Stuck Onboard During Cruise???

[SouthLyonCruiser]

From some of what I have been seeing; how true is it that, unless you have a cruise line sanctioned excursion, you are not allwed to leave the ship?

We have rebooked, for the second time, an Alaskan cruise for next year. 

It we are stuck on the ship because we don't have a cruise line sanctioned tour booked, we will be cancelling.

[All-ready2cruise]

It seems to be very true.  If we look at what MSC has been doing, it is accurate information.  The virus isn't under control yet, but, once it gets to that point, I'm sure it'll change and you'll be free to explore on your own.  No one knows when that will be though.  

[ColeThornton]

I wouldn't be too concerned at this point.  Next year is a long ways away.

[Diver2014]

We always book cruise line excursions.  Too much bother to research and book private tours.  We find the cruise line excursions are very informative and hassle free.  I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with me but that's my experience from the past 36 cruises.

[IrieBajan54]

It would be quite odd for a US passenger to be denied going ashore independently in Alaska.

Edited April 17, 2021 by IrieBajan54
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[Named-Tawny]

1 minute ago, IrieBajan54 said:

It would be quite odd for a US passenger to be denied going ashore independently in Alaska.

We're living in very odd times right now.

Hopefully the cruise-excursions only rule won't last past the first few months of cruising, but there's really no way to know for sure at present.

[KeithJenner]

22 minutes ago, Diver2014 said:

We always book cruise line excursions.  Too much bother to research and book private tours.  We find the cruise line excursions are very informative and hassle free.  I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with me but that's my experience from the past 36 cruises.

There are so many ways of looking at this, and it is yet another of those things which are just personal preference.

 

The option is often given as you present it, ship excursion or private tour, but many of us don’t usually do either. Until I started cruising the idea of turning up somewhere and doing a tour rarely even occurred.to me. We just go out on our own. When cruising, that is our starting point. If there is something that we want to do which is difficult to do by ourselves (usually due to transport) then we look at the options, and are usually about the 50:50 between private tours and ship excursions.

 

I do not expect they requirement to do ship excursions to last for long, but if it did then it would be the end of cruising for us. Not because I want to do private tours, but because I want to be able to just go around without being guided. I want to find the things which appeal to us rather than what will keep a whole group happy. I would just hire a car and travel around myself instead if that is the option.

 

As I said, I think it is all irrelevant anyway and I am currently looking at bookings for 2022/23 based on this, but if we need to do ship excursions then I will just cancel and lose the cruise credits as they have no value to me in that case.

 

As with all these things, each to their own.

Edited April 17, 2021 by KeithJenner

[jonbgd]

I wont cruise if we have to do ship only excursions

 

But I have cruised enough, that some ports have been to 6-12 times and still enjoy

and others 1 time was enough. 

So a port day onboard a ship isnt a bad day either

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, SouthLyonCruiser said:

From some of what I have been seeing; how true is it that, unless you have a cruise line sanctioned excursion, you are not allwed to leave the ship?

We have rebooked, for the second time, an Alaskan cruise for next year. 

It we are stuck on the ship because we don't have a cruise line sanctioned tour booked, we will be cancelling.

You won’t know until next year. Cancel and rebook then. The prices will be higher, though. 

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, IrieBajan54 said:

It would be quite odd for a US passenger to be denied going ashore independently in Alaska.

Has nothing to do with US citizens going ashore. It has to do with keeping you in a controlled environment so you don’t bring anything back onboard with you. 

[HowardK]

I'm looking forward to 2024, when do they release the bookings? I'm not going on a watered down cruise before then where I don't have any freedom. I should have the right in Nassau to walk around and go to shops or take the busses and ferries in Bermuda to the aquarium and different provinces.The whole point of cruising is freedom. 

It's also convenient as it will allow them to mark up the cost of excursions kind of like what they did with vibe.

 

[FLAHAM]

Pure speculation as to when this requirement would be dropped (although I am guessing it would be before the 2022 Alaska sailing season).  However, better to take an NCL excursion than to risk carrying COVID-19 back to the ship.  

[HowardK]

I wonder then if NCL will have to offer more excursions or negotiate with the providers for more. They might need to for both sides- a third party won't be getting the reservations from customers themselves. 

[hamrag]

3 hours ago, IrieBajan54 said:

It would be quite odd for a US passenger to be denied going ashore independently in Alaska.

 

Possibly would not be denied going ashore, if insistent.....denied reboarding would be the issue, and doesn't feel odd in the slightest for the foreseeable given the pandemic!

[Summerstravel]

I would much rather have a choice for excursions but I want to cruise so I will settle for the NCL excursions or stay on the ship. 

[MsTabbyKats]

We have a choice of 2 itineraries.

Bahamas....I'd be ok with NCL excursions (Charleston & Port Canaveral).  The third port is GSC....no excursions necessary.

Caribbean....5 ports...been there-done that on all....would not go on NCL excursions on any

 

Chose Bahamas....for that and a couple of other reasons.

[dumbth]

4 hours ago, jonbgd said:

So a port day onboard a ship isnt a bad day either

 

If idle or even cruising along a scenic coast, a nice investment would be the latest generation of stabilized binoculars. They apply anti-jiggle technology like on a gopro to make high magnification practical. Very expensive, so better value on a monocular. I got an earlier generation monocular using gyro stabilization and nonrechargeable batteries.

[roger001]

1 hour ago, hamrag said:

 

Possibly would not be denied going ashore, if insistent.....denied reboarding would be the issue, and doesn't feel odd in the slightest for the foreseeable given the pandemic!

Citizenship doesn’t mean unlimited opportunities. You could still be required to quarantine or show the other types of no COVID proof.   

[vswan]

Looking to rebook with my FCC for winter 2022. Have been having trouble pulling the trigger at this point since I'm not sure what is going to happen with covid and the cruise line restrictions. But, I'm seeing the prices increase and think I'd be better off booking something than waiting for more certainty. One thing we are putting into our considerations are which ports the cruise visits. Which ports may (or may not) have had access to vaccines. I know that the US is sending vaccines to US territories so there is a better chance that they will be vaccinated. The private islands will probably be pretty safe also. Does anyone know if the UK (or other European countries) are sending vaccines to their territories? Think I would feel safer going to islands who have a large percentage vaccinated - ship excursion or not.

[deliver42]

For Alaska, you are taling about over a year away, so I don't thin it's worth worrying about it now. By the way, Im in the same boat as you, being booked for Alaska  in 2022.

[sverigecruiser]

14 hours ago, IrieBajan54 said:

It would be quite odd for a US passenger to be denied going ashore independently in Alaska.

 

It happen for Italian passengers in Italian ports.

[sverigecruiser]

13 hours ago, HowardK said:

 

It's also convenient as it will allow them to mark up the cost of excursions kind of like what they did with vibe.

 

 

I haven't really researched it but my understanding is that the cost for the excursions in Italy have been decent and not marked up 

[SouthLyonCruiser]

17 hours ago, IrieBajan54 said:

It would be quite odd for a US passenger to be denied going ashore independently in Alaska.

It seems to go along with all of the other 'odd' happenings over the past year. 

[Envelope21]

13 hours ago, Summerstravel said:

I would much rather have a choice for excursions but I want to cruise so I will settle for the NCL excursions or stay on the ship. 

I agree. 
 

We usually don’t take ship sponsored excursions, but when we do, they almost always include some sort of stop at a “shopping” opportunity, where the entire bus is dropped off at some sort of tourist gift shop or shopping district. It will be interesting how the cruise lines will handle that, given that the whole point is keeping everyone in a “bubble”. 
 

The shopping thing isn’t really a priority to me, but I know a lot of people really like it. 

[Markanddonna]

If the ship is trying to keep the excursion passengers in a "controlled bubble environment, adding shopping would seem to contradict this goal.

 

I'm another "no cruising if only ship excursions are allowed."