They're serious about shore excursions

[Ombud]

2nd time:: I think 1st time was Costa cruises. I have booked every small group excursion on my next cruise as my issue with Princess excursions is being 1 of 50. Don't mind being 1 of 7. I'm wondering if they will expand the number of 'Ports' By Private Vehicle - Minivan Class Half Day (With Guide). I costed it out and in Cadiz its only 200pp (my 1 of 7 excursions are 100pp). Yes, Spain in a Day Tours are 20 less but if that's the price I have to pay for cruising, that's OK by me. Plus the Spain in a Day Tours are 10-18 people where the private car is 5. 

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23726-aida-clamps-down-as-passenger-leaves-tour-group.html

Edited October 21, 2020 by Ombud

[Tak8]

Although the private vehicle idea sounds like a nice compromise, doesn't is present the same problems.  Very hard to control who private vehicle passengers come in contact with during their excursion.   Hard to figure out a good system. 

[Ombud]

1 minute ago, Tak8 said:

Although the private vehicle idea sounds like a nice compromise, doesn't is present the same problems.  Very hard to control who private vehicle passengers come in contact with during their excursion.   Hard to figure out a good system. 

Unless the Princess authorized private vehicles guarantee monitoring. If that's the ONLY way for these port drivers to get work they aren't going to jeopardize losing Princess backing. And I'm wondering if local tour companies will do like Adventure Park & Ziplines in Alaskan ports --- only excursions booked through the cruise companies when cruises are in port

[KYBOB]

I can remember when we first started cruising(late 1980 early 1990) the shore excursions were not in big buses. But they put 2 couples per car and pack of cars traveled from place to place. I can remember 4 people cramming into an old 1970's era Toyota Celica. But then the ships where much, much smaller. We met several people who have become life long friends on those excursions. 

[Linsifer]

So when my husband and I go to Alaska in August 2021 we won’t be allowed to just walk around town on our own?  We were there in 2005 and only went on two low cost excursions.  Other than that we just enjoy strolling in and out of stores and getting a feel for the place.  We won’t sail if they force us to buy one of their pricey excursions that we aren’t even interested in.

Edited October 21, 2020 by Linsifer

[cruzsnooze]

Those are the rules and if you don't plan to follow them plan to be denied reboarding. 

[jhannah]

30 minutes ago, Linsifer said:

So when my husband and I go to Alaska in August 2021 we won’t be allowed to just walk around town on our own? 

That is correct ... as it stands NOW. There is a lot of water to flow under the bridge between now and then, and it's possible that protocols will not be as stringent by then. (We can hope, anyway.) Meantime, I hope they will be more relaxed in May when we plan on being on a cruisetour. I'm so anxious to go that I will minimize excursions and simply enjoy the ship.

[Ombud]

I had a boatload of Goodwill OBC (850) so even after booking all small excursions I still have enough to cover gratuities 

[patrickmoran]

So far Princess's protocols do not require only using P's shore excursions or restrict passengers getting off in a port and doing your own thing. Final payments were due yesterday for the 1st cruises that go in December supposedly. Restrictions should have been published before people were committed.

[Ombud]

2 minutes ago, patrickmoran said:

So far Princess's protocols do not require only using P's shore excursions or restrict passengers getting off in a port and doing your own thing. Final payments were due yesterday for the 1st cruises that go in December supposedly. Restrictions should have been published before people were committed.

😁🤞

[memoak]

41 minutes ago, patrickmoran said:

So far Princess's protocols do not require only using P's shore excursions or restrict passengers getting off in a port and doing your own thing. Final payments were due yesterday for the 1st cruises that go in December supposedly. Restrictions should have been published before people were committed.

Remember they need to show that they have fixed issues so the judge can sign off on the Carnival “probation” before anything can sail. That pretty much takes care of December 

[Ken the cruiser]

IMHO there is no way Princess, or any major cruise line, is going to allow folks to get off the ship and walk around the port on their own, maybe pop into a bar or restaurant to sample the local offerings or check out the local gift shops, and then let them back on the ship as potential COVID carriers to do it all over again at the next port. Not until this pandemic is under control. They just have too much riding on starting back up again.

Edited October 22, 2020 by Ken the cruiser

[Ombud]

I don't shop but did book an excursion to a winery (yes we have them but we don't make tawny port)

 

If i buy a bottle of that, can i take it onboard with me (paying corkage) or will it be confiscated?

[beg3yrs]

2 hours ago, memoak said:

Remember they need to show that they have fixed issues so the judge can sign off on the Carnival “probation” before anything can sail. That pretty much takes care of December 

You're conflating two different issues. Carnival is on 'probation' for environmental violations. You responded with this to a post about restrictions on shore excursions to combat COVID-19.

[patrickmoran]

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

I don't shop but did book an excursion to a winery (yes we have them but we don't make tawny port)

 

If i buy a bottle of that, can i take it onboard with me (paying corkage) or will it be confiscated?

In theory, ship personnel will take it and return it at the end of the cruise. I find this happens less than half of the time I buy something in a port.

[bubbapuck]

3 hours ago, memoak said:

Remember they need to show that they have fixed issues so the judge can sign off on the Carnival “probation” before anything can sail. That pretty much takes care of December 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article246620348.html

[bubbapuck]

3 hours ago, patrickmoran said:

So far Princess's protocols do not require only using P's shore excursions or restrict passengers getting off in a port and doing your own thing. Final payments were due yesterday for the 1st cruises that go in December supposedly. Restrictions should have been published before people were committed.

you gotta think these cruises will be cancelled or it will become a requirement. All cruises so far have required this. I can’t imagine Princess (or the port cities) would want people Walking around willy nilly without any controls. Unless they have some serious testing onboard. 

[satxdiver]

3 hours ago, Ombud said:

I don't shop but did book an excursion to a winery (yes we have them but we don't make tawny port)

 

If i buy a bottle of that, can i take it onboard with me (paying corkage) or will it be confiscated?

 I have always been able to bring bottles of wine at various ports back on the ship.  Sometimes they have the alcohol table set up and I had to pay the corking fee and other times no table so off to my cabin with wine in hand I went.  Bottles of liquor (scotch, bourbon, etc) will be held until the last night of the cruise but again I have found the table not set up and took it to my cabin.  Those bottles were left sealed and taken home with me. 

[Linsifer]

8 hours ago, jhannah said:

That is correct ... as it stands NOW. There is a lot of water to flow under the bridge between now and then, and it's possible that protocols will not be as stringent by then. (We can hope, anyway.) Meantime, I hope they will be more relaxed in May when we plan on being on a cruisetour. I'm so anxious to go that I will minimize excursions and simply enjoy the ship.

Thank you.  Hmmm...well, I sure hope things change between now and then.  I’m not sure we’ll keep our booking if we won’t even be able to venture off the ship on our own, primarily as pedestrians checking out the towns.  Personally, I don’t want to feel trapped on the ship when we’re in port.  And yet, we also don’t want to be required to pay for a pricey excursion we didn’t intend to take. 

[Linsifer]

9 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

Those are the rules and if you don't plan to follow them plan to be denied reboarding. 

 Oh, we will always follow the rules.  However, if we knew this was going to be the case long before we sail,  we might consider postponing our cruise until 2022 in hopes that the pandemic will be no longer be an issue.  I’m going to contact my travel agent and ask her about this.  Thank you for bringing it to our attention.  Or at least to MINE.

Edited October 22, 2020 by Linsifer

[flutprop]

5 hours ago, Ombud said:

I don't shop but did book an excursion to a winery (yes we have them but we don't make tawny port)

 

If i buy a bottle of that, can i take it onboard with me (paying corkage) or will it be confiscated?

Don't know whether wines would be checked coming back on board. But, I boarded in SF a few years ago with a 375ml bottle of port (from Prager, in Napa. Wonderful if you haven't tried them yet) and was told that Port has a higher alcohol content and was excluded from the allowed wine allowance. He "allowed" me to board with it "that one time"  I haven't tried again since then.

[Reader0108598]

I have found even when I am told to go to the table if it is busy I keep walking .Even when I do stop the bottle is in my cabin that night!

[Essiesmom]

18 hours ago, Ombud said:

2nd time:: I think 1st time was Costa cruises. I have booked every small group excursion on my next cruise as my issue with Princess excursions is being 1 of 50. Don't mind being 1 of 7. I'm wondering if they will expand the number of 'Ports' By Private Vehicle - Minivan Class Half Day (With Guide). I costed it out and in Cadiz its only 200pp (my 1 of 7 excursions are 100pp). Yes, Spain in a Day Tours are 20 less but if that's the price I have to pay for cruising, that's OK by me. Plus the Spain in a Day Tours are 10-18 people where the private car is 5. 

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23726-aida-clamps-down-as-passenger-leaves-tour-group.html

First time was the first MSC cruise.  EM

[Tolkmit]

19 hours ago, Ombud said:

2nd time:: I think 1st time was Costa cruises. I have booked every small group excursion on my next cruise as my issue with Princess excursions is being 1 of 50. Don't mind being 1 of 7. I'm wondering if they will expand the number of 'Ports' By Private Vehicle - Minivan Class Half Day (With Guide). I costed it out and in Cadiz its only 200pp (my 1 of 7 excursions are 100pp). Yes, Spain in a Day Tours are 20 less but if that's the price I have to pay for cruising, that's OK by me. Plus the Spain in a Day Tours are 10-18 people where the private car is 5. 

 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23726-aida-clamps-down-as-passenger-leaves-tour-group.html

 

It's extremely doubtful the private vehicle excursions will be allowed during the period where staying with an excursion booked through the company is mandatory.

 

Which excursions you can book isn't going to be updated until it's worked out what the requirements are to cruise from and to various countries; and even then they aren't going to change which excursions will be available until within a couple months of the sail date when they are reasonably confident what restrictions will be in place. They are just leaving up the stuff they already had as placeholders. 

[bubbapuck]

7 hours ago, Linsifer said:

 Oh, we will always follow the rules.  However, if we knew this was going to be the case long before we sail,  we might consider postponing our cruise until 2022 in hopes that the pandemic will be no longer be an issue.  I’m going to contact my travel agent and ask her about this.  Thank you for bringing it to our attention.  Or at least to MINE.

Please let us know what your TA says. I am curious as this has been rumored but never verified for US cruising.