Excursions - Required to use cruiseline?

[mamaday]

Many mixed messages on excursions in the Caribbean.  Are you required to book Celebrity excursions?  Silhouette 1/24/2022, stopping in  Nassau, Cartagena, Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. We have been to these ports many times and are mainly looking for warm weather and sunny beaches. 

[Alakegirl]

It changes by the day

[JamieLogical]

This page has the latest info for Celebrity:

 

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

 

Excursions provided by Celebrity Cruises are required in: 

• Belize City, Belize
• Bridgetown, Barbados
• Castries, St. Lucia
• Colon, Panama
• Falmouth, Jamaica
• Kingstown, St. Vincent
• Kralendijk, Bonaire
• Oranjestad, Aruba
• Roatan, Honduras
• Roseau, Dominica
• St. George's, Grenada
• St. John’s, Antigua
• St. Thomas, USVI       
• Tortola, BVI
• Willemstad, Curacao

[RICCruisers]

8 minutes ago, mamaday said:

Many mixed messages on excursions in the Caribbean.  Are you required to book Celebrity excursions?  Silhouette 1/24/2022, stopping in  Nassau, Cartagena, Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. We have been to these ports many times and are mainly looking for warm weather and sunny beaches. 

Current requirement is Celebrity Only Excursions in the ABC’s and on your own in Cartagena is OK. 

You just beat me Jamie. 

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by RICCruisers

[mamaday]

Thanks!  I never scrolled through the full document. Some have been making reservations with local operators. We booked with Bonaire Cruisers, golf carts that you drive around the island. Looks like I need to cancel that excursion. 

[jelayne]

Keep checking the Celebrity website as port requirements are changing frequently.

[HBDave]

8 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

This page has the latest info for Celebrity:

 

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

 

Excursions provided by Celebrity Cruises are required in: 

• Belize City, Belize
• Bridgetown, Barbados
• Castries, St. Lucia
• Colon, Panama
• Falmouth, Jamaica
• Kingstown, St. Vincent
• Kralendijk, Bonaire
• Oranjestad, Aruba
• Roatan, Honduras
• Roseau, Dominica
• St. George's, Grenada
• St. John’s, Antigua
• St. Thomas, USVI       
• Tortola, BVI
• Willemstad, Curacao

 

The web site verbiage certainly is not clear...

 

They have Unvaccinated in bold and never mention vaccinated?

 

Unvaccinated guests and families with unvaccinated children may only go ashore on a shore excursion provided by Celebrity Cruises.

 

Shore excursion guidance is listed below. We will continue to monitor and update as

any changes to local requirements occur.

 

Excursions provided by Celebrity Cruises are required in: 

• Belize City, Belize
• Bridgetown, Barbados
• Castries, St. Lucia
• Colon, Panama
• Falmouth, Jamaica
• Kingstown, St. Vincent
• Kralendijk, Bonaire
• Oranjestad, Aruba
• Roatan, Honduras
• Roseau, Dominica
• St. George's, Grenada
• St. John’s, Antigua
• St. Thomas, USVI       
• Tortola, BVI
• Willemstad, Curacao

 

 

[JamieLogical]

I agree, but it's clear they are requiring all unvaccinated guests to book shore excursions through Celebrity at every port and then the listing below is ports that require ship excursions for everyone.

 

Edit: Okay, not clear, but that is what they mean.

Edited January 17, 2022 by JamieLogical

[vahey6266]

Hello!  I may be missing something, but I didn't see San Juan listed.  Are they closed?

 

[cruisestitch]

San Juan has imposed new requirements for ships to make a port stop there and most of the itineraries are dropping it, one by one.  It doesn’t apply to Cruises which start or stop in San Juan, Only those which  call on that port for the day.  If you have an itinerary in the next few weeks that still shows San Juan, expect there to be a substitution announced eventually.

[HBDave]

8 minutes ago, vahey6266 said:

Hello!  I may be missing something, but I didn't see San Juan listed.  Are they closed?

 

 

I'm scheduled for the Millennium in February. I received notification that San Juan had been replaced with St Thomas. I assumed San Juan was closed and that St Thomas was open. I guess St Thomas is open as long as you take a Celebrity Excursion. As Bob Dylan would sing "The Times They Are A-Changin".

[mamaday]

This is very confusing. After many years of cruising we have found excursions and beaches we prefer to use. I understand All of the problems with COVID, but if we just want to go to a beach …..

Emailed Bonaire cruisers to cancel and they wrote back that they have been renting to cruisers. 

[anniedave]

5 hours ago, HBDave said:

 

I'm scheduled for the Millennium in February. I received notification that San Juan had been replaced with St Thomas. I assumed San Juan was closed and that St Thomas was open. I guess St Thomas is open as long as you take a Celebrity Excursion. As Bob Dylan would sing "The Times They Are A-Changin".

Yes same couple of days ago - however on website excursions are still showing for San Juan not St Thomas...so can't book anything !! 🙄

[sandancer]

Post deleted

Edited January 17, 2022 by sandancer

[Arizona Wildcat]

3 minutes ago, sandancer said:

I’m obviously way behind on current cruise Covid rules. Are Celebrity allowing unvaccinated guests.? Our latest cruises were with P&O and Cunard and only fully vaccinated guests were allowed 

 

Some unvaccinated children.

[sandancer]

I deleted my post as I did what I should have done in the first place and went to the Celebrity website and read the latest regulations (14/1/22). Thanks for your reply. 

[Cruise a holic]

If you book an excursion with Celebrity, are their different transportation vehicles for those who are vaccinated vs. those who aren't?

 

Txs

[JamieLogical]

2 minutes ago, Cruise a holic said:

If you book an excursion with Celebrity, are their different transportation vehicles for those who are vaccinated vs. those who aren't?

 

Txs

 

The only unvaccinated would be children under 12 and, no, there is not separate transportation for them. At least there was not on my previous two Celebrity sailings.

[Alakegirl]

No special behicles.  Remember that the only unvaccinated people on Celebrity will be  children traveling with their family.  And there are very, very, few children on Celebrity except during school hols

Edited January 17, 2022 by Alakegirl

[phoenix_dream]

The rules change constantly.  We are now on Connie. Got notified after we boarded that our call on San Juan is now a sea day. Coulda told them that two weeks ago. Got a letter saying st. Thomas only Celebrity excursions, none of which interest us. Next cruise of our b2b includes Cartagena which has been turning away cruise ships so I expect that to be canceled, but also expect they won't tell us ahead of time because too many people will cancel.  I understand ports changing rules where they need to adapt.  I don't understand why Celebrity can't notify us of changes they know about before we sail rather than when we're onboard and have no choices.  Frustrating. 

[jwlane]

Here's the rules....  https://www.celebritycruises.com/content/dam/celebrity/pdf/celebrity-healthy-at-sea-protocols.pdf

 

[Shedraggon]

For the ports that require Celebrity excursions, is it still possible to get off the ship and stay in the port area or is an excursion required to get off the ship period?   Still hoping things change but currently weighing options to decide if I just want to stay on the ship in a port or two if requirements don’t change.  Specifically looking at Aruba for this option.  

[cruisestitch]

Best to wait until you are actually on the ship to make that decision because things are changing on a day by day basis

[gold1953]

7 hours ago, Shedraggon said:

For the ports that require Celebrity excursions, is it still possible to get off the ship and stay in the port area or is an excursion required to get off the ship period?   Still hoping things change but currently weighing options to decide if I just want to stay on the ship in a port or two if requirements don’t change.  Specifically looking at Aruba for this option.  

it means that you can only leave the ship on a Celebrity excursion. No walking around on your own

[cruisestitch]

However there are some ports like St. Lucia and Barbados where you could go into the shopping area right at the port. You could not leave that area without an excursion but you could go just to those shops. I don’t know what the situation is in Aruba, so as I said, it’s best to wait until you get there