Port access

[lynnek]

I understand that you have to go on ship excursions to get off the ship. Does anyone know if you are allowed off the ship just in the port secure area?? Or when the trip returns can you stay in the port area before boarding again?  Seems strange when you can go on a trip and have free time at the beach etc!

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, lynnek said:

Seems strange when you can go on a trip and have free time at the beach etc!

I think you'll find that those type  of  tours will not go ahead.

Basically, if you are not going on an official tour, you will not be allowed off the ship. 

[john watson]

19 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I think you'll find that those type  of  tours will not go ahead.

 

 

I think there is no health risk on tours like "Rome on your own" as you will be the only person there.

 

Regards John

[showingdiva]

3 hours ago, lynnek said:

I understand that you have to go on ship excursions to get off the ship. Does anyone know if you are allowed off the ship just in the port secure area?? Or when the trip returns can you stay in the port area before boarding again?  Seems strange when you can go on a trip and have free time at the beach etc!

 

Pre-covid, no one was allowed to roam in a secure port area.   Quite often ships need to take on stores, etc and there are multiple lorries, fork lifts etc, not just for the cruise ship but for commercial shipping.   Most ports sadly aren't equipped with large terminals and air bridges like Southampton.

 

Scotland is due for an update on 9th August, so it may be that cruise ships now visiting there - Greenock, the four Firth of Forth ports / anchorages, Invergordon, Kirkwall, Dundee, Aberdeen and Lerwick - things may be different after then, which will allow independent passengers, but I think most of the cruise lines currently operating in the UK are keeping things tight to prove they can operate safely.

 

Edited August 8, 2021 by showingdiva

[alpha whiskey]

Celebrity board is suggesting that you will be allowed to go ashore independently for the seacations at some ports  ....check out the thread on their page

Edited August 8, 2021 by alpha whiskey

[jeanlyon]

22 minutes ago, alpha whiskey said:

Celebrity board is suggesting that you will be allowed to go ashore independently for the seacations at some ports  ....check out the thread on their page

I can't find anything about that.  Can you provide a link?

[lynnek]

8 hours ago, showingdiva said:

 

Pre-covid, no one was allowed to roam in a secure port area.   Quite often ships need to take on stores, etc and there are multiple lorries, fork lifts etc, not just for the cruise ship but for commercial shipping.   Most ports sadly aren't equipped with large terminals and air bridges like Southampton.

 

Scotland is due for an update on 9th August, so it may be that cruise ships now visiting there - Greenock, the four Firth of Forth ports / anchorages, Invergordon, Kirkwall, Dundee, Aberdeen and Lerwick - things may be different after then, which will allow independent passengers, but I think most of the cruise lines currently operating in the UK are keeping things tight to prove they can operate safely.

 

Sorry it was the Caribbean ports in particular but I meant the secure area that only cruise passengers can get to where the shops and bars are. 

[alpha whiskey]

26 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I can't find anything about that.  Can you provide a link?

This is what a UK poster has put on the 'Silhouette around Britain staycruise'

There is also a letter posted on the same thread:

Posted 22 hours ago

Just seen this on Twitter, responding to someone’s query (following the announcement on board):

 

All fully vaccinated guests now have the opportunity to go ashore independently and take on-your-own excursions while visiting Liverpool, Glasgow, Kirkwall, and Inverness. We are working through what this means for the other UK ports. -Jack

[john watson]

11 hours ago, showingdiva said:

 

Pre-covid, no one was allowed to roam in a secure port area.   Quite often ships need to take on stores, etc and there are multiple lorries, fork lifts etc, not just for the cruise ship but for commercial shipping.   

 

 

A consideration many people do not think about is not so much the health and safety aspect of the family being hit by a fork-lift or being mown down by a dock-spotter shifting the containers. It's the possibility of clandestine people trying to get into the containers or lorries.  They could all too easily get hold of flip flops, a baggy blouse with anchors and knots motifs, big straw hat, sunglasses and pose as cruise passengers and try to board a cruise ship unnoticed.

 

Regards John

[wowzz]

3 minutes ago, john watson said:

try to board a cruise ship unnoticed.

Surely the need to show a cruise card prior to entering the ship negates that possibility? 

[davecttr]

4 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Surely the need to show a cruise card prior to entering the ship negates that possibility? 

Nope, I remember incidents when they called for passengers before sailing who had not boarded and they were already aboard, computer issues?

[wowzz]

15 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Nope, I remember incidents when they called for passengers before sailing who had not boarded and they were already aboard, computer issues?

That's true, but they would still have needed to show a card to get on board.

[john watson]

18 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Surely the need to show a cruise card prior to entering the ship negates that possibility? 

 

On recent cruise we stopped in Morocco and an older couple had an incident in the cabin where she had become cut. There was not enough time to clean up so they went ashore.  She thought the shuttle buses were too far away and decided to re-board handing her husband his cruise card.  It was the wrong card but she got back on with no problems.  When he got back hours later all hell broke out with security eventually alleging a missing wife, blood in the cabin and more terribly a wife with her card cancelled when stuck in a bar and could not pay for drinks.

 

Lol john

[Son of Anarchy]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

Nope, I remember incidents when they called for passengers before sailing who had not boarded and they were already aboard, computer issues?

Happened to us on a b2b.

[brian1]

22 hours ago, lynnek said:

Sorry it was the Caribbean ports in particular but I meant the secure area that only cruise passengers can get to where the shops and bars are. 

True,we've been in ports all over the world that have a secure area within a secure area that have shops,stalls etc.Inside the main dock gates.