Celebrity ships & Cozumel

[Tamara]

If you were recently on a Celebrity ship and visited Cozumel can you please tell me how the policy of “Celebrity Only Tours” is enforced in Cozumel?

I find it confusing that only passengers arriving on Celebrity Ships are unable to debark and tour the island as they please. 
I was recently notified that the Celebrity Tour I booked for Cozumel was cancelled without explanation and I was issued a refund.

I found the same tour on trip advisor and booked it independently. This company is the same company as the tour that was cancelled and is under contract with Celebrity & RCCI. 
On the 10th I received another email from Celebrity concerning new policies/testing, itinerary changes and new port policies.

I was unaware until this latest email that I would not be able to book an independent tour in Cozumel. Considering this policy is only for Celebrity ships Im having a difficult time accepting the logic of this policy.

I reached out to the Tour company and they are confused as well. 

[1025cruise]

They won't let you off the ship unless you are on an excursion. Simple as that.

[PTC DAWG]

I think Celebrity is protecting the ship..not many on Cozumel are vaccinated..FWIW. 
 

Just book a tour with Celebrity if you want to get off the ship there. Not much in port is open at all, was just there last week…we did not get off the ship..

Edited August 13, 2021 by PTC DAWG

[Fouremco]

The requirement for passengers to go ashore only as part of a designated ship's excursion is not an arbitrary decision by Celebrity, it's the result of an agreement between Celebrity and the port designed to provide protection to passengers and residents alike by minimizing contact between the two.

[NutsAboutGolf]

I was there for the 7/24 sailing, Capt Kate explained while anything can change at anytime, the reason for this is because X elected to go with the 95% vaxed route and not the test sailing route...

 

1) Can't leave the ship unless you do a tour yet once the tour is over oddly you're allowed to free roam the pier area

2) I found most of the shops including Margaritaville were open, Senor Frogs was closed

3) The vendors can be quite aggressive as there are so few people...I learned the hard way to say "no thanks" vs ignoring them (they may follow you and pester you more if you ignore them)

4) The crew is allowed to free roam and there were far more crew members (when you see 4+ people in their 20s, its more likely they're crew) in the pier area

 

Edited August 13, 2021 by NutsAboutGolf

[gerelmx]

1 hour ago, Tamara said:

If you were recently on a Celebrity ship and visited Cozumel can you please tell me how the policy of “Celebrity Only Tours” is enforced in Cozumel?

I find it confusing that only passengers arriving on Celebrity Ships are unable to debark and tour the island as they please. 
I was recently notified that the Celebrity Tour I booked for Cozumel was cancelled without explanation and I was issued a refund.

I found the same tour on trip advisor and booked it independently. This company is the same company as the tour that was cancelled and is under contract with Celebrity & RCCI. 
On the 10th I received another email from Celebrity concerning new policies/testing, itinerary changes and new port policies.

I was unaware until this latest email that I would not be able to book an independent tour in Cozumel. Considering this policy is only for Celebrity ships Im having a difficult time accepting the logic of this policy.

I reached out to the Tour company and they are confused as well. 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/healthy-at-sea/us-travel-requirements

 

Western Caribbean
On your own tours are permitted in Nassau and Roatan. Excursions provided by Celebrity Cruises are required in Costa Maya and Cozumel.

[NutsAboutGolf]

17 minutes ago, gerelmx said:

https://www.celebritycruises.com/healthy-at-sea/us-travel-requirements

 

Western Caribbean
On your own tours are permitted in Nassau and Roatan. Excursions provided by Celebrity Cruises are required in Costa Maya and Cozumel.

 

Costa Maya is a bit of an enigma, you are allowed to free roam the pier area but leave the pier area on foot.  You're allowed to take "approved tours" by an "approved taxi" which are lined up by the pier.  When I spoke to two taxi drivers they both offered to take us to downtown which we declined.  Odds are most taxis will take you where ever you want if you have $$$, the risk however, which we don't have a lot of datapoints on, is getting back inside the pier area if you didn't do an "approved" tour.

[kebrown]

I do not understand why Celebrity is not allowing passengers to tour Mexico independently.  We did a land trip to Puerto Vallarta 2 months ago and there were absolutely no restrictions on where we could go.  We flew into the airport and no one asked for a negative covid test or proof of vaccination.  We were able to go anywhere we wanted to in the city on our own for the entire trip.  We had the same experience when we flew into Cancun earlier this year.  This makes not sense to me.  Americans can fly into Mexico and go where ever they want to independently but cruise ship passengers must take "Celebrity Approved Tours"?  We were able to go where ever we wanted to go by ourselves while in Puerto Vallarta an Cancun on our land vacations.  Why are cruise passengers being treated differently in Mexico?

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, kebrown said:

I do not understand why Celebrity is not allowing passengers to tour Mexico independently.  We did a land trip to Puerto Vallarta 2 months ago and there were absolutely no restrictions on where we could go.  We flew into the airport and no one asked for a negative covid test or proof of vaccination.  We were able to go anywhere we wanted to in the city on our own for the entire trip.  We had the same experience when we flew into Cancun earlier this year.  This makes not sense to me.  Americans can fly into Mexico and go where ever they want to independently but cruise ship passengers must take "Celebrity Approved Tours"?  We were able to go where ever we wanted to go by ourselves while in Puerto Vallarta an Cancun on our land vacations.  Why are cruise passengers being treated differently in Mexico?

Simple answer, it is Celebrities ship and they make the rules that they feel will best protect their passengers and employees.

 

[NutsAboutGolf]

4 minutes ago, kebrown said:

I do not understand why Celebrity is not allowing passengers to tour Mexico independently.  We did a land trip to Puerto Vallarta 2 months ago and there were absolutely no restrictions on where we could go.  We flew into the airport and no one asked for a negative covid test or proof of vaccination.  We were able to go anywhere we wanted to in the city on our own for the entire trip.  We had the same experience when we flew into Cancun earlier this year.  This makes not sense to me.  Americans can fly into Mexico and go where ever they want to independently but cruise ship passengers must take "Celebrity Approved Tours"?  We were able to go where ever we wanted to go by ourselves while in Puerto Vallarta an Cancun on our land vacations.  Why are cruise passengers being treated differently in Mexico?

 

Read post five for the answer.

[Jeremiah1212]

I wouldn't spend too much energy trying to get an acceptable explanation. I've heard two scenarios. They didn't want multiple passengers from different ships mingling freely and Mexico was only allowing independent excursions to ships that did test cruises. 

 

Costa Maya has also been swapped with Roatan for the next two Western Caribbean cruises. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

Just now, Jeremiah1212 said:

I wouldn't spend too much energy trying to get an acceptable explanation. I've heard two scenarios. They didn't want multiple passengers from different ships mingling freely and Mexico was only allowing independent excursions to ships that did test cruises. 

 

Costa Maya has also been swapped with Roatan for the next two Western Caribbean cruises. 

 

In post five I explained my experience with Cozumel, AFTER the ship tour is over you're allowed to free roam the pier area, mingle with other ship passengers and the crew.  Contact tracing be damned.

[Stockjock]

I have a cruise at the end of this year that stops at Cozumel.  I reserved 2 day passes for a nice resort on my own.  I wonder if they'll let me do this?  I suppose things could change by December.

[Fouremco]

15 minutes ago, kebrown said:

We did a land trip to Puerto Vallarta 2 months ago and there were absolutely no restrictions on where we could go.

And 2 months ago, there was no huge COVID surge in the US, but things change quickly. There's little to be gained in making comparisons with the past.

[Jeremiah1212]

1 minute ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

In post five I explained my experience with Cozumel, AFTER the ship tour is over you're allowed to free roam the pier area, mingle with other ship passengers and the crew.  Contact tracing be damned.

 

I doubt that was the intent of the setup, but in my experiences rules are simply suggestions with many things in Mexico. Tour operators likely don't feel like it's their responsibility to police their guests and frankly don't care. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

Just now, Stockjock said:

I have a cruise at the end of this year that stops at Cozumel.  I reserved 2 day passes for a nice resort on my own.  I wonder if they'll let me do this?  I suppose things could change by December.

 

Under the current rules you could not.

[Jeremiah1212]

20 minutes ago, kebrown said:

I do not understand why Celebrity is not allowing passengers to tour Mexico independently.  We did a land trip to Puerto Vallarta 2 months ago and there were absolutely no restrictions on where we could go.  We flew into the airport and no one asked for a negative covid test or proof of vaccination.  We were able to go anywhere we wanted to in the city on our own for the entire trip.  We had the same experience when we flew into Cancun earlier this year.  This makes not sense to me.  Americans can fly into Mexico and go where ever they want to independently but cruise ship passengers must take "Celebrity Approved Tours"?  We were able to go where ever we wanted to go by ourselves while in Puerto Vallarta an Cancun on our land vacations.  Why are cruise passengers being treated differently in Mexico?

Apples to oranges. Bars and clubs are closed in PV again, restaurant capacity restrictions in place, etc. beginning August 1.