Cruises in the Mediterranean 2022 - Visiting ports of call without having to buy a shore excursion

[L&L33]

For many years I have visited many ports in the Mediterranean where I could just disembark quite freely and explore the town or city wherever the ship docked.

I have booked 2 cruises in the Mediterranean this year, but I do not want to find out once on board that the only way of seeing places is to buy a shore excursion whilst on board. I have never been averse to purchasing a shore excursion which involved a coach trip to get to a visit to a difficult popular place e.g.

Montserrat in the mountains near Barcelona.

 

Can anyone shed some light on this query please?

[Biker19]

3 minutes ago, L&L33 said:

Can anyone shed some light on this query please?

Not until RCI makes up the rules.

[Acruisingperson]

Not sure what the situation is in every country, but I know it is the Italian government preventing people from doing independent exploration at the Italian ports. And it makes absolutely no sense because if you enter by train, car, or air, you can do whatever you want with the proper documentation. But, that's the Italian government for you. 

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, L&L33 said:

I have booked 2 cruises in the Mediterranean this year, but I do not want to find out once on board that the only way of seeing places is to buy a shore excursion whilst on board.

 

Can anyone shed some light on this query please?

 

I think you would probably know before boarding. 

Last summer, we were informed several weeks beforehand that we would need ship-sponsored shore excursions to go ashore in Italy.

 

Unfortunately these rules are set by the different countries' governments so what is true for one is not necessarily the case in another - in Spain, for example, we were free to get off the ship and do our own thing - and of course changes can occur even at the last minute.

 

If there is any place that you particularly want to see, and if your budget allows it, you could consider booking ship excursions now, while they are still (kind of) sensibly priced. Last summer, within 2 days of the Italy announcement, Royal hiked excursion prices to, in some cases, more than double the pre-announcement prices. If it turns out you don't need the excursion after all you can cancel without penalty up to 48 hours before it departs.

[dmrichards26]

Unfortunately some of these decisions aren't even up to Royal. With so many countries on Mediterranean itineraries, a lot of this comes down to the individual country's current policies.

 

As adult vaccinated passengers, on our July 2021 cruise on Jewel OTS (to Greece, homeporting from Cyprus), we were able to visit all ports of call without scheduled excursions. Children, on the other hand (who at the time were not eligible for vaccines) were only allowed to leave the ship on scheduled excursions, and were supposed to return directly to the ship (although enforcement was fairly non-existent). 

 

These rules change by the country, and by the month, unfortunately. 

 

37 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

Last summer, we were informed several weeks beforehand that we would need ship-sponsored shore excursions to go ashore in Italy.

 

Royal did at least confirm the final policies by email a couple weeks before sailing, as Fiona mentioned here.

[atxcarter]

1 hour ago, FionaMG said:

I think you would probably know before boarding. 

Last summer, we were informed several weeks beforehand that we would need ship-sponsored shore excursions to go ashore in Italy.

Quick question, since I was not paying attention to Europe/Italy specifically last year. Were those restrictions prior to vaccines becoming widely available?

 

I'm curious if the situation will change this year given that and other things being different. Knowing it's too early to predict anything, but still hoping for the best!

[FionaMG]

2 minutes ago, atxcarter said:

Quick question, since I was not paying attention to Europe/Italy specifically last year. Were those restrictions prior to vaccines becoming widely available?

 

I'm curious if the situation will change this year given that and other things being different. Knowing it's too early to predict anything, but still hoping for the best!

 

No, it was after. Our western Med itinerary with Royal on Harmony did not start back up until mid-August when vaccines were already widely available. We sailed at the end of September 2021. At that point, if you were eligible to be vaccinated (i.e. 18 or over, since U18s were not eligible then) you had to be in order to sail.

 

I read somewhere that the bubble excursions in Italy were initially introduced away back in August 2020, when MSC first started back sailing in Italy and it was one of the things that convinced the Italian government to let them sail because that was before vaccines were widely available. Note that contrary to Royal, MSC provided a range of sensibly-priced excursions for their passengers.

 

I also read on the website of one of the local Italian operators that they have been trying to work with their government to get this restriction eased as it is putting their livelihoods on the line, so fingers crossed that might actually happen for this coming summer.

 

At this point in the game, bubble excursions really make no sense any more. On my sailing, even Italian citizens who boarded in Rome (my cruise had two embarkation ports, Barcelona and Rome) were not allowed off the ship in their own country unless they did an excursion, whereas they could get off and do whatever they wanted to in Spain!