Freedom when disembarking in port

[Piggywinkle]

We have been on two cruises this year, one around the UK and one around the Med. On both of these we were only permitted to leave the ship in port as part of an excursion officially organised by the cruise line. We were kept in a "covid safe bubble".

 

Does any one know if the Cruise Lines are playing it safe or if the ports are insisting on such precautions?

 

When do we expect to be able to roam freely when in port?

 

This is seriously putting us off booking a cruise for 6 of us to celebrate my wife's 60th in the Caribbean next February.

 

Thanks!

[Heidi13]

Every country has different rules for cruise ship travel. You would need to research the requirements of each country you plan to visit, as some still require a shore-ex bubble.

[donaldsc]

25 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

Every country has different rules for cruise ship travel. You would need to research the requirements of each country you plan to visit, as some still require a shore-ex bubble.

 

And today's rule on Monday could be completely different 2 days from now on Wednesday.

 

DON

[mom says]

No one knows what the situation re: shore excursions will be even next week, let alone months from now. They could be fully open, or close down even more. If flexibility isn't possible, or if ship excursions adversely affected your previous cruises that badly, then an alternate kind of vacation may be more appropriate  for you .

[Zach1213]

Yeah, I agree with the above - maybe a cruise isn't best for you in this case. If you have specific things you want to do or see, plan the trip that guarantees (as best it can these days) to get you there. A cruise may not be it right now. 

[Hlitner]

What Heidi says is true (we know this from first hand experience) and Heidi's credibility is top notch on CC.  I would emphasize that the rules vary depending on the countries, ports and cruise line.  So, for example, when we cruised in Greece in July-August we were completely free to ashore (in every port) on our own.  But in the last few weeks we cruised out of Barbados (a Caribbean itinerary) where we had to maintain a "bubble" in every port which meant no going ashore unless on a cruise line excursion.

 

Another factoid is that these policies can change day to day!  Folks need to understand that when they book any cruise in this current COVID environment they must be flexible and prepared for various restrictions.  If you cannot handle this kind of uncertainty then it is best to stay home.

 

Hank

[Sea42]

12 hours ago, Hlitner said:

But in the last few weeks we cruised out of Barbados (a Caribbean itinerary) where we had to maintain a "bubble" in every port which meant no going ashore unless on a cruise line excursion.

Which islands did you visit that required ship tours?

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, Sea42 said:

Which islands did you visit that required ship tours?

All of them!  Understand that SB sold their soul in order to get the Barbados authorities to agree to allowing the Odyssey to operate out of that country.  It was a true compromise (Barbados even changed their own protocols to accommodate cruisers who arrived the day of a cruise) but SB agreed to maintain their "bubble" throughout the entire cruise.  So there are no islands where passengers are allowed ashore unless it is on a SB excursion.  SB was able to arrange to rent the entire Carambola Beach Club on St Kitts so they can take everyone (crew and passengers) ashore for a beach day, BBQ, and Caviar in the Sea.  They also rented a small hotel facility on Bequia where everyone could go ashore to use a small beach with some limited facilities.  These two beach days did not involve any extra cost of passengers.  But going ashore anywhere else meant booking SB excursions.

 

Hank

 

 

[Nebr.cruiser]

We are booked on Celebrity for the Nov. 28th 12 day and as of now apparently all the ports, except possibly St. Croix, are requiring ship excursions.

 

So, reluctantly (We've only done two ship excursions in the past 10 years or so) we are booking tours through Celebrity in every port.  Not what we want, but we will roll with the requirements.  If something changes before we arrive in the islands (I have heard that Antigua and Barbados my have relaxed their 'bubble' requirements) we will cancel and go on our own.

 

But not counting on it!

Edited October 28, 2021 by Nebr.cruiser

[Sea42]

4 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Understand that SB sold their soul in order to get the Barbados authorities to agree to allowing the Odyssey to operate out of that country.

So it was a Barbados requirement, not the individual islands that you visited?

[Hlitner]

55 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

So it was a Barbados requirement, not the individual islands that you visited?

The Barbados deal does apparently drive the current policy although some individual islands would likely impose their own restrictions even if Barbados changed their demands.  On our cruise we saw a change when the British Virgin Islands began to allow the Odyssey to visit a couple of their ports.  Previously the BVI has stopped all cruise visits because they had their own COVID surge.  But like the other islands the only way to go ashore in the BVI is on a Seabourn excursion.   But, for example, when we visited St Maarten it was the Barbados agreement  which kept us from being able to do our own thing in St Maarten (some other cruise lines allow their passengers to do their own thing on St Maarten.  Even on the Odyssey the ship announcements were a little deceptive when they would say something along the lines of "due to local restrictions passengers can only go ashore on excursions."  But in most cases it was the Barbados agreement that governed the policy.   

 

There is another harsh reality.  When any of us book a cruise we can only know the policies that exist at the time we book.  By the time the actual cruise happens many of those policies may have changed.  When we originally booked the Odyssey we had some hope (not discouraged by Seabourn) that we might be able to go ashore independently on some of the islands.  Of course that did not happen and there is no reason to think it will happen during the current cruise season.  One can hope for some positive changes but SB is not saying anything to encourage optimism.  And it is not just SB.  We have an upcoming December cruise on Oceania which involves ports in the Caribbean and South America and have yet to receive any definitive information on which (if any) ports we can explore on our own.

 

Hank

[Sea42]

26 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

The Barbados deal does apparently drive the current policy although some individual islands would likely impose their own restrictions even if Barbados changed their demands.  On our cruise we saw a change when the British Virgin Islands began to allow the Odyssey to visit a couple of their ports.  Previously the BVI has stopped all cruise visits because they had their own COVID surge.  But like the other islands the only way to go ashore in the BVI is on a Seabourn excursion.   But, for example, when we visited St Maarten it was the Barbados agreement  which kept us from being able to do our own thing in St Maarten (some other cruise lines allow their passengers to do their own thing on St Maarten.  Even on the Odyssey the ship announcements were a little deceptive when they would say something along the lines of "due to local restrictions passengers can only go ashore on excursions."  But in most cases it was the Barbados agreement that governed the policy.   

 

There is another harsh reality.  When any of us book a cruise we can only know the policies that exist at the time we book.  By the time the actual cruise happens many of those policies may have changed.  When we originally booked the Odyssey we had some hope (not discouraged by Seabourn) that we might be able to go ashore independently on some of the islands.  Of course that did not happen and there is no reason to think it will happen during the current cruise season.  One can hope for some positive changes but SB is not saying anything to encourage optimism.  And it is not just SB.  We have an upcoming December cruise on Oceania which involves ports in the Caribbean and South America and have yet to receive any definitive information on which (if any) ports we can explore on our own.

 

Hank

Interesting, thanks for the information.

[gerryuk]

I have a 3 week transatlantic cruise with Costa from Europe to Guadeloupe in December.

A couple of weeks ago the authorities in the West Indies closed their ports to cruise ships until mid January. Costa decided to go to the Dominican Republic instead, and offered customers 100euros as compensation.

To board the ship you need to prove that you are fully vaccinated, have a pcr test within 72 hours of boarding, a negative antigen test within 24 hours of boarding and if you board in Italy an Italian green card. With this, wearing masks and bubble excursions, this seems to be purgatory rather than a vacation.  

Like a lot of others, i have bailed and cancelled the cruise.  

[KeepCalmBearOn]

We book cruises for one of two reasons; either a ship is going to ports we'd like to visit or there is a ship we want to try. We just got off a 7 day Mexican Riviera trip on Norwegian Bliss and I was fine not getting off the ship because the Bliss was the point of the trip. A Transocean trip is similar, it is all about the ship experience.