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Ship excursions only?

ShrinkinTexas

By ShrinkinTexas,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Hogbay

Hogbay

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, ShrinkinTexas said:

Is it true that as of now, for future cruises, you won't be able to get off the boat and do your own thing?  You can only get off the ship on a cruise line sponsored tour?

RCI has not made any announcement to that at all, MSC in European sailings had that policy .

For us sailing  to South Pacific there are multiple ports that do not have infrastructure for ship sponsored tour at all e.g.. il Depins , Mistry island, Lifou and of course Hog Bay ,AKA Champagne Bay 🙂

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kwokpot

kwokpot

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, JT1962 said:

That is what has been listed in some of the proposed changes and I believe what MSC is requiring on their cruises that resumed sailing in Europe. Nothing has been finalized for cruises from the US at this point.

Crystal Cruises has published their new protocols and only ship sponsored shore excursions are allowed. No mention of an approved list if independent tour companies and it is expressly prohibited to disembark at any port of call independent of a ship tour.

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jean87510 Great Review Rare

jean87510

Posted
Posted (edited)

Im seeing quite a few afternoon excursions popping up on my cruise planner which I interpret as they are trying to keep the numbers lower for each excursion so they are offering alternative times. It may not be that bad IF 1. They limit the number of participants, 2. Make the price more realistic and 3. Eliminate the 1 hour shopping and bathroom break part. I despise ship excursions but will do them if needed. 

Edited by jean87510
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ZoeyVictoria

ZoeyVictoria

Posted
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4 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

3. Eliminate the 1 hour shopping and bathroom break part. I despise ship excursions but will do them if needed. 


This is the number one reason we don’t book ship excursions.  We will when it is required to get off the ship, but only as long as that is a requirement.

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banzaii

banzaii

Posted
Posted

 IMHO there is not enough capacity in ships tours for this to be strictly enforced.  Sure RC may set some standards for tour operators and require declarations from passengers that these were adhered to, but I can't see how they can deny some passengers who can't get into a tour.

 

RC would likely face backlash from some ports on the basis of discrimination against smaller tour operators.  These small private tours are by far my preference but are not worthwhile from RC perspective.  Don't blame them, just fact.

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jalves

jalves

Posted
Posted

Since we've done frequent 7-nigh eastern/western Caribbean sailings I'm not at all interested in a ship excursion.  We do like to get off the ship and shop though.  I wonder if there will be a (no-cost) ship excursion to a designated shopping area.  Falmouth Jamaica style.

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stevea36

stevea36

Posted
Posted
22 minutes ago, jalves said:

Since we've done frequent 7-nigh eastern/western Caribbean sailings I'm not at all interested in a ship excursion.  We do like to get off the ship and shop though.  I wonder if there will be a (no-cost) ship excursion to a designated shopping area.  Falmouth Jamaica style.

I cannot see this happening at first as RCI (and all other cruise lines) want their passengers and crews to remain "in the bubble" where they have full control over who they interact with.   

 

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LXA350

LXA350

Posted
Posted (edited)

At the begining we will only see ship based excursions, this is in my view actually the largest restriction / the only one that will bother me, hence everyone needs to be aware of this and if it's a no go they should not cruise as long as this is in place. At least the cruislines that started sailing are nforcing this policy very stricktly and even if during such excursions people don't stay within the group they will need to leave the cruise imediately. It happened already several times, I would say propbably on every cruise that sailed at least once.

 

Edited by LXA350
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danv3

danv3

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, stevea36 said:

I cannot see this happening at first as RCI (and all other cruise lines) want their passengers and crews to remain "in the bubble" where they have full control over who they interact with.   

 


No ship tour guarantees that level of control if it visits any public place. 

Edited by danv3
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jalves

jalves

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, stevea36 said:

I cannot see this happening at first as RCI (and all other cruise lines) want their passengers and crews to remain "in the bubble" where they have full control over who they interact with.   

A port like Falmouth is about as close to that as you can get.  Its fenced off so only the passengers and the vendors (who I'd assume would also be screened) will have any interaction.

 

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JT1962

JT1962

Posted
Posted
I cannot see this happening at first as RCI (and all other cruise lines) want their passengers and crews to remain "in the bubble" where they have full control over who they interact with.     

 

 

 

I can see the cruise lines limiting the ports for a while when cruises resume to their private islands and their private ports. They could let passengers off without an excursion to shop and eat at Falmouth for RCI lines; Amber Cove, Mahogany Bay and possibly Grand Turk for Carnival Corp lines, etc. Costa Maya could be a possibility since they could prevent leaving the port area without an excursion fairly easily (many don’t even seem to know how to leave the port area there).

 

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cruisegus

cruisegus

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, JT1962 said:

 

 

I can see the cruise lines limiting the ports for a while when cruises resume to their private islands and their private ports. They could let passengers off without an excursion to shop and eat at Falmouth for RCI lines; Amber Cove, Mahogany Bay and possibly Grand Turk for Carnival Corp lines, etc. Costa Maya could be a possibility since they could prevent leaving the port area without an excursion fairly easily (many don’t even seem to know how to leave the port area there).

 

those are my thoughts exactly, and what other ports you might stop at will be strictly controlled to ships excursions only

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Sunshine3601

Sunshine3601

Posted
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21 hours ago, Hogbay said:

RCI has not made any announcement to that at all, MSC in European sailings had that policy .

For us sailing  to South Pacific there are multiple ports that do not have infrastructure for ship sponsored tour at all e.g.. il Depins , Mistry island, Lifou and of course Hog Bay ,AKA Champagne Bay 🙂

The health plan rcl submitted to the Cdc earlier week said ship approved/sponsored excursions only for unspecified amount of time.  Just like the cruiselines in europe have been doing since end of July.

There is another post all about the health plan and a link to read the 50+/- pages of proposed protocols when cruising restarts out of us ports.

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Missusdubbya

Missusdubbya

Posted
Posted
On 9/26/2020 at 12:11 PM, Hogbay said:

RCI has not made any announcement to that at all, MSC in European sailings had that policy .

For us sailing  to South Pacific there are multiple ports that do not have infrastructure for ship sponsored tour at all e.g.. il Depins , Mistry island, Lifou and of course Hog Bay ,AKA Champagne Bay 🙂


Last time I cruised to Mystery Island and Lifou there were definitely ship-sponsored tours.

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Hogbay

Hogbay

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Missusdubbya said:


Last time I cruised to Mystery Island and Lifou there were definitely ship-sponsored tours.

Mystery  island is a uninhabited island that has a landing strip for the near by island Aneityum ,what tour did you do ?

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Missusdubbya

Missusdubbya

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, Hogbay said:

Mystery  island is a uninhabited island that has a landing strip for the near by island Aneityum ,what tour did you do ?


this one:
https://www.carnival.com.au/shore-excursions/mystery-island/advanced-snorkel-adventure-937007

 

Also could choose glass-bottom boat, a fishing trip with locals etc etc. Royal has similar options.

 

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