinion.

 

DON

Definitely understand his. However many of us have FCC to use, so will go along with what Princess requirements are,  hopefully these will not be permanent restrictions. 

[medsed]

I would hope that they would considering adding more tours or vetting local providers    They really do not offer enough in many places to accommodate the number of people that will want to take an excursion. That said, I think O can find something to do through Princess most of the time.  My main consideration is that we travel with our little one, who will be five next time around (fingers crossed) and aside from going to the beach in many places they offer little for us to do.  I sunburn easily and cannot do the beach daily or at peak times of day..like noon!!

[donaldsc]

27 minutes ago, dog said:

Definitely understand his. However many of us have FCC to use, so will go along with what Princess requirements are,  hopefully these will not be permanent restrictions. 

 

I will add to my comment that there are lots of very interesting place and national parks in the US that I will be able to visit where I can cancel the trip if stuff goes south.  I don't have to fly to many of them or go overseas to have good land trips.  In addition, we are waiting for the US - Canada border to open so we can spend time in our neighbors to the north.  We already have a trip to Calgary and Banff planned for the fall.

 

DON

[SeaHunt]

Of course no one knows what will actually happen, but to give you some hope here's a happy FYI showing that the Celebrity sailings from St Maarten have this information for their two itineraries (one will visit Aruba, Curacao and Barbados, and the other St. Lucia, Barbados and Tortola in the British Virgin Islands):

 

"Unlike cruises that have operated in Europe, passengers will not be restricted to ship-sponsored shore excursions, and will be allowed to disembark and explore ports on their own. In addition to Celebrity-organized group tours, "Private Journeys" and "Small Group Discovery Tours" will also be available for guests wanting to stick with family members or traveling companions."

 

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Celebrity-Cruises-to-start-cruises-from-St-Maarten

 

 

 

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by SeaHunt
clarity

[Bruin Steve]

First, if that's what it takes to be cruising again, I will gladly do it...

However the concept, in a number of ways, is silly...

If your port is, for example, one of the cruise lines' private islands...(like RCI/Celebrity's Labadee, for example), the cruise line can control the entire environment--who gets in, whether they've been vaccinated, etc.  Or, perhaps, if the port is some sort of watersports paradise, where most passengers only want to go snorkeling or jet-skiing or kayaking, they can pretty much control all of that with carefully guarded excursions as well...

But what about cruises that port in places in Europe...or Asia...or big cities throughout the world--where the attractions are castles and museums and urban centers?  Say you port in Athens--and the shore excursions pretty much have to be to go see the Acropolis or walk in the Plaka or visit archaeological sites?  Or Rome--where everyone wants to go to the Vatican...the Coliseum...the Forum...the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Piazza Navona?  Going on a ship-sponsored excursion will NOT guard anyone from coming into contact with a large number of locals who may or may not have been vaccinated...or may have Covid...There would be no difference in risk going on private tour vs. going on a ship-sponsored shorex...

 

The real protection for the cruise and its crew and passengers is to ensure that all onboard are VACCINATED...What they do in port becomes irrelevant if everyone on board is highly unlikely to contract Covid due to vaccination.

[dogs4fun]

On 3/20/2021 at 1:29 PM, SeaHunt said:

Of course no one knows what will actually happen, but to give you some hope here's a happy FYI showing that the Celebrity sailings from St Maarten have this information for their two itineraries (one will visit Aruba, Curacao and Barbados, and the other St. Lucia, Barbados and Tortola in the British Virgin Islands):

 

"Unlike cruises that have operated in Europe, passengers will not be restricted to ship-sponsored shore excursions, and will be allowed to disembark and explore ports on their own. In addition to Celebrity-organized group tours, "Private Journeys" and "Small Group Discovery Tours" will also be available for guests wanting to stick with family members or traveling companions."

 

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Celebrity-Cruises-to-start-cruises-from-St-Maarten

This gives me some hope as mandated shore excursions through the ship is also a deal breaker for us.

[harkinmr]

On 3/20/2021 at 3:29 PM, SeaHunt said:

Of course no one knows what will actually happen, but to give you some hope here's a happy FYI showing that the Celebrity sailings from St Maarten have this information for their two itineraries (one will visit Aruba, Curacao and Barbados, and the other St. Lucia, Barbados and Tortola in the British Virgin Islands):

 

"Unlike cruises that have operated in Europe, passengers will not be restricted to ship-sponsored shore excursions, and will be allowed to disembark and explore ports on their own. In addition to Celebrity-organized group tours, "Private Journeys" and "Small Group Discovery Tours" will also be available for guests wanting to stick with family members or traveling companions."

 

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Celebrity-Cruises-to-start-cruises-from-St-Maarten

 

 

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by harkinmr

[harkinmr]

"Unlike cruises that have operated in Europe, passengers will not be restricted to ship-sponsored shore excursions, and will be allowed to disembark and explore ports on their own. In addition to Celebrity-organized group tours, "Private Journeys" and "Small Group Discovery Tours" will also be available for guests wanting to stick with family members or traveling companions."

 

This is a quote from a travel magazine and has not been determined to be accurate.  A travel advisor on the CC Celebrity board was on the call with Celebrity executives when the cruises were announced and cruise ship excursions only was the plan as of that time.  The same is true for the Royal Caribbean cruises out of Nassau.  Final protocols are to be announced.

[dogs4fun]

14 minutes ago, harkinmr said:

This is a quote from a travel magazine and has not been determined to be accurate.  A travel advisor on the CC Celebrity board was on the call with Celebrity executives when the cruises were announced and cruise ship excursions only was the plan as of that time.  The same is true for the Royal Caribbean cruises out of Nassau.  Final protocols are to be announced.

Well ... rats!

[harkinmr]

Just now, dogs4fun said:

Well ... rats!

Sorry.  Not trying to be a downer.  Just a lot of information out there that may not be accurate.  Anyway, the actual protocols will be released and we'll all know soon enough.  And, who knows, months down the road they may change too!

[SeaHunt]

Sorry that the info might not be correct, I was so happy and hoped they knew something in advance LOL. ☺️

 

But don't give up quite yet because over on the RCI board today poster Ourusualbeach (Ken, a great TA who posts good information) first said ship excursions only BUT after he was on a sales webinar today he had this tidbit in his post # 22:

 

"It was mostly a repeat of Friday’s as many TA’s were not able to log on as there were so many trying. 
 

added information was that they are still finalizing mask policy and that shore excursions on your own are allowed. New announcement coming Thursday."

 

 

 

[SeaHunt]

He has another here:

 

 

[jennybenny]

Maybe, maybe not? 🤷🏻‍♀️ 
I’d like to think I will know what the Princess Policy is before final payment of my booked cruises. If it is still unknown at final payment, we will make the choice to make the payment if we are okay with only doing ship sponsored shore excursions or willing to not get off the ship. I’m not currently sure where I stand on that. I also expect to be fully vaccinated by the time we cruise. Time will tell when Princess can begin sailing again and what the restrictions will be to sail. 

[dogs4fun]

We are waiting for news regarding European sailings. Hopefully, when European cruises are a "go", private or DIY shore excursions will be allowed. News of allowing private tours in Caribbean ports makes me optimistic that the same will be allowed in Europe.

[CCFC]

My cruise booked today for Sept 9th around the UK has only ships tours allowed, no tour means you cant get off.