Ship Sponsored Beach Tour

[garyl62]

With a couple threads running now guessing about how tours will look in the future (granted no one really knows so it's just speculation) I got to thinking about the "Escape to the Beach" type ship excursion.  Typically they just arrange transportation, and maybe some chairs, food and drinks, but once you're there you can really go anywhere and you will usually have some locals approach you trying to sell you items, braid your hair, give you a massage or hawk something else.  I wonder how they will control that type of contact in the future.  No way they can go through a Caribbean season without having beach excursions and I doubt they will be able to keep island residents away from coming in contact with cruise travelers.

[LGW59]

32 minutes ago, garyl62 said:

With a couple threads running now guessing about how tours will look in the future (granted no one really knows so it's just speculation) I got to thinking about the "Escape to the Beach" type ship excursion.  Typically they just arrange transportation, and maybe some chairs, food and drinks, but once you're there you can really go anywhere and you will usually have some locals approach you trying to sell you items, braid your hair, give you a massage or hawk something else.  I wonder how they will control that type of contact in the future.  No way they can go through a Caribbean season without having beach excursions and I doubt they will be able to keep island residents away from coming in contact with cruise travelers.

I feel like I read somewhere this weekend that the ship excursions will be limited to indoor locales, to reduce the risk of those who will decide to off on their own for a bit.  It may have been on The Points Guy website.

[ORV]

I believe the answer to what you posited is privately owned cruise line Islands. I do believe that was mentioned in one of the points brought out by the healthy sail panel that when cruising resumes they should use these as ports. 

 

Labadee for RCG ships, Coco Key for Norwegian. There are a bunch of these Islands, Harvest Key, Castaway Key, Great Stirrup Key, Half Moon, just to name a few, there's quite a few of them out there. 

[cangelmd]

I think there will also be stops at Costa Maya, but you will not be able to leave the compound.

There may be some other islands where the cruise line could reserve the entire resort or beach for their excursion, and not allow “off-roading”.

Things will be different until vaccines are widespread

[shipgeeks]

3 hours ago, LGW59 said:

I feel like I read somewhere this weekend that the ship excursions will be limited to indoor locales, to reduce the risk of those who will decide to off on their own for a bit.  It may have been on The Points Guy website.

MSC in Europe is doing a number of walking tours, bike tours, e-bike tours.  Still in the bubble, but definitely outdoors.

[garyl62]

4 hours ago, ORV said:

I believe the answer to what you posited is privately owned cruise line Islands. I do believe that was mentioned in one of the points brought out by the healthy sail panel that when cruising resumes they should use these as ports. 

 

Labadee for RCG ships, Coco Key for Norwegian. There are a bunch of these Islands, Harvest Key, Castaway Key, Great Stirrup Key, Half Moon, just to name a few, there's quite a few of them out there. 

Good point, this is probably an option for some trips.  After reading your post I realized I had the Southern Caribbean area in mind when I started the thread as that's the area we typically go.  So I'm thinking of ABC's, Barbados, Grenada, St Lucia, Martinique,  Dominica, Antiqua, St Kitts etc.  Are there private islands that far south?

 

One option can always be a snorkel or some type of boat trip with a private beach stop where there is no land based access point, but still, I wonder how overall sales will be affected on such island based routes if you can't get to a beach.

[Cruise a holic]

16 hours ago, ORV said:

I believe the answer to what you posited is privately owned cruise line Islands. I do believe that was mentioned in one of the points brought out by the healthy sail panel that when cruising resumes they should use these as ports. 

 

Labadee for RCG ships, Coco Key for Norwegian. There are a bunch of these Islands, Harvest Key, Castaway Key, Great Stirrup Key, Half Moon, just to name a few, there's quite a few of them out there. 

 

11 hours ago, garyl62 said:

Good point, this is probably an option for some trips.  After reading your post I realized I had the Southern Caribbean area in mind when I started the thread as that's the area we typically go.  So I'm thinking of ABC's, Barbados, Grenada, St Lucia, Martinique,  Dominica, Antiqua, St Kitts etc.  Are there private islands that far south?

 

One option can always be a snorkel or some type of boat trip with a private beach stop where there is no land based access point, but still, I wonder how overall sales will be affected on such island based routes if you can't get to a beach.

 

11 hours ago, garyl62 said:

Good point, this is probably an option for some trips.  After reading your post I realized I had the Southern Caribbean area in mind when I started the thread as that's the area we typically go.  So I'm thinking of ABC's, Barbados, Grenada, St Lucia, Martinique,  Dominica, Antiqua, St Kitts etc.  Are there private islands that far south?

 

One option can always be a snorkel or some type of boat trip with a private beach stop where there is no land based access point, but still, I wonder how overall sales will be affected on such island based routes if you can't get to a beach.

Labdee is used by Celebrity and Royal and is Cococay- Not NCL  I read that only ship sponsored excursions will be allowed.