Required ship excursions if getting off the ship

[Markanddonna]

Without any scientific knowledge, I instinctively feel it is safer in places that are warmer with more to do outdoors. Let's face it: in Europe, most visitors go to museums, churches, buildings, hotels, restaurants, shops, etc whereas the Caribbean lends itself to the outdoors. That is why they have a lower incidence rate.

[shipgeeks]

12 hours ago, ontheweb said:

The only way I can envision these excursions keeping you away from all others and only in your "cruise excursion bubble" is a bus on which you cannot get off. So for instance in Rome, there is the Colosseum; there is the Vatican Museum. You say you want to get off and explore it, well tough you cannot, but you can say you were in Rome.

 

A DEALBREAKER.

Have you read about any of the excursions currently being done?  There are walking tours, bike tours, e-bike tours; bus tours have stops but still maintain their bubble.  All the ones I've read about seem very well thought-out and enjoyable.  But you are right, if you completely leave the tour (as a couple have done), you are put off the ship.

[clo]

10 hours ago, pris993 said:

Since I only do round trip, San Francisco to Mexico

You don't ever go north?

[ontheweb]

48 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

Have you read about any of the excursions currently being done?  There are walking tours, bike tours, e-bike tours; bus tours have stops but still maintain their bubble.  All the ones I've read about seem very well thought-out and enjoyable.  But you are right, if you completely leave the tour (as a couple have done), you are put off the ship.

How do they enforce all others must leave the area to keep the bubble intact? Where are the locals supposed to go? What if there is another tour from another cruise line at the same place?

[pris993]

46 minutes ago, clo said:

You don't ever go north?

We did once.  Prefer warmer weather, Mexico is more desirable.

[SelectSys]

12 hours ago, Hlitner said:

...  Our savings on Business Class via HAL (vs buying business class for an independent trip) would just about pay for the cruise!   In fact, that might be a new strategy to use cruises to get the big discounted First/Business Class fares and then think of the cruise as something one suffers through.  Horrible thought that the best part of cruising might be the discounted airfare :(.

 

Hank

 

I have never purchased or even looked that seriously at cruise air as pretty much all my travel to and from the ship has been paid with miles.  However, what you suggest is an interesting idea that I will look at in the future.

 

With respect to the original poster's question, managed shore excursions isn't too appealing to me although not necessarily a complete "deal breaker" based on the overall experience.  For me cruising has never really about trying to see all that much on shore during 8 hour stops. It's just not all that practical or even possible.

Edited September 22, 2020 by SelectSys

[sanger727]

39 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

How do they enforce all others must leave the area to keep the bubble intact? Where are the locals supposed to go? What if there is another tour from another cruise line at the same place?

 

I read a review where someone posted about their excursion experience on MSC. I'm highly skeptical that it will be beneficial to have these shore excursions forced upon you. But the gist of it is, they did go to tourist spots and get off the bus and were free to "wander" a bit. The area was not evacuated of locals. The only restriction was that you had to stay 6 feet from everyone at the site and couldn't leave the sight line of the tour guide because they were theoretically watching everyone to make sure the 6 ft was maintained. Not sure how the 6ft was imposed on bathroom breaks! I can't believe a tour guide has the ability to watch 20+ people wander around and area and visually map out 6 ft for all those people at once. This sounds like a lot of fluff to sound good but not actually useful to me. 

[Pyrate13]

Our next booked cruise is to Bermuda in April. If there are restrictions on excursions, leaving the ship, etc, we won't be going. 

[dogs4fun]

49 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

I'm highly skeptical that it will be beneficial to have these shore excursions forced upon you. But the gist of it is, they did go to tourist spots and get off the bus and were free to "wander" a bit. The area was not evacuated of locals. The only restriction was that you had to stay 6 feet from everyone at the site and couldn't leave the sight line of the tour guide because they were theoretically watching everyone to make sure the 6 ft was maintained. Not sure how the 6ft was imposed on bathroom breaks! I can't believe a tour guide has the ability to watch 20+ people wander around and area and visually map out 6 ft for all those people at once. This sounds like a lot of fluff to sound good but not actually useful to me. 

Yes, I am highly skeptical as well. I would really like to read some reviews of the recent MSC shore excursions - I'm particularly interested in how the "bubble" was safely maintained while touring.

Edited September 22, 2020 by dogs4fun

[HxFx]

It would definitely affect which itinerary I choose. Since I am focused on the Caribbean for cruising and we typically dive/snorkel/swim it would not be a problem for us to do a ship excursion. I think if it were a European cruise it would be a no-go but I lived in Europe for almost 4 years so have seen my first priorities there (though would love a cruise there in the future). Asia is too far to travel to for a cruise while I'm still a working lady, plus I was fortunate enough to travel there extensively while in the Navy. Fortunately for me there is still a lot of the Caribbean we have yet to see!

[msmayor]

Fairly certain the first cruises we book will be Caribbean, and quite honestly all I want to do right now is relax on a ship.  I would have no issues with the restrictions and likely would just stay on board and relax with a good book in one hand and a drink in the other.

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, sanger727 said:

 

I read a review where someone posted about their excursion experience on MSC. I'm highly skeptical that it will be beneficial to have these shore excursions forced upon you. But the gist of it is, they did go to tourist spots and get off the bus and were free to "wander" a bit. The area was not evacuated of locals. The only restriction was that you had to stay 6 feet from everyone at the site and couldn't leave the sight line of the tour guide because they were theoretically watching everyone to make sure the 6 ft was maintained. Not sure how the 6ft was imposed on bathroom breaks! I can't believe a tour guide has the ability to watch 20+ people wander around and area and visually map out 6 ft for all those people at once. This sounds like a lot of fluff to sound good but not actually useful to me. 

I still want to know how they clear everyone from an area whether say a museum or a store.

 

And no one can watch 20 people who can wander 6 feet, but if they go 6 feet 1 inch, they are kicked off the cruise.😒

[lenquixote66]

5 hours ago, evandbob said:

 

One might be safer in a Caribbean port than an American port these days, those 3rd world little countries seem to have done a much better job of keeping their citizens safe than we have here in the USA.

 

In Europe and elsewhere, the viral rates have fluctuated through highs and lows, so it would depend on where and when.  Tis true that those of us over 65 along with anyone having diabetes, heart or weight issues, is more at risk than a young healthy person.

 

Perhaps, the ship only excursion rule is to protect the local population from us Americans?

I can see signs in foreign countries :Beware of bears ,coyotes and irresponsible humans.

[lenquixote66]

15 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

I still want to know how they clear everyone from an area whether say a museum or a store.

 

And no one can watch 20 people who can wander 6 feet, but if they go 6 feet 1 inch, they are kicked off the cruise.😒

I was in a doctors office waiting room this morning.There were at least 10 signs on walls and doors stating people must sit 6 feet apart.However,people were seated next to each other and nobody said a word except my wife and I.

[ColeThornton]

4 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

I was in a doctors office waiting room this morning.There were at least 10 signs on walls and doors stating people must sit 6 feet apart.However,people were seated next to each other and nobody said a word except my wife and I.

 

Sounds like the doctor needs to work on his waiting room setup and procedures for the patients.

[lenquixote66]

1 minute ago, ColeThornton said:

 

Sounds like the doctor needs to work on his waiting room setup and procedures for the patients.

This was not the first doctors office I have been to like this in the past few months.

[GUT2407]

Highly unlikely that I would cruise under those conditions. I haven’t done a ships excursion in more years than I can remember, a few reasons

 

1. Most are really difficult to do with a power wheelchair

 

2. My health doesn’t really let me plan for the next day, I can easily wake up in too much pain to even get out of bed, so unless they are fully refundable it is money down the drain

 

3. I really don’t like being herded from place to place at a pace dictated by someone else.

 

4. If I go ashore I want to able to decide when I need to get back on the ship and possibly even back into bed drugged out of my tine little mind

[Mary229]

40 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

This was not the first doctors office I have been to like this in the past few months.

My doctor and dentist have you wait in your car and text you when your appointment is available.  Pretty simple, really.  

[sanger727]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

I still want to know how they clear everyone from an area whether say a museum or a store.

 

And no one can watch 20 people who can wander 6 feet, but if they go 6 feet 1 inch, they are kicked off the cruise.😒

 

well, I don’t think they clear the area. It appears to be an honor system that is somewhat monitored by the tour guide to stay 6 ft from people not in the tour ‘bubble’. Good luck with that when there’s a railing and everyone wants to go up and get their photo or in a tiny gift shop. Hopefully they will be more likely to eliminate the shopping stops cause that seems like a hard place to enforce this.
 

 

1 hour ago, lenquixote66 said:

I was in a doctors office waiting room this morning.There were at least 10 signs on walls and doors stating people must sit 6 feet apart.However,people were seated next to each other and nobody said a word except my wife and I.

I’ve been to a handful of doctor/dentist appointments and haven’t seen any issues like this. My doctor lets you sit in the waiting room but think they have a lot fewer people come into the office because they try to do ‘televisits’ when they can; so social distancing hasn’t been an issue. My dentist has you wait in your car and they call you in and take you straight to the exam room.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

I was in a doctors office waiting room this morning.There were at least 10 signs on walls and doors stating people must sit 6 feet apart.However,people were seated next to each other and nobody said a word except my wife and I.

Well, it's not like there is anyone there who is ill or has any underlying conditions.😉

[ontheweb]

43 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

 

well, I don’t think they clear the area. It appears to be an honor system that is somewhat monitored by the tour guide to stay 6 ft from people not in the tour ‘bubble’. Good luck with that when there’s a railing and everyone wants to go up and get their photo or in a tiny gift shop. Hopefully they will be more likely to eliminate the shopping stops cause that seems like a hard place to enforce this.

As I read more and more about this, it is beginning to seem to me that the only reason for this is to enhance the bottom line for the cruise lines.

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

I was in a doctors office waiting room this morning.There were at least 10 signs on walls and doors stating people must sit 6 feet apart.However,people were seated next to each other and nobody said a word except my wife and I.

NY seems to be a State of contradictions (I was born in NYC, DD lives in NYC, Grandchildren live in NYC).  I do not understand the issue with Doctor's offices in your State anymore then I can understand a Governor who forces  COVID patients back into Nursing Homes where they can infect others.  In our State there are no issues in Doctors offices.  They are not permitted to have chairs within 6 feet of each other!  The rule is enforced!  I was in my Doctors office this morning and everyone had to wear masks, chairs were more then 6 feet apart, and there were very few in the waiting room since you were only allowed to arrive 15 minutes before an appointment.  Even in the treatment room everyone (nurse, doctor, me) wore masks (patients only take them off if necessary for treatment or exam).    My goodness, even in my Barber Shop the chairs are scattered more then 6 feet apart!

 

Hank

[cruisemom42]

2 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

This was not the first doctors office I have been to like this in the past few months.

 

Have you said something to the staff?

[shipgeeks]

4 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

I was in a doctors office waiting room this morning.There were at least 10 signs on walls and doors stating people must sit 6 feet apart.However,people were seated next to each other and nobody said a word except my wife and I.

Were they sitting with their spouses?  Wouldn't that be allowed/expected?

[lenquixote66]

3 hours ago, Mary229 said:

My doctor and dentist have you wait in your car and text you when your appointment is available.  Pretty simple, really.  

Two of my doctors do this but not the others.