Can RCI require you to book an excursion in order to leave the ship in port?

[Ret MP]

I was on the 2nd revenue producing cruise of the season, post COVID debacle, out of Seattle in May 2022, on the Ovation, 3 ports of call in Alaska and one in Canada.  There were absolutely no restrictions as to having to take an excursion to get off the ship.  We could just walk off and go anywhere we wanted.  Now, Canada had some rules about masking but it didn't bother us as we didn't get off in Canada.  But, I'm fairly sure that Canada has done away with those masking rules by now.  

[publicpersona]

On 1/4/2023 at 10:16 AM, Biker19 said:

Welcome to CC.

No, you don't.

 

More like ...

 

No, you don't.

Yes, you do.

No, you don't.

Yes, you do.

No, you don't.

Yes, you do.

No, you don't.

Yes, you do.

No, you don't.

Yes, you do.

No, you don't.

Yes, you do.

No, you don't.

Yes, you do.

 

Welcome to CC.

 

[BekkaW]

On 1/4/2023 at 3:52 PM, RobInMN said:

Look at the other answers specific to Alaska, but in general, I believe that the answer is yes, RCL can require an excursion to leave the ship. Might be extremely rare, but it can happen. For instance, when we were on Symphony 2018 Western Mediterranean, the port for Florance & Pisa was actually La Spezia. I don't know if the normal cruise port was too small or too busy, but for whatever reason, I am almost positive that the port we used was strictly a commercial port, and as such, I believe that RCL RCL required you to be on an excursion in order to leave the ship. No other traffic was allowed into the port (ie. taxis, independent tours), and it was completely unsafe to have any passengers attempting to walk through it. 

La Spezia is RCI’s normal port for that area. Industrial/commercial ports are used in many parts of the world 

[Ret MP]

On 1/4/2023 at 8:52 AM, RobInMN said:

Look at the other answers specific to Alaska, but in general, I believe that the answer is yes, RCL can require an excursion to leave the ship. Might be extremely rare, but it can happen. For instance, when we were on Symphony 2018 Western Mediterranean, the port for Florance & Pisa was actually La Spezia. I don't know if the normal cruise port was too small or too busy, but for whatever reason, I am almost positive that the port we used was strictly a commercial port, and as such, I believe that RCL RCL required you to be on an excursion in order to leave the ship. No other traffic was allowed into the port (ie. taxis, independent tours), and it was completely unsafe to have any passengers attempting to walk through it. 

Are you sure it was a RCCL requirement or were they following the Port's rules?  I tend to believe it was/is the port's rules.  But, who knows!

[bonsai3s]

7 hours ago, 123funcruiser said:

 

Not true in regards to Russia / St. Petersburg. Royal did not require an excursion to leave the ship. 

If you had proper documentation you were free to go ashore with or without an excursion. Not Royal restricted anything, Russia set the entry rules for their country. Basically you had three choices, you either took a ship excursion and the cruiseline took care of the documents. Guided excursions were allowed ashore without visa by the local authorities. You could also book a private excursion and many companies would take care of the paperwork to get ashore. You could also get a Visa for Russia and having that you were allowed to go ashore on your own without any guidance. 

 

With some countries there could be restrictions, but these are not restrictions by the cruiseline, it´s the visited countries rules that set the possibility of going ashore or not. You simply have to follow those rules. 

 

However from experience I can think of another reason for not being able to go ashore without a shore excursion. Hellesylt in Norway to my mind. It´s the entry to the Geiranger Fjord and the ship only stops there briefly to let passengers with a full day shore excursion ashore that will meet the ship in Geiranger later in the day. Nobody without a shore excursion is allowed ashore there, not even to make a quick run outside to take pictures. 

 

Then there´s technical stops when nobody at all will be allowed to go ashore but those are rare.

Thanks.

[ReneeFLL]

14 hours ago, bonsai3s said:

RobinMN...just wanted to share our experience.

 

Yes, RCCL can require an excursion to leave the ship...rarely...the only one I can think of at this time is St. Petersburg, Russia. (Visa issues)  

Are they still going to Russia? I thought they dropped it.

[bonsai3s]

1 minute ago, ReneeFLL said:

Are they still going to Russia? I thought they dropped it.

No...not since the war with Ukraine.

[deliver42]

If there'

s a problem going ashore without an excursion, it's the port's rule, not Royal's.

[Ourusualbeach]

56 minutes ago, deliver42 said:

If there'

s a problem going ashore without an excursion, it's the port's rule, not Royal's.

You do not need an excursion to go ashore regardless of whose rules it is.  The only rule a port may have is that Royal must provide a bus to get you out of the port.  Once outside of the port you can do your own excursion.  Lots of ports in Europe like this.

[John&LaLa]

3 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Are they still going to Russia? I thought they dropped it.

 

Odessa seems to be dropped from World Cruise as well

[Ferry_Watcher]

6 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Are they still going to Russia? I thought they dropped it.

 

Just received an email from HAL telling us that the port-of-call scheduled in Vladivostok Russia has been changed to Sokcho, South Korea.  This is a HAL Japan cruise in Oct 2023.

 

Obviously we all knew that the Russian port would be dropped, we just didn't know what the substitution would be.