stones902 Posted September 9, 2021 #1 Share Posted September 9, 2021 Question for recent cruisers (specifically to St. Maarten): I'm reading that "on your own" tours are no longer permitted and you might take a Celebrity Excursion if you want to get off the ship. My question is are passengers permitted to exit the ship and visit the shops only in the port area or is this not allowed either. Just trying to get a feel of what to expect when we sail in October. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatordad1967 Posted September 9, 2021 #2 Share Posted September 9, 2021 from what I gather, the only way to get off, is to have an excursion booked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spammie Posted September 9, 2021 #3 Share Posted September 9, 2021 58 minutes ago, stones902 said: Question for recent cruisers (specifically to St. Maarten): I'm reading that "on your own" tours are no longer permitted and you might take a Celebrity Excursion if you want to get off the ship. My question is are passengers permitted to exit the ship and visit the shops only in the port area or is this not allowed either. Just trying to get a feel of what to expect when we sail in October. Thanks in advance. Was there last week on Edge. I asked the same question on board as I LOVE shopping in St. Maarten. Then answer unfortunately is NO. You can not go shopping or wander away from your group if you do an excursion. Unfortunately we stayed on the ship. From the deck of the ship it appeared all the shops at the dock were closed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatordad1967 Posted September 9, 2021 #4 Share Posted September 9, 2021 2 minutes ago, spammie said: Was there last week on Edge. I asked the same question on board as I LOVE shopping in St. Maarten. Then answer unfortunately is NO. You can not go shopping or wander away from your group if you do an excursion. Unfortunately we stayed on the ship. From the deck of the ship it appeared all the shops at the dock were closed. shame, as that has to be killing the economy. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stones902 Posted September 9, 2021 Author #5 Share Posted September 9, 2021 6 minutes ago, spammie said: Was there last week on Edge. I asked the same question on board as I LOVE shopping in St. Maarten. Then answer unfortunately is NO. You can not go shopping or wander away from your group if you do an excursion. Unfortunately we stayed on the ship. From the deck of the ship it appeared all the shops at the dock were closed. For what it’s worth, we had friends on the Edge about a month ago prior to this latest policy. They said about 1/2 of the shops in Phillipsburg were closed and many items were short of stock in the stores that were open. I was hoping that the port shops might be available but apparently that’s not an option either. I agree that it’s a shame and will really devastate the local economy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susiesan Posted September 9, 2021 #6 Share Posted September 9, 2021 How long is St. Maarten going to be closed to go off the ship on your own? I don't care about the shopping, I just want to go to the beach. My cruise is not until December. Is this coming from St. Maarten or Celebrity? Can you cite the specific rule from a St. Maarten web site? If this remains true by the Nov. 29 date of the Millennium sailing I am going to cancel the cruise. If St. Maarten can't be visited on your own it is likely many of the other 5 ports scheduled will have the same restrictions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stones902 Posted September 9, 2021 Author #7 Share Posted September 9, 2021 6 minutes ago, susiesan said: How long is St. Maarten going to be closed to go off the ship on your own? I don't care about the shopping, I just want to go to the beach. My cruise is not until December. Is this coming from St. Maarten or Celebrity? Can you cite the specific rule from a St. Maarten web site? If this remains true by the Nov. 29 date of the Millennium sailing I am going to cancel the cruise. If St. Maarten can't be visited on your own it is likely many of the other 5 ports scheduled will have the same restrictions. It is listed on the Celebrity site but restrictions are imposed by local governments and differ from island to island. It’s a fluid situation so you’ll just have to monitor the situation as conditions change. I’m sure SXM would love to be fully open if they could. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelayne Posted September 9, 2021 #8 Share Posted September 9, 2021 Here is the link to the latest info on the Celebrity website. It can and has changed frequently so keep checking. https://www.celebritycruises.com/healthy-at-sea/us-travel-requirements Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deliver42 Posted September 9, 2021 #9 Share Posted September 9, 2021 People are blaming the cruise lines about the excursions as a money grab, but it's the different ports that are creating this. The cruise line really has no say. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke95 Posted September 10, 2021 #10 Share Posted September 10, 2021 Can you please provide a link that this is St Maarten that is requiring this? It appears from their website that Royal is letting their guests get off at St Maarten and do private excursions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George C Posted September 10, 2021 #11 Share Posted September 10, 2021 Interesting in July on edge you could go on your own if you were vaccinated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichYak Posted September 10, 2021 #12 Share Posted September 10, 2021 3 minutes ago, George C said: Interesting in July on edge you could go on your own if you were vaccinated. July was an eternity ago when it comes to covid protocols. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George C Posted September 10, 2021 #13 Share Posted September 10, 2021 1 minute ago, RichYak said: July was an eternity ago when it comes to covid protocols. Agree things seem to change daily. We will be back to St Maarten in November, if needed I will just stay on the ship, hate most ship tours. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alakegirl Posted September 10, 2021 #14 Share Posted September 10, 2021 If you are desperate to get off and don’t want to go with a big group, you can book one of the private tours. They are expensive but they are custom made for your needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fernweh_S2 Posted September 10, 2021 #15 Share Posted September 10, 2021 My brother-in-law is on the Allure right now and as I can see his pictures on Facebook I have asked him about St. Martin. He was there on Sept 8th and he said he "I walked to the beach. Others took the water taxi. Others rented a car. Others rented a regular taxi for the day. And others took private tours." I hope this helps. He also just went to St. Thomas. If anyone has any other questions, I can ask him. I too am concerned as we have a cruise for January and our biggest problem right now is the 48 hour test as we fly in 2 days early into Florida not our usual 1 day. Our previous cruise was cancelled so we changed to one that leaves a day later because we already had our flights so just hoping things get better and requirements relax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alakegirl Posted September 10, 2021 #16 Share Posted September 10, 2021 Different cruise lines, different rules Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canderson Posted September 10, 2021 #17 Share Posted September 10, 2021 4 hours ago, Alakegirl said: If you are desperate to get off and don’t want to go with a big group, you can book one of the private tours. They are expensive but they are custom made for your needs. Would do, but see none offered in Shorex section of Cruise Planner for our November visit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jim_Iain Posted September 10, 2021 #18 Share Posted September 10, 2021 I will let you know in a couple days when we get to there. In Dominica today you could go ashore but only in the small area with 9 little Hut Stands adjacent to the ship without a Celebrity excursion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatordad1967 Posted September 11, 2021 #19 Share Posted September 11, 2021 22 hours ago, Alakegirl said: If you are desperate to get off and don’t want to go with a big group, you can book one of the private tours. They are expensive but they are custom made for your needs. I thought it was ship tours only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke95 Posted September 11, 2021 #20 Share Posted September 11, 2021 It's called Private Journeys. You design your own tour with the help of a Celebrity tour specialist. I have not been very impressed so far with my attempt to get a very simple trip together while in St. Maarten. They have had the request for over 2 weeks now and are still researching the "feasibility" of basically calling a cab for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alakegirl Posted September 11, 2021 #21 Share Posted September 11, 2021 Private Journeys is what I meant. They count as ships tours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatordad1967 Posted September 13, 2021 #22 Share Posted September 13, 2021 On 9/11/2021 at 9:59 AM, Gatordad1967 said: I thought it was ship tours only. Thank you, I will look into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jim_Iain Posted September 13, 2021 #23 Share Posted September 13, 2021 Latest as of this morning. They contacted the Government in St Kitts and got permission for private tours. Lots of co fusion as we are the first ship into St Kitts. Private Journey accidental booked both but were able to cancel St Maarten. prices below are per person for 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Jim_Iain Posted September 13, 2021 #24 Share Posted September 13, 2021 On 9/11/2021 at 7:43 AM, Duke95 said: It's called Private Journeys. You design your own tour with the help of a Celebrity tour specialist. I have not been very impressed so far with my attempt to get a very simple trip together while in St. Maarten. They have had the request for over 2 weeks now and are still researching the "feasibility" of basically calling a cab for me. Things have been very fluid but they were able to reserve St. Maarten yesterday. The Tour Director has been beyond fantastic on getting tours arranged for us with little notice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatordad1967 Posted September 13, 2021 #25 Share Posted September 13, 2021 1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said: Things have been very fluid but they were able to reserve St. Maarten yesterday. The Tour Director has been beyond fantastic on getting tours arranged for us with little notice. silly question, so if you are vaccinated, you can walk around the port area at the shops? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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