Are you avoiding excursions?

[pooh/tigger]

We are scheduled Feb 5th on Reflection. We have 2 Celebrity excursions booked. 

 

Are any who have cruised or are cruising soon canceling excursions because of Covid? I assume most require a bus to get to your destination so the risk is higher. 

 

We are booked for the VIP Paradise lunch on Dominican Republic and Mofongo and Mojito experience in Puerto Rico. Anyone done either? 

 

Thanks for your help. 

 

Kel

[Peery5]

1 minute ago, pooh/tigger said:

We are scheduled Feb 5th on Reflection. We have 2 Celebrity excursions booked. 

 

Are any who have cruised or are cruising soon canceling excursions because of Covid? I assume most require a bus to get to your destination so the risk is higher. 

 

We are booked for the VIP Paradise lunch on Dominican Republic and Mofongo and Mojito experience in Puerto Rico. Anyone done either? 

 

Thanks for your help. 

 

Kel

On silhouette now and apex on 15th. Avoiding excursions on both.

[pooh/tigger]

1 minute ago, Peery5 said:

On silhouette now and apex on 15th. Avoiding excursions on both.

What ports are you visiting? Are you getting off the ship at any? 

 

Thank you,

 

Kel

[Antropos]

We were on the Equinox Dec 22 sailing. We did not avoid excursions, but chose them as wisely as possible... we only did two. Both were in open-air (catamaran sail, snorkeling and swimming) and no busses were necessary. We felt safe enough and did not perceive a higher risk than onboard. Of course, it is possible that if someone in your excursion group tests positive you are identified as a "close contact"... Although I don't think that is automatically the case, because it would mean they have to test way too many people. 

[royalcruz]

We've taken 2 cruises in the last month and just stayed on the ship. 

[zaxanon6]

I was on Silhouette Dec 24. We purposely chose Celebrity excursions in case those were the only way passengers would be allowed off the ship and to make cancelling/refunds easier if ports denied us (2 did). But we also selected ones with open air buses or boats, no restaurants, etc.

Edited January 9, 2022 by zaxanon6

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We have stayed on the ship even before Covid.  Did not get off in October and do not plan on getting off in March.  We have spa appointments booked for the 2nd day and are debating whether to move to later in the cruise or cancel totally. I would be ok with the massage but my DH wants a shave and facial which is too risky.

[Peery5]

3 hours ago, pooh/tigger said:

What ports are you visiting? Are you getting off the ship at any? 

 

Thank you,

 

Kel

We have stopped at St Marten, St Lucia and in Barbados today.  We are getting off the ship and visiting the port areas.  Buying a few souvenirs and having a beer of two.  Just trying to do what we can to stimulate the local economies.  Not much, but we have never been big ship excursioners anyway.  Hopefully will grab a taxi to the beach in Antigua tomorrow as long as we are able to dock and our Covid numbers stay low.  So far has been a very relaxing cruise.

[jelayne]

We did a B2B in October and DH did 2 excursions, 1  beach & snorkel and 1 scuba so no bus/van involved.  I did the boat/snorkel also.  We were met at the pier and walked to the boat.  Doubt I would take a excursion that required a bus.

 

We are also on the 2/5 Reflection and staying for the 2/12.  DH had 1 excursion booked that was cancelled by X.  Since most ports on those itineraries are not requiring ship excursions we will most likely DYI  by ourselves if/when we get off.

[bookitdanno]

On Reflection Jan 19. We will be avoiding excursions and the casino, which seems to be a consistent problem area.

[LadyShiva]

Apex in 2 weeks, and I am leery of ship excursions because unvaxxinated kids have to use them.  I went ahead and cancelled my Playa Mia excursion in Cozumel (Celebrity excursion, marketed as family friendly) and am still working on if I care to replace it with anything.

 

We have a walking tour set up in Nassau which I am somehow ok about.  Best I can fathom: mostly my travelling group in the small group, and will be outside for most of the time.

 

I grabbed more (stinky out of the single mask cellophane package) 3M Aura masks to bring with me, just in case I feel like they are needed. *shrug*

[rescuemom]

Pooh/tigger

we are booked on that cruise too and have the same question. we have the kayak excursion booked at puerta plata which we would really like to do, but I am assuming we would have to take a mini bus to get there. I have stopped even mentioning our potential cruise to anyone we know, everyone thinks we are out of our mind for going at all. We had a hike to wind cave booked at one port that they cancelled and a beach at nausau, but since what port we will even end up in may be up in the air I am not sure what to do either. At least if we book celebrity excursions we can change our minds at the last minute or get our money back if the ship ends up not going to that island.

[TourDeCruise]

We are not booking any excursions for our upcoming Equinox January 21st cruise. We will get off in Bimini, Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire if not denied entry and just walk around. If Bimini had a great, must-do excursion, we might do it, but we have been to the other ports numerous times and are content to just walk around. It would depend how much the excursion meant to us but given the cons of being physically close to other people for an extended period of time, we would lean towards not booking excursions, Celebrity or private.

 

We also were on the Apex for b2b cruises in November. Same thing. We walked for very short periods of time in port, sometimes in just the secured area, and mainly just spent our time on the ship - a good percent of which was in the outdoor venues and on the track.

[pooh/tigger]

15 hours ago, rescuemom said:

Pooh/tigger

we are booked on that cruise too and have the same question. we have the kayak excursion booked at puerta plata which we would really like to do, but I am assuming we would have to take a mini bus to get there. I have stopped even mentioning our potential cruise to anyone we know, everyone thinks we are out of our mind for going at all. We had a hike to wind cave booked at one port that they cancelled and a beach at nausau, but since what port we will even end up in may be up in the air I am not sure what to do either. At least if we book celebrity excursions we can change our minds at the last minute or get our money back if the ship ends up not going to that island.

We have stopped mentioning it too. Everyone thinks we're crazy. 

 

We are thinking of canceling our excursions now. The one in Puerto Plata required us to take a bus to get to the destination. Think we'd rather just walk around and see the shops. Probably safer. 

[cangelmd]

We have B2B cruises booked, we are on Reflection with you, that’s our second leg.

We have one small group private excursion set for first leg - have not canceled it yet with the organizer, because I doubt we even make that port. We will cancel this weekend if we are still going.

 

 I will be more willing to take a chance on the second cruise. We aren’t big excursion people.

[lexmiller]

We sail on Equinox at the end of this month, Barbados is one of the ports.  From a recent article, I'll copy the link, seems the port is (currently) open but passengers can't just get off and wander about independently without a recent covid test - and for our particular cruise, the pre-cruise test would not qualify time wise.  So the only way you can get off is through a ship tour or through a Barbados approved "bubble" tour or I suppose, by doing one of the Binax Now eMed tests while on board.......

Here's the article about Barbados' latest protocols:

 

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/destinations/barbados-updates-cruise-ship-protocols.html

 

We don't want this cruise to be one where we never get off the ship, and in Barbados, which is why I posted this example, we can't get off the ship at all without an excursion.  

 

We are booking ship excursions for nearly all of the ports, though we are weighing the risks of contact tracing, trying to book tours which don't involve buses......we are keeping an open mind, and are just super happy to be cruising again, period - so if we can't get off the ship, well that's better than not cruising at all.

[George C]

I dislike any celebrity or any other lines excursion, they are overpriced and crowded, will do something on our own or private excursion.

[Croooser]

Scheduled on Apex 1/22. No excursions for us. Will walk around on our own - but not willing to get on a tender unless mostly empty.

[Honolulu Blue]

I was on the Celebrity Summit in September and a Princess ship in November.  We had two ports for each (Costa Maya and Cozumel for the Summit, and Amber Cove/Puerto Plata and Princess Cays for Princess).  I don't do beaches or watersports ever, which cut down on the possible excursions.

 

All four were open for independent touring to us at the time.  I got off the ship at all the ports except Costa Maya.  I didn't take any excursions, preferring to just briefly explore the port area and head back to the ship.  I wasn't sure, and I'm still not sure, that either I or the places I visited are ready for the kinds of excursions I like to do.

 

My next two cruises (knock on wood) are music charters where the ports barely matter at all.  I probably won't book any excursions on them.  My next cruise after that is in April in a new area for me where I would ordinarily like to explore.  Maybe things will be better enough by then that I can and will do some exploring.

[txtechmk]

I had one excursion planned for our upcoming cruise next week but cancelled today.  Just didn't feel comfortable.  

[FrancinaTravels]

We have an upcoming sailing on Reflection and are still having second thoughts about our excursions booked through Celebrity.  How big is the risk of contact tracing and quarantine due to someone on your excursion testing positive? Does anyone have actual experience, or knowledge, with this occurring?  

[asnaleah]

On 1/10/2022 at 6:08 AM, pooh/tigger said:

We have stopped mentioning it too. Everyone thinks we're crazy. 

 

We are thinking of canceling our excursions now. The one in Puerto Plata required us to take a bus to get to the destination. Think we'd rather just walk around and see the shops. Probably safer. 

When we tell people we are cruising next week, we are met with dead silence. We will be on board Silhouette unless our children have us committed!

[asnaleah]

Realized I did not answer the question. We are avoiding excursions. 

[true45]

Yes, we are avoiding excursions 

[jelayne]

 We have a B2B booked in February.  Ports that we visited in October and could DYI are now ship excursions only.  We have 2 ports that aren’t on either the ship tours or DYI list 🙃.  We have ports that are still showing for our second leg that have been dropped and replaced on the sailing 2 weeks before ours.  DH has 1 tour booked , I have none.  
The only thing I can say is I’m glad I don’t work in the Celebrity department that has to find ports to dock or the shore excursion  department who has to find and vet tour operators.