Do you still need to do an NCL tour in Italy

[thedarklord]

We're doing a quick 3 night cruise in April, which has a day in Naples. Do NCL/Italy still require you to do ship-only tours, or has that requirement ended? One of the people in our group found an FAQ saying it was still required, but knowing how good NCL are at updating their website, it's tough to know if that's still the case, or if they've just forgotten to update an old page!

[Twocoasts]

I spoke to NCL a little over a week ago and they confirmed that you can only do ship tours. A friend was on a Med NCL cruise in December and that was true for Italy, France and Spain.

 

I am booking NCL tours and if the rules change I can always cancel (it says cancel as late as two days before the tour) and book private.

[thedarklord]

France as well? Huh, that's a surprise, I didn't realise that was true for France as well, don't see that mentioned on https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/travel-requirements-by-country, just the requirement for Italy

[SpainAlien]

That's not the case for Spain but yes it is for Italy

[eileeshb]

5 hours ago, thedarklord said:

France as well? Huh, that's a surprise, I didn't realise that was true for France as well, don't see that mentioned on https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/travel-requirements-by-country, just the requirement for Italy

The french port on my itinerary was skipped when I sailed in October, they had a sea day instead so everyone finishing the cruise in Barcelona could be tested before disembarkation l 

[20YearsBetweenCruises]

I do not see any European country listed on the link (https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/travel-requirements-by-country) now.  Planning our June 2020 Italy/Greece cruise and trying to figure out if we can book independent excursions.  Did this link use to have Italy listed and now it is gone so free to book outside of NCL? 

[Middleager]

On 1/28/2022 at 10:53 AM, Twocoasts said:

I spoke to NCL a little over a week ago and they confirmed that you can only do ship tours. A friend was on a Med NCL cruise in December and that was true for Italy, France and Spain.

We were on NCL cruise in Dec/2021.  Only Italy required ship excursions.  For France, Spain, and Portugal we can do 3rd party excursions.

 

For the OP, April is still some time away.  Things may be different by then.

[Guzzi12]

I spoke to NCL 3 days ago and the guy said, that also private tours are possible. We are on the Jade on March 30th , so let's see

[steamboats]

The last decreto of Italy ends March 31st. Until that date no individual shore tours are allowed. For April... we have to wait and see whether the decreto will be prolonged or not. So far the rumors are that it won´t be prolonged.

 

steamboats

[KeithJenner]

12 hours ago, 20YearsBetweenCruises said:

I do not see any European country listed on the link (https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/travel-requirements-by-country) now.  Planning our June 2020 Italy/Greece cruise and trying to figure out if we can book independent excursions.  Did this link use to have Italy listed and now it is gone so free to book outside of NCL? 

I can’t say for sure about that specific link, but the requirement for tours in Italy (and I’m quite sure it was only Italy in Europe) was specifically mentioned on a similar page previously.

[Always Cruising]

9 hours ago, Guzzi12 said:

I spoke to NCL 3 days ago and the guy said, that also private tours are possible. We are on the Jade on March 30th , so let's see

I am on that cruise, also (finally!  3rd time we're trying to do it due to Covid cancellations).  We were told by an NCL rep that for Palermo - our Port on March 31, an NCL tour is required to leave the ship.  But all other ports will be fine with private tours.  Of course, everything may change....