Italian ports now require shp tours ONLY again!

[ysolde]

Great.  At least my cruise isn't until next fall (2022), so hopefully things will have improved by then.  Because I use a wheelchair to get around, and most (all?) of the NCL excursions offered are not wheelchair friendly.  So I guess I can just stay on the ship while we are in Italy.  Well, it was just a couple of stops on the Mediterranean portion of our cruise, anyway . . . 

Edited August 19, 2021 by ysolde

[nikki maestas]

2 hours ago, Gen X Life said:

If this is your first trip to Europe, you will not be disappointed!!

 

 Pick one thing in 2 or 3 cities, study up on it and make that your mission to enjoy.  Don't try to do it all in one trip, once you go to Europe you will want to go again! We always recommend a food from the country or a national drink, while there to experience - Italy: Gelato, Cannoli, Aperol Spritz, Limoncello 

 

If you only have one day in Rome: Don't do the Coliseum, unless it is the drive by, long lines and there are just way too many other (better) things to see. St Peters Basilica is breathtaking, (Bring back plenty of Rosaries for Christmas presents and Christening Gifts if you are Catholic, buy them from vendors outside Vatican for 1/2 the price out of St Peter's square, well they were b4 covid) Trevi fountain is beautiful. 

 

Have a wonderful trip and a fabulous Cruise!! 

 

[nikki maestas]

Just now, nikki maestas said:

 

Thank you so much!

[Trimone]

Reality:

 

[Lilybe]

I have spoken to an NCL agent in Spain yesterday. She told me that it won‘t be possible to do any NCL excursion on your own like „Rom on your own“ or Pisa in Italy. You won‘t be allowed to leave the group.

[Trimone]

It’s worth noting that most of Europe is cashless now, even tips are discouraged with cash.

[WildAtlantic]

51 minutes ago, Trimone said:

It’s worth noting that most of Europe is cashless now, even tips are discouraged with cash.

This does not tally at all with my experiences. I spent the last 10 days in Italy as a regular tourist and use of cash was the same as before. People very much appreciated cash tips too! Here in Ireland, I would say slightly more people are using contactless payments than before the pandemic but there is still plenty of cash around! 

[Twolittleboys]

I can see both sides - it is what it is (all cruise lines seem to be impacted with this and it seems to be a fairly new decision as I have heard of other lines changing itineraries/rules for excursions in the last week or so) and NCL should be more open about it (if you specifically advertise "you can go out on your own" and it changes you need to make sure everyone knows about the change and can make an informed decisision). I am actually surprised if a cruise line doesn't do all it can to make sure passengers are aware of any limitations/rules. Sure, noone wants people to cancel, but even worse is a bunch of unhappy customers on the ship!

[Trimone]

When you look at these first cruises in Europe they are so well discounted it’s stupid to ruin your holiday for a few quid more on excursions? Common sense will prevail 

[DCGuy64]

We are hoping to go to Italy next Thursday for our MSC cruise that starts on Saturday. Of course, given that Covid-19 is still in the picture, anything could change before then and we're ready for whatever happens. We're fully vaccinated and have our CDC cards to prove it, but we won't be blaming the cruise line if we try to get a coffee at a bar and they only accept the Italian Green Pass. Some of the ports we visit (in Croatia) allegedly will allow people to wander around on their own/take private tours, but that is not guaranteed at all. Since (as @Trimone points out) we're visiting Europe during a pandemic, we're grateful to be going at all. We try and count our blessings.

[DCGuy64]

https://www.ncl.com/sail-safe?intcmp=pdt_sl_SAILSAFEVAC

*Due to local government regulations, guests are required to take a Norwegian Cruise Line shore excursion while visiting ports in Italy as guests will not be allowed to explore on their own.

 

I would be visiting that page every day if it were me, just to be on the safe side. I'd be upset if they changed the rules on me, too. But here's the thing: If NCL didn't change the rules, allowed people to explore on their own, and then there was an outbreak of Covid-19 on the ship, who do people think would get blamed? NCL, that's who. That said, I do think it's irritating that people haven't gotten information straight from NCL regarding this. Our travel agent has been on top of everything and any changes to our itineraries on both MSC and NCL have been communicated immediately.

[SpainAlien]

6 hours ago, Trimone said:

It’s worth noting that most of Europe is cashless now, even tips are discouraged with cash.

I live in Spain and it is very much a cash society. Please feel free to pay or tip in cash here

Edited August 19, 2021 by SpainAlien

[SpainAlien]

7 hours ago, Lilybe said:

I have spoken to an NCL agent in Spain yesterday. She told me that it won‘t be possible to do any NCL excursion on your own like „Rom on your own“ or Pisa in Italy. You won‘t be allowed to leave the group.

I fully understand that but wish they would release acceptable excursions and stop selling the ones which you won't be allowed to do 

[CruisinNewbie11]

NCL has posted all of this information on its web page.  It can be found under the section labeled "Safety."   Since I am taking a cruise in Nov., I check that website daily for any new information forthcoming.   Plus, we all receive emails with new information.  I have no complaints with the way NCL has communicated with passengers.    And, with the pandemic, things can change hourly.  We should all be grateful that we are cruising at all.  

[SpainAlien]

2 hours ago, CruisinNewbie11 said:

NCL has posted all of this information on its web page.  It can be found under the section labeled "Safety."   Since I am taking a cruise in Nov., I check that website daily for any new information forthcoming.   Plus, we all receive emails with new information.  I have no complaints with the way NCL has communicated with passengers.    And, with the pandemic, things can change hourly.  We should all be grateful that we are cruising at all.  

Actually we haven't received an email with this new information, that is one of the complaints. If NCL don't specifically send an email to customers going to Italy many passengers (who are not members of CruiseCritic or Facebook groups) will potentially not know until they board.  They will only see the NCL homepage that says no masks, no sponsored tours, neither of these are true for the Western Med cruises. At the very least there should be a banner on their homepage alerting customers

 

Fyi, my TA didn't know until I told him either

Edited August 19, 2021 by SpainAlien

[JennJ99738]

6 hours ago, Trimone said:

When you look at these first cruises in Europe they are so well discounted it’s stupid to ruin your holiday for a few quid more on excursions? Common sense will prevail 

I don't know where this idea came from, but my cruise was definitely not discounted.  I had a prior cruise booked in a balcony cabin that was the same number of days and I am paying 1/3 more for this cruise in an inside cabin.  There are multiple threads that these cruises are more expensive, in some cases much more, than prior cancelled cruises.  

[SpainAlien]

4 minutes ago, JennJ99738 said:

I don't know where this idea came from, but my cruise was definitely not discounted.  I had a prior cruise booked in a balcony cabin that was the same number of days and I am paying 1/3 more for this cruise in an inside cabin.  There are multiple threads that these cruises are more expensive, in some cases much more, than prior cancelled cruises.  

Check the current price against what you paid, my son got a large balcony cabin on Epic for the same price as he had paid for an inside cabin a couple of months ago

 

[JennJ99738]

4 minutes ago, SpainAlien said:

Check the current price against what you paid, my son got a large balcony cabin on Epic for the same price as he had paid for an inside cabin a couple of months ago

 

That isn't the case on the ship I am on and since it's after final payment, NCL doesn't do anything anyway.

[JennJ99738]

So, I received an email from my TA this morning attaching a "new" Cruise Safe attachment.  It is exactly the same as the ones NCL has sent out before.  It's a generic document that is not ship or destination specific and still doesn't mention the shore excursion restrictions for Italy.  It would have been simple to include the new restrictions in this email without sending passengers to the website to dig through a wall of text.  

 

So for those who think we should be grateful to be spending a lot of money with NCL even though NCL hasn't been forthright,  there comes a time, someone should admit a company has handled things wrong and refuse to correct it.  NCL email 8.19.21.pdf

[CruisinNewbie11]

I can only speak for myself when I say that I have received a number of letters from NCL with attachments and the various changes.  I am sorry to hear that many of you have not.  I still continue to check Facebook pages I belong to for any future changes, etc   

 

[julig22]

31 minutes ago, JennJ99738 said:

That isn't the case on the ship I am on and since it's after final payment, NCL doesn't do anything anyway.

That is incorrect.  US passengers can often negotiate a one time adjustment, either an upgrade (paying any difference) or OBC - I believe it is 25% of the fare difference.

[JennJ99738]

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

That is incorrect.  US passengers can often negotiate a one time adjustment, either an upgrade (paying any difference) or OBC - I believe it is 25% of the fare difference.

I just got off the phone with NCL and my TA.  NCL will not negotiate any upgrades, OBC, or anything when airfare is included in the booking.  Absolutely nothing.  She claimed this went into affect 2 weeks ago. My cruise fare did go down by $900.  They will give nothing. 

 

 

 

[julig22]

1 hour ago, JennJ99738 said:

I just got off the phone with NCL and my TA.  NCL will not negotiate any upgrades, OBC, or anything when airfare is included in the booking.  Absolutely nothing.  She claimed this went into affect 2 weeks ago. My cruise fare did go down by $900.  They will give nothing. 

 

 

 

Interesting turn of events, not that I'm expecting my upcoming cruise to come down since I got a rare solo discount.  Fingers crossed then for an upgrade bid.  I can maybe see no OBC but I do find it hard to believe they won't do an upgrade - if a cabin is empty, what does it hurt? Plus they usually get a little more money.

[Trimone]

19 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Interesting turn of events, not that I'm expecting my upcoming cruise to come down since I got a rare solo discount.  Fingers crossed then for an upgrade bid.  I can maybe see no OBC but I do find it hard to believe they won't do an upgrade - if a cabin is empty, what does it hurt? Plus they usually get a little more money.

The answer is in the statement, phone with NCL and my TA? Booked independent 

[DCGuy64]

3 hours ago, julig22 said:

That is incorrect.  US passengers can often negotiate a one time adjustment, either an upgrade (paying any difference) or OBC - I believe it is 25% of the fare difference.

That's been true in the past, I've seen plenty of posts on here from other NCL passengers reporting that they were able to negotiate OBC equal to 25% of the reduced fare. That said, we got a great deal on our cabin and are perfectly satisfied with what we have now. We're not expecting anything more and that's fine with us.