St Kitts Volcano hike, not offered on my trip?

[Chemgoddess1]

Hi there. I have contacted Celebrity twice regarding this with no answer. They offer the volcano hike as an excursion but for some reason on my trip in March it is not listed as an option. Does anyone possibly know why? 
 

Yes, I know it is strenuous. That is not an issue. 
 

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Book a private tour 

[prmssk]

I know it has been a challenge for cruise lines to line up tours with contractors they trust at a price they can negotiate when there are so many staff shortages all over the world. And this is an ongoing process. I keep seeing new tours added for my April cruise. 
 

in the meantime, you may want to start researching private tours in case Celebrity isn’t able to offer it. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

1 hour ago, prmssk said:

I know it has been a challenge for cruise lines to line up tours with contractors they trust at a price they can negotiate when there are so many staff shortages all over the world. And this is an ongoing process. I keep seeing new tours added for my April cruise. 
 

in the meantime, you may want to start researching private tours in case Celebrity isn’t able to offer it. 

Agree.  Have a TA in April and shore excursions have been added recently.  Finding a local company to coordinate the tour for you would be easy.  Then discuss it on your roll call.

[NutsAboutGolf]

It's usually that the tour operators do not meet X's requirements including insurance requirements.  I often book non-ship/independent group tours and many previously recommended operators have told me they changed their business model since they didn't have cruise ship pax for a 1.5 years.  A lot are saying you need to prepay up front, are non-refundable and if your ship is late you need to re-book for a different day (which doesn't work for a lot of cruise pax).

[Chemgoddess1]

3 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Book a private tour 

This is a 6 hour when we are on shore for 8. I am not running the risk of missing the ship. That would be a possibility if this was shorter but not in this instance. 

[Chemgoddess1]

3 hours ago, prmssk said:

I know it has been a challenge for cruise lines to line up tours with contractors they trust at a price they can negotiate when there are so many staff shortages all over the world. And this is an ongoing process. I keep seeing new tours added for my April cruise. 
 

in the meantime, you may want to start researching private tours in case Celebrity isn’t able to offer it. 

As I told another poster, this will be a crunch for time due to the length of time it takes to hike. This is one excursion I would want a guarantee return to the ship. 

[prmssk]

26 minutes ago, Chemgoddess1 said:

As I told another poster, this will be a crunch for time due to the length of time it takes to hike. This is one excursion I would want a guarantee return to the ship. 

I understand that. I hope a cruise line tour gets added but unfortunately, it may not. 
 

Planning shore excursions has been a challenge for me on our spring cruise because the cruise line just isn’t offering many and private tours don’t always fit the schedule of when we are in port. So I can sympathize with you. 

[someguyfl]

Just as a FYI ... I did this hike about 10 years ago, and it was incredibly strenuous. I'm honestly surprised the cruise lines even offered something this strenuous. No other excursion I've ever done has compared to this level of difficulty.

[Chemgoddess1]

As a follow up to this, Celebrity got back to me regarding a private excursion, to the tune of $760!!

 

Ummmmm, nope.

[steamboats]

Didn´t the whole RCG stop all volcano tours after the incident in New Zealand? I thought they never offered any volcano activities since.

 

steamboats

[Chemgoddess1]

On 10/27/2022 at 1:20 AM, steamboats said:

Didn´t the whole RCG stop all volcano tours after the incident in New Zealand? I thought they never offered any volcano activities since.

 

steamboats

It’s not an active volcano and they offer it as an excursion on other trips. 

[cangelmd]

On 10/27/2022 at 7:20 AM, steamboats said:

Didn´t the whole RCG stop all volcano tours after the incident in New Zealand? I thought they never offered any volcano activities since.

 

steamboats

This volcano has been dead for a very, very long time

[MarkWiltonM]

On 10/20/2022 at 3:01 PM, someguyfl said:

Just as a FYI ... I did this hike about 10 years ago, and it was incredibly strenuous. I'm honestly surprised the cruise lines even offered something this strenuous. No other excursion I've ever done has compared to this level of difficulty.

 

We did it about 10 years ago too.  It was indeed strenuous, especially because the guide was about 45 minutes late and he had to make up time so he actually ran up the volcano instead of walking and we had to try to keep up with him. When you get about halfway up, they give you an option to turn back. We did the whole thing. It was great exercise but the view at the top was, meh! The most challenging part was where there are a lot of tree roots and small boulders so you have be be careful with your footing and you can't do that part fast or you can turn an ankle easily, regardless of your age/fitness.

 

Seems to me that cruise lines used to offer more hikes than they currently do. I remember hiking in national parks in Aruba and Curacao and I never see those offered these days.

[steamboats]

19 hours ago, Chemgoddess1 said:

It’s not an active volcano and they offer it as an excursion on other trips. 

 

17 hours ago, cangelmd said:

This volcano has been dead for a very, very long time

 

I know it´s not active but they did take all shore tours off their lists which involved any kind of volcanoes. Even those which have been not active for centuries.

 

steamboats