covid excursion bubbles still in place??

[scotia_girl]

Hi All, 

We are booked for Virtuosia in Oct 2021 out of Lisbon.   I understand information is changing rapidly, any insights or thoughts if the "bubbles" will still be in place.  We don't usually book the ship excursions but prefer to go off our own. Wondering if will be able to do that still. 

Thanks! 

[alicat58]

I sincerely hope not. We prefer to do our own thing as well. The excursions are very expensive at the moment and around the UK currently mostly scenic or city driving. A few walking tours but you have to stay with the group.

 

Just off the Virtuosa today and stayed on board the whole time. Prefer to explore to be honest. Beautiful ship though.

[DCGuy64]

Of course I'm only guessing, but I'd say the bubbles won't be in place by then. The trouble with making predictions like these is that they're essentially nothing but wild guesses. If MSC decides to require 100% vaccinated people by October, then maybe they'll dispense with the excursion bubble like other lines are doing. OTOH if cases rise and/or there are new variants, it would only strengthen the argument for the bubbles, and so far that's what has kept MSC relatively disease-free. There's really no way to know. What I do know is that while excursions sponsored by the cruise line are sometimes more expensive, they're not unaffordable. Some itineraries I've seen on MSC include 3 excursions as part of the price.

[MarkusToe]

Looks like the bubble is the only way to go on shore. Spain will be closed for normal travel in the near future, we would have to go in quarantine on the way home...

Portugal the same, Italy has some procedure s in place already...