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CRUISELINE shore excursions only permitted?

CoolChange37

By CoolChange37,
in Italy Ports

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CoolChange37

CoolChange37

Posted
Posted

I just received something showing that anyone wanting to do tours on their own in Italy, cannot do it.   They have to be done through the cruise lines.  Also, that you have to be vaccinated within 356 days to visit Croatia?   We have booked several tours with Viator and want to know if this is the case?   Thanks in advance!

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zdcatc12

zdcatc12

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2 hours ago, CoolChange37 said:

I just received something showing that anyone wanting to do tours on their own in Italy, cannot do it.   They have to be done through the cruise lines.  Also, that you have to be vaccinated within 356 days to visit Croatia?   We have booked several tours with Viator and want to know if this is the case?   Thanks in advance!

You can do them on your own, as long as you aren't on a cruise at the time. Makes no sense whatsoever.

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IWantToLiveOverTheSea

IWantToLiveOverTheSea

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8 hours ago, CoolChange37 said:

Also, the cruise line has tours "on your own" offered?   I'm confused.   

 

In the past, some cruise lines occasionally have tours in which they drop you off in a city, you do what you want, and then they pick you up later.  It's basically transportation to a port that's not very close to the city most people want to visit (Rome, Berlin, Seville come to mind).  But I think the poster above was not talking about that kind of tours on your own, but ones in which you arrange a tour and go off on your own. 

 

I think what's going on is that Italy is requiring cruisers to stay with their ship's excursions, and not go off on their own.  We experienced this in Iceland this summer.  When I cruised (on Viking, which has really excellent Covid protocols) we could go off the ship on our own in Iceland ports -- either on an organized non-ship excursion or just by getting off the ship and wandering around.  But that week we got word that on the next cruise, passengers would be required to only tour via ship excursions.  That was an Iceland decision, not Viking's. 

 

In the case of Italy, that country was hit really hard by Covid in its early stages, and they appear to be acting very cautiously now that they've finally gotten things much better for their citizens. I don't necessarily think they need to be so cautious with cruisers, but I can't really fault them for doing what they think is best.  And that may result in Italian tour companies getting more business, which like everywhere else, is really needed at this stage.

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zdcatc12

zdcatc12

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10 hours ago, CoolChange37 said:

Also, the cruise line has tours "on your own" offered?   I'm confused.   

 

I was on NCL last month. We got on in Rome, but we were there two days before and two days after the cruise and could do whatever we wanted. Once the cruise started, the port calls in Italy required a cruise ship excursion. Until a few weeks before the cruise NCL had still advertised "On your own" excursions for the Italy stops, but they were cancelled and removed and were not available when the cruise actually sailed.

 I believe NCL was hoping that Italy would start allowing them, but that never occured.

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  • 3 months later...
mapleleaves

mapleleaves

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17 hours ago, GOTTODOIT said:

Hello,  

 

What is the latest with NCL,  are we able to disembark and do our own thing or private tour in Rome, Naples, Livorno.  Cruising on Epic in June and can't find what the requirements are currently.

thank you 

June is a long way off in Covid time.

 

From the NCL web site in the FAQ section:

Shore Excursions

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. Book your shore excursions through your MyNCL account.

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GOTTODOIT

GOTTODOIT

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7 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

June is a long way off in Covid time.

 

From the NCL web site in the FAQ section:

Shore Excursions

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. Book your shore excursions through your MyNCL account.

 

thank you for your replies, hopefully restrictions will be lifted.

kind regards

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drmomsc

drmomsc

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On 10/26/2021 at 9:44 AM, steamboats said:

So far, in Italy you can just leave the ship with a shore tour organized by the cruise line. There are no individual shore tours allowed. This is a requirement by the Italian government not by the cruise line.

 

steamboats

NCL has told me this, however, despite my asking in numerous ways, they were unable to direct me to the Italian regulation. I cannot find anything other than the cruise line’s website. Have you found a source?

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steamboats Great Review Rare

steamboats

Posted
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13 hours ago, drmomsc said:

Have you found a source?

 

Yes, actually I have read the Italian "law" (or whatever you will call it in English) in Italian. As this is a regualtion which has been extended several and add ons you need to read several decreti in Italian to get it all. 

 

I can tell you that´s it not just NCL but all cruise lines which call Italian ports. MSC and Costa even didn´t allow any tours on your own in other ports when RCI and NCL did allow them (especially Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Marseilles). Costa has to obey special rules as they are flying the Italian flag which makes it more complicated (same for AIDA). And this has been up and running since cruising started in Italy back in August 2020.

 

The good news is that since yesterday you don´t need to be tested anymore prior to the first Italian port.

 

MSC once announced that individual shore tours may be possible in March. But that was prior to Delta and Omicron.

 

The Italians can change their regulations pretty quickly so we simply have to wait.

 

steamboats

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drmomsc

drmomsc

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10 hours ago, steamboats said:

 

Yes, actually I have read the Italian "law" (or whatever you will call it in English) in Italian. As this is a regualtion which has been extended several and add ons you need to read several decreti in Italian to get it all. 

 

I can tell you that´s it not just NCL but all cruise lines which call Italian ports. MSC and Costa even didn´t allow any tours on your own in other ports when RCI and NCL did allow them (especially Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Marseilles). Costa has to obey special rules as they are flying the Italian flag which makes it more complicated (same for AIDA). And this has been up and running since cruising started in Italy back in August 2020.

 

The good news is that since yesterday you don´t need to be tested anymore prior to the first Italian port.

 

MSC once announced that individual shore tours may be possible in March. But that was prior to Delta and Omicron.

 

The Italians can change their regulations pretty quickly so we simply have to wait.

 

steamboats

Thank you. 

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GOTTODOIT

GOTTODOIT

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I sent an email to the private tour company that we have used previously.

I told them about NCL restrictions on passengers disembarking at Italian ports for private tours. I asked them what they knew about the Italian restrictions on cruise ship passengers.

They replied that the restrictions were expected to be lifted or revised at the end of March because they have reached a high level of double vaccinations. 

So they are pretty confident that Private Tours will be a goer in June.

So we live in hope.

 

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steamboats Great Review Rare

steamboats

Posted
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On 2/2/2022 at 10:02 AM, samavarcruiser said:

The restrictions will be lifted on March 31st and private shore excursions will be allowed again 🙏

 

A source would be nice... MSC writes on their German website that they expect individual shore tours to be allowed by March. TUI Cruises does only refer to the local laws and their first cruise going to an Italian port is March 20th.

 

March 31st might be the date of the current decree. But that doesn´t mean it doesn´t get prolonged.

 

Italy did change their rules for entering the country (harmonizing it with EU recommendations) so since Feb 1st there are no additional tests required anymore. And they now allow tested people back in restaurants and hotels. But no changes regarding the shore tours.

 

steamboats

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MCazer

MCazer

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I called Crown & Anchor the other day for my August cruise from Italy, Greece and Turkey, and after a very long wait, I was told that if everyone was vaccinated, that Royal did not have any limitations on going off on your own.  They did say that if there were unvaccinated children, then they would need to book a Royal sanctioned excursion.  Of course, everything can change.

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