Mandatory NCL Shore Excursions in Italy???

[kkreide]

I have a cruise booked on NCL for 03 Oct and just got a letter stating:

 

Due to local government regulations, guests are required to take a Norwegian Cruise Line shore excursion while visiting ports in Italy as guests will not be allowed to explore on their own.

 

I called NCL and asked for a copy of the regulations or a website where it states this and they said that there is nothing to send and that I would have to find it on my own.  I said you are saying that you have been informed by the local government of these regulations but you are refusing to send a copy to your customers. What terrible customer service.  And this is coming from a Customer Service Supervisor

 

Can anyone confirm if this is actually true or not???  Seems like NCL just wants a monopoly on the shore excursions

[Ms02]

It's true for all cruise companies unfortunately. I was also surpassed by these news only after having dinner the booking as it's not very well informed. I filed an official complaint regarding this, but not heard anything yet.

[DCGuy64]

31 minutes ago, Ms02 said:

It's true for all cruise companies unfortunately. I was also surpassed by these news only after having dinner the booking as it's not very well informed. I filed an official complaint regarding this, but not heard anything yet.

Correct, it's all cruise companies, and it's an Italian government regulation. We just sailed with MSC from Italy and the same was true with them. Italy is being very strict about this.

[Huntingdon1701]

It is all cruise companies, but it's disputed by private tour operators and no-one can actually find the regulation that imposes this. Dubious situation, but not really much passengers can do about it. 

[hallux]

There's an old thread on this - 

 

[julig22]

10 page discussion on the issue

 

[SpainAlien]

See post #216 in this thread

 

[Twinbooty]

For me, the legislation appears to have been written in 2020 and nobody appears to have updated it.  Cruise liners wont want it updated either as it means more people buying excursions and more money for them.  Of course its absolutely ridiculous that there is more risk from someone visiting Pompeii using a private tour versus a cruise tour.  They all still mingle with the same people once there.

I wouldnt be surprised if on the day before due to arrive in Naples, its announced people can go ashore after all..........when half the ship will have already bought a non refundable excursion.

Me - Im staying on the ship anyway so hopefully some quiet time by the pool..... 😃

[Sixtytwo]

Here are a couple of links to a site that gives pretty good and up to date information on travel to most countries around the world. You can select the region and then the country.

 

https://www.kayak.com/travel-restrictions

https://www.kayak.com/travel-restrictions?®ion=europe&travel=open-to-vaccinated

[DanielLL]

So this has been repealed by now right?

 

There is no mention of Italian-specific restrictions here: https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/travel-requirements-by-country 

[80sGal]

15 minutes ago, DanielLL said:

So this has been repealed by now right?

 

There is no mention of Italian-specific restrictions here: https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/travel-requirements-by-country 

I was reviewing NCL, Royal and Carnival policies today, as we have a Carnival cruise booked for b the summer but no news from Carnival.  But, that link you provided does indeed mention Italy restrictions under the Europe Voyages section.  And if I am interpreting this correctly, NCL is saying per European rules, masks are required on board (!!!) while over on Royal's European rules it says they are not.  So something is amiss!  Best wishes.  I'll continue to peruse and follow various boards until Carnival finally decides to post protocols.  

[matterdog919]

2 hours ago, DanielLL said:

So this has been repealed by now right?

 

There is no mention of Italian-specific restrictions here: https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/travel-requirements-by-country 

I wouldn't call it "repealed" but Italy did let many of their Covid restriction expire on April 1st as planned. It eliminated the Green Pass requirements for many indoor activities which is helpful. My understanding is that with the expiration - the requirement to use cruise excursions also fell away. Score excursion groups in Italy outside the cruise ship excursion have 100% started accepting bookings which I think is also a good sign.

[DanielLL]

On 4/13/2022 at 8:29 PM, 80sGal said:

I was reviewing NCL, Royal and Carnival policies today, as we have a Carnival cruise booked for b the summer but no news from Carnival.  But, that link you provided does indeed mention Italy restrictions under the Europe Voyages section.  And if I am interpreting this correctly, NCL is saying per European rules, masks are required on board (!!!) while over on Royal's European rules it says they are not.  So something is amiss!  Best wishes.  I'll continue to peruse and follow various boards until Carnival finally decides to post protocols.  

right, by "this" being repealed I meant the mandatory cruise-only excursions, which is the topic of this thread. I understand there are still other COVID restrictions (as there should be).