Required ship excursions if getting off the ship

[Mary229]

6 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

When you do expedition cruising the tours tend to to be included and generally speaking there are not any other options anyway. The only time I had an optional tour was on Bora Bora with Aranui. We wanted to see some of the main island and they had an optional tour but reading it it sounded like one big shopping trip so we just hired a car and drove ourselves round for a few hours. I guess it all comes down to the quality of the tours. If you are forced to do ship tours only than they need up the quality so people who aren't being given a choice don't end up feeling ripped off. Perhaps a solution would be to have seperate shopping tour and sightseeing tour so those who want to shop can shop and those wanting to sightsee don't have to waste time at the shops🤔

Exactly,  I think it is pretty simple to cruise with included excursions but you need to review the excursions prior to purchasing the cruise.  Exotic locations tend to have limited facilities with few options so the cruise line tour is as good as any you could purchase. 

 

Additionally, I don't expect cruising to be cheap for the next few years so I am not going to worry about the few dollars extra for a good tour

Edited September 25, 2020 by Mary229

[GrJ Berkshire]

No problem on a quality line like Regent......................all included and most do these tours.

The time when you will be allowed off to wander on your own has gone !

[shipgeeks]

3 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

 

I can understand someone who truly gets lost or has a reasonable excuse for being a few minutes late. It's the ones that show up late repeatedly with no excuse offered (or who were clearly shopping) that used to get under MY skin.

 

 

Back when I was young and had to travel cheaply to scratch my travel itch, I took a Gate 1 tour of Israel (then stayed after to do more touring on my own in Israel and Jordan). That was the WORST tour I ever took with regard to the whole shopping/being late thing.

 

We stopped at a "diamond factory store" (who knew Israel produced diamonds?) for what was supposed to be a brief informational film and shopping stop before going on to visit one of the spots that was, for me, a highlight of the tour -- Beit She'an, with extensive Roman-period ruins. We were all back on the bus at the appointed time -- except one lady and her (adult) daughter, who were still shopping. The guide, who clearly got a kick-back from the store, came to the bus to tell us it would be another few minutes, that they were just 'wrapping up' the sale. Thirty minutes later we were still waiting, and fuming. Someone got off the bus to find the guide and give him a piece of our collective minds. 

 

Would you believe he STILL didn't want to antagonize the "shoppers" so he took still more time to call a cab for them and ensure they knew how to meet us at the next stop, then FINALLY (nearly 50 minutes past our departure time) we headed for Beit She'an.  And guess what, once there, he shorted our stop there for the exact amount of time lost at the store to "keep us to our schedule" because we had lunch waiting somewhere. 

 

OMG!  Last guided tour of that type I ever took. I will still take the occasional specialty tour (e.g., with an archaeological organization or similar) but only ones that do not slip in such shopping stops....

 

BTW, this same lady was also AWOL twice when we were walking along the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem because she kept ducking into shops to look for souvenirs. Apparently she felt she had to bring something back for every niece, nephew, and Sunday-school class member.  Aaaggghhhh.

 

 

Well, now this won't happen on the Bubble tours because no one is allowed to go off on their own.  And probably no shopping stops.

[cruisemom42]

5 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

Well, now this won't happen on the Bubble tours because no one is allowed to go off on their own.  And probably no shopping stops.

 

Oh, I'm sure they'll figure out a way to include shopping stops.

[ontheweb]

32 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Oh, I'm sure they'll figure out a way to include shopping stops.

Especially if there are kickbacks involved.

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

 

I can understand someone who truly gets lost or has a reasonable excuse for being a few minutes late. It's the ones that show up late repeatedly with no excuse offered (or who were clearly shopping) that used to get under MY skin.

 

 

Back when I was young and had to travel cheaply to scratch my travel itch, I took a Gate 1 tour of Israel (then stayed after to do more touring on my own in Israel and Jordan). That was the WORST tour I ever took with regard to the whole shopping/being late thing.

 

We stopped at a "diamond factory store" (who knew Israel produced diamonds?) for what was supposed to be a brief informational film and shopping stop before going on to visit one of the spots that was, for me, a highlight of the tour -- Beit She'an, with extensive Roman-period ruins. We were all back on the bus at the appointed time -- except one lady and her (adult) daughter, who were still shopping. The guide, who clearly got a kick-back from the store, came to the bus to tell us it would be another few minutes, that they were just 'wrapping up' the sale. Thirty minutes later we were still waiting, and fuming. Someone got off the bus to find the guide and give him a piece of our collective minds. 

 

Would you believe he STILL didn't want to antagonize the "shoppers" so he took still more time to call a cab for them and ensure they knew how to meet us at the next stop, then FINALLY (nearly 50 minutes past our departure time) we headed for Beit She'an.  And guess what, once there, he shorted our stop there for the exact amount of time lost at the store to "keep us to our schedule" because we had lunch waiting somewhere. 

 

OMG!  Last guided tour of that type I ever took. I will still take the occasional specialty tour (e.g., with an archaeological organization or similar) but only ones that do not slip in such shopping stops....

 

BTW, this same lady was also AWOL twice when we were walking along the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem because she kept ducking into shops to look for souvenirs. Apparently she felt she had to bring something back for every niece, nephew, and Sunday-school class member.  Aaaggghhhh.

 

 

We have taken 2 Gate 1 escorted tours, and have not had similar experiences.

 

The first was in Central Europe, and the only shopping we did was on our own time, not on one of their tours. The second was in Peru, and the only shopping was a huge flea market on a pay extra excursion. We were all advised to bargain. We ended up with a lot of good stuff.

[cruizergal70]

48 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

Well, now this won't happen on the Bubble tours because no one is allowed to go off on their own.  And probably no shopping stops.

Great! I hate the shopping stops.

[clo]

4 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

I took a Gate 1 tour of Israel

Oh boo hoo. We did our Israel tour with them also but it was terrific. I described our guide as "he knew his old and new testament equally well." He had been a pilot in the Israeli army and wasn't allowed in the West Bank so he turned us over to someone for the part. We went from the Dead Sea to the Golan Heights, had lunch in one kibbutz and spent two nights in another. And met a couple who were Holocaust survivors. Very special.

[KnowTheScore]

"Would you cruise if the only way you can get off the ship while in port is to take a shore excursion from the cruise line? "

 

No absolutely not.   For us being able to visit places at our own pace and leisure is an integral part of a cruise.  Going to restaurants to eat the local food, visiting restaurants where we have come to know the owners, wandering around the shops, sitting in a cafe and watching the world go by etc etc.

 

In all the many cruises we have done and in all the excursions we have taken with the cruise line, the number of excursions that were thoroughly enjoyable and worth the money number less than 10.

 

The vast majority were over-priced, poor quality, extremely boring affairs which we would never repeat.

 

Basic tourism cannot possibly be at an end.  That would be utterly farcical imo.

 

 

 

Edited September 25, 2020 by KnowTheScore

[clo]

15 minutes ago, KnowTheScore said:

we have taken with the cruise line,

So you've actually been on a cruise?

[KnowTheScore]

Worth also noting that being cooped up in the small confined space of a coach on an excursion is probably the last place many passengers would want to be when facing the threat of viruses spreading.   As with flying on an aeroplane it's likely the number one place you will get infected whether by asymptomatic COVID carriers or people with Flu.   Safer to be strolling around an open ship than stuck on a coach with 50 other passengers.

 

I just can not see that strategy being a viable way forward.  The cruises that are trying it out will by no means be representative of millions of other cruisers. 

 

Imagine,

 

Going to Barcelona, but not being able to walk along Las Ramblas or around the Old Quarter or the famous market

Going to Venice but not being able to walk around the bustling winding streets, not seeing St Marks Square

Going to Dubrovnik but not being able to wander around inside the city walls

Going to Lisbon but not being able to roam the city and shops and have a coffee and Pastel De Nata

Going to Malaga, Cartagena, Valencia, Vigo and not being able to wander freely through the lovely towns

Going to Cadiz and not being able to visit the wonderful food markets or winding streets

Going to Florence and not being able to walk along the river Arno by Ponte Vecchio

 

Imagine visiting a foreign country and being treated like a bunch of lepers.  Herded off into some corner, unable to wander freely, shoved into some restaurant for tapas instead of the good restaurants you already know and love.

 

No.  I just can not see this strategy being a success.   You can not remove everything from cruising which makes cruising special and enjoyable and expect passengers to pay £1000s for the privilege. 

 

Countries cannot afford to simply stop tourism.  They are going to HAVE to allow visitors in and let them roam around freely at some point.  At the very least all that needs to happen is for all passengers to be tested for COVID immediately before going ashore.  If they are negative, no problem, let them go wander freely.

 

 

[davekathy]

On 9/21/2020 at 3:52 PM, maxxboy said:

Would you cruise if the only way you can get off the ship while in port is to take a shore excursion from the cruise line? No independent excursions and no walking around the port on your own or renting a car and exploring on your own. Thoughts? For us it would be a no go.

No! 

[rkacruiser]

6 hours ago, evandbob said:

 

Was "the tipping of your hat" an apology, a blow off or something else? 

 

I can sympathize with those waiting in the bus.

 

I meant nothing rude by the gesture, probably more of an apology and an admission that I had "messed up."  I was embarrassed.  

[2wheelin]

2 hours ago, clo said:

Oh boo hoo.

Are you discounting her experience? It is just as valid as yours—unless you were on the same bus and I would still believe her.

[clo]

1 minute ago, 2wheelin said:

Are you discounting her experience? It is just as valid as yours—unless you were on the same bus and I would still believe her.

Not at all and I apologize if it came across that way. I think it's terribly sad and I DO believe her. The "boo hoo" was sincere. Our experience with the same company was SO different and I'm sorry hers wasn't like ours.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, clo said:

Not at all and I apologize if it came across that way. I think it's terribly sad and I DO believe her. The "boo hoo" was sincere. Our experience with the same company was SO different and I'm sorry hers wasn't like ours.

As I wrote previously our experience with Gate 1 (though it was not in Istrael) was very, very good. The guides, especially in Peru, were fabulous.

[clo]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

As I wrote previously our experience with Gate 1 (though it was not in Istrael) was very, very good. The guides, especially in Peru, were fabulous.

We traveled with them five or six times and all but the last were terrific. Turkey, Israel, SE Asia, Patagonia/Antarctica, ?.  But have decided that we likely won't again. It's just too structured with little free time to go 'exploring.' Which could be the case with all intl travel.

[Hlitner]

Lets go back to the OPs actual question.  It has caused a lot of discussion between DW and me and it seems to come up on a daily basis.  The big discussion is about one particular booked cruise, a 30 day Yokohama to Vancouver HAL cruise next April.  While it is most likely that cruise will be cancelled (by the cruise line) if it does happen it is certainly possible that HAL would limit port days to excursions only!  I will honestly post that DW and I have been waffling back and forth on this issue.  Without a requirement to take cruise line excursions we would not take a single cruise line excursion.  Most ports would be DIY with perhaps a couple of private (small group) tours.  The question posed by DW is, "if we must take cruise line excursions should we cancel the entire trip?   What makes this a more difficult decision for us (vs many others) is that we do not like cruise ship excursions.  In fact, we strongly dislike cruise line or any large group excursion.   So what to do?  Should we simply accept that this is the only way to cruise (at this time) or should we say "we are not going to take any cruise as long as this silly cruise excursion rule applies?"  We do not have a final answer at this time but would love to here other opinions, especially from those who share our dislike or large group excursions.

 

Hank

[Mary229]

@Hlitner    I would find out what is going on with the Asian cruise lines, some are sailing, what are they doing.   I forget which but one of the presidents of one of the CCL lines said they would comply with local port requirements.  The game changer is the vaccine, of course.   If by April there is a vaccine all of this is bead clutching.   
 

I don’t dislike cruise led shore excursions but I rarely take a big bus tour.  We tend to take the active tours, hiking and biking, and they usually meet bare minimum attendance  especially on HAL.  We only do a big bus tour if we had a particularly exhausting morning activity and get back to the ship early enough to quickly add on a late afternoon/evening bus tour

[clo]

19 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

In fact, we strongly dislike cruise line or any large group excursion. 

It just occurred to me that social distancing would likely mean half as many people on a coach. Would that be better for y'all? I wouldn't want the regular 40-50 people.

[cruisemom42]

35 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

The question posed by DW is, "if we must take cruise line excursions should we cancel the entire trip?   What makes this a more difficult decision for us (vs many others) is that we do not like cruise ship excursions.  In fact, we strongly dislike cruise line or any large group excursion.   So what to do?  Should we simply accept that this is the only way to cruise (at this time) or should we say "we are not going to take any cruise as long as this silly cruise excursion rule applies?"  We do not have a final answer at this time but would love to here other opinions, especially from those who share our dislike or large group excursions.

 

Hank

 

For me, it would be a question of whether this is a "one off" opportunity.  I know we were both scheduled to be on the Japan cruise HAL canceled last April, and it's a cruise I plan to take someday -- although maybe with Azamara rather than HAL.  But it seems like an itinerary offered by several lines annually. I personally wouldn't rebook it at this date; I'd wait and see whether conditions are better in upcoming years.

 

On the other hand, if it were a dream itinerary for me -- one I'd been looking for for a long time, or that I thought would not be offered again -- I would give it a lot of thought, and possibly take it, even if it meant taking ship tours.

Edited September 25, 2020 by cruisemom42

[rkacruiser]

27 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

The question posed by DW is, "if we must take cruise line excursions should we cancel the entire trip?   What makes this a more difficult decision for us (vs many others) is that we do not like cruise ship excursions.  In fact, we strongly dislike cruise line or any large group excursion.   So what to do?  Should we simply accept that this is the only way to cruise (at this time) or should we say "we are not going to take any cruise as long as this silly cruise excursion rule applies?"  We do not have a final answer at this time but would love to here other opinions, especially from those who share our dislike or large group excursions.

 

It seems to me that the question becomes for your DW and yourself is this:  which is of prime importance?  Taking the cruise?  Or taking the cruise knowing that one must abide by the cruise excursion rule?  How important is visiting the ports during your cruise as compared to the cruise experience--such as it may be when you do sail?  

 

For me, the expected mandatory on-board requirement of having to wear a mask so frequently will keep my money in my bank account.  

[ilikeanswers]

38 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We do not have a final answer at this time but would love to here other opinions, especially from those who share our dislike or large group excursions.

 

I have a friend who will not visit a place if photography is banned. For them there is no enjoyment to visiting a place they can't photograph no matter how amazing it is. They know that the rule will annoy them enough to hinder their enjoyment so no point wasting the time or money. So that is what I would consider in your place. Would the cruise line only tour rule annoy me enough to prevent me enjoying the trip? 

[rkacruiser]

18 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

I have a friend who will not visit a place if photography is banned. For them there is no enjoyment to visiting a place they can't photograph no matter how amazing it is

 

I have experienced this situation when I did not know that I should not be using my camera.  The most egregious example of this was when I returned to the Port of Hilo to re-embark the Volendam.  I photographed a container ship at the dock loading containers.  A Security Guard saw me and rudely threatened to confiscate my camera if I did not delete the photo.  

 

When I returned home, I wrote a letter of complaint to the Tourist Bureau in Hilo concerning this incident.  What response did I receive?  None.    I have since visited Hilo and I didn't get off the ship to "spend some money" then nor will I ever again.

 

Didn't receive much "Aloha" spirit from that episode.    

[clo]

56 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

For me, the expected mandatory on-board requirement of having to wear a mask so frequently will keep my money in my bank account.  

And while that isn't the topic of this thread, for the life of me I don't understand. What's the big deal? So compulsory shore excursion you'r fine with but not wearing a mask.