St Lucia is a new port for us.

[reedprincess]

Cruise ship visitors are not restricted to ship's tours in St Lucia - at least, not by St Lucia requirements. The cruise line may have their own polices - but St Lucia gov't restrictions to ship tours only doesn't exist. Cruise passengers cab explore on their own 

Safe travels.

[kjenaz]

As of today - For November Cruises on Royal and Celebrity, you are only allowed off the ship if you are booked on a ship Shore Excursion.

[sakigemcam]

On 11/1/2021 at 5:12 PM, kjenaz said:

As of today - For November Cruises on Royal and Celebrity, you are only allowed off the ship if you are booked on a ship Shore Excursion.

Isn't St Lucia also on the list for "government approved tours," whatever that means?

[beshears]

I don't recall when I posted last on here, but we  (8 of us) are planning on doing Cosol Tours. I did ASK them if there was a possibility that they might NOT be able to do our tour because of the restrictions in St. Lucia, and they said that is a possibility, and if we wanted to see St. Lucia, we would have to do it with the cruise line (RCL) which we would be on.  I am hoping/praying that this will change by January (still going to be checking the protocols all the way along), as I'm sure St. Lucia and the other ports would LOVE to have our money in their pockets, as the the tourist are their main income.

[reedprincess]

On 11/25/2021 at 5:09 PM, beshears said:

I don't recall when I posted last on here, but we  (8 of us) are planning on doing Cosol Tours. I did ASK them if there was a possibility that they might NOT be able to do our tour because of the restrictions in St. Lucia, and they said that is a possibility, and if we wanted to see St. Lucia, we would have to do it with the cruise line (RCL) which we would be on.  I am hoping/praying that this will change by January (still going to be checking the protocols all the way along), as I'm sure St. Lucia and the other ports would LOVE to have our money in their pockets, as the the tourist are their main income.

St Lucia protocols for Cruise passengers is that, if fully vaccinated, they're free to roam as they like.

www.stlucia.org/covid-19. You can read for yourselves at the Official Tourism Authority website

However, cruise lines can - a d are - putting their own restrictions in for guests, so there's that to deal with.

Ship's tours are all done via local operators, BTW; they do get paid and there is money in their pockets from ship's tours. It's never the little guy though - it's larger companies that get the contracts. 

Good luck, safe travels.

[jean87510]

The best advice to follow is whatever your cruise is recommending.  Here is mine for the RCCL grandeur out of Barbados in December.  It may be different for others.  Its pretty clear that we cannot go off on our own.  

 

St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Grenada and Dominica
Fully vaccinated parties may depart the ship and visit the enclosed port area on their own. If they wish to visit further into the island, they must purchase a tour through Royal Caribbean, or participate in a government approved tour. Government approved tours are unaffiliated with Royal Caribbean. Parties travelling with unvaccinated children must purchase a tour through Royal Caribbean if they wish to go ashore.

 

 

[reedprincess]

On 11/28/2021 at 7:09 AM, jean87510 said:

The best advice to follow is whatever your cruise is recommending.  Here is mine for the RCCL grandeur out of Barbados in December.  It may be different for others.  Its pretty clear that we cannot go off on our own.  

 

St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Grenada and Dominica
Fully vaccinated parties may depart the ship and visit the enclosed port area on their own. If they wish to visit further into the island, they must purchase a tour through Royal Caribbean, or participate in a government approved tour. Government approved tours are unaffiliated with Royal Caribbean. Parties travelling with unvaccinated children must purchase a tour through Royal Caribbean if they wish to go ashore.

 

 

Yes, as I noted - Cruise Lines can, and are, putting their own requirements in, regardless of what the country's protocols may be - and the cruise line is who you have to deal with 

It's a major bummer, as they're restricting access even though the country themselves aren't.  And it hurts the smaller independent operators the most - but he ship's tours are through local operators, so there is still some minor benefits to the country..

Safe travels...

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, reedprincess said:

Yes, as I noted - Cruise Lines can, and are, putting their own requirements in, regardless of what the country's protocols may be - and the cruise line is who you have to deal with 

It's a major bummer, as they're restricting access even though the country themselves aren't.  And it hurts the smaller independent operators the most - but he ship's tours are through local operators, so there is still some minor benefits to the country..

Safe travels...

You are not restricted to a cruise line tour as the protocol being cited also says "or participate in a government approved tour". While that rule doesn't allow you to roam freely it does permit you to use the services of tour operators other than those who are operating on behalf of the cruise line.

[reedprincess]

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

You are not restricted to a cruise line tour as the protocol being cited also says "or participate in a government approved tour". While that rule doesn't allow you to roam freely it does permit you to use the services of tour operators other than those who are operating on behalf of the cruise line.

 

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

You are not restricted to a cruise line tour as the protocol being cited also says "or participate in a government approved tour". While that rule doesn't allow you to roam freely it does permit you to use the services of tour operators other than those who are operating on behalf of the cruise line.

Totally misread it. My mistake, all the way.  

Still unfortunate that it's restricted, but at least there's some independent options...

[beshears]

As for St. Lucia, I have been in contact with Cosol Tours which we wanted to do, and I have "confirmed" (just received notification from them today) that they are government approved, and at this time, the 8 of us plan to tour with them.

[beshears]

I may have posted this earlier, but when we went on RCL Explorer of the Seas, January 9th cruise, unfortunately they cancelled out St. Lucia and made it a sea day, and St. Lucia was the ONLY reason I had booked RCL. The bad part, I spoke with other cruisers that were on other cruise lines the same time as us, and they WENT to St. Lucia, but we lost out on that one. 😞 😞 I understand now, RCL IS going to St. Lucia, but was a BIG disappointment for the 8 of us and not being able to go.

[Ashland]

On 2/8/2022 at 10:02 PM, beshears said:

I may have posted this earlier, but when we went on RCL Explorer of the Seas, January 9th cruise, unfortunately they cancelled out St. Lucia and made it a sea day, and St. Lucia was the ONLY reason I had booked RCL. The bad part, I spoke with other cruisers that were on other cruise lines the same time as us, and they WENT to St. Lucia, but we lost out on that one. 😞 😞 I understand now, RCL IS going to St. Lucia, but was a BIG disappointment for the 8 of us and not being able to go.

So sorry to hear this. What was the reason you were given as to why this port call was cancelled?

[Jonibme]

On 8/3/2021 at 9:28 PM, beshears said:

Arzeena, I am really surprised that through Celebrity, you have to use Celebrity excursions.  I have never cruised on Celebrity, but have cruise 4 or 5 "different" cruise lines, and I have always been (if I wanted) to book whoever I wanted, or who to use at whatever port we would stop at, and NOT use the cruise line itself.

I think this is just a part of the Covid protection protocols Celebrity implemented .

[MadamGorgeous]

On 2/18/2022 at 2:15 AM, Ashland said:

So sorry to hear this. What was the reason you were given as to why this port call was cancelled?

It was during the height of Omicron.  % of Covid cases onboard exceeded amt. It seems ships are stopping and government approved tours i.e. approved cabbies allow for self exploration vs ship excursions (for vaccinated travelers only.) 

Edited February 26, 2022 by MadamGorgeous

[beshears]

I think it all boiled down to having a couple Covid cases on the ship. There was barely 1,000 customers on the ship, and I know everyone was checked "before" they entered the ship, but then......... who knows.  It just put a BAD taste in my mouth with Royal Caribbean, but that is MY opinion, especially since other cruise lines went to St. Lucia without any problem.

[MadamGorgeous]

1 hour ago, beshears said:

I think it all boiled down to having a couple Covid cases on the ship. There was barely 1,000 customers on the ship, and I know everyone was checked "before" they entered the ship, but then......... who knows.  It just put a BAD taste in my mouth with Royal Caribbean, but that is MY opinion, especially since other cruise lines went to St. Lucia without any problem.

The decision was St Lucia’s not to allow ships with over a certain % of cases -passengers and crew.. Your sailing went over that % and was denied.  It was not Royal’s decision. 

Also, you have posted many many times on all different threads about St Lucia, it being your only reason for going, etc,  and you should have been aware that itinerary stops are never guaranteed since you’ve been a member on here since ‘06.  And you were aware you were cruising during the height of the Omicron variant. 

Edited March 1, 2022 by MadamGorgeous

[Arzeena]

Going again in October 2022 and came here to look if anyone posted anything new or something we have not done yet.

I almost forgot about this board. So I apologize for not coming back in 2021 and chiming in. Sorry Sorry Sorry.

When we got on board in 2021, Celebrity was very hush about if we HAVE to take their excursions...OK what about the thousand and one emails about ".... have to take only cruise line excursions???" !!!! So after asking a billion times at every step if it was OK to go on our own, we did! We took a cab to Reduit, spent some time there, had delicious French cuisine at a beach front restaurant, cab guy came back to pick us up and had a wonderful time (as always) in St Lucia, my favorite island.

 

 

[beshears]

Arzeena, St. Lucia is my FAVORITE port as well.  I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, and if I had seen this earlier (I don't know what/how you got around, but glad you did.) I would have mentioned Cosol Tours in St. Lucia.  To me they are the BEST, as we have done them twice, (NO, I do not work for them and do not get any money for recommending them) and the 8 of us were going to do Cosol Tours in St. Lucia this past January, but RCCL did not go that direction, or as MadamGorgeous posted to my comment of earlier this year.

[Arzeena]

On 10/11/2022 at 10:18 PM, beshears said:

Arzeena, St. Lucia is my FAVORITE port as well.  I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, and if I had seen this earlier (I don't know what/how you got around, but glad you did.) I would have mentioned Cosol Tours in St. Lucia.  To me they are the BEST, as we have done them twice, (NO, I do not work for them and do not get any money for recommending them) and the 8 of us were going to do Cosol Tours in St. Lucia this past January, but RCCL did not go that direction, or as MadamGorgeous posted to my comment of earlier this year.

Hi there!

Just seeing your post and yes, we know of Cosol. Five star reviews!
This past October we did a day pass to a resort. We are going in January and thinking of doing the pitons cruise or the Pigeon island excursion or just chill out at Vigie Beach. I love the mud baths and volcano too, but if I take any more mud baths I will become 4 years old as they say each time you go you get 10 years younger!😋

[beshears]

Arzeena, good to hear from you. Would you believe I contacted Cosol Tours again, and if NOTHING happens, the 8 of us plan to do it the first week of February next year. I just told everyone and they are  EXCITED about the hole experience. Yes I did the mud baths, but guess I will pass this year as I will be turning 80 years old but most people think I look much younger. Maybe it was the mud bath I took???? We are doing an all-inclusive which I have never done, so it will be a new experience for me as I prefer cruising. Enjoy your life however it goes, and happy holidays to you!

[Arzeena]

22 hours ago, beshears said:

Arzeena, good to hear from you. Would you believe I contacted Cosol Tours again, and if NOTHING happens, the 8 of us plan to do it the first week of February next year. I just told everyone and they are  EXCITED about the hole experience. Yes I did the mud baths, but guess I will pass this year as I will be turning 80 years old but most people think I look much younger. Maybe it was the mud bath I took???? We are doing an all-inclusive which I have never done, so it will be a new experience for me as I prefer cruising. Enjoy your life however it goes, and happy holidays to you!

Same to you and I hope we run into you on some cruise soon!

[beshears]

Yes Arzeena, no one know how God brings people in their lives very unexpectedly, sometimes. Actually two of my sons and d-i-l's were talking about our trip the first part of Februry, 2023. They are getting excited, as they have never been there before, and hopefully they will enjoy it as much as I have twice before. I also mentioned to them about Cosol tours which we plan to take then, and this way, they will be able to see quite a bit of St. Lucia quickly, and sort of get a scope of what it is all about. God bless you and family in this new year coming up.

[mlutz11175]

I originally filled out a form on Cosol’s website to request a booking but received no reply. When I emailed they answered within an hour.

Edited December 9, 2022 by mlutz11175

[beshears]

Yes, I have emailed them before, and it doesn't take too long before Cosol Tours gets back with me. Just remember (we are in the Central Zone here in the USA) if they don't get back, there may be a difference in time. I have everything set up with them, other than the date/day they will be picking us up, and they are waiting for my final email to them on this in January.