good news, Antigua now allowing independent excursions as of 10/22/21

[susiesan]

This from a Caribbean news web site. Hoping celebrity updates their restrictions soon so I can cancel the X shore ex I paid for and book something else with a local provider.

 

https://antiguaobserver.com/cruise-bubble-removed-vendors-and-operators-in-st-johns-stand-to-benefit/

[JerseyGirlatHeart]

Great news.  I have a tour scheduled with Eli and was holding on, hoping things would change.

[susiesan]

I just now sent an email to book Eli's Eco Tour. Looks like fun, way better than anything X was offering.

[susiesan]

19 hours ago, susiesan said:

I just now sent an email to book Eli's Eco Tour. Looks like fun, way better than anything X was offering.

Eli respond that he was informed that cruisers can now tour independently. Let's see how long intakes celebrity to update their web site.

[susiesan]

It has now been a week since Antigua announced cruise passengers no longer are limited to ship excursions. Celebrity has still not updated this information on their web site. How long does it take to remove Antigua from the list of restricted ports? I am waiting to go ahead and confirm with Antigua Adventures that I will be on Eli's Eco Tour on Dec. 4?

[39august]

Glad to hear Eli's Eco Tour is still available. That is the best Caribbean tour we have ever done, but it was several years sgo. Hope you get to go. 

[s0479]

I was wondering to!  

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, susiesan said:

It has now been a week since Antigua announced cruise passengers no longer are limited to ship excursions. Celebrity has still not updated this information on their web site. How long does it take to remove Antigua from the list of restricted ports? I am waiting to go ahead and confirm with Antigua Adventures that I will be on Eli's Eco Tour on Dec. 4?

Why don't you just book it now, so you've got the placeholder.  Ask if it is refundable in the event something changes in this situation, and it can, day by day.

[Jeremiah1212]

Just because Antigua allows it does not necessarily mean that Celebrity will allow it. 

[susiesan]

1 hour ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

Just because Antigua allows it does not necessarily mean that Celebrity will allow it. 

The only reason for Celebrity to not allow independent touring is to keep the extra markup they take on the tours they sell. This makes them look very greedy, putting their interests above that of their passengers.

 

I made a reservation with Adventure Antigua for the tour and asked the owner to hold 2 places for us. This is how he phrased it to me:

Yes these cruise ships are something else, for YEARS they have been trying to put rules in place for their passengers to only book tours through them and now covid has given them a perfect excuse...all about money as they take HUGE commissions and leave the local excursion company with hardly any money per person.

[Nebr.cruiser]

On 10/25/2021 at 2:29 PM, susiesan said:

I just now sent an email to book Eli's Eco Tour. Looks like fun, way better than anything X was offering.

We did this tour years ago.  It was great!  Good news Antigua has opened up, hope Celebrity now lets us book non-cruise tours.

[rachiem]

We are looking at this for Feb...just really worried as the ship leaves at 5pm...I believe the tour finishes at 4pm.

Still undecided whether to opt for the Extreme or Eco.

They have confirmed that if rules changed and we can not take the trip we would be refunded our deposit

[Texed]

On 10/25/2021 at 2:13 PM, JerseyGirlatHeart said:

Great news.  I have a tour scheduled with Eli and was holding on, hoping things would change.

I am sure you will have a wonderful excursion.  Eli's tours, he did have three different ones, are great.

 

 We once invited the captain of the ship and his best friend to come along with us.  He was impressed with Eli and the tour.  😊

[rachiem]

I notice that Celebrity have revised their travel requirements section and you can now independently tour Antigua 🙂 

Does anyone know about Grenada as I can't see it listed on the X travel requirements at all?

Edited November 2, 2021 by rachiem

[susiesan]

14 minutes ago, rachiem said:

I notice that Celebrity have revised their travel requirements section and you can now independently tour Antigua 🙂

Thanks for the alert. I just cancelled my Celebrity excursion and booked Eli's Eco Tour.

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, rachiem said:

I notice that Celebrity have revised their travel requirements section and you can now independently tour Antigua 🙂 

Does anyone know about Grenada as I can't see it listed on the X travel requirements at all?

The website lists countries where ship excursions are either required or recommended. If a country isn't listed, I've assumed that either they are no longer stopping there or that no restrictions apply.

[drakes2]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

The website lists countries where ship excursions are either required or recommended. If a country isn't listed, I've assumed that either they are no longer stopping there or that no restrictions apply.

Does this mean we can do a beach on our own? Sailing next Friday the 12th.

[s0479]

3 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

Does this mean we can do a beach on our own? Sailing next Friday the 12th.

Yea for the countries listed that are allowed 

[Fouremco]

5 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

Does this mean we can do a beach on our own? Sailing next Friday the 12th.

If it doesn't say otherwise fort your port of call, that is my assumption. 

[drakes2]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

If it doesn't say otherwise fort your port of call, that is my assumption. 

@Fouremcowhy don't you join us on this sailing? Appears to be a go.

[Fouremco]

21 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

@Fouremcowhy don't you join us on this sailing? Appears to be a go.

As much as I'd like to, as would my DW, we have too many other firm commitments to slip away at this time. But thanks for the invitation! 😊   

[Miss Vickie]

On 10/29/2021 at 3:11 PM, rachiem said:

We are looking at this for Feb...just really worried as the ship leaves at 5pm...I believe the tour finishes at 4pm.

Still undecided whether to opt for the Extreme or Eco.

They have confirmed that if rules changed and we can not take the trip we would be refunded our deposit

We’ve known, and toured with, Eli since he started his company in 2001, all of his tours multiple times, including a discontinued one (haven’t done the private charter yet). He makes sure you don’t miss the ship. We’ll be booking his newest tour for our January cruise.

[rachiem]

7 hours ago, Miss Vickie said:

We’ve known, and toured with, Eli since he started his company in 2001, all of his tours multiple times, including a discontinued one (haven’t done the private charter yet). He makes sure you don’t miss the ship. We’ll be booking his newest tour for our January cruise.

Thank you. We've booked the extreme tour as it's the last stop on the cruise. We can have 2 days onboard to chill after that.

[Miss Vickie]

Celebrity is now allowing on your own tours in Antigua!  We've booked Eli's new Adventure Islands tour.  Can't wait!

[Miss Vickie]

As for Grenada, I think it's still wait and see.  Reflection is doing its first Caribbean cruise of the year right now.  I don't think Celebrity has addressed Grenada because they haven't prepared for it yet.  I'm taking await and see.  Right now, there's only one excursion listed for Dominica, and that's an island where ship tours are required.  We have a close friend there, too, and would love to spend the day with him, but that may be a day we stay on board...  I have no desire to go jump off Titou Gorge again with a crowd of people.