Excursions?

[jeanlyon]

At present you are only allowed off the ship on a paid P&O Excursion.  I am looking at my excursions for our next cruise and 3 of them allow free time in the place.  I don't get why that is different to going ashore on your own.

 

One of them is a transfer to Athens for £30 and then you do your own thing?

 

 

Edited August 1, 2021 by jeanlyon

[Son of Anarchy]

Does seem a bit bizarre.  Probably using Covid as a an excuse to get more people to book excursions.

Especially as you can DIY into Athens (from Piraeaus) for only a few € pp on the train.  Or for about €20 use the HoHo bus just outside the terminal.

[jeanlyon]

Agree.  Some of the other excursions also have free time.  I am going to be very cross if we really have to take an excursion every time.  We never do them.

[Josy1953]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

Agree.  Some of the other excursions also have free time.  I am going to be very cross if we really have to take an excursion every time.  We never do them.

We are the same, we never take the excursions because we like to do things at our own pace stopping longer at some sights than others depending on what interests us rather than what someone else thinks that we should be interested in.  This is one of the reasons that we are not booking any more cruises for the moment.

We have a cruise booked for March on Princess and are hoping that the rules might change before we have to pay the balance otherwise we will try to move the booking.  If we can't move it we will probably take the hit and lose the deposit because we don't want to be confined to the ship or to go on excursions.

[jeanlyon]

Josy exactly the same.  If it hasn't changed by January, we might take the hit as well.  I would really like to go as we have some lovely ports, but not prepared to either sit on board or go on organised excursions.

[majortom10]

Not just P&O as Princess even on their current UK resident only Seacation on our cruise we have a port of call at Liverpool. You cannot get off the ship independently but they are selling an excursion to Cheshire Oaks where they transfer you from Liverpool to Outlet Centre about 25 miles away and then you are left to do "your own thing" for hours browsing shops and then they transfer you back to the ship. All this for the extortionate sum of $100pp and no logic as there will be just as many Liverpudlians wandering around Cheshire Oaks than in the city centre, I am afraid it is just a money making exercise.

[jeanlyon]

7 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Not just P&O as Princess even on their current UK resident only Seacation on our cruise we have a port of call at Liverpool. You cannot get off the ship independently but they are selling an excursion to Cheshire Oaks where they transfer you from Liverpool to Outlet Centre about 25 miles away and then you are left to do "your own thing" for hours browsing shops and then they transfer you back to the ship. All this for the extortionate sum of $100pp and no logic as there will be just as many Liverpudlians wandering around Cheshire Oaks than in the city centre, I am afraid it is just a money making exercise.

I thought that when I first saw it.

[Eddie99]

The whole situation is so uncertain I can’t find any pleasure in researching or anticipating cruises at the moment.  We have three booked; who knows whether we’ll go?  Probably not.  Two were booked with very small deposits, which I’m treating more as ‘options’ and I will give them up without a thought. 
 

Life has changed so much in the last eighteen months.  Cruising used to take a lot of my thoughts.  Now, apart from checking in here, it barely enters my head.

 

 

[PORT ROYAL]

2 hours ago, Son of Anarchy said:

Does seem a bit bizarre.  Probably using Covid as a an excuse to get more people to book excursions.

Especially as you can DIY into Athens (from Piraeaus) for only a few € pp on the train.  Or for about €20 use the HoHo bus just outside the terminal.

Or the X Express bus from Piraeus Cruise Terminal to Athens for (one thinks about) €8.00 return 

 

 

[amfc_lenny]

The whole staycation shore excursion rip off is a joke. We’re free to go anywhere in the uk, and the staycation is uk only residents.

 

I could understand this more for the Med cruises in Oct perhaps.

 

think we’ll be staying on board and chilling, and not paying a min of £50 per couple to get off. 

[bee-ess]

8 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

At present you are only allowed off the ship on a paid P&O Excursion.  I am looking at my excursions for our next cruise and 3 of them allow free time in the place.  I don't get why that is different to going ashore on your own.

 

One of them is a transfer to Athens for £30 and then you do your own thing?

 

 

I wonder if the excursions currently on sale are the same ones that will be on sale if we cannot go ashore independently. Our Caribbean excursions for Jan 1st look the same sort of excursions they always are, a lot of which would not be suitable for 'bubbled excursions'.  

We have to pay final balance on Oct 3rd and would want to know if we are likely to be allowed ashore independently before we pay, as it is a large amount to pay and a long flight to take to stay on the ship for 14 days.

Edited August 1, 2021 by bee-ess

[Denarius]

4 hours ago, majortom10 said:

Not just P&O as Princess even on their current UK resident only Seacation on our cruise we have a port of call at Liverpool. You cannot get off the ship independently but they are selling an excursion to Cheshire Oaks where they transfer you from Liverpool to Outlet Centre about 25 miles away and then you are left to do "your own thing" for hours browsing shops and then they transfer you back to the ship. All this for the extortionate sum of $100pp and no logic as there will be just as many Liverpudlians wandering around Cheshire Oaks than in the city centre, I am afraid it is just a money making exercise.

I agree that this appears to be utterly stupid. Does the stupidity however, rest with P&O or with the UK government? It may be that their protocols forbid cruise lines to allow passengers to go ashore except on organised tours, but with no restriction on what form those tours take. So allowing passengers to walk ashore to explore is forbidden, but transporting them elsewhere to walk around all afternoon is OK. Utter madness!

[Cathygh]

I suspect what happens in the UK could be different to what happens abroad. I read somewhere that the excursions for the international cruises starting in September have not been finalised. I suspect that they will not remove existing excursions from sale until this has been done, just in case they are able to run them. Sorry lots of surmising here!

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, Denarius said:

I agree that this appears to be utterly stupid. Does the stupidity however, rest with P&O or with the UK government? It may be that their protocols forbid cruise lines to allow passengers to go ashore except on organised tours, but with no restriction on what form those tours take. So allowing passengers to walk ashore to explore is forbidden, but transporting them elsewhere to walk around all afternoon is OK. Utter madness!

Surely it is just that all the excursions shown currently on the website are the normal ones pre covid, you don't really expect that P&Os IT dept have figured out how to show the coach tour only excursions yet, do you?!?!😗

[tring]

16 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Surely it is just that all the excursions shown currently on the website are the normal ones pre covid, you don't really expect that P&Os IT dept have figured out how to show the coach tour only excursions yet, do you?!?!😗

The excursions being operated by Fred currently are far from just coach tours, though do go to quieter places.  We were allowed mainly free time in Tresco Abbey Gardens, for instance, though it was outdoors and only a very small number of people around who were not from the ship.  Also walking tours operating, some with refreshment stops, which would be just for the group.

[tring]

On 8/1/2021 at 2:35 PM, majortom10 said:

Not just P&O as Princess even on their current UK resident only Seacation on our cruise we have a port of call at Liverpool. You cannot get off the ship independently but they are selling an excursion to Cheshire Oaks where they transfer you from Liverpool to Outlet Centre about 25 miles away and then you are left to do "your own thing" for hours browsing shops and then they transfer you back to the ship. All this for the extortionate sum of $100pp and no logic as there will be just as many Liverpudlians wandering around Cheshire Oaks than in the city centre, I am afraid it is just a money making exercise.

 

We are booked on Princess for late October and all normal tours are available to book now, but I have been told non covid secure ones will be cancelled and refunded before our cruise.  Princess have confirmed it will be excursions only for our cruise.

 

Cheshire Oaks is indeed a busy shopping centre that takes people from a large section of the North West and North Wales, given it's location on the motorway network.  Can I ask if that is currently being operated as an excursion from Liverpool, or is it just showing with many others that are normally operated from that port, in which case I would very much doubt it would run this summer?

Edited August 2, 2021 by tring

[majortom10]

31 minutes ago, tring said:

 

We are booked on Princess for late October and all normal tours are available to book now, but I have been told non covid secure ones will be cancelled and refunded before our cruise.  Princess have confirmed it will be excursions only for our cruise.

 

Cheshire Oaks is indeed a busy shopping centre that takes people from a large section of the North West and North Wales, given it's location on the motorway network.  Can I ask if that is currently being operated as an excursion from Liverpool, or is it just showing with many others that are normally operated from that port, in which case I would very much doubt it would run this summer?

It is actually being shown as a bookable excursion for me to book on my Seacation cruise on Regal on 9th September.

[ann141]

11 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

It is actually being shown as a bookable excursion for me to book on my Seacation cruise on Regal on 9th September.

Its still showing as 20 places left which suggests no one has booked it yet- and probably won't!!

[majortom10]

4 minutes ago, ann141 said:

Its still showing as 20 places left which suggests no one has booked it yet- and probably won't!!

I know people who have booked on it and other available excursions and still showing 20 places available so I wouldnt take much notice of that.

 

[ann141]

20 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

I know people who have booked on it and other available excursions and still showing 20 places available so I wouldnt take much notice of that.

 

That is surprising.I can imagine Americans booking but some people must be either really keen on shopping or not keen on the alternatives! We have booked The giant's causeway from Belfast which again is very expensive but I really want to visit and we had some OBC which has helped towards the cost

[majortom10]

32 minutes ago, ann141 said:

That is surprising.I can imagine Americans booking but some people must be either really keen on shopping or not keen on the alternatives! We have booked The giant's causeway from Belfast which again is very expensive but I really want to visit and we had some OBC which has helped towards the cost

We are staying onboard.

 

[tring]

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

It is actually being shown as a bookable excursion for me to book on my Seacation cruise on Regal on 9th September.

 

That certainly does sound bizarre, though I do agree that a money making exercise to redeem some of that oodles of cash lost over the last year has been in my mind for a while - not exactly any incentive to relax the criteria either.  I doubt the cruise lines will be going into profits for a while yet, with reduced occupancy and many ships still laid up. 

 

The price does seem particularly high as well, along with the trip prices we have seen for our Aurora cruise in February/March, which I am thinking could still have restrictions.  I was speaking with an agent (from a well used company) when we booked our Aurora cruise and she said they expected there to be some ports which will need trips and others where cruise passengers will be allowed ashore independently as things loosen up, though as I said Princess have already come out with a blanket requirement for trips only on a Med cruise departing S'ton late October, - all cruises to the end of October in fact.

 

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

I know people who have booked on it and other available excursions and still showing 20 places available so I wouldnt take much notice of that.

 

 

I agree, I would not see any problem getting more coaches and it will just be a speedy motorway journey once the city centre and the tunnel are cleared.  Not sure what it costs to take a coach through the tunnel, but doubt it works out much pp, even if the coaches are still only half full as local buses go through there and not sure if Boris's freedom day made any difference to coach occupancy  

 

Cheshire Oaks is popular with those who like the designer labels, so not difficult to do well on prices if you buy a few things and not just clothes either.  It is run by the same company who run Gunwarf in Portsmouth, but tGunwarf is tiny, with very few shops and much smaller versions of the few that are there as well.  There always seems to be expansion and building going on in Cheshire Oaks in recent years.  Our son and his friends can spend a fair bit there, during the twice yearly sales and I assume the summer sales will be on now.  The big problem though is that any returns would have to go back to another outlet store and not the main stores around the country.  Oh dear I am sounding like a sales person..........  Seriously though it is not likely to be of much interest to most P&O or UK Princess cruisers, given the age that they are reputed to be. 

Edited August 2, 2021 by tring

[ann141]

7 minutes ago, tring said:

 

That certainly does sound bizarre, though I do agree that a money making exercise to redeem some of that oodles of cash lost over the last year has been in my mind for a while - not exactly any incentive to relax the criteria either.  I doubt the cruise lines will be going into profits for a while yet, with reduced occupancy and many ships still laid up. 

 

The price does seem particularly high as well, along with the trip prices we have seen for our Aurora cruise in February/March, which I am thinking could still have restrictions.  I was speaking with an agent (from a well used company) when we booked our Aurora cruise and she said they expected there to be some ports which will need trips and others where cruise passengers will be allowed ashore independently as things loosen up, though as I said Princess have already come out with a blanket requirement for trips only on a Med cruise departing S'ton late October, - all cruises to the end of October in fact.

 

 

I agree, I would not see any problem getting more coaches and it will just be a speedy motorway journey once the city centre and the tunnel are cleared.  Not sure what it costs to take a coach through the tunnel, but doubt it works out much pp, even if the coaches are still only half full as local buses go through there and not sure if Boris's freedom day made any difference to coach occupancy  

 

Cheshire Oaks is popular with those who like the designer labels, so not difficult to do well on prices if you buy a few things and not just clothes either.  It is run by the same company who run Gunwarf in Portsmouth, but tGunwarf is tiny, with very few shops and much smaller versions of the few that are there as well.  There always seems to be expansion and building going on in Cheshire Oaks in recent years.  Our son and his friends can spend a fair bit there, during the twice yearly sales and I assume the summer sales will be on now.  The big problem though is that any returns would have to go back to another outlet store and not the main stores around the country.  Oh dear I am sounding like a sales person..........

Princess excursions have always been a lot dearer than P and O excursions.When they are priced in US dollars it makes them sound even dearer! I think a lot of people will just stay onboard.We specifically booked the 9 september cruise because we want to visit The Giants Causeway. Some excursions seem more overpriced than others ,the trip to Cheshire Oaks being one of those.There is also a tour of Liverpool for I think 29 US Dollars which I think is much more reasonably priced.

Edited August 2, 2021 by ann141

[jeanlyon]

1 hour ago, tring said:

 

The price does seem particularly high as well, along with the trip prices we have seen for our Aurora cruise in February/March, which I am thinking could still have restrictions.  I was speaking with an agent (from a well used company) when we booked our Aurora cruise and she said they expected there to be some ports which will need trips and others where cruise passengers will be allowed ashore independently as things loosen up, though as I said Princess have already come out with a blanket requirement for trips only on a Med cruise departing S'ton late October, - all cruises to the end of October in fact.

 

 

 

I thought Aurora wasn't sailing until 13th April, which is our cruise.  That's what it says on the P&O site.

[P&O SUE]

My cruise isn’t until June 2022 to the Med. There have been a few excursions showing for a while but I thought it was unlikely they’d all stay. They can be booked though, although a couple of ports aren’t showing any excursions yet. After reading this thread I looked again and there’s a few more! No idea if they are the ones that will be on offer by then though.